our crazy life...

Our Secret Spot

2012-01-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

We discovered a "secret spot" when I took my Dad out on the ranger while he was visiting. It is a dry wash where the side walls come up over the ranger and you drive in between the "canyon" walls. So I took Tad and the kids back there the other day and they had the most fun ever. They call it their secret spot, although judging by all the tracks it's really not that much of a secret. But when we were there we were all alone and it was a lot of fun. At the end of the wash, there is a perfect area to just ride the hills and criss-cross this way and that. It was really a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time out there, especially when it starts to warm up.

This is near the start of the "canyon". There are also several smaller washes that intertwine the main wash. Some of them turned out to be dead ends, which made for a tight turn around in the ranger, and some of them had areas that were pretty tight squeezes to get into.

Climbing up over one of the walls...

It's hard to tell here, but there are two washes, one on each side of where we are sitting...

This was at the end of the wash- a great big open area with tons of tracks. We didn't get to explore too much because it was already getting late when we got there, but we will go back for sure. Way too much fun.

Just because I thought these were cute...

Pinewood Derby

2012-01-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

OK, I am all caught up on the blog (for now). Today was Derek's first year participating in the pinewood derby. Grandpa Martin helped him shape the race car up and put the wheels on and Derek decided to paint it to look like "Bumble Bee" the transformer. It was nice and shiny and then Paige tried to clean it with a wet towel this morning and smeared the paint and we didn't have a chance to fix it. His car won first place about 3 or 4 times and 2nd place a few times and he got 3rd overall for the Wolf den, so he gets to continue on to the district races.

Grandpa John took us all out for McDonald's after the race and we had a picnic at the park.

Happy 3rd Birthday Darci

2012-01-21T14:08:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow, it's hard to believe this little girl is 3 years old!! I remember we moved to Albuquerque when she was 3 weeks old and that seems so long ago... It's also really weird that my baby is 3 years old and there's not another one crawling around or on the way... I guess that makes her seem younger to me than she really is. Darci is so stinkin' cute! She is finally (95%) potty trained during the day and only has occasional accidents. The other kids were 3 when I put them in underwear at night, but I am going to wait another month or two until it warms up and she's not wearing those big zip-up pajamas to bed. Darci is very stubborn too. If you give her something sweet to eat like a candy or even a cough drop, she will demand another and keep demanding one until you finally give in. It's not easy to change her mind or distract her when she wants something. And she's not quiet about it.... At night she wakes up at about 11pm with night terrors and about the only way to get her to wake up enough to go back to sleep is to bribe her with something sweet like chocolate chips or a marshmallow or a cough drop! She might be the first of the kids to get a cavity.... But otherwise, she is so sweet and lovable and loves to give hugs and kisses and say I love you and I miss you. She's talking great and is already starting to ask pretty complex questions and her memory is great. She finally accepted the fact that she was turning 3 and not 5 like she wanted. She is a mini-me of Paige 100%. Anytime Paige says anything, Darci will say it to. She always wants to play with whatever her big sister is playing with.

I had fun with her 3-yr old pictures...

Legos and Trains

2012-01-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

We have built MANY lego sets at our house over the last few weeks. I feel like our house has been taken over by legos...

The boys were so excited to help Grandpa clean out his garage and pack away his trains and earn a few dollars in the process.

Ranger fun

2012-01-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

Getting closer to having the blog up to date..... About 2 weeks ago we took the ranger out behind Daley Estates up to Dead Man's Canyon, or something like that. It was a rocky rough rode with a pretty good drop on one side that dead-ended at a little creek. We enjoyed a little picnic with the cows that were up there and then headed back down the rough rocky road. Paige and Darci entertained us by singing almost the entire way. I will put that video up once I get them edited. First I need to get a computer that has sound on it again....

On another trip we found a fun open desert area to cruise around in.. The kids love to look for used bullets wherever we go and throw them in the back of the ranger. In fact Darci gets mad if she sees some on the ground and we don't stop to let her get them.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-21T13:56:00.001-08:00

I think Christmas gets trickier as the kids get older. I worry about them waking up at night while I'm getting everything ready or waking up before I do and messing everything up before I get the video of them walking around the corner seeing the presents for the first time. This year they got way too many things... I bought them some stuff back in September and then also found them some more things closer to Christmas, and with presents from Grandma & Grammy, Nana and Grandpa and Grandma Toni and Papa they got way too many things! The theme this year were zhu zhu pets and legos...

Even Tad got something from Santa (aka himself...)

She had clothes on when we were opening her presents, not sure what happened to them afterwards...

I made my first turkey on Christmas day. I used one of those Turkey bags and baked it for about 4 hrs and it was YUMMY! I never bought turkeys before because I always thought they were too expensive, but really they are a great value and lasted us for several days.

Outside playing in the cold with their new croquet set from Grandpa Toni and Papa.

Another fun thing for the kids over the holidays was getting to know their new cousins! Derek and Kevin had a blast the entire week because they now have 3 new boy cousins close to their age. They all played great together, I don't remember hearing any arguments!

Ryan and Amy organized a fun New Years Eve night for their kids and were sweet to invite our kids over for the fun time and cool prizes.

December Pictures.... Part 3

2012-01-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

We took a trip on the "Minivan express" before Christmas... I saw this great idea floating around on Pinterest and thought we would start it as a tradition this year. We already have the tradition of watching the Polar Express in our pajamas. (Side note, I really don't like the Polar Express, I think it is DUMB, but the kids love it). So I got them ready for bed and then they discovered tickets to the Minivan Express under their pillows. When they discovered it they came out to find cups of hot cocoa waiting for them and me, their conductor. We listened to Christmas music on the radio and drove around looking at lights around town.

Our niece Ashley designed a bean bag toss for all the little ones.

On Christmas Eve, we all loaded up in Grandpa's train and went Christmas caroling to various neighbors. Even though Grandpa didn't want to do it, Nana was finally able to talk him into driving the train and believe it or not he even sang a song or two!

Yummy Christmas desserts... I think these mini-cupcakes turned out pretty cute.

Had to take a picture of this cute Santa cake my sister in law, Joleen brought to the party.

And Nana had her Christmas Eve nativity skit with the grandkids who were around this year.

December Pictures ..... Part 2

2012-01-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

We kept our tradition of making our own ornaments for our Christmas tree...

December Pictures...... Part 1

2012-01-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

We had lots and lots of fun during December.....

Yes, this picture is NOT great, but Derek took it and its the only one we got of Tad and I...

