Six in the Sun

Sights

2011-02-15T19:17:00.003-07:00

Jeff's mom came to visit and we went for a drive.
(Nicholas beat Jeff in a rock throwing contest)

And, yes, we do have mountains

You can't see them in this picture, but we saw 2 bald eagles on our way back. They were flying at first, then were in this tree eating. We could see them real good through the binoculars. It was genious!

Samantha's Birthday

2011-02-15T19:02:00.003-07:00

She loves school and wanted a cake that had something to do with school, so she got a pencil.

I was trying to get her reaction to her presents

She got this lovely vanity with a lot of clothes. What more would a girl want!

The bad part was one of the new brushes she got. She was trying to brush her hair with the round brush, and oops, it got caught in her hair.

She was very patient as Jeff and I tried to get it untangled. We were so worried we would have to cut her hair. Instead, we came up with the idea to cut the teeth off the brush instead (Jeff only got a chunk of her hair once). We did it.

So, it was a happy ending and she still loves all her birthday stuff.

New Year's

2011-01-01T20:43:00.002-07:00

For New Year's Eve, the boys payed Wii,
We ate A LOT,

We opened our "crackers,"

They really were having more fun than they look, and we watched the ball drop.

Nicholas went to a Stake dance then to a friends for breakfast. Those were the days--Jeff and I feel so old having kids stay out until 2:30 am and we were ready for bed at 10 pm. Happy 1-1-11.

Birthday Boy

2011-01-01T20:34:00.005-07:00

From one mess of opening presents, to the next. Here is our birthday boy.
He loves teasing me that he is now a teenager. He wanted a three flavored neopolitan cake. It took a while to make, but here it is. It is really tall. (and he wanted me to add he is growing taller too, 5'1")

Happy Birthday Derek! We sure love our little Christmas boy (elf).

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T20:14:00.007-07:00

Making gingerbread houses.

Her's kind of collapsed.

Kade's was all frosting.

Derek's was a masterpiece with a tree and everything.

This was before Santa came. It was nice to just sit with the tree lights and watch the train and enjoy.

This was one house on our drive to look at lights.

New pajamas on Christmas Eve.

The big day!

With all that stuff, and this is where we find them...playing video games (ok, so it was a new one)

Samantha was putting on new makeup.

Thanksgiving and other stuff

2010-12-01T17:26:00.003-07:00

Thanksgiving was a great success! We now have all our Christmas stuff up and counting down.

I didn't take pictures of Nicholas' and Derek's fingers. Nicholas broke his first and there was a possibility of surgery. But, thank goodness no. Then Derek broke his and we just babied it. They are out playing ball again every night, so they must be ok.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T19:06:00.003-07:00

Guess Who! We were trying to be original.
Our ward did trunk or treat on Saturday and then we didn't turn on our front lights Sunday, so no one came to the door.

She's suppose to be Hannah Montana, but not the best wig.

2010-10-11T19:05:00.002-07:00

This is just to show that I don't feed our kids at all. Poor Nicholas has to take everybody else's plate and lick them clean.

And yes, Kade did it AGAIN! We treated his sunburn right off, so it came close to blistering but peeled a lot. Hopefully three times in one summer will teach him a lesson.

School Sports

2010-10-11T18:54:00.002-07:00

Ok, so you can't tell who they are, but these are some good pictures of Nicholas swimming.

And Derek playing soccer

There he is, #14

They keep us busy

Birthday Boy

2010-09-06T15:06:00.003-07:00

He's pretty happy with his birthday. He loves guns (as he has gotten some kind of gun every year) This year was the air soft gun and, yes, another Nerf gun!
Like we don't have enough of these already.

And a cookie cake.

It looks like only 2 candles, but they are side by side for 11, and they sing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADE

Back to School

2010-08-09T19:42:00.002-07:00

I don't think he wanted to go. He wouldn't smile. (But he had a great day)
Samantha, on the other hand, was so excited.

Derek was just his goofy self and his homeroom teacher likes the Steelers, so of course, he had to wear his jersey the first day.

And our freshman--scary. He was fine. The hard part is going to be swim team.

I just know that when they came home, the noise was driving me crazy! I am just so proud of all of them.

