The Lake

We love the lake. A day on the water is high on our list of things we love to do. Now that Todd is home during the day, we took advantage of the middle of the week lull at the lake. Our kids love to get out and do the tube.

Until..... they took a nose dive!

He feels a need to showboat every time I drive!

The girls don't feel the need for speed like Shayne does, but they had no choice on this ride. We were trying to see which one of our girls could scream the loudest. To tell the truth, they were all screaming and Todd and I were laughing so hard it was too hard to pick a winner. Not nice, I know.

Shayne and I both learned to wakeboard this trip. Sorry no pictures to prove it. The photographer was either in the water or driving the boat. But our arms are sore today as proof! We had so much fun and can't wait to get out and do it all over again!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Oh, how we love dad!

He sure puts up with a lot around our house! Never in a million years would I have guessed that he'd become a pro at wiping tears, calming drama, dressing Polly's, doing the girls hair (ok well he's not quit at pro at this one, but he does try) playing catch while at the same time having a girl on each leg, watching repeated spontaneous "dance" shows, how he takes to time to teach Shayne the finer points of all sports, the encouragement he gives to Shayne to get moving with his scout advancements (that's a big one) and the list could go on...

He's always considered himself, a man's man, a sports nut, a tough talking dude.. but we all know and love the part of him that is a sucker for anything Emily asks for, the never-ending piggy back carrier down the stairs each morning, the big giant hugs that he gives each night, the guy who always tries to fix whats broken (before calling Grandpa to see how to really fix it), how much he loves to spend time with the kids, the fact that when I'm not looking he lets the kids have ice cream for breakfast (just as he did as a kid), the stomach he has for putting up with all my new "experimental" recipes and he eats with a smile! What a great guy!

We love EVERYTHING about Dad! So here's to you....

Ashley made this life size portrait of Todd. She spend hours working on this and was so excited to present it on father's day. Her hard work payed off... Todd loved it!

YIKES

Fast forward a few years (many years) The girls came downstairs tonight dressed in play wedding dresses! It kinda scared me silly! Yeah and Ashley's dress is a bit short! Todd said it's a good thing he's prepaying for the reception hall.... ya know tithing. His theory is he's been paying tithing, so a culture hall reception should do. Too bad for him that he's out numbered and the girls will get to choose! Seriously...enough of that talk!

SUMMER!

Last week we headed back up to Prescott with my friend Allison and her kids for a few days.

As always the bikes were in big demand. Not much beats the freedom of the woods on a bike. Megan and her friend Grace explored all over.

How cool do these two 11 year old boys look? I guess when there's only girl bikes to choose from.... they had these two little girl bikes doing power-slides and jumps and even took them down the side of the mountain. Only boys! The best story though.. the boys decided to go for a ride and after 45 mins or so we decided that they must be lost. So Allison and I took off in the golf cart and car trying to track them down. I came across a women who was hiking and asked "if she'd seen two boys on girl bikes riding around?" She asked how old the boys were. When I said 11, she wasn't sure if she should laugh about boys that age on girl bikes or be really concerned that they might be lost. No worries though.. we found them a few minutes later ride along a dirt road heading back to the cabin. They were quit the sight!


Glow sticks! Who doesn't love those??

Now this is the life! Emily sitting outside with her gameboy



It's always fun to go with great friends!

Oh how we love the pines...

I love the mountains... It's hard to beat the smell of fresh pines! This weekend we headed north to Prescott for a long weekend. Todd's family has a cabin outside of Prescott that our kids love to go to. It has a little steam, (that actually had water in it this time) that the kids love to play in.
I had so much fun watching the kids play in their "fort" that is right across from the cabin, connected to the stream. They love to play in there and spend most of their time hidden away having fun. As much as I love the mountains, I love even more that all of our attention is focused on playing outdoors.
The girls loved playing badminton. Most of our time was spent playing baseball, seeing who could hit ball the farthest down the road. Megan became quit the baseball player.

Shayne kept busy, using his Scouting skills. We brought him a new knife from Italy that he put to good use. He whittled his way thru several branches! We keep our golf-cart at the cabin so the kids love to take rides.. this weekend we wish we had warmer clothes with us! We had soooo much fun, frozen fingers and all!!

Schools out for the summer....

I can hardly believe it's summer time! Typically when we think of an Arizona summer, we think of sunny & hot. Well, mother nature treated us to a great first day of summer break! RAIN and WIND! So what do you do when it's raining outside??

Soccer at the park with friends

Rain clothes??? What's that?

Who needs a slip-n-slide when we have a tramp out back?

And the winner for being the most soaked goes to.....

EMILY (surprise surprise)

You'll notice that Ashley isn't in around for any pictures.. she spent her first day of break at a friends house, far away from the rain. Soon the rain will be gone and the heat will rule, but for now we are livin it up while we can!

Just say it isn't so...

Today was a bitter sweet day, my little Emily is officially done with preschool. (She's here with her bestest friend, Audrey) That means I'm done with yet another stage of life. Where does the time go?? I can remember like it was yesterday, wishing my kids would just sleep thru the night, then it was if they would just entertain themselves for a few minutes. Now...I sit here in the silence hearing in the distance my children just doing those things that I once wished for. I just want to halt the growth, freeze the time, beg for another day of them needing me...

I remember holding Emily as a newborn, both of us crying for hours on end. I wanted so badly for it to end. I wanted her to get bigger and stop crying. I remember my Grandma telling me "just try to enjoy it, this time will end too soon." I thought yeah right! Now look, she was right. I wish I would have sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the ride a little more instead of wish for the next stage in life. I guess the saying is true...Time is slow when living in it, but way to fast when looking back upon it.

So today a bid farewell to preschool forever... another one of my babies, spreading her wings, ready to fly.