Trip to Arizona

This summer we spent a little more than 3 weeks in Arizona and had a great time! Jeff was working his crazy work schedule, so I braved the trip there with just me and the kids.  Fortunately, the kids are great to travel with. We made it with no problems and enjoyed our time on the road.

A little after we got there, Laura had her 39th birthday. We went with her best friend Mary to get a pedicure and then met Brent for lunch. I hope she had a fun birthday because I sure had fun celebrating with her. I really am blessed with the best sister in the world!

Whenever I go home, I always feel like I never have enough time to do everything I want or see everyone I want to see.  Luckily I got to see some of my closest friends this time and LOVED it! We got to meet with Mitch and Elizabeth Cluff a few times. I love being with them. Always enjoy their company. Got to enjoy lunch with her and Steve Wright from my old single's ward days too. So fun!! I got to have breakfast with some of my favorite girls from High School - Heather Andreasen Biggs, Jennifer & Jill Bott and Andi Clark Gooch.  I always enjoy doing breakfast with them and catch up on everything that has happened in our worlds.  Another highlight was reuniting (most of) the Session Brothers and Session Sisters! Our little gang had so much fun together through all the years we've known each other. Lance, Beau, Lynda, Shelly and I and our spouses met at Tim Knollmiller's home and had a great time reliving the good old days. I LOVED being with all of them again. Just wished Karla and Rob could have joined us to complete the gang. We missed them. It made me realize once again how I really have been blessed with the most AMAZING friends in my life! Lucky me!

Of course no trip to AZ would be complete without lots of swim time!  We had so much fun being in the pool enjoying silly dives and chicken fights. Laura even got some synchronized swimming going on.

Of course we also had to spend A LOT of time at Laura and Brent's Krazy Sub. WE LOVE KRAZY SUB!!! This year they added a new menu item....Krazy Kookies. Two homemade cookies stuffed with Thrifty's ice cream in the middle. SO YUMMY! And of course my kids had lots of fun with their cousins doing talent shows, shopping at the mall, playing the dollar store game and hanging out. They all get a long so well.  Todd and Jen moved up to California recently, but luckily for us Jen came down with the kids so they had them to play with too. They really love each other. And I love how sweet and kind the older cousins are to my little ones. Regan got really attached to Rebecca and cried every time she wasn't around. All of them are the best!

One Saturday we all took a little day trip up to Payson and then to the Natural Bridge. Payson was absolutely gorgeous that day. We went to the park to have lunch and goof around and play games. It rained a little while we were playing games, but we didn't get any of it. The temperature even dropped down to 68 degrees for a while. It was so nice. 

Afterwards, we went to do a short hike down to the Natural Bridge. It was a great little hike and very pretty.  We even found a bush loaded with blackberries that we picked. Laura was the champion of blackberry picking as she would jump smack in the middle of the bushes. And even though we all got scrapped up and dyed with blackberry stains, it was all worth it when we got back to my mom's house and Brent made us some fabulous blackberry cobbler. YUMMY! Loved that day!!!

Jeff had his 38th birthday and we celebrated our 16th anniversary while there. My wonderful sister was nice enough to watch the kids for us as we went over to Scottsdale and stayed a night at the Westin Hotel there. It was great!  The hotel staff was super friendly. The room was big and gorgeous. The grounds were beautiful.  Unfortunately the weather didn't quite cooperate. Monsoon season hit. The hotels have a bunch of awesome pools and even a lazy river. Jeff and I got all ready and got to the pool, stepped in the lazy river just in time for them to kick us out because there was lightening. That was a bit of a bummer. But we ended up doing a little shopping and then stuffed ourselves at    
PF Chang's for dinner. We grabbed a slice of cheese cake from the Cheesecake Factory then went to a movie.  The next morning we got a late check out and finally enjoyed the pools until we left to go and help decorate for my cousin Kelsey Passey's wedding. Great way to celebrate our anniversary.  Laura is the best!

Our last day there we got to go to Kelsey and Craig's sealing in the Mesa temple and then go to their reception. Everything was beautiful...especially the bride!  

I loved being able to see all my Utah Aunts, Uncles and cousins and spend time with them. I wish I could see them more.  I am blessed with the most wonderful family a girl could ask for! Right after the reception we loaded in the truck and headed home.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip!

4th of July Collierville Style

This year we stayed in Collierville for our 4th of July. It was a lot different than our usual time in Arizona...but it was great.

The 4th of July was on a Sunday this year, so we did most of our celebrating on Saturday the 3rd. 

We went over to Jeff's parents house after a day of swimming and had a yummy BBQ.  The cousins had fun playing together and enjoyed ice cream and playing games.

We later headed to the park for the fireworks show. Not as spectacular as the one in Arizona, but it was still enjoyable.

On Sunday (the actual 4th) we set of our own fireworks that we bought in Mississippi. That was pretty fun. Regan didn't enjoy it so much at first, until we gave her her own sparkler. It was so cool seeing all the fireworks go off all over our neighborhood from all the neighbors.  Awesome Show! 

Overall, it was a great day celebrating our freedom and the country we love!

Summertime!

We've been busy so far this summer and have been having a great time.  

Here's a quick catch up for June. 