Summer Fun

2010-07-25T19:45:00.006-07:00

We've tried to have some fun this summer. The kids decided to have a campout in the backyard. We made smores over the bbq.

Surprisingly, they stayed in the tent all night.

Jeff's birthday, but since he doesn't like cake, his candles were in his ice cream.

Here is our 8 year old going on 16. She decided to take over the bathroom with all her make-up. Don't worry, she still can't wear it out of the house.

And, Sea World

This is under the killer whale, if you can see it.

These were some acrabats on poles. They were good. There are a lot of Sea World, but I didn't want to put them all.

The highlight was probably the roller coaster ride for the kids. Nicholas is the only one that has ever been on a roller coaster before. They loved it!

And the beach was awesome.

Jeff's highlight was seeing this air craft carrier come into port.

School starts in 2 weeks. Hopefully the kids are all partied out.

You can tell school's out when....

2010-05-28T19:39:00.003-07:00

So, after strict instructions to not call me every 10 minutes just to say someone was bothering them, they only called me 3 or 4 times and Jeff twice. And, all afternoon I don't hear from them and think Jeff got home early. Well, not the case. You can tell school is out when you find this...

and this, including the poor boy that is going to be hurting big time from using sunscreen while his shirt was still on

and this,

and this (after effects of a Nerf gun war)

and my favorite was this gift I found on the porch. "I love you Derek Austill. Will you marry me? From your secret admirerer." But then she gave her name.

I told him not to date until 16!

Birthday Boy

2010-05-28T19:16:00.004-07:00

14 Wow! And he starts to dress up for occasions like this! He wanted an ice cream cake, so needless to say, I didn't make it.

He actually opened his presents a couple of days early

(What a mistake we made giving him a Touch)

He had 8th grade Promotion the night of his birthday. Here he is and Jeff yelled out happy birthday to him, but he didn't hear. Darn, we wanted to embarass him.

He was the second one to walk in.

They started this cool 8th grade wall. His is the bottom one with the sports ball face.

And here he is with most of the guys he hangs out with. They are a good bunch of kids.

Baby Steps

2010-05-23T16:19:00.008-07:00

First we started with a lot of weeds. This is just a small pile of them. We had this whole side of the back in dried up weeds.

This was last year after clearing out the weeds.

Then Jeff put a nice border of tiles and we tried planting grass. It didn't work.

And, believe it or not, we had a lot of rain this winter and it kept flooding. Even to the point we couldn't get to the garbage cans.

So, this year, Jeff and the boys layed sod.

Then, yesterday we had a lot of helpers come to "rock on."

And, yes, some got dumped in the pool.

Oh, and our tile paver path. It all looks great!

And, here is our garden with our lovely path and those are tomato plants that are taking over. We have eaten several zucchini already.

BASEBALL

2010-05-02T17:18:00.003-07:00

Kade's school class got free tickets to a Diamondback's baseball game. We jumped at the chance to go.
Ok, so Samantha and Kade got a little bored, when they weren't eating something.

The roof slides back and the sides of the building twist, so it was completely open. It's a pretty neat place.

They lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, but oh well. It was fun.

Sunday Drive

2010-05-02T16:14:00.005-07:00

Last Sunday we decided to go for a Sunday drive. While we were enjoying nature, we had Derek
and Nicholas do our family home evening.

We found snow!

The boys, well Jeff, started a snowball fight.

We came across this pretty lake.

Jeff fed the squirrels right out of his hand.

I took this picture because I was trying to get Jeff to hold up his finger. He cut him with a butter knife, but he didn't want to show it. Strong butter knife!

We had a nice little picnic and just enjoyed the scenery.

Spring Break

2010-04-04T09:47:00.003-07:00

The kids were couch potatoes. We didn't do anything for Spring Break. Jeff got real sick and I was at work, so this is the extent of it.

We did get our garden planted the next weekend; and, so far, they have had a good Easter.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T09:39:00.002-07:00

Easter

2010-04-04T09:34:00.002-07:00

They didn't last long. The kids enjoy peeling and eating them as much as coloring them.

Derek had another idea. He tried a science experiment.

It didn't quite turn out though, so he ate it.

