Hamilton

 To break up the monotony of summertime, I'd take the kids to Hamilton Pool.

 It's cheap and allows the boys to play outside - something unheard of in Arizona in the summer.

 Evan finally learned to swim and navigate the water slides there.  He was so proud of himself!

 Christy's family joined us - we had a blast racing our boys down the slides.

Good times.

Christmas Eve finale

After visiting my grandma we came home and made cookies for Santa.

Then the boys and I decided to go see We Bought a Zoo. It was one of my favorite movies that I saw in 2011. So good. Seriously good. I laughed, I cried.

We have a tradition to open one present on Christmas Eve and it's always pajamas.

Ian's mom had bought the boys Santa hats with their favorite football team logos.

The boys posed in their pj's and hats.

Then Evan, Max and I spread reindeer food on the front porch for Santa's reindeer (thank you Penny :) ).

It was one of my favorite Christmas Eves. The only thing that would've made it better was if Ian would've been able to spend it with us.

Day 2

I know you all were on the edge of your seats wondering what the heck we did on our second day of vacation. We slept in. This is the view from our room. See those 2 people by the lake? That's Max and Xander. Xander was catching fish with his bare hands. I kid you not. That boy is obsessed.

We decided to go to Newport on day 2. We went to the part closer to the Balboa Peninsula - which means the waves were breaking right on shore. When we got there Evan and I went for a long walk down to the shops while Ian and the boys boogie boarded. When I got back Ian had buried Ben and Xander in the sand.
Evan got some sweet shades.

Max loved running into and from the waves.

This was the day I got brave and swam in the ocean with Ben and Xander. We had a lot of fun screaming out stupid things like, "Rock and Roll!" or "Freedom!" and then we'd dive under waves or let the waves carry us to the shore. I'm pretty sure we were making spectacles of ourselves but hey, that's what I do best!

After we went back to the hotel, Xander, Max, Evan and I went to the biggest mall EVER. Seriously. And the boys didn't even appreciate it. Ben was sunburnt bad from literally spending 2 days in the ocean so Ian stayed back at the hotel with him. I swear I think I saw that kid for a total of 30 minutes when we were at the beach on both days combined. He's a fish!

Matthea turns 2

July 16th was a busy day! After Max's baptism luncheon, we headed over to Ian's parents house to celebrate this darling girl's birthday:

We started off by swimming in the pool. My kids love Nana and Papa's pool because it is shaded and stays really cool. They spent 90% of their time in the pool.

How cute is this boy? I really wish he would stay 4 forever.
Ian's mom bought a snow cone machine especially for the occasion. I love myself a good snow cone.
JD helped dish them out.
After a little while, Sean swam with the birthday girl and her cousin.
Matthea was so funny - we'd say, "Lay back and relax" and she'd lay back.

Evan eating his 3rd snow cone.


After pool time we came in to sing happy birthday. The cake had a picture of the birthday girl! Evan loved it :)

Xander was a little camera shy.
Blowing out the candles:
Present time! Evan was excited until he noticed that Matthea was getting all girl stuff. He quickly lost interest.




Harry Potter showed up.


The best present was outside. Nana and Papa bought Matthea a bbq/kitchen set. She loved it! It was so fun to watch her play with her cousin.

We bought Matthea some gloves and a purse. I feel kinda bad because I have a feeling Meg is going to be putting those gloves on 1,000 times a day.
She had them off in .2 seconds after Meg put them on.

We had such a fun time helping Matthea celebrate her 2nd birthday.

Easter Eggs

Good Friday wasn't so good for me, but I think my kids had a good day - thanks largely to Kim and my mom. I had to work for a little bit in the morning, and then we went down to my mom's to dye Easter eggs. I thought for sure the boys would be over doing that, but they aren't. They love it.


Joe seranaded on the guitar.

I'm laid back about it - I let them mix colors and add oil (which makes the eggs speckled). They came up with some awesome looking eggs.

My mom joined us with a big tub of jelly bellies. The boys loved guessing the flavors.

Joshua loved his egg so much. When he took it out of the color solution he said, "That smells delightful!"

Michael came out to seranade us too.

Xander eventually ate some of his eggs. He loves hard boiled eggs.

After we were done coloring them, Josh and Evan hid them for grandma.

Then grandma hid them for Josh and Evan.

I love my family.