Oh a swimming we will go......and go...........and go....

This summer we enrolled Carter, Walker and Kennedy in swim lessons. A lady in our ward was teaching the lessons and we thought what the heck even if they wound up not learning anything at least it would give them something fun to do. They had lessons Tuesday - Thursday June and July 45 minutes each class. I was so impressed at the progress they all three made in the short time!



Carter can swim now...he is not a strong swimmer but he has the basic concepts and tries to do it. He has pretty good form for diving too!



Walker is not as terrified of the water as he was and he tries to swim but he will still need more practice....but the concepts are there to now work with at least.



Walker was so funny EVERY time his teacher would tell him to hold his breath he would puff his cheeks out like a frog the whole time. It was so exaggerated looking he cracks me up!!








Kennedy last year would not even go in the pool area now she is just loving it. She is still timid but she enjoys the water and she also has the basic concepts that we can work on.




I am glad we were able to do this even though day after day of sitting out in the heat was draining and it seemed like I got nothing done most of the time. Thanks to Jaime we are on our way so that next year maybe all of the kids will be able to swim!! Thanks Jaime for putting up with my ornery wild children!!

Father's Day 2009

So a few years ago while Visiting Teaching a friend of mine in my old ward she showed me the cutest idea her Daughter in law had done for Father's day. I have wanted to recreate it ever since and this year as I was browsing other blogs and saw other people doing it for Fathers Day too I knew this was the year to finally do it. So I made the signs up while Rob was sleeping and hid them in my purse (thank goodness for a big purse) then the next day I got the kids gathered and told them we were taking pictures because we have so many empty walls in our house and I wanted more of their pictures on my walls which was in part the truth! We drove around for a lil while looking for a good spot and as I drove I told the kids what we were really doing and they were so very excited!! I reminded them it was a surprise for Dad and not to tell him when we got home. I had waited till the last minute because they can't keep a secret but I am happy to say that this year they kept it for the whole 2 days leading up to Father's Day!! So I got the pics I wanted then put them in the following order in one long black 6 opening collage frame!








Rob really liked it and thought the idea of it was really fun and cool. I am so lucky to have him as a husband and the father of my kiddos. He is a great Dad and a great example to the boys. We love you Daddy!!!!

Lil Tumbling Girl

Kennedy started doing Gymnastics a few months back and LOVES it!! We are lucky enough that a gal in our ward was a gymnist and now teaches classes from her home.

Here she is doing her back bends/bridges.



Learning the placement on how to do cartwheels.



Kenna likes the balance beam work alot! She likes baby crawls on the beam and bunny hops on the beam!



She likes just the regular walking on the beam too! Overall she enjoys the beam.



One of her favorite things is the CHALK!



She loads up her hands of chalk to get ready for the bar work!



She plays with it too!!

Here she is on the bars. Her teacher has to do most of the work for her still but she thinks it is so fun.




She enjoys the tumbling part maybe the most but all the pictures I took were too blurry. I am glad she enjoys it all so much.

Look at me, me, me,.... I'm three,three, three.................

Hard to beleive that it has been three years since Kennedy was born and came to join our family. April 6th 2006 was a wonderful day!! I always knew I would enjoy finally having my lil girl to play with and dress up and enjoy I just never knew how much fun it would actually be!! She is such a delight and sweet addition to our family. She brings out a side in the boys that is so sweet to witness and no it isn't all the time they all still have their moments but over all her sweet caring spirit is a blessing in our home.





She has changed a bit since birth. She has gone from a brown haired darker skinned baby than what we were use to, to a glowing white sandy blond haired baby that is totally what we are use to!!





For her birthday this year we had to do somthing that she wanted to do so of course we ended up at the Build-A-Bear Factory. When all the fun was over then we went to Dairy Queen right next door. My mom and dad had came to enjoy the fun. I don't know if I can honestly say my dad had fun but my mom did. My dad enjoyed the icecream at least!



We had to pose for pictures first. Kenna is a total ham she LOVES to have her picture taken and she loves to look at pictures of herself!!! She was sportin her pink tutu with her blingin "Birthday Princess" tank, cupcake necklace and cupcake purse!






She picked out a pink monkey with hearts on it. She named her Strawberry Cupcake! She has recently fell in love with strawberries and she was happy to have birthday cupcakes. Walker got a Zebra he named "Zippy Zebra". He is into rhyming right now and thought that rhymed..ummm...yeah... we had to tell him they only have the same first letter!LOL He trys. Carter got a scotty dog that he named Rhino. Cooper decided he was to big for a stuffed animal so he gladly helped Walker. I think he secretly wanted one too but was being a "Big Boy". Tanner just went around helping out with which ever sibling needed his help. He is a great helper to me almost all the time. We all had an enjoyable time!

On a side note we had been working on this whole potty training thing but she hasn't figured it quite out yet........

EASTER

We had a nice Easter this year. We got the kids sand buckets for baskets so they could use the buckets and toys at the totlot across the street when we go over there to play. My friend Vicki had said that that was what they always do for thier kiddos and I thought it was a great idea! We had a nice sacrament service at Church then we went home early....everyone did actually. There was not enough people there to teach classes so we went home to enjoy the day with our family. I hadn't seen our ward so small before. After some last minute location changes we wound up having my parents over for Easter dinner. It was nice to be able to enjoy the day and remember the true meaning of Easter and the blessings and love our Savior has for each and everyone of us.

