Arizona-Memorial Day

We had the best memorial weekend in Arizona this year. Thank you Brian, Julie and family for being such great hosts. We had such fun time being with family in warmer weather (although it was cold for Arizona...70's and 80's, but better than rainy and 50's at home). We got there Friday evening and went to dinner together. Saturday we woke up and went to the zoo. It is the coolest zoo. It has an open viewing area of monkey's so you are able to be within inches of them. You can't see well in this picture, but when Amber saw this monkey she said "Hey Mom, that monkey is scratching his privates!" It made us all laugh.



The zoo also has a 2 year old orangutang. She was being so cute and playful. It was fun to watch them.





The kids had fun playing on the tractor equipment and petting the goats. You're actually able to go brush them and pet them. How cool is that?







This is Sari, Issac and Ben, Brian and Julie's cute kids. They were so fun to be with and get to know more. They are such good kids, and were so helpful with Amber and Parker.






These are all the cousins just before leaving the zoo. We had a great time. The weather was perfect. There was so much to see! We loved the ant eaters (who knew they were so huge!), the bear, chimps, monkeys, the green river (literally it was bright green), the petting zoo, and the turtles.



My mom's parents are buried in Arizona, so on Sunday we took the drive to the cemetery. In the past, it's been about 125 degrees (no joke) so this was a much more pleasant trip. This cemetery is amazing. It's only for war veterans. It's acres and acres of headstones with flags, all for vets. It really is quite the site. It's amazing to see how many people in Arizona alone fought for our country. Every grave site had a flag, so there were literally thousands and thousands of flags, all perfectly aligned.






How cool is this Corvette? I don't remember the year, but my Aunt and Uncle just bought it. We went to visit them Sunday night at their new house. Their house is so beautiful! I should have taken pictures of it. It's a traditional hacienda, with a courtyard in the center of the home, adjoining all the rooms. It is seriously amazing. So anyway, shortly after we arrived my aunt pulled up in this. I was speechless. I would love this car! I didn't take it for a test drive, but should have. I may have never come back.




Brian and Julie have the best yard. It's huge first of all, and has a sidewalk all around the perimeter. It's perfect for riding bikes, scooters, Rollerblades, etc. They have a trampoline (the highlight for Amber, I think even more so than the pool), and a swimming pool. We had such a fun time. Brian and Julie kept asking what we'd like to do while we were there. We were happy as could be at their house just hanging out in the beautiful yard, and playing with all their fun toys. I can't say enough how much fun we had. It's nice to be one on one with family. When we get together for Christmas/holidays it's in sane!!! (Just look at a small sample from Amber's birthday party, that's only half!). We wouldn't have it any other way of course, but it's fun to be one on one and spend quality time together. We were so sad to leave. We were spoiled.

Amber Turns 3

Happy Birthday to Amber yesterday (May 19th). What a year. She and I had an enjoyable time looking through her scrapbooks reminiscing over the past three years. So much has happened in her short little life. I have two scrapbooks full of pictures just from age 0-2, and nothing of the past year. Sad how quickly things change when more kids join the bunch. Ok, so anyway, we started out the morning with balloons, Breakfast Cake (a family tradition) and Amber's birthday present, her scooter. That's what she wanted. We let her pick it out. She hasn't let it go since. It has to be in her room when she sleeps, in the bathroom when she goes potty, upstairs, downstairs, EVERYWHERE! It's cute.



So this is the infamous scooter, and her new nightgown. She wears her old one from last birthday that looks five sizes too small and is practically rags. She loves nightgowns, so thank you Grammy & Grandpa for the new one! She loves it!








These are just a few of the visitors Amber had yesterday at her party. We haven't done a "friends" party yet, we're still in to family stuff only. Maybe next year! She got a lot of fun presents, so thank you everyone!

This next part deserves its own post! Thank you Mandy for the many, MANY hours I'm sure it took (and that you won't admit to) to make this cake. It was a hit! Amber was speechless when she saw it for the first time, and walked around the yard saying "it's so beautiful" over and over. As people came over she'd take them straight to her cake. Mandy is so talented. She asked Amber what she wanted, and Amber said "A ballerina cake with pink polka dots" and Mandy came up with this. Isn't the little tu tu cute? I'm so impressed. Thank you Mandy for making such a memorable cake. I hated cutting in to it. And just so you all know, it was DELICIOUS! Thank you so much!






It was a fun day. I asked Amber what her favorite thing was, and she couldn't give me just one answer. Matt and I sang "Happy Birthday" first thing when she woke up. I tried singing it to her later in the day and she said "no mom, you already did!" Grammy tried to over the phone too and Amber said, "no, my mom and dad already did." I guess she only needed to hear it once! She loved the whole day. When we all sang happy birthday to her last night she was a little embarrassed I think. She was looking at me like "why is everyone staring and me and singing to me?!" she obviously knew why, but was a little overwhelmed by it all. Her facial expressions were priceless. One of the presents she opened and said "what the heck?!" It cracked me up. I wonder where she's heard that phrase before.

