Lately...

 Kinsey may be my only hope for an athletic child.  At least one that wants to try.  Club volleyball has been taking up a bit of her time lately.  I can't say that I mind.  She's better than I was at her age.  I'm hoping she'll catch the "bug" and love it!

 Shay had a very special date recently.  Her Papa and his brother (Uncle Dave) invited their oldest grand-daughters on a double date.  They wanted to show the girls what to expect from a gentleman.  Here they are getting ready to leave.  They went bowling, to dinner and ice-cream.  Over dinner Papa presented Shay with a document he and Uncle Dave put together- "What to look for in a spouse"  It listed characteristics to look for and some red flags to watch out for.  It also talked about how important it is to BE the kind of person that you are be looking for.  That is the purpose of dating after all.  What a treasure.  Hopefully it will be awhile before she makes THAT decision.  But in the meantime, I hope she gets lots of practice "looking" and striving to develop her own gifts.

Speaking of looking for a good spouse....Steve and I just celebrated 21 years of marriage.  What a blessing it is to have married such a kind, funny, fun, good man.  I hope and pray that my children find a spouse that treats them as well as mine treats me.  Here's to eternity!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!!

Winter Formal

ALL OF THIS.......

 Was in preparation

 (notice our doorman....)

 FOR THIS!!

 My angel Sister-in-lawshared memories of her favorite winter formal with Shay.  She then so graciously volunteered to help us re-create the evening for Shay and her group.  It was a HUGE task
that took her away from her family of 6 little darlings to help us.  I will be FOREVER grateful.  She was the mastermind.  Here's what we did..

 As the guests arrived we had a gentleman (Derek's best friend) at the curb to open the car door.  There was another (Derek) waiting at the house to open the front door and usher the couples inside...where yet another (nephew Taylor) was waiting with Christmas trivia for each couple.  This kept the group occupied while waiting for all 7 couples to arrive.  They were then seated...

 and served a 3 course meal  consisting of a delicious holiday salad, chicken cordon bleu with a dijon-parmesan sauce, herb roasted red potatoes, steamed green beans, roll and ended with choices of chocolate, white raspberry, pumpkin or traditional cheesecake. YUM!  The waiters and waitresses (Kinsey and Abbey)  were prompt, helpful, and super cute!

 We then had a surprise visit from....none other than SANTA!!  He came bearing gifts for all.  This is a picture of the group playing the left/right story game.  Santa read a story and they had to pass their gift whenever they heard the words left or right.  They then kept the gift they ended up with.  (They were all the same, so it didn't really matter)  They each received a beautifully packaged ornament that read MHS Winter Formal 2013 with some yummy chocolates.

 Each couple then had photo ops with the big guy...doesn't he look a little familiar???  This happened to be my favorite couple:)

Here they are getting ready to head off to the dance.  What a fun night!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my angel SIL.  We love you!!

Halloween Recital

Kinsey had been asking to take guitar lessons for quite some time and I finally relented and found her a teacher.  She's only been going for a few months.  They had their Halloween recital today at an assisted living facility.  Isn't that a cute idea?  She's dressed as a prisoner that died while incarcerated (in case you couldn't tell)

The Halloween song is an original composition.  She used the music to a known song and insterted a Halloween poem she wrote for the words.  Kind of cute don't you think?

Good Thinking...

We had some late monsoon rainstorms in August that caused our back yard to be inundated with mosquitos.  One HOT Saturday morning, it was Kevin's turn to weed-eat the back.  He came in after a few seconds and said he was being swarmed by the mosquitos.  I told him to figure it out and get back out there....Here's what he came up with.  Keep in mind it's 100+ degrees

Gotta love this kid.  He always makes me smile.

Another Year!

We had a great summer as we made an effort to spend family time.  The weeks sure did FLY by.  We spent a fun weekend at the Arizona Grand Resort/water park, a day tubing down the Salt River, caught a few summer blockbuster hits at the theater, spent a week at the beach in La Jolla....  I like these guys.

And now we're back to the beginning of yet ANOTHER school year.  Here are my pretties.

                                                   Derek-  Freshman (HOLY SMOKES)

                                              Kevin- 6th grade (last year of elementary school)

             Kinsey- this was the first year she really cared what she looked like.  Isn't she cute

                                    Shay-junior year!!  Our first year having a driver.  Kind of different.

Intentional Summer 2012

With our children getting older, more social and just down right busy we are finding it more difficult to have quality family time.  So we had a family meeting and decided to be intentional about it.  We brainstormed fun family activities, made a list and are planning some fun family time.

Shay has her first job and is working 35 hours a week. We are realizing that we could only have 2 more years with her home (she wants to go to BYU).  She is quite "friend" focused and wants to spend all spare time with her buddies.

Derek is busy with swim team, weight class, and lifeguard training.  If he's home he either wants to read or play computer games.

At least Kevin and Kinsey still like to hang out with Mom and Dad....sometimes.

Here are a few pictures of what we've been able to do so far...we're determined enjoy these years!!

 Took a day trip to Payson and hiked the Natural Bridge.  Here it is behind us.  We didn't plan on it being cold..afterall, it's been in the 100's.  The kids resorted to hiking wrapped in blankets from the car..

 Isn't this some beautiful scenery?  Hard to believe it looks like this not that far from Mesa.  It was a fun day, good exercise and great company:)

This week we drove to our local peach farm.  We Spent the morning picking 18 lbs of peaches, tasting

all things peach in the bakery and deciding what to make when we got home.

We decided on fruit leather, peach butter, and 6 pints of canned peach cobbler filling....YUM!

We have lots more fun things planned.  If you have fun ideas that your family loves to do together leave a comment....I'd love to hear.