First snow on Mt Graham

A lot of people were doing "Elf on the Shelf" this year. Well, we don't live anywhere near where you can "adopt" an elf and I think they look a little creepy, so we had "Little Frost" visit our house this year. He sat on a shelf during the day and came to life at night while he reported their behavior to Santa. The kids were always anxious to wake up and see where Little Frost was.

Paige looked so pretty after a birthday party she went to...

Grandpa John and Grammy Sharon all bundled up for a winter ranger ride...

Of course we planted magic north pole candy cane seeds and sprinkled them with magic dust and the next day we had candy canes in the garden.

With our cousins at the Safford light parade..

Breakfast with Santa

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

One of the restaurants in town hosts a "Breakfast with Santa". This year we decided to take the kids. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to see him, but it was worth it. After they sat on his lap and told him what they wanted we sat down and had cereal, muffins and OJ.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

We got to go to Scottsdale for Thanksgiving and spend some time with my sweet little niece Peyton. She was just about 3 months old!

Trick or Treat

2012-01-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

Posting about Halloween in January....

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. And my project list is a mile high with the endless craft ideas I've been seeing all over the internet. If I could just find some time to make something!

To start with, the kids had "scary" hair day at school. Next year we'll use colors because I picked up every color hair spray at Walmart after Halloween for about $0.50 each.

This year I was able to talk Derek out of being the red dragon for the 4th year in a row and instead he was a blue dragon, Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon. I got it for $5 at Walmart last year. Kevin was Batman, also $5. Paige was a witch, also $5. Darci was a princess.

Going through the candy.....

Last Halloween Darci discovered candy and she has been obsessed with it ever since. She tried to eat several pieces of it while we were trick or treating and I'm sure she snuck a few without us seeing.

We usually let them eat a few pieces of candy that night and then 1 or 2 each day for the next week and then get rid of the rest of the candy. Some people think that is too strict, but we have made it this far with still NO cavities. I'm pretty proud of that.

Halloween Cookie Fun at Nana's

2012-01-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about living next to Nana and Grandpa is all the fun goodies Nana is always making, especially around the holidays. She let them all design and ice sugar cookies for Halloween...

Don't they look yummy???

Pumpkin Pie

2012-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

My first ever homemade pumpkin pie... crust and all!

Darci

2011-12-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

Just Because..... this picture was taken at one of the kids' soccer games in October...

County Fair in October

2011-12-31T13:48:00.000-08:00

Another post from October....

These are from the county fair back in October. Each of the kids had a school art project on showcase. We let them each choose 1 ride to do. Darci liked her ride until it started and then she cried the whole time until it stopped.

I love this picture.....

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Darci LOVES Okra

2011-12-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Another post out of order.... Back in September....

Well I love Okra, but even so it has to be fried. But Darci picked one out of the garden and ate the entire thing RAW. It makes me sick to think about it. Yuck! But she liked it....

Out of Order... Soccer in September

2011-12-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

OK, so finally on to update my blog... I can't believe I'm typing this at the end of December! The kids played soccer in the nearby town of Pima this fall. Paige and Kevin were on the same team. Derek was on a different team. Since Tad works and sleeps a lot it meant a lot of long Saturdays trying to figure out how to get them all to games, usually that were separated by an hour or so and occurred right in the middle of Darci's nap time. So it wasn't always fun to get ready for the games, but the kids sure enjoyed playing. I think Derek was the slowest player on his team, but he finally scored a goal on his last game. Kevin scored a goal too somewhere in the middle of the season. Paige started off great running and getting right in the middle of things, but as the season went on, she seemed to lose interest a bit and had more fun sitting out.

Derek (2nd kid in from the left on top row)

Kevin - last kid on right on top row
Paige - 3rd in from left on bottom row

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Attached is our Christmas Card for this year (Click to enlarge.... No, it is not a great picture of Tad and I, but Derek took it so I think he did a pretty good job!). Here are some highlights from the year...

Darci is almost 3! She is enjoying being the only one home during the day... She is (knock on wood) FINALLY potty trained!! About 98%... She is talking SO good and is SO smart with the little questions she asks. She is sweet and we love her.

Paige is 5 1/2 and is in Kindergarten. She gets so excited everyday she can come home and tell us she didn't get sent to time out that day! She is so active and has so much energy and LOVES to talk and move around. She loves to play with friends, get her nails painted and do flips on the Nana's trampoline.

Kevin is 5 1/2 and is in Kindergarten too! He has improved dramatically this year with his speech. I can understand most of what he says and he gets the sounds right when he slows down. He is so smart and is a great reader. He loves to play soccer and football with the boys at school during recess.

Derek just turned 8 and is sweet MOST of the time! He is in 2nd grade and doing great. He is a cub scout this year. He loves to play video games and build things out of legos.

Tad stays busy working at the mine. He is working night shift right now and we can't wait for him to switch over to days.

I (Joy) am now working in the PACU (Recovery Room) at the hospital 3 days a week. I was lucky to fill in for someone who retired and they liked me enough to offer me the job. I love it. I am also trying to finish my bachelor's degree from Western Governor's University by April of next year so life is VERY busy around here.

We hope all is well and everyone has a great Christmas and New Year!

Check back again, our blog is updated now and then (in my SPARE time!)

Dear Santa....

2011-12-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here are our Dear Santa letters this year. We sent them to Santa at the North Pole (Alaska) and are excited to see if we will get responses back. I didn't notice until after the letters were in the post that my scanner had cut off some of the letters....

Kevin -

Paige -

Darci -

Derek -

Dancing Elves...

2011-12-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas wouldn't be complete without our yearly Elf dancing...

Surfing Elves....

2011-12-04T20:17:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Derek!!

2011-12-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

Derek turned 8 on November 10th... I can't believe he is already 8!!! He is very sweet and quiet when he wants to be and loud and obnoxious when he wants to be too! He is in 2nd grade and doing great. I'm pretty sure he is going to be smarter than me, not that that says anything.... We had a little party for him in Nana and Grandpa's playground. It was dark and cold, but with a train ride and glow sticks and pizza and cake it turned out fun for all the kids. Derek has been wanting a hamster for a while, so Nana and Grandpa gave him money for a hamster and Grandma Toni and Papa gave him a cage and we got him some other stuff and some accessories for the cage. He's been great with it (Raptor) so far, plays with it everyday and makes sure there's always food in the bowl.

Raptor....

Darci "helped" me make the cake and cupcakes for his school class.

This is why I am going to buy cakes from here on out. They NEVER turn out even remotely pretty, so this is what we ended up with this year!