Coloring Eggs

2010-04-04T09:19:00.006-07:00

Baptism Day

2010-02-26T21:30:00.007-07:00

Ok, so none of the pictures in her dress turned out. She is totally standing in the sun the wrong way here. Then after we walked out of the church, she was too cold.

At least this one with Jeff and at the church turned out good.

And, we are very grateful for all the family that took the time out of their schedules to come. Even though you can't see everyone in the picture (or tell who anyone is) we tried.

It was a great day! I hope Samantha thinks it was.

XLIV

2010-02-07T17:47:00.002-07:00

Yes, it's that time again. As we prepare as much food for the Superbowl as we do for Thanksgiving.

And, the jiggler helmet colors didn't quite turn out (it was supposed to be gold) but we don't care because we are going for the Colts.

The competition begins!

The biggest Colts fan!

And, the food...

Cinderella

2010-01-31T17:12:00.004-07:00

What mean parents we are. Jeff and I were kind of laughing because Samantha had her Cinderella dress-up on and I had her clean the bathroom. It just seemed too ironic. So, I had to get a picture.

How cruel we are to make her work so hard!

It was kind of funny

Happy Birthday

2010-01-31T16:58:00.002-07:00

8 years old Wow, my baby is 8! She had a good day.

She got to take treats to school (which the boys don't because their birthdays usually fall on a holiday or when school is out, they were jealous)

She got a new bike, some dress-up gloves and lip gloss, of course lip gloss. She is all girl. Oh, and some earings.

She wanted a cheesecake with skittles (??) Since I didn't have room to write her name, it still worked out ok.

Happy Birthday Samantha, we love you and look forward to family coming for your baptism.

Preparing . . .

2010-01-24T16:50:00.002-07:00

. . . for Superbowl food! Jeff had to try out some new recipes today. He made chilli and was real proud of it. He also made a 7-layer dip, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Then, he had the boys make sugar cookies. These are not my recipes, Jeff found new ones that he likes, so he did all the cooking today. He was pretty proud of himself and I loved it that I didn't have to cook. But, Superbowl, here we come

Pinewood Derby

2010-01-24T16:43:00.002-07:00

Jeff's 9th and final pinewood derby! And, it didn't do too good. Jeff was a little rushed with getting it made (I mean Kade was...)

You can see it here in the middle lane, it was quite unique.

The Sneakster!

And Off Again

2010-01-24T16:30:00.005-07:00

Nicholas finally got his braces off FOREVER! And, you can't even see his retainer because it is a clear plastic thing. The bad thing with the retainer is he can't wear it when he eats, and that is pretty much all the time these days.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T19:31:00.003-07:00

2010 Eve--we played Wii,

We ate chips, dip, crackers, vegies, banana splits.

2010-01-01T19:26:00.003-07:00

We opened our "crackers"

At midnight we had to give someone a kiss, but the kids decided to go for a group hug. Samantha is in there somewhere.

Derek's Birthday

2009-12-27T17:25:00.002-07:00

12! Wow! He got a new suit to look nice while passing the sacrament, but his favorite was the jersey. Steelers #43.
(See Stewart, it's not all over--there's more)

And, yes, we ran out of matches, so Jeff was creative. Luckily it didn't melt the ice cream cake.

Only 363 days until Christmas.

2009-12-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Grandma Bridge made quilts for everyone and they got sheets to match. Some tired kids

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T16:57:00.008-07:00

I think everyone was happy. Lots of sports stuff, nerf guns, and a tea set.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-27T16:45:00.004-07:00

Opening one present--

Surprise! Pajamas!

Derek taught Samantha how to play Jolly Old St. Nicholas on the piano and he played with her.

Nicholas and Derek played Silent Night.

Jeff read a couple of stories and we sang songs. Then it was time for bed. The kids all tried to sleep in one room. They fell asleep fast, but it only lasted until about 12:30 am. Then they all needed to go to the bathroom, then about 2 am, Nicholas couldn't sleep, so he had to go back to his own bed. The other kids woke him up just before 7 am.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2009-12-27T16:31:00.003-07:00

Nana Austill came to spend the holidays with us this year. She brought a beautiful Christmas dress for Samantha and the boys all wore Christmas ties. I also tried to get all the presents under the tree, but you can't see them very well. We had a lot.

