Breakfast with Santa

Our only current believer. Jeremiah has taken to wandering around the house in a Santa cap shouting Ho Ho Ho, Merry Chrifmas!

There you have it... breakfast and Santa. Breakfast consisted of chocolate donuts and Sunny D. Oh and candy canes.
You can bet there was a significant sugar crash shortly thereafter.

Bennett and Audrey found this wonderful Christmas classic and enjoyed it thoroughly while I watched with delight.

We attended this ward tradition last Saturday at a ward member's home. The kids had a great time and we got to meet some more people in the neighborhood, aka, our ward. It's so fun to live in Utah - we're adjusting!

At our ward party that night we got to go to an outdoor amphitheater 10 minutes up the road to see a live reenactment of the Christmas Story. It was beautifully done in an amazing setting up against the red rocks. I love this season with so many chances to make memories with my family!

love that fall leaf crunch

Packing - check, moving - check, unpacking, hosting family, Thanksgiving - check.

Now for time to enjoy our new home (almost twice the space!) and regain some sort of order to life. The move did go smoothly, although it's never a walk in the park. My sister, Lisa, came and cracked the whip to get us packed in Cottonwood, then left with her four and two of mine 5 days before the move. My mom flew in the next day and helped with all the final touches... huge understatement. We had lots of help from ward members and  other friends and felt truly sad to leave our home in Arizona.

We were very relieved to finally see our house here in Saint George since Lisa had done only a 10 minute walk through and we had handed over a fair bit o money and signed the lease, sight unseen. It's a great place for us with a nice big yard and super friendly neighborhood. Did I mention it's half a mile from Lisa's new house? Yay!

The tree which was green and leafy when we moved in a few weeks ago, decided to lose just about all its leaves two nights ago. The kids have loved playing in the mounds of leaves, although I'm trying to encourage them to put them in big black bags. Here's a few moments we captured. 

You may notice Mo in the picture with me. He's my parent's cute little fluffy dog that we're borrowing for a few months till my mom comes back to help when the babies are born in May! The kids love having a pet again.

thing 1 and thing 2

Jeremiah's Three!

So my baby turned three a week ago. He hasn't allowed me to call him baby in some time but I'm sure none of you will tell him I referred to him as such.

We celebrated by taking a long-anticipated trip to Out of Africa, a wildlife park 15 minutes down the road. The kids got to feed the giraffes, take a safari ride through the "Serengeti", see a tiger show with two Bengal tigers, pet a 15 ft. reticulated python and watch as all the lions and tigers and bears were fed. It had been 3 days, and boy were they excited. By the end, the outrageous price we had paid to get in seemed well worth it. I couldn't believe that was in our backyard!

Rena, a friend of mine, came along with her two children. I watch them on a regular bases while Rena teaches Audrey about her horses and how to trail ride. Rena also makes, of her own design, stick horses. They are beautiful, meticulously made and super affordable. Check them out at http://www.etsy.com/listing/68062372/stick-horse-chocolate-paint-hobby-horse?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=stick+horse&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

So Jeremiah was the lucky boy who got one.

You can't see it, but Jeremiah is mounted on his horse and flying around the house here

Play dough now plagues our house on a daily basis

Jeremiah has been requesting birthday cupcakes for two months. Can you feel his excitement?

On his actual birthday, we took a trip down to Mesa. While Rob and I got to do some family names at the temple, the kids had some Grandma and Grandpa time with Rob's parents. We all went out to eat later before the drive home. They gave him a pillow pet frog since... well, Jeremiah was a bullfrog.

The Dirty Dash

I'm so excited to have these awesome pictures that Ryan and Melissa took at the Dirty Dash two weeks ago. The Dirty Dash is a mud run/obstacle course - either 5k or 10k for adults and maybe 1/2 mile for the "piglets". Rob's company entered the race with a corporate discount and we couldn't resist after hearing about Aaron and Krystal's adventures last year. Ryan and Melissa are the official photographers for this series of races all over the country and we thought it would be great to see them in action... it was!