Kevin in Kindergarten

2011-11-17T11:20:00.000-08:00

Kevin has done amazingly well in Kindergarten. It's funny because they make you do a Kindergarten pre-assessment here to see if your child is really ready for Kindergarten. Kevin scored really well on everything except the coordination stuff like jumping and standing on one foot (?). At the end of the assessment the teacher told me "sometimes with summer birthdays Parents decide to wait a year.....". But he has excelled at everything. He is ahead of Paige on most intellectual type things, she is ahead on social things. His speech is getting much better, that is really the only thing holding him back right now. Here is some of his doodling and handwriting....

Crazy name writing in the beginning...

His handwriting is SO neat!

Here, he was making his own tracing lines.

These videos are Kevin and Paige reading about 2 weeks ago. It's amazing they are reading this good after only 2 1/2 months of school.

What Paige is learning in Kindergarten

2011-11-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of this girl for how well she is doing in kindergarten. She had NO preschool whatsoever and has really picked up on things well.

This was how she was spelling her name the first week of class. I was worried, I thought there was no hope!

Then it progressed to this...

And now it is this....So pretty!!

She loves to draw, here are some of her creations...

One of my favorites...

She loves to trace her hand and draw in pretty fingernails.,,

Oops, this is sideways...

Now she has pretty neat handwriting...Her teacher is really strict as far as making sure they take their time and do things right instead of getting sloppy.

Derek's Imagination at School

2011-11-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

Derek is pretty imaginative when it comes to drawing. If he has free time at school, he usually comes home with something that he scribbled down in a few minutes. I love what he comes up with. Here's a few....

Toothless to the rescue...

Killing Ninjas....

More Dragon stuff

Halloween

Space

Spinosaurus

Good vs Bad

Jurassic Park

Schoolwork....He always gets great grades, but his teacher has the same complaint as his teacher last year - sloppy handwriting! He has spelling words every week and they have to come up with sentences for each word all on their own and I just love some of the things he's come up with...

I especially love #9 below

I like #5 & 7...

#2...

#6!

And just to prove he can write neat when he wants to...

Still here...

2011-11-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

We are still alive I promise! I have SO much to post just have not had a chance! I started working on my bachelor's degree and am trying to finish 11 classes in 6 months, so that is taking a lot of my blog time but my goal is to get caught up on the blog by next week!

Learning to read

2011-09-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

Here is Paige reading her first and second books from Kindergarten last week. Check out the improvement between the two! She cracks me up.

Here is Kevin's first book. He lucked out and got an easier book, but he really is so smart. He came home a few weeks ago wanting me to teach him to count to 100 and last week he was able to do it without help, so he was the 2nd person in his class to be able to get a certificate. Kevin is doing so much better with his speech, but we still have a long way to go. His speech teacher will now be working with him 1 on 1 to get him some extra help.

Updates, Updates, Updates

2011-09-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

Before I get started, here are some sayings I don't want to forget......

Darci -
Says "Oh my goodness!" all the time now
She said, "I learned that from TB (TV)" last month
She is always asking me to paint her "fingertales and her tales"
In the van the other day, Darci told me that she was going to get married when she went to college and then she was going to go to preschool.
Darci has a great memory, I told her she could go to preschool when she was 3 and she yelled out, "in January!"

Paige -
Last night I heard her yell, "Mom!!! Darci turned the light on and now she's leading the band!!" Darci was sitting up pretending to lead music to an invisible band.

With the puppies, she said, "Oh, I found the butt, these little holes are the butt."

We were driving around and he pointed at the lights up at Tad's mine and asked if that was the United States. I said, no that is Safford, a city in the United States. And the United States is a country on Earth, just like Brazil, Canada, India, China..... then Paige said, "Oh, China doesn't have any more money... " I said, where did you hear that? She said, "Daddy says that".

Kevin -
The other day, I said no when Kevin asked if he could have a shave ice. He said, (very seriously) "I'm going to call 911 and tell them I don't want you as mommy".

Here are some more pictures of the girls haircuts. I've really been happy with them.

Darci is still falling asleep in the hall........

Halloween craft fun.... this one turned out really cute, and all the kids got to draw them in. Derek actually drew his own faces. I'm sure if you look closely you can figure out who did what. These will go outside when I decide where to put them.

Not Halloween, but this is a FHE sign that I made.

Exploring....

My little plot of garden is growing SO many tomatoes and Okra. Luckily everyone here loves tomatoes and fried Okra.

Over Labor Day weekend, I took a trip to Texas for Tad's brother Ryan's wedding. This involved 6 or 7 adults and 3 kids in a 15 passenger van for 15 hrs each way. I sat near the back most of the time and am still feeling a bit carsick from it. But overall, it was fun. Tad wasn't able to go because he was working. And thank you to our friends and my mom who helped out with babysitting some crazy kids for 4 or 5 days!

Sisters-in-law.....

Sisters-in-law with my niece Caroline

My sweet niece Caroline

In the van.........

Darci bucked up in Grandma Noni's van ready for a fun few days....

Sweet Baby Miles - worth the trip!

Caroline with her "tie-dye gold dress" and Caroline with Britni

The beautiful couple and family

After 30 years, he finally asked her to dance!

School!

2011-08-25T12:15:00.001-07:00

School is here already - actually it started back on the 9th! I can't believe how early it starts, I remember always starting at the end of August. But they were ready to go and they love it and wish they could go everyday. (Disclaimer on the photo - I had to work their first day of school and was not there to fix Paige's hair so this is what we got!!)

Paige and Kevin started Kindergarten. They have a great teacher that I've heard lots of good things about. I'm so excited for them and can't wait to go on field trips and volunteer in their class. I just love Kindergarten.

First day of school......

2nd Day of School

Derek is in 2nd grade! He was very excited to go back and see his friends and very proud of himself for learning to tie his shoes (finally) the first day of school! He already reads really great, I can't wait to see how he improves this year.

Darci is doing great being the only one at home. It's so much fun (and easy) to just have her and play and focus on her. We got a new bike seat for her for my bike and she loves to sit on the bike and take the kids to school.

New Hairstyle

2011-08-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with the idea of cutting my hair for a while... I usually chop it off every year or two but its been about 10 years since its been really short, so I decided to go for it. I figured it would be past my shoulders by next summer if I don't like it... I didn't realize just how dark my roots have become, so I just did highlights. I think I am going to get some more blonde highlights to lighten it up a bit. The kids all like it. Paige thinks I am "so handsome, just like a boy!" I like it, but I admit, I am still getting used to it. I'm still playing around with it, not really sure the best way to style it. I still do a double take when I look in the mirror.

So here it is...

Playing in the river

2011-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

First off, I decided the girls needed haircuts. I hated to do it because they're hair was so long, but they were both just out of control! Darci had cut hers in several places and Paige's was so stringy and thin, it needed to be cleaned up. So here are the before pictures....