The primary kids sang at our ward Christmas party. Kade is sitting with the santa hat and Samanta was being shy for some reason and wouldn't go up.

Then one day all the kids made gingerbread houses.

They had a great time.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T17:41:00.005-07:00

Another great Thanksgiving!

Nicholas was trying to keep up with Jeff.

You decide...

A Season of Concerts

2009-11-29T16:52:00.004-07:00

This is Kade, the small guy in the middle, getting ready for his orchestra concert. I forgot my camera, so we only have this one from Jeff's phone. He really liked doing the concert, but orchestra was before school and he didn't like going early, so he quit after this.

If I can find him an after school class, or lessons, I think he'll pick it up again. He was proud of himself.

Nicholas was in honors band. They had to try out and only chose a few from each school.

They invite a guest conductor and have an all middle school, one day event of practice and then a concert that night.

It was quite good.

The bad thing is, he didn't feel good at all that day, but we knew he had to go. Now he has been chosen by his teacher (two to the right of him) out of all the band students at his school to go to All-State in the Spring.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T11:28:00.003-07:00

Happy Halloween!
First we had trunk or treat with our ward last week and got a lot of candy.
This year was a little bit different. For the first time we let the boys go with their friends. A sign of age for Jeff and me. Then Jeff and I took turns taking Samantha out. I love that we don't have to wear our warm winter coats. We had a cold front earlier in the week, but we didn't even need jackets. Most people just sit in their yards and wait for the kids to come by. Many homes in our neighborhood did spook alleys or decorated their yards, and a couple of block parties. A lot of people were out. We didn't have many at our house though. We had a black light on the porch, so they must have thought we weren't home. Anyway, Kade was scream.
Samantha was Cinderella. It was nice to take her because everyone was so nice and gave her two or three pieces since she was so cute and alone.

Derek just had a shirt that said "My sister is scary enough"

Out stake had a young adult fireside, so Nicholas and his friends went out for about 30 minutes before and then another hour after. He decided to be a missionary since he had to be in Sunday clothes anyway. He had a lot of fun just hanging out with a group of kids. It was a nice Halloween.

Crying

2009-10-16T18:51:00.004-07:00

For the first time in our marriage (I think anyway) I made my husband cry. I was going to get my hair trimmed and Samantha wanted to go with me. So, we cut her hair. She donated it again, so you see her holding the 10 inches and then about another 2 inches to make it look nice.

It is actually quite cute. It goes just to her shoulders and she likes me to flip it up a little. She loves it. Jeff on the other hand doesn't like it so much. I warned him before we left, but he really had a hard time when he saw her. It will grow back and we will get it in good condition before she starts swimming again. Did I mention it was 100 degrees today?

2009-09-26T15:31:00.004-07:00

It has been a crazy month. Kids have been so busy with school. I have been working a temperary job. It is all day every day and about a 30 mile commute. Mornings are early with getting kids to orchestra and soccer practice, then getting the other two ready for school, then rushing out the door to work. Which leaves Jeff to do the afternoons. He has had to run kids to dentist appointments and tries to hit all the soccer games. Then we rush to have dinner and get boys to scouts or other school events and Jeff and I are exhausted.
Anyway, I'm out in the country and took these next couple of pictures outside my work window. Lots of wild rabbits, squirrels. I haven't seen any road runners or snakes yet, but they say they are quite common.

There is a golf course right behind too and the other day we could hear the coyotes howling. There were three of them out there. This isn't a good picture. They were much closer than this looks. We have had a coyote wander along this back patio more than once since I have been out there.

Here is Nicholas playing soccer. His team is in the purple. He has done really good (from what I hear, I haven't seen him play)
Nicholas is right in front here.

And they won for the first time on Thursday. They have lost all the other 7. And Jeff missed it.

Oh, and did I mention we are still getting to 100 degrees. The mornings have been nice, about 80. We are supposed to cool down this next week to only a high of 90.

RAIN!

2009-09-06T17:19:00.004-07:00

We woke up Saturday to a nice thunder storm.
It was remnants from the hurricane that went through Mexico.

The parks flood, on purpose, when we have rain.

So, the kids went out to play in it.

They had a nice football game going with some other boys in our ward.