Start your engines..............

Well in March Cooper participated in his last Pinewood Derby Car race! When it rolls around for next spring he will be in 11 year old scouts and Carter will be having his first Pinewood Derby experience. He was all into making his car and loving all of that process but when racing time began he wouldn't race. He is so weird about having attention drawn to him he stood in the back of the cultural hall. I put his car up and raced it any ways after he won the first race he inched his way over to watch. After he won another then he put his car up on the platform himself to race whenever it was his turn. He didn't get second place like last year he got either 4th or 5th. I am happy he participated!!



We had Pack Meeting immediately following the races and he was thrilled with his awards he had earned!


Kennedy and Walker entertained themselves by watching the races and crawling under the chairs. Kenna also was seeing how close she could get to the rope without getting in trouble for going under it!! LOL

YUMMM!!

I noticed a sign today in the window of a store we were driving pass in a new lil plaza/strip mall and wondered what was going in and I could not beleive my eyes.....my heart skipped a beat even.....




http://www.costavida.net/locations/az.html

This will be just down the road and around the corner from us like 10 minutes away!! Now we can have a delious sweet pork salad quickly for dinner when I don't have the time to make it for us!! So now when the menu at our house says Costa Vida night it could mean we will be getting it for take out instead of homemade!! Every day I think I like it out here in the good ol Q.C. more and more!!

CELLPHONES vs. SCRIPTURES

So I saw this awhile back and it made me really think..........


Cellphones vs. Scriptures


I wonder what would happen if we treated our Scriptures like we treat our cell phones?

What if we carried them around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to get them if we forgot them?
What if we flipped through them several times a day?
What if we used them to receive messages?
What if we treated them like we couldn't live without them?
What if we gave them to kids as gifts?
What if we used them as we traveled?
What if we used them in case of an emergency?
This is something to make you go hmm... where are my Scriptures?

Just a thought................an Inspiring thought...........

Here is a thought I ran across while getting my Sharing Time pulled together for Sunday.

"I wonder if having unplanned and infrequent family home evenings will be enough to fortify ourselves and our children with sufficient moral strength to meet the complexities of our day. Infrequent family scripture study may be inadequate to arm ourselves and our children with the virtue necessary to withstand the moral decay of the environment in which we live.

Where in the world will we learn chastity, integrity, honesty, and basic human decency if not at home? These values will, of course, be reinforced at church, but teaching them in family home evening can be particularly consistent and effective. To combat the world's evil influences, we need the strength that comes from family home evening. . . .
"If we go forward with our family home evenings, our homes will be enriched, our wards and branches will grow and prosper, our lives will be purified, and the gates of hell will not prevail against us."

-Elder James E Faust

Wise words from a very wise man.

The House.....................

Well we finally bought a house and it closed back in the beginning of October. We looked for about a month at different houses in our subdivision. We were only looking for foreclosed homes that would be a good deal. Well pounding the pavement with our wonderful realtor Beckie it finally paid off and we got what we feel is a GREAT deal!!! Remember I mentioned that when we started looking at homes one of the homes we looked at they(the bank) came back and said the price was listed wrong well that is the house we got. We have been doing some work on it. It only needed new flooring and new paint on the inside. We also are converting the open den into a office with doors and the nook/loft upstairs into a bedroom for Kenna.

This is the view from our driveway. That is a Tot lot and grassy play area right across the street!!!!!


Here is the Tot lot!


We also have been blessed that we are surrounded with AWESOME neighbors!!! I didn't think that was possible since we were lucky enough in Mesa to have great neighbors. I am so excited for the work to be finished up in the next few weeks so we can start moving in soon!!!! I still have some painting to finish and the flooring was just finished being laid in the bathrooms upstairs today and the carpet order will be here in about 2 weeks. I will post some before and after pictures when all is said and done and give more details too!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

New Years Eve ...............a few weeks late..............

So the last couple of New Years Eve's we have been low key and our kids have been sick each time. This year Tanner wanted to have a party with his friends at the house. So we said sure. He found out that there was a Stake Dance so he asked if he could go to that instead and have his party over the weekend. Yeah sure. So he got rides figured out and Rob was the lucky parent to go pick up everyone when it was over. So we planned on just hanging out at home with the lil ones and veggin. Well my friend Candace called that afternoon and she was last minute calling anyone without plans for an impromptu get together and it was for the family. So we said OK. It wound up that only one other couple could make it. Sadly everyone else must be pretty popular they all had plans! So we spent a GREAT evening hanging out chit chatting, eating and setting off fireworks. The ages of all the boys was great everyone had a friend or two to play with. Kenna was the only girl and she didn't care. Thanks Candace and Beth for an enjoyable evening!!! Forgot to take pictures.

So Tanner had his party and I remembered to use my new camera to take pictures.

He moved the furniture around kinda creatively and set up his projector and put a sheet up over the back door to shine it on and the kids played Rock Band and then watched a movie.

We went low key for the food set up as I have been so busy lately. We just order some good ol Barros pizzas and wings and had a vege. tray with chips & dips. A cookie tray and a big bowl of candy. Round it off with sodas and Martinelli's and it is all good!


Tanner only invited a handfull of kids and they all came. YEAH!!! He has made some really good friendships with some really great kids since moving here. I am so glad that we have so many youth in our ward and our neighborhood that he can hang out with anytime.

The Girls

The Boys