He's Home

chris returned from his mission in hiroshima, japan in may. (it's old news by now but i have too many pictures to not post about it. as in, this post has 30+ pics, so be warned! :) chris came to AZ with my mom and mark a couple days after getting back to the states. he met grace and porter for the first time and i absolutely love the pictures of it. all it took was a book and then everyone was friends. next up was a bbq in chris's honor, with grandparents and cousins. it was fun to see so much family and we missed those who couldn't be there - mostly hannah, who had spring term classes and stayed in provo.

the next day we attended the temple it it was a sweet experience. it was chris's first time in the mesa tempe and it holds a special place in our hearts - my parents, dan and i, and dallin and kamber all were sealed inside it's walls. now hannah and chris just need to find people from AZ too. :) after the temple we met some family friends at rosa's for some quality mexican food(oh, how i miss good mexican food!!! darn midwest.) and drove to good ol' mexico. 

puerto penasco is on of my favorite places in the world and in my opinion, the best beach ever. we enjoyed: low tide, kites, walks on the beach, church in spanish, sandcastles being demolished by the incoming tide (madison was SO sad), dinner on the deck at sunset, cousins hanging out in beach chairs, getting to know shane, kayaking, digging up and eating clams (you couldn't pay me to eat one of those, YUCK!!). the beach house was great and the weather was gorgeous.

atfer 5 days in mexico we packed up, drove back to AZ, unloaded our beach gear, grabbed more clean clothes, and then drove on up to utah and spent the weekend and memorial day in cedar. we saw more extended family, spent time at the cabin, went four wheeling, visited the cemetery, and listened to chris speak in church. he shared some sweet moments from his mission and tender feelings about coming home.

i am amazed with my brother. 

he is strong, and diligent and true. 

he was an incredible missionary, just like his brother and father before him. 

we are glad he's home.

Our Swagger Wagon

we've officially joined the ranks of minivan owners.

(4 months ago, but who's counting?)

and we consider this van our tithing miracle. literally. 

A+B=C

A : price we sold the suburban

+

B : completely unexpected tax refund

=

C : price of the minivan, registration, mechanic fees, the detailing of the suburban prior to it's sale, with $50 to spare

we're absolutely loving it (and already added 6,000 more miles to the odometer). in a weird way, i feel more like a legit mom that ever before ...just because i drive a mini van. :)

***i'm way behind the times but for any of you who haven't seen the swagger wagon video on youtube, go here.  (link fixed now!) it's awesome.

I Have the Best Job Ever

a snapshot of our day:

-the girls and i slept in and then laughed and snuggled under the covers for an extra 1/2 hour
-a little playing of playdoh for the girls while i did some pre-breakfast vaccuuming
-my choc/banana slim fast shake gave grace a milk mustache
-we finished breakfast with a starburst
-grace was ecstatic to open her green wrapper and find a green starburst
-she couldn't believe it
-wiped off sticky fingers
-some of us got dressed and some didn't
-grace walked out of the girls room wearing madi's jammies as a toga
-i cleaned to carrie underwood
-madison played my little ponies, in her underwear, on the coffee table, while i made lunch
-grace played on the slide in the backyard with sadie, still wearing her toga
-i cleared off lunch while listening to silly noises and out of control giggling as the girls made faces at each other
-nap time meant grace traded her toga for her owl jammy bottoms and madison tucked her all princesses underneath her pillow
-now i am off to scrub the bathroom, finish the laundry, and mop the kitchen until the girls wake up and the fun starts over

*i really do have the best job ever. no joke.

{rachel button photography}

Cheap Labor At Its Best

our old place.

{trying to keep things modest}

The Latest

{this picture has nothing to do with the post, i just love that sadie looks like she's thinking, "get me outta here!".}

i'm in a bit of a blogging slump lately. i have so many things to write about, document, catch up on and post pictures of but i'm finding there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything i need or want to do. something's got to give.  so i am releasing myself of any and all pressure. :) i won't post about each trip we take, every funny thing the girls do, all the cute pictures, or the numerous projects i hope to complete (not that i documented all of it before).  there's just too many good things going on to spend much of it blogging.  for now, here is a quick update:

DAN - is two months into his residency program and excited to finally be doing derm.  he's learning a lot and really likes it. the program is very family friendly and the girls have had a couple opportunities already to see dad "be a doctor" at work and they especially like the sparkly elmo stickers at the clinic. he's been pretty busy with the house - things to buy and fix here and there and did way more than his share of unpacking and in record time.  dan's diligent about mowing and keeping up with our big yard and it looks great (except for some sort of rodent that keeps digging piles of dirt and leaving trails).  he was called last month to serve as executive secretary and those responsibilities keep him occupied for much of sunday but it's been a great chance to get to know the Bishopric and jump right in.he recently went garage sale hunting with the whole family and scored some great finds.