And here are the after pictures.... I'm really happy with the results, I think my friend did a great job. They can wear it under or flipped up.

And this is how Darci usually falls asleep if we don't shut her door. She's been sharing a room with Paige, but she usually lays down in the hall until everyone else is asleep and they she finally goes to sleep. The past couple of nights I've been trying something different, I shut their doors while I do an exercise video and within 15 minutes she is asleep. I guess that means I need to work out every night!

This is how the puppies usually look when we check on them and give Lulu a break. Their eyes are still not open and they don't do much.

I took the kids down to the river the other day and they had fun playing in the muddy water. I'm sure the water was shallow enough to drive through, but since I was by myself I didn't attempt it.

Puppies and other things

2011-08-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

Puppies...
We noticed a few days after 4th of July that Lulu looked a little fat and she kept getting fatter and fatter. I thought she was still a few weeks away from having her puppies but on Sat Derek walked by the door and said "Lulu just had a puppy!" So we ran outside and sure enough it started. It took her about 2 hrs to have all 4 and they were all healthy and a good size. Lulu was great, I though for sure it would be miserable but she didn't even make a sound and instictively knew what to do when they came out. She had 2 black ones, a white one with brown patches, and a chocolate one with black markings. They're really cute, but we're not planning on keeping any of them, so does anyone want a puppy????

Playing in a ditch...
Our friends let us in on their secret and we took the kids to play in a canal ditch not too far away. The water was COLD! Paige had fun but Kevin and Darci were a little scared to slide down it.

Roper Lake...
We finally went swimming at Roper Lake. It was a lot of fun, I'm seriously thinking about getting a season pass. It only takes about 10 minutes to get there! There was a little sandy beach and the water was the perfect depth for the kids. And a nice green grassy area for a picnic.

Picnic on the Mountain...
We joined our friends up on the mountain for a picnic last week. Darci was a mess, she found every chip and cheetoh that was within reach. It's nice to be able to drive up there in about 20-30 minutes and have some cool weather. I guess the rangers are all worked up about the local bear population and were warning everyone about the bears.

Derek comes home...
Derek and Jack came home from Washington last week. They had so much fun, so much in fact that Derek has been bored ever since getting home! We sure missed him!

Negative..... again

2011-07-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

I finally get to work in the ICU tomorrow and am so excited! I have to do 3 "training" shifts before I can be an "as needed" nurse for them. I'm anxious to learn more in my career, it seems likes its taken a long time to get here.

On another note, it looks like it will just be the 6 of us from now on. As I mentioned before, we've been trying to get pregnant for a year and a half now and found out about 2 weeks ago that the latest test was a big negative. It's been really frustrating as anyone that has dealt with infertility knows. This last month was the most promising. I did gonadotropin injections with my cycle and actually ovulated for the first time in months. I thought for sure I was pregnant, I could feel I was pregnant, and was really let down when I wasn't.

Being over 3 hours away from a doctor you have to go to sometimes last minute and often is really difficult and really expensive. I figure we've spent somewhere between $2K and $3K in just the last 9 months trying to get pregnant, so at some point we just needed to decide enough is enough and it looks like we are at that point. It's frustrating because if we lived in Phoenix I would definitely keep trying, but it's just too much being this far away. And I'm learning to be happy with that decision. We have 4 wonderful kids that I am so grateful for. And when Darci is finally potty trained we'll be done with that for good! That's something to look forward to!

My boy is on vacation

2011-07-18T22:52:00.001-07:00

Derek is in Washington visiting Grandpa John, my dad. On the year that their grandchildren turn 8, they pay for them to fly solo up to visit for about 2 weeks. Lucky for Derek, his cousin Jack turns 8 this year too, so they got to go together. I was nervous, thinking he would be scared the whole flight, but he did great. He said he wasn't scared at all and had a lot of fun. He's still up in WA having fun and we miss him a ton!

Pictures of the kids

2011-07-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

It's so much fun to go to the park and take pictures of the kids. These are some of my favorites. The first two are just silly.

Derek....

Kevin...

Paige..

Darci...

4th of July

2011-07-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

4th of July started this year again at 5:30 with the fire of the cannon and the sound of the firetrucks driving around town. We talked Grandpa into driving his train in the parade with all the kids in it. And we were able to drive our new Ranger behind him with the bigger kids in it. It's such a silly small town parade with firetrucks and 4-wheelers and bikes but the kids love it.

We were able to talk my sister's family into coming for the fun.

The much anticipated firetruck spraying...

Our new toy... After wanting one for years, Tad finally found the perfect ranger.

Again, my favorite is the black and white at the top of the blog, but here is the color one too.

Nana had a fun pinata for BBQ that night.

And Tad finally went out and shot his new gun...

July sunset

2011-07-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

This was the sun setting behind a mountain on fire on the reservation.

Staycation Vacation part 3 Swimming

2011-07-17T22:47:00.003-07:00

What else is there to do in Phoenix in the summer.... swim! We went swimming at my old pool, which is much nicer now by the way.

Staycation Vacation part 2 Amazing Jakes

2011-07-17T22:47:00.001-07:00

My mom was able to get tickets to Amazing Jakes pizza place as well. That was a lot of fun. I think if we go again we will go earlier in the day so we can spend more time there. Eating the buffet took half our time, but at least it was good food!

This is all of us. I like the black and white picture the best but Tad doesn't, so below is the color one.

Staycation Vacation part 1 Sunplash

2011-07-17T22:29:00.002-07:00

This year we decided to do a staycation vacation in Phoenix since we had to be there for doctors appointments anyway. We started off by visiting Tad's brother Greg in their new fancy home with a splash pad and pool. The kids had a lot of fun.

Love the boogers Darci.

We also went to Sunsplash. My mom was awesome enough to use her trade points to get us into Sunsplash. Everyone had a lot of fun. I think it would be better just to take the older kids but Darci had fun too. They have a new rule about wearing life jackets and that kind of put my mind at ease a little. This is everyone in their new swim shirts ready to go.

Darci loved the wave pool until the waves started coming...

Derek absolutely loved Sunsplash this year since he is a good swimmer. He was brave and went on all the slides. There was a black tunnel slide that he went down on an inner tube and came out without it. Apparently when he was turning a corner, he slid off the tube and kept going. It scared him a little but he still kept going on the slides.

Darci wasn't happy about being on the lazy river with Daddy.

Karate Camp

2011-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

The college hosted a week-long karate camp for $15 so we signed up Derek and Kevin and Paige. They had so much fun and learned a lot. Wish we could afford it every month but it's way too much, I think like $85 each or something. So it will just be something they enjoy for a week each summer!

