Family Pictures 2013

I made up my mind to get family pictures this year. I called my friend Tiffany on Thursday and she had an opening on Saturday. So I had a day to get outfits together. :/ I had my dress and the girls' skirts and bought everything to match those. I bought so many options it was pathetic. That night, Melissa came over and helped me decide. I had the girls try different combinations to see what looked good together. 

The next morning we had our pictures fairly early. I wasn't prepared for the girls' hair and was just feeling anxious. I was pretty worried about how the pictures would turn out, especially since I'd finally decided to pay for family picture and we all know the thought of wasting money drives me more nuts than just about anything. The kids were grumpy, Jason was grumpy, it was hot, the setting wasn't that pretty and I didn't think to bring any bribes for the kids. I told them we could get ice cream if they smiled so after we were done, we went to Sonic for food and treats. 

When I got the pictures back, I realized I didn't have anything to worry about. Tiffany is awesome at capturing moments and personalities. We don't have a perfectly posed family shot, but there are so many good pictures, especially of my girls. And perfectly posed pictures just give the wrong impression about reality. These are real. I'll have to try and figure out how to fix the glare on Clara's glasses next year. Anyway, here's a "few" of my favorites. All pictures were taken by Tiffany Haynes. 

November 2013

Nothing like blogging an entire, busy month in one post. But, I'm getting closer to being caught up and then I can put more thought into these write ups instead of slapping some pictures up with a quick caption. For now, I'm tired, so it's going to be quick (at least that's my intention).

We went to Snowflake on November 3rd for Madison's baby blessing. It also happened to be Connie's birthday, so we celebrated that too. It would have been nice to spend a few days there, but Jason had already planned a hunting trip on Saturday so it was a quick up-and-down-in-one-day trip.

Earth and Science Day at ASU. My favorite was the infared camera. You can see how Hazel's cheeks were redder than the rest of her face and how the warmth from Lilly's hand stayed on the glass after she took it off. Bottom row: create an earthquake, Mars rover, snack time, water salinity, ph of things and rockets.

I turned 32 on 11.12.13. It was a pretty cool day to have a birthday. I had to work, but that night, Jason and I went to Federal Pizza (not impressed) and then that night I went out for dessert with Karen, Lisa, Beka and Amy. I am so grateful for good friends.

Melissa helped me can apple pie filling...our pumpkins rotted in like two days...Hazel putting apples away...Hazel peeling a carrot...the contents of my purse - way too many pens...I made tender, moist chicken for the first time in my life by baking it in the oven...fun car track at Grandma's...Clara usually prefers a salad at Costco...sharing a bed...sharing a chair...Hazel watching me work when she couldn't sleep.

Her hair is crazy...park day...this is what Saturday mornings look like...no words...posed...unposed...feeding the horse at the park...Hazel helping wash potatoes for dinner...Clara doing FHE with her sidekick Hazel by her side

Crazy hair day: I took pipe cleaners and made her hair stick out and she thought it was the best.

Karen's baby shower...I let Clara stay up late (read: past 7:30) and go to target with me and she fell asleep in the cart...little copy cat...setting up their office to work alongside me...one night Hazel curled up into the bend of Jason's knee on our bed...best little dental patient...Kristie was in town and came over to visit...Hazel got an ice cream cone while VT

 

We finally got a new light for above our kitchen table... one of those things you think you'll do right away and then delay it forever. It was such a pain to change it with our six foot ladder. And then the plastic wire caps popped off and sparks shot out the light. I screamed (I was inside while Jason turned the electricity back on) and the girls were scared the rest of the day that our house was going to burn down. The good news is, we got it fixed (about 30 seconds before Thanksgiving dinner with my family) and I absolutely love it. It is so bright and beautiful. I wish I would have done it years ago. :)

lunch with old co-workers/friends (where I killed a bee that wouldn't leave us alone and the waitress almost cried about it)...impractical dinner out...her preppy little uniform makes me smile...watching Jason's softball game (in their new matching black boots)...traps in the closet...I got bit by an ant and my foot was SO swollen...our oranges started turning orange, well, mostly just yellow in November...organizing my pantry...beautiful sky

Margo came to play....