Birthday Boy

2009-09-03T19:07:00.005-07:00

Kade is 10

I couldn't get the pictures in the right order, but he got this cool robot and nice MP3 (not apple brand) but it is way nice.

He wanted a Star Wars cake. These are supposed to be the good and bad guys fighting each other. Notice the dead one. Kade decorated it himself.

My happy family!

Summer's Over

2009-08-10T09:10:00.005-07:00

First day of school, yeah!

They're holding up their fingers to show what grade they are in, 2-4-6-8.

A sad moment

2009-07-26T18:50:00.003-07:00

Here you see Jeff digging a small whole to bury our "pet."

French Fry, our pet scorpion, died.

Not for lack of crickets.

Kade was the saddest and so we had a funeral after church and he got to put a handful of dirt on him.

Good-bye French Fry (notice my sarcasm, I don't consider a scorpion a pet)

Trip to Utah

2009-07-22T11:49:00.005-07:00

We made our annual trip to Utah last week. It didn't start off too good. We were all piled in the van, and it wouldn't start. So, after a couple of tries, it started and we drove straight to buy a new battery. We drove all night to get there, which we will never do again. It was pretty rough on Jeff with the rest of us sleeping.

Then the day we got there Jeff's family had a campout at a place called Currant Creek up past Strawberry. But first, Jeff and I slept for about 3 hours, then had to get up to go. As we go outside, the van has a flat tire. So, needless to say, we were a little slow getting to the campsite. The road to get in was very rough and rocky. We were worried about our van, but it made it. And the boys were so tired, they fell asleep, even through all the bumps.

Then as the guys were setting up the tents, it rained on us. Not all the tents had all the parts, but everyone had a place to sleep.
The kids had a lot of fun just being with their cousins.

The lake was nearby and the kids loved the kayaks.

The rest of the trip was visiting family and Jeff helped his mom around her house quite a bit. This is just a nice evening outside, chillin at Nana's house.

The weather was great! We really enjoyed the evenings since it was 116 degrees the day we left Arizona.

Then, coming home, we had car trouble again. About 150 miles outside Phoenix, our air conditioner went out. We were rather hot for quite some time. After a while, it started to smell and then make a terrible noise. (we blew the compressor, or something, which got so hot it melted something next to it and had pieces of metal all inside). A rather expensive trip.

It's always nice to go, but it's always nice to come home too.

4th Celebration

2009-07-05T11:22:00.005-07:00

Happy 4th of July! Jeff was very patriotic and decorated the house with flags.

Then some neighbors down the street coordinated a parade for kids to decorate and ride their bikes around the neighborhood, but I couldn't get my boys to do that. Instead they joined in on the neighborhood water fight.
What a way to cool off when it was about 100 at 9 am.

And, in the end, they even got Jeff.

Later in the day we had some people over for a bbq and swimming, but, dummy me, I didn't take any pictures. Use your imagination (hamburgers, hot dogs, kids swimming, you get the idea)

And, yea Arizona for all the fun fireworks we can light (that's a joke) we can't even have sparklers. So, this was our excitement, "grow" worms and

pop its. Woo-hoo!

We did end the day with going to watch fireworks. They were good, they actually started on time, we saw a wild rabbit run by, and again it was about 100 degrees.

Happy Birthday to Mom today. We will see you in a week!

Day Trips

2009-06-28T12:31:00.017-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff needed to go to Show Low for work. He goes to all the Home Depots in his region to ckeck on the Tuff Sheds that are on display at the Home Depots. Show Low is a couple of hours East of here in pine forest, so we made a day trip of it with the kids. These are pictures of a very large canyon that we drove through.

Yes, we actually drove down to the bottom of this. You can kind of see the road.

Then we stopped to take some pictures.

Pictures don't quite give the actual view, but it was a huge, deep canyon.

I don't have any pictures of Show Low. Not much to see there, I guess, but it was a lot cooler there.

---

Then this past Friday we went to Yuma. For the same reason, to check out the Home Depot there. It was hot! Yuma is in the other direction--3 hours West of here and right on the border of California, again Jeff took all of us for another day trip. Then, in a moment of craziness that we are not able to satisfactorily explain, we decided, what the heck, we are halfway there already, let's keep going west and hit the beach in San Diego. Yep, no clothes, no plans, no idea how to get there and no change of underwear, just like that, our day trip turned into a 2 day trip.