And each day after class, we would go to the middle school for their summer free lunch. I think they enjoyed that even more than karate! They feel so grown up eating in a cafeteria.

Happy 5th Birthday Paige and Kevin

2011-07-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

June 8th, the twins turned 5! We had a fun water party for them with a slip n slide and baby pool complete with Grandpa's train ride.

My sister-in-law Joleen came up with this cute idea for cupcakes, a teddy in a lifesaver ring, and my sweet nieces decorated them for me!

I can't believe they are 5 already. They are anxious to start kindergarten in a few weeks. Paige is still crazy and hardly stops for a minute. She is the toughest little girly girl I've seen. And then she can be the sweetest. She loves dancing, barbies, and playing with her friends. Kevin is doing great with his speech. He still loves to play with his trains and dinosaurs and cars and loves movies. He is so smart and comes up with the most obscure questions. I think the better he learns to pronounce his words, we'll realize just how smart he has been.

Summer Baseball

2011-07-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

One of the things I DO like about living in this small town is that it is really inexpensive for the kids to play sports. We signed up Derek for coach pitch, and Kevin and Paige for T-ball. It was $15 a piece including the uniform. Can't beat that.

Derek hits the ball really far and if we would just swing HARD it would be a home run every time. He caught his first fly ball on Jun 1st and threw it to first base and made a double play. And I MISSED it! With all the kids playing, I often had to miss his games to take K & P to theirs. I couldn't believe I missed it! His coach was pretty impressed and so was I when I heard.

Paige chased the ball wherever it went even if it was nowhere near her and she even tackled a few little boys when they got in her way. Kevin is turning out to be a good ball player. He can catch and throw really good and does a good job hitting them too.

Paige:

Kevin:

Kevin ready to play, Paige a little bored playing in the grass:

Kevin running home:

At Derek's games, the kids would gather all the rocks within eyesight and stack them. Over and over and over and over.

Derek:

Other May Pictures

2011-07-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

I finally have good internet access and am excited about getting caught up and staying caught up on the blog. These pictures and videos are from May.

Kevin graduated from preschool. He was very excited and proud of himself. Everyday he would come home and get off the bus, he would open his backpack and show us what he made before he even walked to the door.

My father-in-law graciously gave me one of his "squares" in his garden. I planted some tomatoes (which have since grown out of control and started taking over his garden) and bell peppers and eggplant and okra. As of May, this is what we were able to pick.

Derek, aka Mr Cool, got a hold of my camera and took some pictures of himself. He is definitely Tad's son.

Darci started saying "I love you so much". And yes, we love her so much. She is so much fun.

May performances

2011-06-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

Derek's first grade class put on a little Disney Celebration singing show before school was out. You can see him in the picture at the top of the stands wearing his big sombrero.

We also had another Youth Theatre play in May. It was called the Adventures of Mr Toad. there were 160 kids ages 4-9 in this play. It was crazy and I don't know how the director and staff do it but I'm glad they do because the kids have so much fun being in the play and I have so much fun watching, even when they make all their mistakes and forget their lines.

None of our kids had speaking parts, but they had singing parts and did them well. Kevin and Paige were only on stage for one song. They were ducks. Their costumes were pretty worn out by the 4th night.

Kevin and Paige are just to the left of the tall girl in white.

Darci had to try on the costume too.

Derek had about 4 scenes that he was in. He was a weasel. He thought it was cool because he got to use a sword in a fight scene.

This was Derek fighting a horse. They were funny, they just stood there and knocked their swords back and forth a few times while giggling.

Derek likes to take pictures with my camera. Isn't he cool...

So far my plot in my father-in-law's garden has yielded several green bell peppers and two red tomatoes.

Darci likes to be silly too.

April

2011-05-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

It seems every time I get caught up on the blog, I get behind again! Here are some things we did in April.

First, Paige got to spend some alone time with Grandma Toni and some of the time her cousin Lili was there. She had so much fun with them.

This is how I found Darci one night. She had peed in her diaper and taken everything off.

Easter was fun at Nana and Grandpa's. Joleen and the girls put on an Easter Egg hunt for the little ones.

Kevin was so happy because he found one of the "golden" eggs with a dollar in it.

Curly girls...

Silly kids...

Darci and Lulu

Feeding ducks at the fairgrounds pond....

Derek had a track meet at his school. I was working and couldn't go, so Grandpa took these pictures with his fancy camera. He says Derek is the slowest kid in first grade!

Kevin had a fun field trip to someone's backyard "farm".

Now in a few days I have a lot to post already for May!

My new job and other things

2011-05-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well this post is really just kind of a journal update for me.

When I agreed to move here to Thatcher, I took for granted that there would be NO nursing jobs. I thought, there's a hospital, Tad knows everyone, I'll get a job EASY. So not the case. The problem is the college here graduates like 80 nurses a year. In a town of about 500 people that's a lot. OK, maybe there's something like 5000 people, who knows, the point is its small. When there is an opening at the hospital, there's TONS of people who want it. And the hospital knows this so the pay is low compared to other places.

So when we moved last year I took a job at the skilled nursing facility. I never thought I would be a "nursing home nurse". But I actually enjoyed the residents. Too bad there were a lot of internal issues and I was working nights. So I also started working part time as a Home Health nurse for the hospital in October. I never thought I would work Home Health either but I figured that would get my foot in the door for an internal opening at the hospital. So far, hasn't worked.

So in March, I started my 3rd job - still working the other 2 part time - at an Agency. They paid really well but the most important thing was to get back to working in a hospital setting. They sent me to Globe, AZ (an 80 minute drive each way). I walked in expecting a teeny tiny wannabe hospital and was amazed to find a nice small regional medical center. A few weeks later I was hired on there part time with the promise that I would be trained in ICU.

That has been my goal since graduating from school 3 1/2 years ago. Every time I have worked somewhere and been close to going to the ICU, Tad switches careers and we up and move and I have to start over. And nowhere will hire me on for ICU without ICU experience. It's very frustrating.

I have since resigned from the nursing home and been put inactive at the registry, so am down to 2 part time jobs. And hopefully in a few weeks I will have ICU experience. Then maybe if an ICU position comes open at the hospital here, I can get it. It would be my 5th job since moving here. That's crazy. I am truly just grateful to have a job right now in this economy.