We live close to Cracker's and when Suzie, her girls and Kristie were in town, we met up for lunch. The weather was beautiful so Hazel and I walked across the street.

My dad started planning hiking trips every now and then. This was the first I did with him, The Wind Caves. My mom walked around the desert, Ryan ran around the base of the mountain and my dad and I hiked to the top. The scenery was beautiful, I loved seeing the sunrise and two hours or so to visit with my dad by myself is pretty rare. I'll treasure the memories of these hikes forever.

Mason and Jordyn got baptized. Afterwards, we had a luncheon at the church. Unrelated to the baptism: Hazel paints, Jordyn and Clara are ninjas, Hazel puts on makeup, I threw out over a dozen of peaches I canned and it made me so sad, my girls snuggled in the cart at Costco and Clara got a bird that chirps when people walk into a room.

Clara and Hazel looked so cute in the clothes they wore for family pictures. I bribed them to let me take pictures of them after church. They were mostly being silly, but I think it's a reflection of their fun personalities.

We hosted my family's Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night. I LOVE having a big room for hosting big dinners. That might be my very favorite part of this house (second to the yard, of course). The awesome turkey veggie tray came from Angela.

The next day, Thanksgiving, we hosted Jason's family's Thanksgiving dinner at our house. A few of his siblings came (Kevin and Lamar, Landry and Keirsten planned on coming until their kids got sick), his parents and his Uncle Randall and all of their kids, spouses and grandkids (with the exception of Zach). I loved eating outside. Clara loved eating a turkey leg. :)

That night we went shopping. There was a super long line in Wal Mart but I really wanted what I went to buy. After waiting in line behind a friend in our ward for about five minutes, I asked him to buy my stuff and I'd write him a check. :) It was the best idea ever. I took Lamar home, picked up some other people and then we went to a few more stores. Always fun and interesting. It's usually not worth the "deals" but worth the company and the memories.

October 2013

Jason turned 35 in October. Old man! We went to Fort McDowell for all-you-can-eat crab with some friends. He loves it. It didn't seem that great to me this time, but it was better than Famous Dave's, his other favorite restaurant. :) Plus, Jason was pretty excited about it and that's what matters.

Bubbles in undies. Why not?

I have a hard time getting rid of Clara's stuff. I love her handwriting, her phonetic spelling and how much she just loves paper and stationary in general (just like I did/do). Anyway, I took pictures of a bunch of her stuff so I could get rid of it. Here are some of my favorites: one day she forgot her glasses, I stuck this first note in with her glasses when I dropped it off at the front desk... she came home with a note back. The day she got her glasses, she drew this picture and wrote "I like my glasis". One day she made an invitation to a Halloween party... "you or {are} welcome to a hallowing praty" on the outside "Oct. 1 in my room 600 to 700" on the inside. The last one she brought me while I was on a conference call for work: Mom I love you. Can we have a fase {fancy} diner." She's a gem.

Jason's actual birthday fell on the same day as conference this year. It was a great weekend. Lamar cut Jason's hair and went to Priesthood with Jason on Saturday. On Sunday, Lamar hung out with us all day. He brought his dog Leia, so the girls loved that. Then for Jason's birthday dinner, I made ribs (first time I've ever done that and they were SO delicious), we had soda and Lamar made cupcakes. Oh look, there's a picture of Jason with his crab again. It was a really good day.

::craziest hair ::morning walk ::garden planted ::park ::with Margo ::pie eating contest at Jason's company get together ::finally threw away the paper tulips Jason made me for Valentine's Day 2012 ::girls came into our room one Sunday morning with these poles pretending they were Captain Moroni ::Clara just being cute ::Clara pouting and falling asleep in the cushions ::celebrating Lilly's 15th birthday ::garden growing

When our friends the Welches and Fillmores found out we were having a reception in our backyard, they came to help clean up. Benjamin left to get a "dolly" to help move bricks and returns with this thing. Now that's my kind of dolly. After they helped, the yard looked so much better. We have such awesome people in our life.

