Perfect weather, perfect day....

We had so much fun playing outside on Thanksgiving. It was not too cold and not too hot! Well, I guess I got a little hot while out running the bases in our kick ball game...but besides that it was great!

We had it at my parents this year. Brie and Joey weren't able to come to AZ, so it was just the 5 Arizonan kids and their families. Also, Dave's sister Diane with 2 of her kids and Brian's parents joined us!! It was nice to have more people around for the holidays.
We ate a good meal then laid around a bit while the kids played outside on their early Christmas present from Nonna.



Soon after we headed out for a game of kickball. We picked teams the old fashion way and sure enough, the 2 grandma's were the LAST picked!! It was fun. There was a park right there for the kids to play at, but they mostly hung out with us.





Sandra and Fressia decided to climb the backstop, and the boys took advantage and started chucking the balls at them....added by throwing water from water bottles up at them to get them all wet!


Like I said, it was a PERFECT day!!

Speaking of...

.....Fressia, she's my "single" cousin! Anyone know anyone that wants to go on a blind date?? She'd love it! She doesn't get a chance to meet too many great Mormon boys at work, so I figured I'd try and help! Hah, you love me Fressia, I know it!! To help you narrow down who you know, I thought I'd put in some side notes....she's a shorty, like 5'1 or 2. Lives in Gilbert, 26 yrs old, fun personality...Okay, I'm not good at that part, so just trust me, she's cute!
Sorry Fressia, this is the only picture I could find of you on my computer right now, you were the one with the camera on thursday so there isn't much there!

Thanksgiving....

Happy Thanksgiving! Can you believe it is already here!! I thought I'd start off the day by saying how thankful I am for my KIDS! It seems like I only blog when things are crazy or out of whack, so I thought today was a good day to mention their "good" side! Here's my perfect morning:

Tanner came in at 7:30 am and woke me up to ask if he could play on the computer. I said sure, but get Payton up first. (she had just then started calling, "mom" from her crib) Oh yeah, and Brian was already out playing in the annual Turkey Bowl)

I didn't hear a thing or see another child until 8 am! Kamryn came in and crawled into bed. I was feeling better (I've got some sort of tummy thing going on the past few days), so we got up and came out to the kitchen.

There I found Payton just headed to the sink and putting her cereal bowl into it. Tanner was still on the computer and he had gotten Payton up and made her some breakfast!

I love that I can take a break when needed and so far I have a 99% chance that things will be in order when I wake up. At the beginning of this pregnancy I took daily naps from 30 mins to 3 hours and the kids always helped hold down the fort while I rested. Luckily I think I'm starting to get passed the tired stage, so as soon as this tummy thing passes, we should be good to go!

Have a YUMMY dinner today!! Happy Thanksgiving...

Polar Express!!

This weekend we took the kids up to Williams Arizona to ride on the Polar Express and see SANTA! We went with a huge group of friends, which made it even more fun. Tanner and Kamryn loved every second of the trip. Payton would have loved it, but since the train left at 8 PM, (45 mins past bedtime) and got back at 9:30, we thought she'd have much more fun spending her time with Grandma and Grandpa Martin. And she did have a blast there!!


They got to write letters to Santa and see Mrs. Clause before the train left. Then once on the train, Santa came walking through and passed out bells for the kids to take home.

On Saturday we took our time driving home and checked out some land/cabins with some friends in Flagstaff. While we were driving around we saw 7 ELK!! They were all together standing in a circle. Once we stopped and got out to get a closer look, (and once Tanner laid on a horn a few times) they started walking away. Very slowly though, they seemed to not care that we were right there at all!

She wasn't lying...

Earlier this afternoon I loaded the kids up and we were off to Home Depot to get some things for around the house. Somewhere between my house and Home Depot, Payton started calling my name REPEATEDLY. For anyone who's been lucky enough to have traveled with Payton knows that this is NOTHING new. It's her favorite thing to do, and its a daily occurrence.

After a while, I turned and asked her what she needed. USUALLY she just smiles and continues to say my name. But this time was different...She told me, "My shoe!" I then asked, "Where's your shoe??" She pointed at the window (which was rolled down) and said, "At the window!" I was like, WHAT?? Did she really throw her shoe out the window???? This was my FAVORITE shoe I had ever bought for ANY of my kids! It lasted all summer, stayed on her (until now) and matched everything!!

Sure enough, we got to Home Depot and she only had one shoe in the car. Driving home I was trying to figure out where she started the whole "MOM" thing....and I began looking in the road as I drove. I was almost home, (but still on a major road) when I SAW IT!! It was in the middle of the street. I pulled on over and ran into the street to get it. It was still in good shape and didn't appear to have been run over.

Random story yes, but I still can't believe she actually chucked her shoe out the window!! She can't even reach her hand out of it, so actual throwing had to have been involved!

He did SO good!

Tanner had his appointment this morning to have his front tooth pulled along with one filling done. He was actually pretty excited about it! He hit his tooth when he was one, and it has been brown/gray every since. It turned pink last month and it was clear that there was an infection inside it now. It was literally eating away his tooth(you can see a little hole in the top by his gums) Everything went great! The tooth was all broken on one side inside his gums and they couldn't get it all out, so over the next year or so the dentist said he'd have random pieces of a tooth fall out!??! They used laughing gas, and it relaxed him so quickly and perfectly. It was about 35 minuets that he had to lay there with his mouth open! Anyway, now we're waiting for the numbing to go away so he can eat some lunch and go to school to show all his friends!