And all at the same time we are trying - have been trying - to have another baby. With all the issues I've had in the past, I knew it would require medication again. Problem this time is that the medication isn't working and our insurance has terrible coverage for infertility. I took for granted that it would be difficult this time. I mean I know my problem and what medication works - it's worked twice before. But not anymore. Every month I ask myself if it is worth it to keep trying because it seems we are just throwing money out the door and we have been trying for well over a year. And for the past few months, it has required many quick trips up to Phoenix (3 hrs) for 1 stinkin ultrasound. A week ago, I had to wake up at 4am, drive to Phx for an ultrasound (which didn't show anything) and then drive an hour to Globe, work the rest of the shift and then drive 80 minutes back home. It wouldn't be so bad if I could actually spend a few days in Phx and see some friends and hit the stores for things I can't find here. But the appointments are based on my cycle and most of the time cannot be planned.

I used to say that I would try until my birthday and that was it. Well that has come and went, and we are still trying. I think if everything is negative this month, we will try one more month, adding injections to the mix, and if nothing then, then it isn't meant to be. So that is THAT.

In a few weeks it will be a year since moving here. Time sure flies by fast. There are a lot of things I like about Thatcher... baseball is $15 per kid instead of $65, summer camps are $15 per kid, soccer is $15, swim team is $25, and other sports and activities are pretty cheap. Unfortunately they don't have basketball until the kids are in 3rd grade or something. We like living next to Nana and Grandpa. The kids think that is pretty cool, especially when Nana gets some new toys. We like being closer to my family in Phoenix. The library here does story times and science activities although we haven't been lately. The mountain is close by and we can go camping a lot this summer. The childrens' theater is so much fun too.

I don't like that we only have Walmart and Bealls to shop at. We need at least one strip mall with a variety of stores, especially when it comes time to finding costumes for their plays. A Target would be perfect. I don't like the lack of nursing opportunities. I don't like that it still gets hot here - although not as hot as Phoenix. And its kind of weird coming to a small town where everyone else besides me grew up or went to college and knows everyone and has tons of family and friends to hang out with.

I miss Albuquerque a lot. It was a great place to live with little kids. The zoo was fantastic, the botanical gardens were great, the museums were great, the parks were great, the balloons were great, the weather was great. I wish the salaries were great too because we would still be there. It's hard to believe that Tad makes more in this small town than he did in the city. I think I keep holding out hope that someday we might live there again, but that probably wont happen.

And now the potty update... Darci will pee every time I take her to the bathroom and I usually do about once an hour. But she wont tell me when she has to go and if I let it go too long she will pee her pants. She has only pooped twice on the toilet so far and that was probably just lucky timing for me. She usually poops in her panties or will wake up from naps with poop in her diaper. I'm not sure if this girl will every be fully potty-trained.

Show Low Getaway

2011-04-23T13:53:00.001-07:00

Last month during spring break we went up to Show Low for a little getaway. We wanted to check out a $30 hotel that we found. Just our luck we picked one of the coldest weeks in weeks. It snowed the first night we were there and was pretty cold the rest of the time. We spent a lot of time driving around and I think we found every possible park in about a 100-mile radius.

At the Salt River...

The Parks...

Our little hotel room. Tad one bed, Derek & I on the other, Kevin and Paige on the floor, Darci in her crib. It was cramped, but cheap and fun.

Snow...

Renaissance Festival

2011-04-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm pretty behind here, but last month, on the 19th we went to the Renaissance Festival. It was a short trip and we drove all the way home the same day so it was a long day. It was that night that Kevin was stung by the scorpion. Seems like ages ago.

It was really a lot of fun. I had NO idea how HUGE it was. You can see some of the village from the road, but it really doesn't give you any idea how BIG it is once you get inside. It really is HUGE. It took us nearly an hour just to get to the parking lot because traffic was backed up for miles through Gold Canyon. I wasn't anticipating that either. So next year, we will go earlier, take more money, and spend all day to stay for the final jousting event.

There were a TON of people there too.

All the buildings were pretty cool.

Kevin and Darci playing with a goose.

A really big dragon tube slide. Derek and Paige went down this. I probably would've been too scared if they let adults do it!

All the staff were really into their characters so that was a lot of fun.

Petting Zoo

My sister Jodi, her husband, Jared, their kids and my mom were there with us. Jared was Mr. Moneybags, and anytime he went over to a booth with his money, all the kids would run over there with him. Lucky for Derek, he got to do a lot of things thanks to Jared.

This was the jousting. It was fun. I didn't realize they don't actually finish the tournament until the end of the day. The events during the day lead up to the final event but it was too late in the day for us to stay for this time.

Kevin and the scorpion

2011-03-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting night last saturday. After a long and hot day at the Renaissance Festival (pictures to come later), we brought my nephew, Will, back with us to play with the boys for a few days. They were all having a sleepover in the boys room with blankets and kids laying all over the floor. Kevin woke up last saturday night at about 10:30pm crying. I went to check on him and he was laying in his bed holding his ears saying his ears were hurting. I figured he was getting another ear infection, so I gave him some motrin and told him to go back to bed. About 20 to 30 min later he was still crying, so I brought him in my room and put him on the floor and gave him some benadryl to help him sleep. I figured we would take him to the doctor in the morning to have his ears checked. But still he was just being restless and whiny. So about 10-15 min later, I got him up to go the bathroom thinking that might be the problem. As he was walking, he kept falling over and walking into the wall. I also noticed that he was shaking all over. Our first thought was that maybe he got heat stroke (confusion, restlessness) from being in the sun all day. I tried to get him to drink, but he couldn't really drink because he was shaking. It was really tough to know how much of his crazy-acting was just Kevin being Kevin and how much of it was to be concerning. But he was more unusual than usual, so I took him into the ER.

I didn't want to open the garage door and wake Darci up, so I stuck him in the back of the car with a seatbelt. The whole way there he was thrashing around, screaming he couldn't see anything, and just being real loud. By the time we got to the ER, he was really restless and thrashing around a lot. The admitting nurse took one look at him and brought us back. The Dr took one look at his eyes and said, "he's been stung by a scorpion". That has been my fear of living in this town and I can't believe that happened. I called Tad and had him check the boys room because there were still 2 boys laying on the ground. He didn't see anything.

Back at the hospital, Kevin was just really out of control. He was yelling, screaming, kicking, thrashing, just all over the place. They said that is pretty common with scorpion stings because it is so neurotoxic to kids. Luckily they now have anascorp - an antivenom that is being tested out. They said it has worked everytime. And amazingly enough, after about 45 minutes, he started to calm down and actually fell asleep. His eyes were still twitching around a bit so he got a second dose and then he was all better. It was like night and day. Poor little guy. He was all smiles when we walked out of there. He even scored a new stuffed penguin, which he calls Thomas. That day he was all better, no signs that he had been bitten. No pain from anything.