MARIE - is loving columbia but not the humidity. she's met some great friends already and is looking forward to starting joy school with them and their 3 year olds next week. she was called to work with the YW in the ward (miamaid advisor) after being in MO for 5 days. soon after that she spoke in sacrament meeting and is glad that's behind her. :) she's finally realized, after getting a puppy, that she is definitely a cat person.  she enjoyed feeding the missionaries for the first time ever and hopes to make it a regular occurance.  it seems much of her 'spare' time is spent scouring online ads, craigslist, and consumer reports about all the various things to buy for the house on meager budget. oh, and she got a new oven this week so her next goal is to master making homemade bread 

MADISON - is as full of personality as ever.  she talks ALL the time and keeps us laughing with her stories and facial expressions.  we took the girls to an antique store a few weeks back and every two steps she'd stop and say,"oh, isn't this cool?" , "is this so pretty, mom?", "dad, do you love this one?". she still loves movies but her favorite thing is coloring and tracing. she could spend hours doing if we let her and i'm impressed by how well she stays in the lines.  she is a good helper in the kitchen and her favorite things to make are homemade pizza and tacos, and she recently helped make nutella banana wontons. yum!  madison is a great big sister and is (normally) great at including grace in whatever she's doing.  she loves sadie and calls her sadie lady nash, affectionately after the skinner's dog, nash.  she enjoys skyping with family far away and has actually taken the move quite well.  she gets to be a flower girl for kamber and shane's wedding this fall and starts joy school on tuesday and dance in a few weeks. she is growing up so fast.

GRACE - oh my, this little girl. she is full of movement and energy and opinions.  she has sensitive feelings and tends to obey quickly with just a mention of timeout.  she is as talkative as ever and very polite - saying thank you, please, and excuse me.  her hair gets comments daily and i've tried to tame it with pomade recently which works for about an hour.  she tackles sadie, giggling like crazy. the girls love singing primary songs after turning out the light at night but we limit it to a couple.  one night grace kept asking for another song as i left the room and i was part way down the hall when i heard madison ask her. "do you want ME to sing you a song?". "uh huh!" grace said.  madison sang her three different songs (i am a child of God, families can be together forever, and i love to see the temple). SO SWEET!  i can't believe grace is going to be two this fall - what happened to my baby?

THE ANIMALS - the cats still scratch and throw up and the puppy still isn't completely house broken. it's about as fun as it sounds. :) both are getting acclimated to the other. socks and lucy have learned that sadie's barking means she just wants to run around and chase them. sadie has found that being swatted by a cat is worth the all the excitement. mostly we're (I'M) just anxious to put a fence in the backyard because chasing sadie down the neighborhood, zig zagging across the street trying to catch her, while in my pjs, with my two girls standing in the driveway, wearing only their underwear, is overrated.

HOUSE - in all it's old, musty glory - we love it.  we love thinking about what we'd like to do next and what we'd do if money were no object.   we painted the upstairs living room/entry way/hall last weekend and LOVE having the sunshine yellow restricted to just the kitchen. before and after pictures to come in the near future. putting a fence in the backyard is our next big project. we found the house is indeed leak proof after getting 9 inches of rain in a 24 hour period back in june.  we were told if it didn't leak then, it won't ever. (fingers crossed!)  our AC was out for 5 days but it's been cleaned and up and running and we hope things go smoothly from here on out.

so much for a quick update! :)

Utah Trip - April 2010

here is my meager attempt at catchup.

few words, many pictures.

we made a quick weekend trip to cedar to see hannah between her college semesters. (thank you skinners for letting us borrow the tahoe!) four wheeling was the highlight of the trip.  we headed out to my parent's land in new harmony and soaked in the sun despite the chilly wind. 

my girls LOVE four wheeling.  

almost as much as i do.

dan had quite the encounter with mark's big new motorcycle but mastered it after a few tries and a gash to the shin.  

he has the scar to prove it.

not pictured: macy on the back of the four wheeler. 

since she can't run behind them anymore, riding on the back is the next best thing. 

it was awesome.

hannah and kolob.

best buds.

hours spent playing with noah's ark, the same toy we have at home that nevers gets touched. 

everything is better and grandma's house i guess. :)

macy's poor feet.  

here is her walking cast made of pvc pipe.

madison chose the color of her dressings.

macy and her new alpha male. lol. she loves him. and don't tell mark i told you this but i may have seen him carry macy to the bedroom when she was too sore and tired to walk herself. as in, scooped her up and carried her like a baby.

it was a quick, wonderful trip.