Brooke go contacts.  Caught a frog. Went visiting teaching with me 

down in Mississippi. She and Brennan have both been learning how to cook. 

Unfortunately, that means more cookies and brownies we have to try to resist. 

She's been super helpful this summer and I'm grateful for that.

Jeff's company had a party at a golf and games type of place. It was a lot of fun.

Kids got to have their faces painted. Petting zoo. Bumper boats. Race cars. Laser Tag etc. 

as well as lots of food to eat. It was fun just being together.

The girls went to Vacation Bible School where they learned to share the Word like Bees. 

They had fun making crafts, playing sports, singing songs and learning the differences

between our church and other people's faith.

We've also been filling our days with lots of other things. 

This was our trip to the Children's Museum while Brennan was off to Scout Camp.

The girls had a really fun time.

We've also gone to movies, swimming, crafts, the library as well as trying to teach 

these kids to serve others. So far it's been great. Can't believe how fast it's going.

Graduation Time

Regan had her end of the year preschool program and graduation.  It was adorable as you can imagine. The kids did little skits and sang songs. Loved it. Afterwards, they had a little picnic for the families outside on the lawn. It was a gorgeous sunny day in the 70s. Beautiful. Regan had a great time in preschool this year. She cried any time she couldn't go. Hope that stays with her in the years to come!

Today Brennan had his graduation from middle school.  It dawned on me recently that we will only have him at home for 4 more years. That really freaks me out. That's not much time at all.  Time flies way too fast.  I can't believe our little boy is growing up and isn't much of a little boy any more. He's gone through a voice change and a growth spurt. Doesn't even sound like himself anymore. We're so proud of him for all he is. After graduation, we got to grab a beverage with Jeff and then I took him for steak at lunch.  He then got to go pick out his own graduation gift. He picked a wii game...of course!

These are some random photos I found of the girls. They really are beautiful.  I feel so blessed to be the mother of these 4 children.

May Fun

Been busy with end of school year stuff and pure laziness mixed together. I love that combination.  Brennan and Brooke both had choir concerts. I love hearing my children sing!  Jadyn and Brooke had Field Day...but I didn't get good pictures of any of that.  BUT, I did get some pictures of our fun this past weekend. 

Jeff's company gave us tickets to the Redbirds Minor league baseball game.  We took the kids to our favorite Mexican food restaurant beforehand and got there a little late. Unfortunately, all the points scored for the whole game happened in the innings we missed. The kids were pretty bored. But it was a gorgeous night and we were together! No more 90 hour work weeks for Jeff, so I was loving every minute. After the game was over, they had a fireworks show that was pretty dang good. The kids liked that part.  It rained a little, but it was still so enjoyable all being together. I love my little family.

Today we got to go over the my friend Amy Smith's home with some other friends. They have a heated pool. Still, I'm an Arizona wimp. I don't go in unless it's very warm. But Regan and her friends LOVED it. It's the second time we've been able to go so far. And although I now have to load up with SPF and sit under the umbrella more, I LOVE being out in the sun with friends enjoying the weather and good company! I love my friends.

Here's Regan in the middle with her friends Addisyn and Jalynn. Cutie pies!

Spring has Sprung!

Jeff is still busy working his 90+ hours a week so it's just me and the kiddos on the weekends.  The weather has been gorgeous (mostly). We definitely have to enjoy it while we can.

Since there's not much to do in Memphis, I decided to take the kids on a day trip to Jackson, TN about an hour from here.   They have a cute little village with miniature golf, an old fashion ice cream parlor and little shops.  It took us 2 hours to play 18 holes of mini golf, but we had a fun day. Gotta change it up a little in life.

Brooke's class had a field trip today at the zoo.  I got to have my friend Tiffanie Emerson drive with me. We had such a good time. The weather was absolutely beautiful and sunny. 72 degrees for the high today. I loved being there and having some girl time with Brooke.

Here Brooke is with her sweet friends Alysse and Sarah Emerson. The girls were super goofy but had fun. We then got to enjoy a yummy lunch together and get her checked out of school for the rest of the day. I love days like today!

Easter

Easter was wonderful!  

At church, the activity day girls organized an easter egg hunt for the children. They did a great job filling eggs and hiding them.  Even had brownies and water for an extra treat. They had such a good time hunting for those eggs. It was so cute.

Jeff has been in the middle of a shut down at the refinery. He's busy again working his 90+ hours a week.  We haven't seen him much in the past month. Luckily, he came home in time to take me to a late dinner and then color eggs Saturday night with the children. The kids sure love it when he's home.

On Easter Sunday he surprised us and was able to stay home all day! This is the first time he's been home on Easter for the past 4 years. It was SO nice!

Jeff's parents went to visit his sister in Dallas, so we just did dinner on our own.  My back is still sore from the surgery, so I wasn't really up for hosting. But that didn't stop me from being excited to do Easter dinner.  We had homemade muffins with eggs for breakfast.  Ham cooked with a cranberry orange sauce,homemade dinner rolls, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans with bacon for dinner. THEN... carrot cake made by scratch for dessert. YUMMY!!!

It was a quiet and peaceful day as we got to listen to conference and hear the words of our prophet, remember the Atoning Sacrifice of our Savior, and be together as a family. WONDERFUL!