I searched for the scorpion that morning when we got home and couldn't find anything - we don't have a blacklight. Then when we got home from church, I took their room apart and found it on the floor next to Derek's bed. I smashed it real good and then took this picture. We were so lucky no one else was stung that night. I have no idea what the yellow thing is next to it...maybe a piece of candy. And the following morning Paige came into our room and said there was a bug on her wall. Sure enough, there was a darn scorpion sitting right on her wall. We caught that one and put it in a jar to test out our insecticide and luckily it died within an hour or two of being sprayed. We've sprayed several times since. I might spray again tomorrow too.

Playing at Grandma Toni's and Papa Pat's...

Other random pictures.... Kevin has decided that when he vacuums he needs to roll up the rug to do a good job.

Found this cute little wooden table at a yard sale and painted it up for our DVD and gamecube. Now they don't have to look all ghetto sitting on top of the TV.

Happy birthday to me.... 32 years old. Darci was pretty bummed that she didn't get a present.

My niece Ashley had her 10th birthday a few days after mine so we had a little combined party.

Other random things the kids have done..

Kevin said he wanted to buy me a gun for my birthday so I can go shoot a deer.

Darci climbed up on the table the other night during dinner and shouted "ta da!" That has been her new word since.

Visit from Great Grandma Wilcox

2011-03-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

At the end of February, we spent a few days up in Mesa visiting with my grandma. We were very excited to see her again and the kids just love their "white-haired" Great Grandma! We stayed at my sisters house, and there are 8 great grandkids between my sister and I. I know Grandma had fun, but I'm sure she was happy to get home and get a rest from all the little ones running around!

Grandpa John came to visit with her.

The kids had fun taking each other for rides in her wheelchair.

There was a constant Star Wars battle...

And it even managed to snow in Mesa - ok, it was slushy hail, but it was cool.

Grandma loves to play cards and we sure did play a lot of cards!

We also took her and the kids geo-caching. I stayed in the van with her while the others went treasure hunting.

Amazing wife

2011-02-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

To my amazing and beautiful wife. I love you very much!! Tad

Potty training fun

2011-02-10T11:38:00.001-08:00

We have been sitting Darci on the toilet off on and for a few months and she has always liked being a big girl and even peed a time or two. So about 2 weeks ago I decided to make a real go at it. Especially after one day. She was trying to tell me something and I was busy and didn't know what she was saying. So she went and laid down on the floor in the living room and said, "change me". That really happened. So I thought she must be ready. She just turned 2 a few weeks ago.

And luckily I had about 4 days in a row where I didn't have to work. She has done great. She pees every time we put her on the potty. Sometimes she even tells me when she has to go. But most of the time, if it has been an hour, I just put her on the toilet. She loves candy so much I used that to bribe her the first 2 days and boy was she NOT happy when that ended. The first time she didn't get a candy (m&m) for going pee, she screamed and got this demonic look on her face and yelled, "CANDY!". Good heavens, I thought the child was possessed. But thankfully almost 2 weeks in she is over the candy.

Poops are hit or miss, literally. She's gone poop on the toilet a few times and we make a really big deal of it, but most of the time it just ends up in her panties. I tried the candy bribe for the poop but that just confuses her and she thinks she can get it for just a pee and then we're back to the whole demonic screaming and walking into walls while crying (remember when we took the binky away?). So, I'm just hoping that someday she'll get the poop part down before I have to wash out too many panties. Call me spoiled, but if there's a lot of poop in the panties, I don't even bother, they just go in the trash. Luckily, that's only happened once with her, we've been able to save most of them and catch her in time. I wish it was warmer and she could just run around naked.

Apart from the messy face and all, aren't her little panties so cute???

Darci really LOVES to play barbies. As part of her bedtime routine, I usually let her play by herself for about 5 minutes while I tuck in the other kiddos. She loves it. I think she might even like barbies more than Paige.

Like almost everyone else I know, we had a house full of sickies a week or so ago. It started with Kevin then Paige got it.

Then Derek kind of got it. I think he mostly just wanted to lay around and watch movies, but who can blame him?

While we were all just laying around, I used part of the time to finally make some of those fabric rosette barrettes that have been floating around everywhere. They are actually super easy.

Derek is off to jail

2011-01-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we had an adventure. It was almost time to go to church and I was trying real hard to get there on time. The kids were dressed and ready and I was just about done and was blow-drying my hair. When I finished I hear a whimpering noise. I turn around and Derek is crying and walks up to me and says, "I need help" and shows me his arms, which have handcuffs on them! Apparently Tad had left them out after reserving with Thatcher PD a few days before that. And they were on tight! I told him that he would have to go to jail now because he had handcuffs on and that really scared him. Tad was at work, so I called him to see where the key was. He tried to explain over the phone several areas where it might be but I couldn't find it anywhere. After about 15 minutes, he was able to get one of his hands out. But the other one wouldn't budge. I finally called another officer to see if he could come unlock it and right as I was asking, Derek somehow slipped it off his wrist. I don't know how because that thing was tight! After all the drama, we ended up being about 15 minutes late to church. Not bad.

Here is a video...

Last saturday, Paige was able to go to a cheer camp at the high school. She spent 4 hours learning the cheers and then performed at a basketball game. For $15 you can't beat it! She had a great time!

Here is a video...

And here is the rest of them being silly at the game... Warning, they just ate popcorn and still have some of it in their teeth!

Derek just lost tooth # 5

And just to prove that sometimes I have a clean house....

We've been working on writing Paige and Kevin's names. They're doing really good. Poor Paige has all the curvy letters in her name.

Just in time for Valentine's... having fun with some vinyl.

Not for Valentine's, but some more vinyl lettering I did.

Shopping for a month

2011-01-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

I decided that I needed another overhaul of how I cook and buy groceries. A few years ago I read this book:

It had really good advice which of course I had already heard a bunch of times but had never really paid attention to. They basically teach that you should buy a months worth of groceries at a time. They are really hard core and spend about $350 at once and never go back to the store. If they run out of fresh fruit, they start eating their canned ones, etc. They freeze milk, etc. They are a little extreme. So I tried my version of it a few years ago and noticed that I really was saving money. At the time, I was also getting 6 newspapers a week just for the coupons, and so I was also able to get a ton of stuff for free in addition to everything else (I really miss having a Fry's food store nearby!). I had a pantry full of food that didn't cost me very much at all.

But then life changed, I had Darci, we moved, I stopped using coupons as much, and just fell out of the habit. My food supply has since dwindled to an incredibly small amt, and with the economy how it is and everyone - not just church people - stressing the importance of having at least a 3-6 month supply of food, I thought I need to do something again. And then the other day at the store I saw that book again and I thought, I should do that again.