These are the sand dunes just outside of Yuma. This is like the sandy desert you see in movies with the camels out in the middle of no where.

Derek and I were fascinated with the fact that you could see the actual Mexican border fence. It's the dark line at the end of the sand here. We followed it most of the way into San Diego.

We had to go through two border patrol check stations both going and coming.

Remember, this was a last minute decision. We had no towels for the beach, no change of clothes, nothing to go that far. So, just outside of San Diego, we stopped at a Walmart and bought towels, sunscreen and a swimsuit for Jeff because he had long pants. Anyway, the lady at Walmart was just making conversation and could tell we were either going swimming or to the beach. So we asked her which beach would be the best and how to get there. She suggested two places, but the one was easiest just to stay on the main highway and just keep driving until you can't any more.

Here we are at the beach. We made it. This is a great picture.

I must admit though, I was freezing. I had to wrap the towels around me to keep warm.

It was very relaxing.

Jeff and the kids were wet, sandy and very cold.
As we were driving in, we passed "hotel circle." So, we just went back to that and found us a hotel. I should have gotten a picture of that, but I didn't think about it. It was a nice hotel. Other than we didn't get the a/c turned on until about midnight. Partly because the kids were so cold and we didn't try to figure it out until no one could sleep. Jeff and I had a hard time sleeping on the pull out bed. We have bruises from the springs poking out. We chose that bed because it was seperated from the other beds by a sliding door, so we thought it might be best since we were all either sleeping in our underwear or our same clothes that we had worn and got wet in the ocean.

Anyway, the next morning we had decided to just go see the beach one more time (not get wet or anything, but just to see it again). I suggested we go see the other one that the lady at Walmart suggested. It is Coronado. We didn't realize it is an island. So this is a picture of the big bridge we drove over (not a picture of a taxi). It is very, very high, it has to be for large ships to go under it.

This is from the bridge looking back toward San Diego.

Jeff and the boys were fascinated with the air craft carriers and all the boats in the harbor.

This is looking toward the island.

This is a small beach on the island. In the center of the picture the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is facing us, there were also quite a few other navy ships in port, the boys were very impressed. The island was beautiful. I wish I would have gotten pictures of all the little shops and things. It was very pretty and nice.

Again, a picture of a big boat. I let Derek and Nicholas take a couple of pictures.

This is just looking across the bay. It really isn't as far as this picture makes it look.

Here we are on the dock (dirty, 2-day-old smelly clothes and all)

Then we decided we better head back over that bridge (in the background) back to real life in Gilbert. It was a great trip!

Samantha's Shiner

2009-06-13T11:11:00.002-07:00

This is what she gets for trying to wrestle with her brothers.

2009-06-10T10:13:00.004-07:00

Trying to kill the summer boredom

This is 3d sidewalk chalk

It lasted about, umm 30 minutes,

but they still had fun.

Off again, and

2009-06-04T15:17:00.006-07:00

In February, Nicholas got his braces off! He was so excited. He had gotten them on the day before his birthday two years ago when we lived in California. That is after having them for a few months when he was in second grade. They look good, but...
On Again,

it was temporary. Since moving here, the orthodontist was having a hard time working with someone elses appliances. So, he gave Nicholas a break for a couple of months and they are back on.
It should only be for about 6 months though.

It's Official

2009-05-23T11:39:00.005-07:00

Well, almost official. Nicholas is a TEENAGER! How scary for Jeff and me! We celebrated his birthday a couple of days early because he is leaving for a week long scout camp the day of his birthday.

Michele's friend and mine--Sister Costco--makes great cakes!

He is sticking with the trumpet, so he got his very own, plus some books...

and this robotic thing. Here it is in the making.

and the finished product. Jeff named him MOV-E because it moves with a remote control and has a camera to make movies. He can steer it from another room because the camera connects wireless to a tv or computer and he can see where it is going and control it.

It has a long claw to grab at things, or people.

Schoools out . . .

2009-05-20T14:39:00.006-07:00

The burning of the agendas. They get their agendas, or calendars, at the beginning of each year from 3rd grade on up.