Rob decided to do the 10k without so much as a day of training. A lot of the participants dress up in funny things that look even funnier covered in mud. Rob wore the tuxedo his parents originally bought for his high school junior prom 15 years ago. He then wore it to his sister's wedding and on our wedding day too. We thought this would be a great way to retire it as it has gotten bit worn in places. He said he got comments like "hey elder!" and "your dry cleaner is going to kill you". Bennett was a ninja fighter - a costume that surprisingly survived and will reappear at Halloween.

And so, with many thanks to Ryan and Melissa for these amazing shots, here are some of the highlights of the day:

My brother Aaron and his kids, Lincoln, Ivan, and Adelia also participated in the Piglet Plunge.
Audrey stayed down in St. George with Lisa for the 2 days we were up in Provo.



Jeremiah needs more exposure to playing in the mud... he didn't love it.

The crowning moment for all muddy participants was the ice cold public shower that the Dirty Dash provides. Bennett and Jeremiah had to strip down to their undies while Rob tried to scrape off the caked on mud. I'm sure they've been traumatized for life. Will we do it again next year? I think it's going to be a tradition.

Baptism Day

It wasn't yesterday or even last week, but more than a month ago, on July 2, 2011 when Audrey was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We're so proud of the beautiful girl she is and the good choices she's making. It was a lovely day and one I hope she will remember all her life. I figure it's not too late to record some memories.





Rob baptized and confirmed Audrey. Rob's dad and Jared were witnesses, my mom gave an amazing talk on the Holy Ghost,
and Rob's mom said the closing prayer for the program.



Aneya & Audrey in their matching dresses from Grandma



My mom came a week earlier, without my dad since he had to stay at home to work. Lisa's family came the night before from their new home of St. George, and Rob's parents left Yuma at 3:30 that morning to be here for Audrey. We were so glad to have so much of our family here!

On the 4th of July, Lisa's family and ours drove up a mountain, shopped in Sedona, and played in a little swimming hole known only to locals, a tip from a Sedona shop keeper. The hike to said swimming hole was steeper than we had understood, especially for little Jeremiah, but the water was refreshing on a hot day. Audrey missed the day with us after she woke up with a fever that morning. A big thank you to my mom for staying home with her. We missed you both.

Atop Schnebly Hill with a great view

Not a staged story time, but the real thing

My little bedtime bats

Bennett and Spencer

Jeremiah adores his older cousins

The evening of the 4th before going to a friends' home to watch the fireworks. Audrey is wearing a dress identical to one she had at 13 months old, just bigger. I found it at DI a few weeks earlier. Most of our group watched the fireworks and thunderstorm from our ward member's roof top (no lighting rods). I, sadly, had worn a long, straight skirt and could not climb the ladder.

That night marked 10 years since my first date with Rob. It was a great night with homemade ice cream and the love of my life by my side... we love to celebrate our relationship with fireworks every year!

Enjoying being home

A last minute decision and some fast packing was the start of another road trip two weeks ago. We decided to accompany Rob to Reno and then to Lake Almanor for a familky reunion on Rob's Mom's side. His parents took the kids home with them after the weekend so I could drive to Tucson with Rob for a Habitat for Humanity service project a few days later... ah... freedom! After a whole lot of driving, some sunburns & sore muscles, and a fun getaway with my favorite person in the world, we are home again - there's no place like home! I'll post pictures soon.

This cactus resides by our front porch. It's generally a huge eye sore and a hazzard to the kids who like to ride their bikes dangerously close to it. What a pleasant surprise to find it in full bloom for the second time since we moved in almost a year ago.

Kids awaiting Sunday morning Dutch Babies. This was not staged, but true anticipation.



Sycamore Canyon

We took a drive up Sycamore Canyon yesterday. We can see the beautiful red rocked mountains from Cottonwood, but have never gone there. We thought perhaps we'd get out of the heat in a "canyon" but it turned out to be about 10 degrees hotter than home. We opted not to take the 3.7 mile hike down to the river even though it looked like paradise down there.

 

Part of the herd standing in the road, through which we had to drive. Audrey was certain she could lasso one of them and ride it home.



S'mores, the easy way!

A great end to a day all together. We toasted strawberry mallows that turned to a gooey cream and tasted like heaven. I like being able to clean up the stickiness right away in the convenience of our own backyard!