Sunday, June 26, 2011

On the road again...

Here we are in Arizona and it is great to be here, slowly, but surely settling in. Our ward is great. We love our new home. I am really looking forward to staying in a place longer than 2 or 3 years! :) So here we are the Arizona chapter of our life and we are so excited for it. Now for the picture fun that will depict this crazy family's adventure in coming to this new found home!

Obviously, I am not blogger saavy, so it will be a backward journey. Our first weekend in our new found home we went for a hike and checked out some Indian Petroglyphs. We love being back in mountains. Different mountain than what we are used too, beautiful just the same.


Here is stinker #3 after the hike. She was relieved to be back in the car. She did not enjoy the hike. However, she worked very hard getting up and down the trail and is proud to sport the baby, sweaty hair look. We actually arrived in Arizona just to leave again for a cousin's sealing in Utah. We were able to manage to lighten the car load and pack into smaller suitcases leaving the rest behind in out temporary living arrangements. On our way up to Utah, we went through Vegas. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of Vegas. We drove the strip and saw all the lights and fountains. We went to the temple. Beautiful. That was Vegas for us in a nutshell.

We toured Southern Utah. This was my favorite natural bridge. Driving through parts of this country brought back a lot of memories for me when I fought fire for the United States Forest Service. Southern Utah is truly unique. It was a treat being able to drive through this amazing country with the family. Now if I can keep my husband of what used to be roads, but no longer fit for family vehicles.... I don't care if we have 4 wheel drive. I am pregnant, three kids in the back, and don't want to be stuck in the middle of no where.... :) Boys will be boys!
I have never seen the Manti Temple in person.... Gorgeous! I can honestly say this is my 2nd favorite right after the Logan Temple. :)
Arcade pit stop.... Mom taking stinker #1 on her first Go Kart ride. She loved it and so did I! It is so much funnier going with your kid. She was laughing and screaming the whole time. She would have rode the whole night. Stinker #2 and #3 would not leave the game where you hit a gopher with a mallet. Love that game. Jeans, you grow out of...arcade games (especially the gopher game, NEVER!
We visited Temple Square. I love this picture. Isn't my baby just a miniature of her daddy??
So this is not the best picture, but it has a funny story to go with it... Stinker #2 is looking at the Christus in the Visitor's Center and he was amazed at how tall the statue is. He now has it ingrained in his little mind that is truly His height. For about a week afterward, he would say mom "Jesus should teach me how to play basketball". LOL I love kids and the things that they say, notice, imagine.
Stinker #1 and her ever-so-patient cousin! Thanks for letting her be your shadow the time that we were in Utah for the wedding!
Here is prego mom with the three best kids on top of the Conference Center. The kids loved being able to be at the top of a building. Stinker #1 fell in love with the Salt Lake Temple and this is where she is now planning to marry a little boy named Owen there. Who knows if little Owen has any clue of her future plans. LOL

Here are my three little monkeys at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This here is my favorite place. I love the feeling, the beauty, and having an amazing husband, awesome kids of my own make it even more special. I will miss living within driving distance, but so grateful we were able to make it before the move.

Nauvoo is another place I will miss that was within driving distance. What a fun place to take your family and learn about the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ. We did not have the time to go and do and see all that there is to see. So we hit up the faves... throwing rocks in the Mississippi.

Checking out the handcarts.

Trail of Tears and looking back at the beloved Nauvoo Temple.
We will miss you Illinois! We will miss the corn, the apples, our neighbors, our ward, the green surroundings, the Rock River, among many, many more things. Thank you for an awesome, almost three years!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Catch Up Time!!

So as many of you know we have been BUSY the last couple of months.... but before I update each of you on the move, Arizona, and the traveling adventures between... I have more important matters to cover... BIRTHDAYS! Long over due, but precious and awesome and SOMEONE PLEASE STOP MY KIDS FROM GROWING SO QUICKLY!!!

My little stinker #2 turned 4 his birthday requests were quite simple. He wanted a spiderman cake and a pizza picnic on the floor. So that is just what we did. Here is our picnic with his favorite pizza on an old sleeping bag. We watched spiderman while enjoying the cheesy delight! He was too busy stuffing his face to give me any kind of a smile.
I LOVE this picture. My hubby's face cracks me up. For those of you who know my little boy this sums him up.... LOVE! He is always the one who knows when mommy needs a hug, kiss, and he tells me multiple times a day how pretty I am and how much he loves me. This kid is good to have around for the self esteem. He is our little peacemaker in our home. Don't get me wrong, he gets into his fair share of trouble especially with his swords and guns. Oh little stinker #2 you are amazing.
Here he is super excited to dive into his Spiderman cup cakes! This kid LOVES Spiderman. I think I am going to be doing Spiderman birthdays for him until his mission... who knows!! Little fun facts about my BIG Stinker who in now the BIG 4...

1. He LOVES swords and guns... really any weapon that he can wildly chase and torment his sisters with.
2. He is a dare devil. He falls, he gets back up. Too many times have I found myself freaking out over a bunch of dried blood all over some body part that he recently got a scratch or scrape.
3. Daddy is his buddy and mommy is who he wants to marry. :)
4. He wants to be a missionary when he grows up, because they are super heroes. LOL
5. He LOVES babies. He has already named the baby in my tummy. For the past couple of months when he addresses me he includes his baby name too. He gives the baby love every days and sings him songs. He is looking forward to having another brother.

There is so much more about this little boy that just makes me melt. I love my little guy and count it one of my greatest blessing to call him son. The happiness and complete joy he brings into our family is indescribable. I love being your mommy. You may only be 4, but you are still my baby!

NOW for my little Stinker #3.... She is 2 years old!! She is absolutely wonderful, comical, fiesty, and she too LOVES spiderman. However, she did not get a spiderman birthday. She had a rainbow birthday. Solely because of her deep love for rainbow chip icing. She could eat a whole tub on her own and believe me it would go straight to her adorable chubby thighs... the ones that mom and dad LOVE to tickle!

As you can see from the picture, we all were able to enjoy some rainbow chip slobber cake. :) After we sang "Happy Birthday" she would blow out her candles and shriek with joy and say "again, again". So since it was her birthday.... The kids and I would sing to her again and dad would re light the candles. We did this.... oh near 20 times! LOL It made her so happy, we could not help but do it for her.
Stinker #3 is just that a stinker. Being the third kiddo in the family, she has no other choice, but to be resourceful. She is quite cute as long as she is not using biting or pinching as her resourceful methods. :) She loves to sing and dance. Saturday mornings, the hubby likes to watch country music videos. This has become a favorite thing to do for Claire too. She cracks us all up with her killer moves. The other kiddos will join in and yes even the hubby and I too. It's contagious. :)

Some fun facts about this beautiful baby girl of mine.....

1. She LOVES spiderman. She has to eat from the spiderman plate at meals. She demands to watch spiderman on demand... she will even bring you the remote saying "spire man, spire man".
2. She thinks she is bigger than what she is. She does her best to keep up with big sister and big brother. Most of the time she is successful. Her brother is her hero. She always wants him around to play with, to sit by, or to cuddle her.
3. She is sassy. If you are being naughty, her little finger will pop out and point right at you, quickly calling you on the carpet... "naughty,. naughty."
4. Do not mess with her Tangled movie or her baby dolls. She has named herself sole protector of both.
5. She loves to play with hair and it will put her right to sleep. Hair and some cuddles is all this little girl needs. So in other words... daddy does not have the magic to put her to bed! LOL

How I love this little girl! She makes us laugh. She has brought another element of bliss into our family. What a lucky mom I am and I am so grateful to have this little angel.