So, as the end of the year and the end of a grade, Nicholas and his friends decided to burn them.

See the ashes?

It was a little windy. Now they have to do what MOM says, instead of their teachers.

The Desert Blossoming . . .

2009-05-03T16:58:00.002-07:00

We went for a drive and found these beautiful blossoming cacti

The whole mountain was covered with blossoms,

. . .like a rose--from our beautiful rose bush!

The season's over

2009-05-03T16:50:00.003-07:00

Nicholas played baseball for the school. He mostly played third base and they did real good.

They had games twice a week

and then they won the first playoff game and lost the second, so it was single elimination and they were out.

They had a great season!

Fathers & Sons Campout

2009-05-03T16:40:00.004-07:00

They had a great time!

Jeff got to steamroller the boys in the morning.

They found lots of geods,

and luckily they weren't part of the wildfire that someone in the ward started right after they left.

Proud Gardeners

2009-04-20T10:13:00.006-07:00

Our ward did a project to get everyone to grow a garden. The bishop owns a nursery and was able to get some really good soil/compost mix that is excellent for growing. He also had us plant the seeds and he got the starts going for us at his nursery. Anyway, here is the beginning with only four plants.

Our regular dirt in the yard is like clay, so it is best to have a raised bed with the good stuff in it.
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Here it is at one month.

Then it got so big...

We expanded.

First "fruits" of our labor.

Derek and I thought the beets were ready, but Jeff was right--not quite yet. Jeff enjoyed beet greens instead.

EASTER 2009

2009-04-13T10:28:00.005-07:00

Saturday we waited for Nicholas to get home from a wet, cold and miserable backpacking trip, then we colored eggs. I didn't cook enough. Jeff was having waay too much fun experimenting.

Then Sunday morning Kade woke up like it was Christmas or something. he went and woke up everyone else.

As the day went on, we found one or two more pieces of candy. I need to clean real good and find it all.

Disappointments

2009-03-24T09:48:00.002-07:00

Life is full of disappointment. Last week was spring break for the kids. We didn't do much. I colored our dinner green on St Patrick's Day and kids thought I put spinach in everything and they weren't going to eat it, but they had to. We did go out to breakfast one day. We did a lot of dentist and doctor appointments.

On Saturday, we went to a big air show here at Luke Air Force Base. They only do this show every other year. We drove about an hour and half to get there, then another hour and a half just to park--and that was a mess. Once we got up to the gate, the line was so long it would have been another hour and a half standing in the hot sun just to go through security to get in. We gave up and came home. So, no pictures.

Last night, as usual, the kids pile on Jeff after prayers. They think they have to wrestle before bed every night. All four of them are on him, he bucks them off. Kade and Samantha start crying. Samantha hurt her back on Kade's arm, and Kade can't move his arm. So, Jeff thinks it may be broken. He takes him to the nearest hospital. 5 1/2 hours later, Jeff gets so mad, yells at a few people walks out. His arm wasn't broken. They looked at him once, then forgot about him, then 2 hours after they finally took the x-rays, Jeff yelled enough for someone to look at them and say it wasn't broken, then they wanted Jeff to fill out more paperwork. Well, you can imagine what he was like at 2:00 am.

So, again, no pictures. There's nothing to take pictures of.

Only One

2009-03-11T10:45:00.005-07:00

Kind of weird to only have one boy in the pinewood derby this year. This is Jeff's 8th car. And, only one more to go...

We couldn't believe our first time at scouts when there are about 30 boys in one ward. Our ward in Tempe combined with two other wards and we were lucky to have 10 show up.

They were really organized.

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And the winner is....

Kade! He won first place for the Bears and 2nd overall. Yeah! (the boy that won 1st overall bought his car on-line. Is it good sportsmanship to say he cheated??)

(Hmmm, should Jeff or Kade be in this picture)

Spring Fever

2009-03-02T14:44:00.003-07:00

We can tell spring is in the air when Jeff wakes up in the morning sneezing and all stuffed up. Yet, the rest of us like it. We started a garden. Believe it or not, the tomatoes should have been started a month ago, so they will take awhile. We are also trying to get the back yard cleaned up for grass. But, we aren't there yet.

