...what we've been up to lately...

We've been busy doing a lot lately, but here are two things I'll hightlight for now. There will be more to come soon.


Prayer Rocks
This is the rock that I use to prop our pool gate open with when needed. I wanted to cheer it up a little, so I bought some outdoor paint and mom and I painted it together (I know, Ahhhh mother /daughter bonding.. .how sweet!). Well, I knew before hand that my kids, along with their cousins, Emerson & Tanner, would totally want to paint something so this is what I came up with:
I piled them and my dad in the car and drove us all up to the White Tanks. I pulled over at the Waterfall Trail playground and explained to them that we were going to pick out "Prayer Rocks". My kids had one a while back so they helped me explain what they are. Emer & TT were so excited!! We all had fun picking out rocks and the boys had fun chasing a couple of critters they found wandering around. It was also fun for them to see the true desert ya know, w/o all of the concrete and with all the cacti! So here are a few pictures from this grand adventure!!


"Emer, You're seven pricklies tall this year...Jacob, You're eight!!"



...just a cactus shadow...with a little critter running around in the background!

Peepa helping Jacob find "the perfect" rock!! This was quite a feat, seeing that Mr Jacob had a very detailed description of what 'his rock' looked like! So I will speak words of wisdom from my good friend, Jill: "For the love of children!!!" ...or..."sweet mother of pearl, just pick a rock!!". (Jill, sometimes in life, I find that you're phrases just come right out!! I appreciate that b/c it keeps a 'bad word' from flying out of my mouth!!)



Each of the kids finally found 'their special rock'!...so can we go get a sonic slushy and get out of the blazing sun now!!



...and here's the finished product, I found them all to be very creative!! Great job boys!!




Swimming, swimming, swimming!!


Here's Tanner getting ready for his rock climb up the waterfall. Real men don't use the steps!!

TT making a big slpash!! He could not wait for me to take pictures of him jumping off the waterfall!! He then, in detail, explained that I was to take my camera, hook it up to the computer and put the picture wherever it goes so that his mama & daddy could see it!!...and I was to do it TODAY!!


Emer flashing all of his muscles to the world...watch out everyone!!!




Emer diving off of the waterfall...from THE TOP, to be exact!! Great 'form' E!




Look at that Hunk!! Flex baby-Woohoo!! I love my man!!


Splish! Splash! Rissa loves the water!! I've been trying to teach her to blow bubbles. She loves putting her face in the water but instead of blowing bubbles, she blows and then the second her lips hit the water, she sucks!! Not too good for the lungs!! She then, usually, smiles her chubby little cheeks off while she coughs it out!

Snow Day at the Phoenix Zoo

My mom, dad and two nephews, Emerson and Tanner are finally here to visit!! We have been waiting and are soo excited that they have arrived!! We have been going nonstop pretty much since they got here last weds. Yesterday Marty and I took all of the kids to snow day at the zoo for a few hours. It was dang hot (!), but the kids got to play in the snow some and go down the water slides so that did help with cooling off! We also got to watch the animals play in the snow. It a fun day! We all pretty much crashed when we got home though, we were all so tired!! I'm not putting all of the zoo pictures on here--seeing how my camera TOTALLY SUCKS!! A lot of my pictures lately are coming out totally fuzzy and just not too clear so I'll try and pick out the best ones.






Rissa tested out the snow! She didn't care to really touch it, but loved being out there with all of the big kids!...by the way- she is walking now!!--more to follow on that later.


Here's TT, AKA King of the mountain!


Jacob LOVED playing in the snow. He wanted to bring some home and put it in our freezer but I had to sadly inform him that it would never make it home! I think he did confiscate one, but as you can only imagine, it was water and then practically evaporated in, like two seconds!!


These are some of the targets the kids threw at. Emer hit quite a few!! Good job!!


Brant had fun throwing snowballs through the targets...he was really good at it too!



Brant caught himself a bullfrog!





Our snow cone break was a refreshing part of the afternoon!












Brant stuck in a petrified tree...


TT stuck in a petrified tree...


Emer stuck in a petrified tree...Jacob didn't want to get stuck in this petrified tree.


This is in Monkey Village. If you look you can see that cutesy monkey hanging onto the tree. If my camera were clearer you'd see that that little booger is sticking his tongue out at us!


..still sticking his tongue out at us - We loved him! Brant wanted to stick him in his pocket and take him home...he's alot like me--I always wanted a monkey when I was growing up.



SUPer Emer!! Brave...head first!





Marty and Rissa in Africa. There are two baby zebra's that were fun to watch.

Hey ya'll-take a look at this!!!

I'm am taking just a quick minute to post some exciting news: My niece, Nikole, has just started her very own family blog!! Nikole is super creative and so much fun! I'm excited for her and just wanted to let everyone know that you can see how well she's doing if you click on my Blake & Kristina link. Please go check it out and leave a little comment to let her know how great she's doing!! Thanks ya'll.

My posts aren't as good as Kathee's...

Ok people! So I just spent time reading Kathee's meaningful, heartfelt, beautiful recent posts on her blog....Ummmmm. I'm so touched that I don't really know what to say! The only thing I can think of is that..."Man, my posts really suck compared to hers"!! So after many moments of thought, I've decided that from this day forward, I will not just throw a bunch of pictures on my blog---I will not just to put them there to say 'I added another post'. I am going to write more. And not only write, but try and write about things of more importance. Maybe then, I too, will have a meaningful, heartfelt, beautiful blog like Kathee! You're amazing Kath, and dog-on-it, people like you!!

4th of July!!

We had a great 4th! The Christensens, David & Noel and Kierstin and her kids came over for a BBQ-swim party! We ate LOTS of good food, swam and went to watch the fireworks show. It was the perfect 4th until the Monsoon storms started brewin! We took our blankets and chairs to our usual "spot" for the fireworks show and instead of watching a fireworks show, we watched a lightening show (which was pretty cool at times)! The fireworks were cancelled, we decided, after goofing around for an hour or so! So I guess we should've checked the news first, b/c the storms were already starting-we just didn't think about it! Reguardless, it was nice to just all hang out together in the breezy night air! It never rained but the wind was blowing pretty steady and throughout the night sand storms blew in and out (our pool told us that the next morning!). oh- and just incase anyone's wondering, Jacob was with us enjoying the day, he just refused to be in any pictures! The only things missing were my mom and dad, who are usually here visiting during the 4th. They will soon be arriving, so we have that to look forward to!

"Putty Face"

Brant & Tyler have been spending the last half hour making "putty faces" of us online....so here are some of their creations.


Brant did one of my brother, uncle John (& he also did one of Uncle Blake but didn't email that one to me to download--he did email it to Blake though with lots of laughs!)


Tyler chose to distort my face!! Ha hahahahaha!! Funny guys!! We all really did laugh alot...it was alot of fun!



.....Ok, ok! I just couldn't resist! I got on Putty Face and had to just see what I could do to Brant & Tyler's beautiful, smiley faces!! So Here Brant & Tyler--




Love, MOM
PS-I have the link below (putty face) for anyone who likes this type of entertainment!!