Our family was able to participate in the City of Mesa Day of Service. We helped clean up some yards and paint a few mobile homes. The girls wanted to paint and while I thought that'd be a bad idea, the leader suggested they help paint (maybe to get them away from his yardwork, ha ha). Anyway, the girls loved it and we had a great time serving as a family.

That same day was the reception for Jason's cousin Becca and her new husband Kyle. We cleaned up the yard, but didn't really have to do anything else for it. I told Jason it was the perfect time to experiment with a reception in our backyard because Becca is so laid back and easy going. Plus, we didn't really have to do any of the work. :) Everything went really well. I'm always amazed how much room my backyard has once we get tables and chairs back there. They set up 10 tables with 8 chairs each and there was plenty of room for more. It was a fun, and I think successful, night. 

This little girl has so much personality packed into her. I feel like she just gets a little more awesome every day.

::Hazel fell off her scooter and scraped her nose on the stucco wall ::I grated a huge chunk out of my thumb deep enough to scar ::we got "spooked" and took homemade caramel and apples to the people we were spooking ::tiny little sprouts in the garden ::Hazel's poor scab on her nose ::Hazel is completely obsessed with shoes. ::tiny painter ::a few months ago I noticed our shower drywall looked odd. sure enough, there was a leak. I instantly assumed we'd need to get a whole new shower, but luckily the leak wasn't in the pipe, but where the shower head attached to the pipe and we were able to have it fixed quickly and for fairly cheap. ::sometimes Hazel wakes up at night and comes into our room. I love to watch her after I've let her fall back asleep in our bed. ::walk with Margo ::ribbons in pigtails ::pretty sunrise

::I can not remember why we curled Clara's hair, but we did and I was proud of myself because it's hard enough just to get to school on time. ::elephant park while Clara was at music ::growing garden ::silly girl loves to be wrapped in her blanket ::same park ::Becca let my girls have a plastic candle from the reception and they loved having it in their room until it ran out of batteries. ::what started as a snack of apples and caramel ended in Hazel spooning caramel into her mouth. can't say I blame her. ::Clara and Hazel got a dried reed from the reception. a few days later it exploded somehow and made the biggest mess. I was glad I found it when I did. Despite the mess, it was fascinating.

Pumpkin Patch, Fall Festival & Halloween 2013

We have about 6 Halloween decorations and my girls can't wait to get them out. This year I let them put these pumpkins in their room and as long as they went to sleep, they were allowed to keep them on. So began our Fall/Halloween celebrations.

We went to Vertuccio Farms again for our annual pumpkin patch experience. Kathryn and her girls, my mom and Lilly and Angela and Margo were there as well. It seems like every year they add a few more activities and it gets a little more fun. We did some of the corn maze this year, but it was too late and we had too many little kids to do all of it. Maybe next year I'll plan better so we can get it all done. Also, there was the most beautiful sunset while we were there. Beautiful sunset on a cool October evening with a farm in the horizon? It was pretty awesome.

For Halloween this year, Clara wanted to be a white ninja. She's been talking about it since last Halloween and as much as I want her to dress up as something cutesie and sparkly, it was more important that I let her choose her costume. I bought a white karate belt and was trying to figure out what she wanted to be when Kathryn told me I could buy a red ninja costume off her that she'd found earlier in the year. It was red, but as soon as Clara saw it, she was on board. I got one for Hazel too and up until the night before Halloween, that was the plan. Then Hazel and I went to Goodwill while Clara was at gym and found this cute little cowboy(girl) costume and that changed Hazel's mind for good.

However, I didn't want Clara to wear her ninja costume to the Fall Festival at Clara's school, so I had the girls get dress up we already have for that night. Clara went as a pirate (and I was super proud of the skull I painted on her cheek) and Hazel as Snow White. I hate paying $30 to go to the Fall Festival and then paying for tickets, but I try to keep telling myself that it's helping the school out. It was almost worth it this year because the girls got a pony ride and there was a pretty cool petting zoo. We spent most of our time there and then left to go out to eat.

We carved pumpkins. Clara did her's almost entirely herself and helped Hazel quite a bit. She's such a good helper. 

