This is one of those photos that I will always cherish!! I love that the kids are all in it and that they are all looking forward! They are all happy and getting along and life is good! Haha--they actually really got along pretty well the whole week and it was really so much fun being with them! I love Emerson's cute smile and how thoughtful and kind he is, he's really going to be a heart breaker!! I loved listening to Tanner sing as loud as he could while listening to his ipod!! I loved smooching on Sawyer and hearing him talk talk talk!! I soooo enjoyed sitting by the pool talking with Kim...and shopping with Kim...and getting all kinds of great ideas from Kim!!! I cherish the time spent with Heath!! I have missed him a lot and I love him and even though he's younger than me, I totally, completely look up to him in so many ways!!!
Marissa loves the Stink Rays...Sting Rays! She gets a little frustrated bc her "arms need to be able to stretch out longer" (as she puts it). ...but it's a glorious moment when one swims up high enough that she doesn't have to hold her breath to pet him, lol!!
There's a Sting Ray right in front of you Tanner!! Stick your hand in and pet him!! Quick!
Cute picture! I can't believe how big Emer has gotten! He's not that chubby little Emer that I used to babysit so many, many years ago!
....Mr. Peacock did it, by the stream....with his ten foot tail! Ok, so that was a little cheesy! the boys had fun following all these peacocks all around the zoo. Here are three of them near Komodo Dragon Land.
Heath is showing us where Wan, his old college roommate and who we've all kind of 'adopted' into our family, is from and where he and his wife now live.
I could smooch on this cute little thing all day long!!!Cabela's
Here's a quick little trip to Cabela's to look at all the animals. Sawyers not too sure about Mr. Moose! Marissa is always ready for a picture!
A Trip to Jacob's School to see the baby Ducks
It just so happened that Chick-fil-a was running there "free breakfast week" the same week that they were here. So every morning, I'd get up and go exercise and then come back home, load the kids up, take us to get our free biscuit and then we'd all take Jacob to school. He really wanted Emerson and Tanner to see the baby ducks that they had hatched there. Tanner was a natural with them!
Jacob actually got to hold this duck while he was hatching. He didn't help it hatch or anything, but he held it and watched him wiggle his way out!
My good friend is the librarian there, and she's the one who had the incubator to hatch them in, well, anyway, she let us bring three of the ducks home one night! We filled up a blow up pool that we had and let them loose! It was so fun to watch them swim around and to play with them!
This was right when we started to hose. Marissa had the best time mothering the three little babes!!
Univ of Phoenix Stadium 
I only took a few pictures bc my battery was dead, so I'll have to get some better pictures from Kim. This is the Cardinals Stadium, where the Super Bowl 2009..or maybe 2008..I'll have to ask Marty:) but anyway, a Super Bowl in that past three or four years was held here. It's really an awesome stadium with a playing field that runs on tracks. It is kept outside when not in use so they can keep fresh green grass growing and tend to it and then when it's time for a game, they push one little button that rolls the entire field into the stadium. Heath asked our tour guide if there are any other stadiums that do that and she said that the only other one is in Germany and it's half the size as ours. This picture is Emerson & Tanner by the entrance door-love these kids!!!
Here are some locker room photos....don't worry though, no stinky boys:)
This is in one of the VIP boxes
Heath introduced us to Steve on Utube!! There's one video of Steve driving around in a Skyjack, just like this one here, getting arrested....it's quite hilarious! If you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about just look up "Steve in Skyjack" on Utube.....".....maybe I'll come down, maybe I won't...Maybe I'll come down, maybe I won't...". **disclaimer: There is beer on board, so parents, watch it first before showing it to the kid-o's :)
Go Cardinals!!! We miss Heath, Kim and the kids!!! I miss hearing little "Saw-Saw's" sweet little voice!! Good thing I recorded him talking on my cell so I can listen to him still, lol!
Hiking in the White Tank Mtns
We had to take our girls on a 1 mile hike as a pre-requisite for Girls Camp, so I brought ours and Heath's families along! We love to go hike up on the trails here! It's the perfect time of year too, the weather was beautiful as well as the scenery! The trail we went on is called the Waterfall Trail. For anyone who has actually stayed in AZ for any short or long length of time, you know that there's not too much 'waterfall' to be had here, lol! It really should be renamed to "Trickle Fall" bc a trickle is the most we've ever seen...and that was a couple of years ago after record breaking amounts of snow and rain. The good from that is that you can climb up into the cavern where the waterfall is supposed to be:) So here's Brant and Tanner as they are climbing up into it.
Studs.
Heath's portrait photo:)
LOL! I love this picture! Jacob doesn't like to get his picture taken too often. I bribed him to take this...love it! He didn't want them doing anything behind him and after vowing an oath not put bunny ears on his head, this is what the outcome is!
Tiff & Heath:) Brant is in top left and Fanny Pack Kent is in the right corner, lol. (explain a little more about him at the end of this post, lol:)
After the hike, we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. I made sure to bring some of the big Mexican marshmallows, can't have a roasting party without those!!!
Even though Jacob doesn't' always engage a ton, he Loved Loved loved! having cousins around!! He would cry, the last couple nights of them being here, in bed bc he didn't want them to leave. ..oh, and don't be disturbed by that tall shadow in the background... that would be "Fanny Pack Kent"! It actually looks like he's getting ready to knock Jacob and Emerson over the head with a log, but I think he was on his way to put the log in the fire pit when he seized the opportunity to jump into another one of my photos! There's a history of him ALWAYS pooping...I mean, POPPING into my pictures!! REally. I even went so far as to make him a (printed) book about it!! Aw--we had a great time and it was fun to show them the real desert. ..with cacti all over the place. This was also the night bf they left, so it was fun to have some good hang out time with them!
***ok, hold up for one minute!!! I cannot believe that KIM is not in a single one of any of the photos that I have of their trip here!!! How can that be?!!! Was she dodging the bullet all week long?! Did she plan for it to turn out this way? Holy cow!! I do actually see about of a third of her face in a picture with Sawyer when we were riding the train at the zoo, but that's it. wow! Kim, if you're reading this, send me some photos with you in them!!!!