So, I am doing things a little bit different, but still basic principle. When I used to plan out meals I would assign them to a particular day, but it would always get messed up. So this time, I picked out a bunch of meals and just listed them, also listing which cookbook they were in so I could find them easier, leaving a few days for leftovers or eating out (which we never do, but maybe someday my husband will surprise me and take me to a restaurant...). The night before, I look at the list and decide what I want to cook the next day. This is important because some of the meals require beans soaking overnight or something like that. Here is what my list looks like - I definitely don't take the time to worry about it looking professional....but I did scan a copy in case mine gets thrown away, I know what I had planned.

Then on the back side, I list all my ingredients. I don't list the ones that I already have a good supply of on hand, just the ones I need to buy. I also try and pick a variety of recipes where some use fresh veggies and some don't because veggies don't last all month. That list looks like this:

Then I went to the store and got everything on my list. I spent $230 and have about $20 left to spend at Safeway. So that is $250 for nearly everything, including ziploc bags, dog food, etc. I figure I will have to spend $20-$25 per week for extra apples, milk, bread, and misc stuff, like last minute ice-cream cravings. I am also going to make bread a few times and freeze it to have every now and then. So that will be about $350 for everything. Hopefully. When I get home, I do need to spend about 30 minutes or so and repackage the meats into smaller portions and freeze them.

Usually I budget $500 a month on groceries/eating out, and spend somewhere between $500 and $600. I know, I am a great budgeter, right? So now I should have $150 to $200 leftover that I can spend on extra pantry items or days that I really want something else or for things I forgot.

It really did work the last time I did this, so I hope that it will work out this time. It's much easier to go to the store for just 2 or 3 things each week instead of a whole cart of things, especially when I'm usually dragging 3 of the kids with me. I have found that Walmart has the best prices in this area. I never shop at Bashas or Safeway unless they have a good sale and then I just get those sale items there, and get my other things at Walmart, even though I hate the checkout lines there.

Wish me luck!

Stuck

2011-01-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

Well last week we wanted to go back up to the mountain for more sledding FUN. We got there and started to have some fun when Tad decided that he should drive the truck closer to us so we wouldn't have to walk as far to get out. I said, "I don't think that is a good idea". He said, "Of course it is, we have 4 wheel drive". So he did. And he got stuck. This was about 4pm. It gets dark here at 5:30.

We spent about an hour trying to get ourselves out with our shovels and our wheels just kept on spinning. Finally, I got him to call our friend Aaron (he was too embarrassed to call his dad) to help us out. Then as I was talking to our sister in law, Joleen about possibly coming to pick us up, his dad overheard the conversation and asked if he needed to come rescue us. So Aaron was able to get us some tire chains at the auto store and Tad's dad stopped by and picked them up and headed up the mountain.

In the meantime, the kids were having fun drinking my hot chocolate and playing around. Paige was starting to get hysterical because her feet were cold (she refused to wear the extra pair of socks I gave her before we left). And little Darci was just in regular clothes because we don't have snow gear for her yet. This was actually the least prepared I've ever been on the mountain - usually I have towels and other things, but this time nothing. Derek was able to start us a little fire which he was really proud of. When the fire died out we huddled in the truck until Grandpa arrived to save the day. Of course he made Tad say over and over again that his truck was better than ours.

So the next day the funny part is that Tad found out his 4 wheel drive wasn't working because his hubs weren't locked in. Apparently he didn't think that he had to do that on our truck. So we had all that excitement, inconvenienced a lot of people, and could've saved ourselves a lot of time if he had just figured that out!! So maybe our 4 wheel drive works after all. I'm not going to go back up to test it out.

Snow Jan 6th

2011-01-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

This snow is all from the same snowstorm about a week earlier. They finally opened up the mountain so we could drive up farther. The kids had so much fun going down the hills. Poor little darci got carsick and threw up about 1 minute before we got to the sledding place. Luckily she was in 2 layers of clothes so I just peeled off her top layer and tossed it. She spent most of the time wrapped in a towel watching, but when I took her down the hill she loved it.

Derek's friend Wyatt came with us.

Snow on Jan 1

2011-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

Still getting caught up... These pictures are from the snow storm we had on the 29th of Dec. I took the kids up on the 1st and tried to play in the snow again. The mountain was still closed but we were able to go up far enough to play in some good snow and the kids had fun. The mountains all around us had snow capped peaks.

This was a dead end. I didn't realize it until we drove up a bit past these trucks that the road was closed. So I had to reverse down the icy road. It was kind of scary.

I brought up some hot chocolate for us to enjoy.

Darci turns 2!!

2011-01-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe our baby is 2!! She is the sweetest little thing but also knows exactly what she wants and gets it most of the time! She loves being a big girl, wearing big girl panties, talking up a storm, and playing with her older brothers and sister. She also really loves cupcakes now. She sleeps great, still takes a good 2-3 hr nap on her good days. She's got a bed full of little baby dolls and stuffed animals that she likes with her when she sleeps. She's a good eater, but has developed a strong dislike for oatmeal and most days she doesn't want a thing to do with breakfast. She weighs in at 24lbs, so she is definitely on the small side.

Here she is trying to help make her cupcakes.

As much as she loves to say "cupcake" she didn't actually eat too much of it. She had more fun with the ice cream.

She had fun opening her presents. These are some little pinwheel hair bows I made for her.

Kevin learning to ride his bike

2011-01-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Kevin is learning to ride his bike. This was about 2 weeks ago and he is doing pretty good now. Still needs a little help getting started because his bike is taller than Paige's.

Snow in Thatcher and visit from cousins

2011-01-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

My mom brought my sister's kids to visit a few days after Christmas. For a few days the weather turned cold - 17 degree nights - and we got a little bit of snow in Thatcher. Not enough to stick on the ground, but enough to have fun in. This video was on Dec 30th.

We drove up on Mt Graham hoping to play, but they had the gates closed off because they hadn't been snow plowed yet, so we had to just pull off the side of the road somewhere. Unfortunately it was VERY windy that day, so it felt closer to ZERO with the wind chill.

Almost as soon as they got out of the van, they got back in because the wind was so intense.

Vinyl lettering for the door

It was a lot of fun for the kids to have their cousins come visit (hint, hint)

And of course, they had to ride Grandpa's train, which was just painted by Uncle Brad.

We also had fun with our other cousins, Max, Maya and Cooper who came over to play while they were visiting Nana and Grandpa. They loved riding on Grandpa's train also!! We also enjoyed seeing Jake and Garrett who are getting so BIG!! We're glad that we're back in AZ and the kids can see all of their cousins more often.