S'MORES in 125 degree weather!!

The kids had all been wanting to roast marshmellows, so one night week we roasted Hot Dogs for dinner, had our FHE and then roasted marshmellows! YUM!!
I had found these HUGE marshmellows in the Mexican section of the store a month or so ago and thought it'd be fun to fire them suckers up and smash them up into yummy goodness that we call S'MORES!! That's a regular mellow compared to the Mexican Gigantor Mellow!
"Come on baby light my fire!..." Meema sang to Brant as he lit her mellow with his (we like ours a little burned-lol:). ....(something) Flame of Fire and 'I'm feeling Hot, hot, hot!" were a few other tunes that whistled through the air while we roasted MMellows in the warm summer night!

...Like I said, we like our Marshmellows ....a LITTLE burned!! Look how big that Mexican Mellow swells!!! I'm not sure, but I don't think Kas ate that one.

This, my friends, was THE BEST S'MORE EVER!!! I am not even kidding about this!! I've learned from the GIGANTOR marshmellows that if using regular, normal size mellows, you should probably put 3-4 on one S'MORE to get the optimum taste that is required for the Perfect S'More!! I only ate one of these huge things, but I sure did want another!!

FAMILY + S'MORES in Desert summer weather = a lot of LOVE, sweat & YUMMY treats!
...Rissa had a good time.....
Jacob used the Strawberry Mexican Mellows to make his S'more!
...He ate every bite of his too!!

A Movie @ Westgate & a Trip to the Mall

We all went together to see UP...well, all of us except for Rissa:) I just really didn't want to spend the money for one of us to end up in the foyer with her, so Allyson so kindly switched kids with me for most of the day, leaving Rissa at her house and Tyler came along with us!! We loved the movie UP! so we snapped a shot for memories sake, in front of it's poster.

.....and then, OF COARSE, we had to snap a few in front of our dear friends, Edward & Jacob!!!

I have LOVED loved! having my nieces around!!! They are two of the funnest girls I know!!

I love my dad!! It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about he & I! I'm definitely a "daddy's girl", and have just cherished the time that we've had together.

Nikole fell in love with Rissa and couldn't keep her hands off of her (well, Kasidy did too!!)--but Nikole & I had a lot of opportunities to talk. I was telling her how so many times, I'd glance at her playing with Rissa and it instantly reminded me of myself with her when she was Rissa's age. Nikole got to go to YW's with me and that was really a lot of fun!! To and from the activities is where we found a lot of our 'talk time'. (I have absolutely loved being with Kasidy too! I will talk about her wondeful qualities in her Birthday Post...soon to come!!)

My mom and dad are amazing & I am so thankful for them!!! My mom is such an inspiration to me and I have always wanted to be like her!! She's such a great example to me and one of my best friends!!

The kids at the Mall

Rissa and her new Dora Doll!! She LOVES Dora and was soo excited to get her very own Dora that she can play with and change her clothes and shoes and brush her hair and put 'make-up' on her and ..........

Totally WICKED!!!!

A couple of months ago, Marty bought tickets to WICKED, so shortly after my parents and nieces arrived, we took a night to go out on the town with some of our good friends, Sarah & Chris! We had a great time eating with them at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and then we walked through town to the theatre for the show. Even the Monsoon (luckily, worst of it took place during the show) and blisters that Sarah and I got (from all the walking in our shoes) didn't deter us from enjoying the night!! :) ...And yes, Marty & Chris even enjoyed the show~~don't know if they'd go again, but they enjoyed it-lol! Thanks for a great double date guys!!

Rock Climbing

Go Through

Climbing UP!

...UP!

...UP!!!

...Going DOWN!!

take a break and smile!

cooling off

much better:)

I LOVE my Peepa!!

