August

What an ... interesting month it's been for us! We sure do miss Dave, but more on that later.

Caroline had a dentist appointment this month. The office was pretty cool - it had an indoor playground! There was also a movie and climbing wall - should've gotten a picture of that - it was pretty sweet!

I'm always apprehensive to take Miles to any kind of office, but this is not your typical office. He didn't mind being there at all :) The bad part was... three cavaties for Caroline :(  Apparently she's going to have her mother's teeth, which is NOT a good thing.

We've had SO much rain this summer. I took this picture for my parents - can you believe how big this bush has gotten in 3 months?!

While Dave is gone I decided to indoctrinate our kids ;)

Caroline started first grade! She is really liking her school and has made some friends quickly. She loves walking to school.

Also new, I started babysitting again! Two little boys (again) of a friend from high school. They are so so good and it's been great so far. Caroline adores the baby. She's as good a babysitter as I am :) This picture is when the two older kids were playing Mario Cart on the Wii, while the two younger kids *thought they were playing Mario Cart :) Pretty cute!

This week Caroline and I went to the zoo for the Lion Cub's first birthday celebration. Caroline loved the face painting, games and crafts - I was just excited to see the lions actually moving around for once! Usually, they're lounging.

The zookeepers said they put out a bunch of treats and "enrichment" toys so the lions would be more active for their little party. It really worked, because we got there just as they were letting the lions into the habitat and they were SO active - playing and pouncing on one another. It was pretty cool. Even the mom and dad lion got into it.

They really put on a show for us. The "treats" they put out were... "bloodsicles". Yeah. It's exactly what it sounds like - water, a little blood and guts - frozen. The lions sure seemed to like them though!

Also this week I had a mini-reunion of sorts. These are all friends from my ward growing up. Really, we've known each other since we were wee little ones. We got together and had a pot-luck lunch - it was fun catching up and reminiscing.

Caroline's last day of ballet was this week. Lately she hasn't been too excited to go to ballet and now I think I know why. Usually I take her to the room and then chase Miles around the rec center for an hour so I didn't really watch a full class. So this last one they had the parents sit-in to watch what they learned... and it was boring. They seriously stood on floor dots and did the positions and stuff for 40 minutes! They hardly moved around the floor at all. It's not exactly what I had in mind when I thought of a dance class - I figured there would be more dancing. No wonder Caroline wasn't thrilled. Oh well, maybe next time we'll do karate or gymnastics or something so she'll get to move around more.

She does make an awfully pretty ballerina though!

Mt. Lemmon and being silly

We decided to take advantage of our wide-open schedules lately and go up to Mt. Lemmon for a picnic.

It was nice to get out of the heat and play in the beautiful surroundings.

Miles loved it. He wouldn't let us hold him - he wanted to run everywhere.

We had a good time - despite my usual car sickness.

Caroline loves taking pictures on our phones. We take one and she says immediately, "Lemme see!"

We discovered that an easy way to stop a Miles melt-down is to take out the phone and start taking pictures. He's such a ham and says, "Chsssss!" He laughs at the first flash but always closes his eyes right after when it's actually taking the picture!

Such a cute cheesey face!

Catching Up...

It's been pointed out to me that I haven't blogged in a long time. There's several reasons for this. #1 - I've been busy. #2 - our laptop crashed. Even my techie brother referred to it as "fried". #3 - so much has happened in the last two months that the thought of trying to "catch-up" is daunting. But here it goes anyway. All these pictures are from my phone, so... sorry.

So first, we moved to Thatcher. We were living in Dave's parents' home while they left for their 6 month mission to Palmyra. Shortly thereafter, my parents got their mission call - 2 years in Honolulu. They offered to let us stay in their home, so we had a big decision to make. Honestly, it was a tough one, but we knew that the best thing for our family to do was move (again). So we packed up (again) and moved (again) and I'm so glad we did! We're loving it here. Dave is still searching for a job, but we have faith that something will work out soon.

Miles got his first haircut! We buzzed his silky locks off and now he's got a coarse head of big-boy hair. He looks so different!



We've had lots of reasons for family get-togethers lately which has been great. This picture was taken after my parents spoke in church the Sunday before they left. It's still so strange to me to be in their house every day and not see them.

Another great thing about living here is that we get to see these fun cousins a lot. Dave's brother works on the U of A stadium renovation and comes to town about once a week. It's been great hanging out with them. Oh and we got a zoo pass which I'm sure we'll get good use out of.

This is the summer of lessons for Caroline! First, she tried baseball in Thatcher. She was on the same team as her cousins and it was pretty cute to watch them. Now, she's in ballet and swim lessons through the city parks and rec and I've started teaching her piano twice a week. She's a busy lady and loving it!

Probably the best part about moving here is being close to family - just like we've been missing the last four years. We've seen everyone so much, that it's hard to believe we'd gone so long without!

Caroline is never happier as when she's with her cousins :)

Caroline and Miles also got three new cousins born recently! It's been fun to have newborns around... who aren't ours. Three adroable little girls!



Desert living!

So it's been a crazy whirlwind few months, but I think we're finally settled. Once Dave has a good job, then we'll be really settled :) I'm still so glad we came out here and so grateful for our good families that have helped us get here.

Saying Goodbye to Mississippi

Finally, an update! About two weeks ago we left Southaven, MS and drove for two days until we arrived in Arizona! It was a long trip, but thanks to the help of my parents, it wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated :)

Miles was a whole lot of help during the packing process!

Before we left, we had to say goodbye to many good friends we made while in the South. I wish I had gotten pictures of every person we loved there, but I didn't. Moving is craziness. But here are a few pictures that I did manage to snap before we left.

On Caroline's last day at her school, we all went and had lunch with her class and took pictures of her with her school friends. All her teachers and friends said how much they would miss her and every kid in her class gave her a hug - one by one - before she left.

We had a barbecue at Uncle Ryan's new house the weekend before we moved. It was a lot of fun. Caroline is sure going to miss Uncle Ryan's four wheelers and her new cousins!

Dave and Mario worked together in Mississippi. Their family is so nice and often invited us to their house in Memphis for some authentic Mexican dinners. They were always fun and we'll miss them.

Caroline's adorable and crazy primary class!

It's crazy to think that we will probably never see many of these people face to face again. Of all the places we've lived since Dave and I have been married, we lived in Southaven the longest. Caroline's earliest childhood memories will be from there. Bittersweet feelings to move on.

We're getting settled in here in Dave's parents' house who just left on their mission to Palmyra. It's strange, but nice, being back in this town - right where our family started.

PVC Fort

A few weeks ago on Pinterest I saw instructions on building a fort out of pvc pipe. It looked simple enough and I asked Dave if he thought this was something we could do and he jumped right on board. Although, he suggested, we don't have to follow their dimensions or design, we can make it however we want. So we went to Home Depot and made it a Saturday project!

After all the cuts, we started assembling our fort and realized that it was going to be huge. Maybe we should have followed their directions afterall?! Oh, well. We kept cutting it back and back and got it to a managable size.

We tossed some sheets over the top and voila! A super-awesome fort!

Caroline loves it. She spent a lot of time in the fort and even slept in it a few times!

The following week I sewed a fitted cover for the fort. I didnt' take pictures of it, so just take my word that it looks good ok?

Of course now that we've listed the house and started packing, the fort is back to its origins: in pieces. Maybe when we're in Thatcher we'll put it back together for the kids to play with their cousins in it!