Halloween finally came and I dressed the girls up, let them go trick-or-treating to our neighbors and then we went to my mom's and met Angela and Margo there. I love this picture of these three kids looking so happy. 

These two make me smile. My little cowgirl and her sidekick red ninja. For Clara's boots, I put some of my black trouser socks over her shoes. It was one of my better ideas and I was pleased with how it polished off her costume (see the above left picture before I put them on). 

 

Not that this comes as a surprise to anyone that knows Clara, but when she was dressed in her costume, she took her role very seriously. It's so easy for her to slip from reality into her imagination and I love it.

After my mom's we went to our neighborhood party. That's always so much fun. None of my pictures turned out, but trust me that there were lots of bouncy houses, good chili and salsa, homemade ice cream, popcorn and fun friends. After that, we went back to my mom's. My mom found some red rimmed glasses and dressed up as Clara for Halloween. :) We went trick-or-treating a little with Kathryn's girls and Lilly. My mom's neighbor had a pretty involved spook house/ally thing that the kids loved. It was a little too gory for me. I like to keep Halloween upbeat and fun, not too gory and spooky.

Every year it seems like time drags until Halloween is here. And then you blink and the year is over. This year was no different, which is part of the reason I'm still 4 months behind on my blogging. BUT, I'm gaining traction and hope to be caught up in no time.

Driving Home From Utah

Instead of driving all the way home from Utah Sunday night and getting home at 4am, we decided to stay the night in Jacob Lake. They have these cute cabins that are pretty inexpensive. The cabins are super old and the three of us shared a Queen bed, but it was perfect. We needed nothing more. We'll definitely be back.

We slept well, had breakfast, explored a little (enjoyed a light dusting of snow) and then hit the road. I decided instead of trying to make it home in a certain number of hours, we were going to stop whenever and wherever we wanted and explore. 

Our first destination was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I have never been there and probably wouldn't drive all that way just for that, so I decided we needed to take advantage of being so close. We drove past a lot of burnt forest (left), which was sad. But then we got closer and I couldn't get over how blue the sky was (right). Beautiful.

Once we made it, we thought we were looking at the Grand Canyon (bottom) but it was some other canyon. We eventually made it to the Grand Canyon (top). We happened to go during the government shutdown and didn't have to pay. They said to pay at the parking lot but I never saw anywhere to pay and I decided not to take my tired kids and go searching the area to find the place I was supposed to pay. 

I was surprised at how many spots seemed pretty dangerous for kids. I'm glad my kids are older, especially since I was the only adult there. But it was really beautiful to see fall colors mixed with pine trees and the beautiful canyon in the background.

It was a pretty long drive back. Once we got off the windy rode down, but before we completely finished our descent from the top of the Kaibab Plataea, we stopped at an Indian trading post. The view was beautiful, but we didn't buy anything. 

We stopped at the Cliff Dwellers, which is basically the bottom of the Kaibab Plateau. I don't believe it's authentic, but it was still fun to see the humongous rocks that are just hanging out randomly around the area. Hazel was actually asleep during this stop, so I let her sleep in the car while I walked around with Clara.

Next, we stopped at, and walked across, Navajo Bridge. It was awesome. However, bridges always make me a little nervous. Just the thought of being suspended in the air gives me a bit of anxiety. But it was cool and the scenery was pretty great. Another good stop.

We stopped at three of the Indian trading posts on the side of the road. Clara was looking for the perfect treasure. Our last trading post was in Cameron and Clara found her arrowhead necklace. I am trying to let her get things she likes even though I want her to get something else. :) Hazel got this darling little turquoise ring. It is so cute and tiny!

Our last exploratory stop was on the reservation on those giant grey hills that are on the side of the road. I have always wanted to stop, but never have. It was so bizarre and seeing them close up only made it more mysterious. I just couldn't figure out an explanation of where these things came from or why they are there.

We did stop in Flagstaff for gas and dinner as our final stop. We took 10+ hours to make a 5 hour drive. Oddly, however, it seemed like a quick trip and I never felt like it was taking forever to get home. We enjoyed some cool sites and weren't worried about sticking to a schedule or getting home in a certain amount of time. I hope we do it again.