And, crazy kids decided to try the pool. It was cooold. Kade cleaned more than he felt the water. And that's ok too.

You can tell by the look on Derek's face, it wasn't that nice.

Samantha was the bravest. This is as far as anyone got in. It will be another couple of months before the water is warm enough.

2009-02-22T11:58:00.011-07:00

Science Fair 2009

First, Nicholas comes home about a month ago with the assignment for the science fair. So, after spending a couple of days trying to decide what to do, he started on decomposing some leaves and fruit peel. His was the only one that was judged, but he didn't win anything.

(Notice the nice smile. He got his braces off--again)

Second, Derek comes home and says he needs a machine. Luckily, my brother and his wife helped when they were down here visiting. Jeff still was up late one night getting it all together.

THEN, I was so thrilled (ha ha) when Samantha came home and said she signed up to do a project. We tried growing grass in different ways, but as many science projects do, it failed. None of them grew.

I was glad that Kade did his as a class project. They tried different places in their classroom to grow mold.

Another year done--there's still next year.

2009-02-10T09:19:00.006-07:00

You've heard the phrase "step on a crack, you'll break you're mother's back."

What about dad's back?

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Well, when you put over 300 lbs of kids on it...I would say you would break his back too.

I think we've out-grown horsey rides to bed.

Yellow vs Red

2009-02-02T14:32:00.003-07:00

Jeff has always been a Steelers fan, but when the Arizona Cardinals were in the Superbowl...

our house was divided. Kade was cheering for the Steelers,

Derek was cheering for the Steelers.

These are little jello helmets. The yellow crushed the Red. Oh well.

and Girl Stuff...

2009-01-24T21:00:00.010-07:00

First, we took off the training wheels. We were a little surprised, but she did great!

Second, I gave in and she got her ears peirced! Pink flowers,

Then, she had a birthday party--

with a pinata!
And her birthday isn't until Wednesday. Is she spoiled or what.

Boy stuff...

2009-01-22T08:53:00.006-07:00

Derek earned his arrow of light in cub scouts. They do quite the production with a Native American theme.

They had them repeat the scout motto and law (Derek's the short one)

They do a great thing with all their pins, badges and belt loops and put them on this banner which is hanging from a homemade arrow. It's a really good idea to keep all their cub scout memorabilia.

Nicholas is playing flag football through the school. They are 5-1 (I think). They have a playoff tournament next week. This keeps him really busy along with scouts, band, and homework. But he likes being busy.

Did we mention it was about 75 degrees!

Here he is playing center (the one currently with the ball)

Coming next week, girl stuff....

2009-01-03T14:51:00.011-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A few years ago we started a new tradition of opening "crackers" for New Year's Eve. I think they are an English thing, but my mom does it on Christmas Eve and we would buy them and forget, so we started doing it for New Year's Eve. They have a joke, a small toy and paper crowns in them. So here we are in our crowns.

Then we got up at 5:30 am (on a Saturday, no less) to watch a meteor shower. Jeff made hot chocolate.

And, it was cold! Like 40 or something. . . What a way to start a new year!

Christmas and Birthday 2008

2008-12-25T15:49:00.015-07:00

CHRISTMAS 2008

After months of making stockings, and getting down to the wire of having them ready in time...they finally got hung on the 23rd. Whew! now Santa can come.

Christmas Eve and the new pajamas is always a good time (notice the pink princess and her pose)

It came, it came just the same! and of course, dad is having to put something together, but it was a toy he got, so he was having fun

The mess.....

Derek is 11
He likes to challenge me with how he wants his cake to look. Last year was a football logo and this is a hockey logo. I must say, in a picture, it looks really good

All he asked for was a purple ipod, and he got it! Happy Birthday Derek!

2008-12-18T08:48:00.009-07:00

This is our first attempt, hopefully it will get better.

Here we are in sunny Arizona...

and a week ago we were in snowy Utah,

but I wasn't very smart and didn't take

pictures of the kids in the snow.

We were in Utah for Jeff's dad's funeral. He died very unexpectedly on December 8, 2008.

This is all of us at Thanksgiving, in Arizona

This is the funeral, led by the Salt Lake police department. Jeff's brother works for SLPD, and you can see the snow