** 4th Of July **

This year for the 4th, we swam, grilled out & watched fireworks with the Cunningham's! Every time my parents come out to visit we always say that we're gonna get our families together while they're here, and yet, we all end up busy and it never happens, so my parents were totally excited that we all worked it out this year to get together!! Our family has really felt blessed to have them as friends and we had such a great time!!
I didn't get many picts during the day b/c my camera died, but here are two.

Kasidy, Nikole & rissa. Rissa has LOVED having her older cousins here!! I've loved having them here!! Not only have I just loved doing all of the numerous 'girlie' things (crafts, shopping, hair, nails, baking, more crafts:) with them, but they have pretty much taken care of Marissa since they've been here! Nikole has even put her to bed for us several times!! ...man, I'm gonna miss them!! It's been a nice break and so fun for Ms. Riss!

Ed at his best-lol!! Ed challenged us to the 'Moron Test' (game on Kelly's cell). So I seriously spent the entire fireworks show, taking the test over, and over and over again! I saw ONE firework!!!...what a Moron!! lol--I am glad to report, however, that I did finally pass! I completed it in I think 714 secs ( I think) and about 100 tries! I will say it was faster than Kent, from what I hear!!!
I brought tons of glow sticks and the kids, well, all of us actually had fun playing with them! Meema, Nikole & Brant came up with some games and Marty and Joey came up with a few too. Brant came up with a "break the glow stick and look at it splatter all over you" game! That one didn't last too long though:)

Jacob Smiling at the camera!!! Luck was just with me on this one!! This kid is a hard one to get a picture of b/c he is usually dodging the camera!!

Fun Times with our Niece!!

A couple of weeks ago, we got to spend time with our Niece, her husband and their beautiful, super cutsie baby!!! We LOVED having over and enjoyed our time with them so much!!

We hung out and eventually swam in the pool

LOVE love This Baby!!!! I swear I could just kiss on him non-stop for days!!! He is so stinkin cute and is such a happy little baby!!!
Another thing we did was we took them on a Tour of the Football Stadium. This is where the 2008 Super Bowl was held! Driving down the street to our house, you get a perfect view of the Stadium. It was fun and amazing at times to watch them build this Stadium! At one point, a Port-A-Potty sat on the tippie top. I guess if you were on top working and had to go #1 or #2, it would have been a little hard to just "run down" to the bathroom, so yeah, why not hoist one thousands of feet in the air to sit on top. Just glad it didn't fall off, that would not have been good!

Our Family in the Stadium

The 'Guest' Locker Room. It totally smelled like a meadow of beautiful flowers, if you can imagine that! It was a little weird, really. You almost expect the smell of stinky football socks and big, sweaty guys, but no! Flowers it was! Kinda gave you the feeling that they dance around before the game or something.


The football field is kept outside to get water & Sunlight:) All they have to do is push a little button and it retracts into the Stadium! It takes about, I think they said, 50 mins for it to get in.

CERRETA Candy Company!! After the Stadium, we all headed to the candy factory! We all got our candy bowls and picked out the best of the best of their huge candy selection! I still think my fav is the green Mint one! Brant's fav was the mint one as well, and Marty & Jacob's tastebuds gravitated more to the Chocolate/ Peanut Butter candies!!
Rissa LOVED Angeline's Teddy Bear song!!! We have all been singing to her ever since!!! Thanks for coming to visit guys, we love you tons!!!

A Little Taste of the South

So my parents are Finally Here!!! Every time they come to visit, they bring a nice big stash of Boiled (correct Southern pronunciation being, "Bold" Peanuts) and several bottles of true (mustard based) BBQ sauce!! We were hardly in the front door when we all ripped into the Peanuts!!

Before....

...During.....

Oh, and don't get too concerned about Marty's "hair"! It's a Hair Hat-my parents brought one for each of us!! I'm sure it'll come in handy in years to come, as the hair supply thins:)

(It didn't take Rissa long to learn the ways of eating the boiled peanut!!! She, like the rest of us can't stop eating them!!!!)

...and here's the aftermath!!
Thanks Meema & Peepa!!! ...let the parties begin!!!!