Thanks to all that came. We sure have a wonderful family!

Here are a few silly things Amber has said in the past few days that have made me laugh:

I was running so hard all my breath ran out
You're not listening Mom
she's a good listener, huh Mom
Today I have dance class, huh Mom!
Please bless Captain Jack (Amy & Anthony's Cat)
Please bless Parker when he goes "EH" (that's pretty much all that Parker says)
Mom, how was your run today?
Dad, nice bike riding


I love how sensitive Amber is. She doesn't like it when I'm sad or when anyone else is sad.

I love it when she sings songs, her favorites are "Doe, a Deer" from Sound of Music, and all Disney songs, and anything from "Mary Poppins"

More will have to come later, I need to get to these crazy kids!

Jake The Crazy Man

Poor little Jake got stitches last week. The crazy kid was climbing on an unstable chair and fell. He had to get 14 stitches! The poor kid! Carrie and I went to visit him last week which was tons of fun. He is so active and in to everything. I can't believe he's only an hour away and I've only seen him a handful of times (he lives with Stu's Brother and sister in law while Stu finishes his residency). It's always so great to be around him, and his little smile makes me so happy. I told Matt when I got home that he looks 100% like his dad! I see little Stu running around. Joan swears she sees a little Joyce in him, but I guess I'm not around him enough to make that observation. I've thought so many times I hope he doesn't think we're this crazy family that goes to all his soccer games, football games, school performances, etc. We all love to be around him so much, and he brings so much joy to our family. What a miracle this little guy is.

As Mother's Day came and went, I thought of how sad Joyce only got one Mother's Day with Jake. It was a hard day for a lot of us I think. I wondered if I even called her last year to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. It's odd to see this gap between our lives together and apart become wider. My mom mentioned on Sunday she feels that as time passes by, she longs to hear more of Joyce. She loves when we talk about her, or when anyone talks about her. I totally have to agree. It really brings more comfort to talk about her and her life as time goes on. I can't even begin to convey what a wonderful sister she was. As I was taking these pictures of Jake and his stitches, he was being so darn cute. He would giggle and smile and run away from the camera as fast as he could. He was jumping on the trampoline and having a grand old time. It made me miss her so much. I know she would have been laughing with him with a huge smile on her face as well. I could just picture Joyce saying something like "you crazy kid, get over here!"

We all have this New Year's Resolution to "Remember" Joyce. It's so easy to continue on with our daily activities and forget the influence she had in our life.
This post is one that possibly belongs on a "private" blog, so perhaps I should head that route. I need to do better at posting more about Joyce, because my memory sucks and the more time that goes by the more I'll forget. I feel like I'd let loose if I knew exactly who was reading this!

Does anyone from high school remember the surprise party Joyce & Joan threw me for my 18th birthday? How cute was that!? I was reading in my journal the other day that Joyce & Joan sent me balloons in 1st period that I had to carry around all day. We had Carrie's wedding the next day, and I was concerned my birthday would be forgotten. Joyce and Joan did everything possible to make sure it was a memorable one. What a fun party! If I was as talented as Mary, I'd scan some of the pictures in from that momentous occasion!



This is a picture of Parker, Andy and Jake (Carrie trying to hold them up and make them happy!). Carrie, Joyce, Joan and I were all pregnant at the same time, so we have kids all within a few months of each other. We'll save that post for another day! What a fun experience!

Minivan?

So Matt and I are in desperate need of a new car. The Jetta is on it's last leg. I was determined to wait until we either had our third kid or until the Jetta literally fell apart and could go no more. When Matt bought his truck, I was super upset. It didn't feel like a "family" car. I was hoping we'd go the Sequoia or 4-Runner route, something a little more "me" (so selfish, I know). Matt won the battle and bought the truck. So I told him the next car we bought was entirely up to me, he couldn't have one little say in it. I also told him I was going to buy a minivan just to deepen the blow (we, as I'm sure many of you, refused to ever think about buying a minivan BEFORE we had more than one child).

Well, mysteriously Matt the past few months has been super excited about the whole minivan idea. Suddenly he thinks it's a brilliant idea. I was warming up to the idea as well, thinking how much easier it'd be, how roomy, better gas mileage than a Tahoe/Armada/Sequoia. I was also excited about the thought of more room, an isle to get to the back row, key less entry, sliding doors, etc. So we started looking. Not too seriously, but just looking. Matt was 100% sold on the idea, and I was about 99.9%, until I saw this:



Is that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?! I am freaking out wondering how long it is before that can be my car! It's now back to "wait until the car is completely dead" before we buy, because this car is not in the budget, but it's fun to dream, and hopefully one day!!

Sometimes I wish we leased cars. I LOVE cars and would be in Heaven if I could have a new car once a year. As Matt and my mom would say "you love the Acadia now, but give it six months and you'll be on to something else." Perhaps back to the minivan.

