Az State Fair

My parents came down for the day and we had so much fun. We partied and partied and didn't get home until 8:30 (which is late for a school night!)

Grammy & Pap & Lew at the State Fair!

So I had to check my kids out of school early so they could party at the state fair! They were soooo disappointed to miss out on all that schooling! Griffin's teacher told us to make sure to eat a fried twinkie for her, so Griffin, being the fantastic student that he is, did!

Fried Twinkie

The Macey's petting zoo was a huge hit since they have exotic animals to pet and feed. We spent lots of time there and I think the animals were better for it! :>

Lewis feeding llamas

Pap and Camel

Mary feeding baby bull

Helen and baby camel

Grif feeding Goats

We even rode an elephant named Becky.

Not as cool as the picture of my Grandpa Wally in India riding an elephant but it will do!!!

We rode so many rides! Even Grammy and Pap got in on the action. Actually Paps rode tons of rides with the girls while I rode the smaller rides with Griffin and Grammy was on stroller duty with Lewis. It was great fun!

Ferris Wheel

Dune Buggy Ride

G-Force: Pap and girls on top left

Tug Boat: Pap and all the kids

M&M Visit (last March)

I just found these pictures taken in March of our friends Matt & Molly visiting us. Matt golfed every day and we had lots of fun but I took very few pictures because Molly was a snappin fool!

zoo fun

I thought I'd share the few I actually took. We had fun at the zoo and hanging out playing on our Big Kid scooter.

The Awesome Scooter!

The last day Molly, Helen and I even went to visit Molly's Uncle Eph who hangs out down here in the winter. He helps out at a farm where he had tilled up the land and planted grass so they could build corrals and get some horses in. I guess it's about time for him to come on back! So enjoy the pictures.

Rattlesnake tracks!



Uncle Eph's house--the one on blocks not the house in the background!

Eph and Molly Doodle
Helen, Mol & Eph touring the property

Eph's fine new field all ready for some horses

Unka Eph

Vinyl fun

I love vinyl lettering. I'd love to buy a machine and make it my job. I love thinking up fun quotes and seeing them come to life on the wall or in a frame. Even on my mission I had 3 huge posterboards I took with me to every flat I lived in that had lots of quotes on them that were inspiring for me and my companions and I hung them on the wall as soon as I moved in! So, lets just say I'd love to have quotes all over. Here are the first ones for this house. I've had some that I was going to put in the old house so I'm glad they still stuck to the wall and I got some new ones. :>

Tile

Helen's room

Front Room

My latest fall decoration,
candlesticks with pumpkins on them.
Thanks for the tip Becky!

Lew Lew's Birthday

Happy Happy Birthday
Lewis, Lewy, Lew
Happy Happy Birthday
My handsome prince is 2!

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!!!!

kissing his friends Wubbzy, Widget & Walden

Widget, Wubbzy, Walden and Lewis (BFF's!)

Cheeeeeeee

Mac & Cheese & Rootbeer
Lewy has to have a fork in both hands for all meals!

free sundae to go with the free meal

girls and lew

We went to Red Robin for Lewy's birthday (free meal!) He had a great time opening his gifts--Wubbzy and his friends, Widget and Walden. He loves the Nick Jr. show Wow! Wow! Wubbzy which we watch on Noggin--"its like preschool on TV." It is genius because you know how easy kids can say wow wow? It's like ma ma or da da so he grabs the remote, hands it to me and says "Ma Ma, Wow Wows" and plants his booney on the couch and he gets sooooo happy when it comes on, he gasps and smiles at you and starts singing along and shakin his body dancing to the catchy tune. It is sooo cute!. We have episodes recorded on the DVR so we can watch Wubbzy 24-7 if necessary.

Lewis had Mac & Cheese and a sundae so he got plenty messy and ate every bite of his dinner. What more could you ask for if you just turned 2?

Fall Break

We had our Fall Break last week. It was very busy with 3 birthdays parties for the girls, all of which were swimming parties and lasted at least 5 hours. We stayed here in the valley for a few days since the weather was so nice--cooling off to the mid 90's.

I took the kids to the Wildlife World Zoo where we fed the giraffes, looked at the jaguars above us and even rode the train around the savanna. www.wildlifeworld.com

Grammy and Pap came down for a night and we followed them to Flag the next day. We actually broke out our long pants and long shirts but it was so nice short sleeves were ok. Lewy and Griffin had a blast at the park. There was the 2-5 year old play area and the 5-12 year old area, guess which one the 23 month old wanted to play on? Yeah, he was rockin the big area. We had lots of fun and I don't think we could choose a favorite thing at the park.

Then we came back for one of the birthday parties and I had to get ready to teach RS on Sunday so all the other parties ended too. We had a fantastic break and were hatin it on Monday when it was back to reality!!

Kids on the train

Feeding giraffes

Can't find them in the enclosure? Try looking up!
2 Jaguars above our heads!

boys on fire truck going down fire pole

Grif on dino

Rock on!

Weeeeee

Bathroom Improvements

Here is what Brad has been up to when he has the rare moments of no back pain. He is still trying to get rid of the pinched nerve and heal the torn disc. Luckily he does beautiful work while on percocet!

We have had the shower curtain for 2 years but the white walls just weren't workin for us so I saw some cool squares in some brochure and Brad said he could do that no problem. He just got out that laser level and went to town. We decided on purple for the main color and then the other colors for the squares. The colors look great and it sure makes the bathroom look so much nicer. The left wall is still a work in progress with the squares not finished but you get the idea from this completed wall.

Fall Picture Day

Yes, Picture Day is upon us and dang did my kids look cute! No telling how they looked by the time the pictures were taken at school but I got a few shots in so here is the before school pictures. Aren't they sweet?!?

GFIN--already has toothpaste and water all over his shirt

HJ--only has half of her beautiful smile, I guess it was just too early for that but hopefully she will perk up for 'real' pictures

MJ--Very photogenic but lost 2 buttons at school before real photo shoot at school but at least the pictures were taken before lunch!

We are ready for our close-ups!