I'm so behind!

Where to begin? This is how I do the blogging thing...I don't have time to check or add stuff daily, so it comes in huge spurts. I seriously wonder how anyone has time to keep up with it all. Let me begin with this past weekend and work backwards. Isn't that how you're supposed to do it, most recent first since it's fresh on the brain? Anyway, this was a great weekend. Matt and I both participated in the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon/Bike Tour on Saturday. Matt's race started at 6:00 AM and the 1/2 started at 7:00. Thank you Lee & Debbie (Matt's parents) who drove and got to our house by 5:20 AM so that we could be to the starting line on time. We couldn't have done this otherwise! Matt did the bike tour last year, and we cheered him on at the finish. I was so determined to to the 1/2 the next year. It was so inspiring to watch all the runners come in. So at the last minute I signed up and ran it. It was a great course and the perfect weather. I ran with my sister-in-law Mandy and with Stacie. Mandy sped off at the end so she finished just before us. Here are some cute pictures taken of Amber and Parker while we were on our way to the finish.






Here is Matt after he finished his leg. He did great, and finished with the third pack. It technically wasn't a "race" but Matt enjoyed pushing himself to finish within an hour.





So if you read my Moab post, you know why I'm running in with Amber. She was devastated I didn't run to the finish with her in Moab, so we definitely ran in together on this one. It was a lot of fun, and she ran the whole way and didn't slow me down at all! It was a great race, and I felt great afterwords. I loved running with Stacie and Mandy, and the time flew by. I seriously want to do a race once a month to maintain the long distance runs. We finished around 2:02. I haven't checked my official time yet, but I know it's somewhere around there.


The Zoo

On Friday we were able to go to the zoo with my sister Carrie and her kids. It was fun to spend the day together. We bought a zoo pass this year, so I'm sure there will be several pictures of the zoo as the months go on.




This is Kiley. She is such a cutie, I had to add this picture. I didn't really get any good ones of the rest of her kids. They are super cute though.


Carrie has a picture of her kids doing this pose each year they go to the zoo to see how much they've grown. Thanks for the idea Carrie!



Amber actually took these pictures. Not bad, huh?



So on Thursday I was able to go with Mandy and her preschool to the living aquarium in Sandy. It was a blast, and totally worth it. Amber and Parker both loved it, and Parker would open his mouth really wide at each exhibit and point like "WHOA!"



Happy Birthday Skylor!!!

On April 9th Matt's sister Amy had a new little baby boy, Skylor. I was fortunate enough to be there for his birth. It was AMAZING! Thank you Amy for sharing that moment with me! I was truly honored to be there. I cried when he came out. It really is so amazing to hear their first little cry and see their little body. It's just amazing, that's all I can say! He is so cute and so far is really mellow! Congratulations Amy & Anthony, and big brother Issak! I get to watch Issak on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so he's my little buddy. It'll be fun to get to know Skylor more when Amy goes back to work and I get to watch him.






March 23rd
Happy Birthday Nate & Happy Easter




Here are a few pictures from our Easter. My parents had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday the 22nd. What total chaos, but what a blast. So many kids! It's so fun and I wouldn't want it any other way, but I'm sure all the kids could be heard from blocks away. Parker FREAKED out if we tried to take his candy away! Thankfully each child had 4 eggs each, so the candy amount was kept to a minimum. It's fun having kids at an age where they understand what's in store. They both were so excited to find eggs and loved opening them by themselves. I learned the hard way last year that buying too much candy is a HUGE mistake. This year, we bought one bag of jelly beans, one bag of chocolate eggs and 2 Reece's Pieces bunnies for us all to share. That was brilliant. No over eating on any ones part. I swear last year I bought one of each. We had bags and bags of candy. What a mistake. Guess who ends up eating most of it-ME. Easter was fun. It was strange to think what has happened in a year. Last Easter we had an Easter egg hunt in my parents yard. Joyce was there, feeling well and had cute little Jake. Her hair was growing, and it seemed all was well. We have a little footage we took of the hunt, so it's strange to think what can take place in one year. I'm so glad we have footage of her though for Jake. What a priceless memory!


Happy Birthday Nate! Can you believe these cakes my sister-in-law Katie made? I know Mandy & Chelsea can relate, but again I just don't know who has time to do these kinds of things! My kids are lucky to get a little Betty Crocker mix with pink/chocolate frosting. If they're really lucky, they may get a cupcake too.



Eric my brother had just returned from Mexico on business and brought back this "Luchadore" mask. He was able to go to an actual Luchadore event, what a blast I'm sure. Straight out of "Nacho Libre."







About a month ago or so, Parker found a little hair elastic of Amber's. He knew right where it was supposed to go. You can barely see it, but he placed it perfectly on his head.

Well, that's the past month in a nut shell. I bet I'm the only one who's read this whole post, but it's for my own benefit! Now that I'm done, I'll have to spend the next several days getting caught up on all of my friends & family. Boy have I missed out!