Welcome little man

Kylee checking out her new little brother...she wasn't quite sure at first:)

Here he is....little Brock!!! Adria called me last Friday night about 8pm and she goes, "I think my water just broke?!" She started to explain to me what was going on and I told her that definitely sounds like her water breaking. They brought over Kylee a little bit later and off they were to the hospital! I could barely sleep I was so excited and wanted to know what was happening. Thank heavens for texting...a modern day miracle I tell ya! At 2:30 am, the 24Th of Jan. this new little man came and everything went really well! He is just the sweetest and I could seriously hold him forever. It's been fun to watch their little family grow. Good job you guys...he's a cutie:)

Any day now...

A new little man will join my sister's family soon and we just CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! We had a baby shower for her last week at my house and it went really good. Adria has a lot of people that love her and came to see her. I don't know if I've ever known a girl with so many girlfriends...she had a ton!! We had a crazy amount of yummy food and we seemed to be grazing for hours. I've never been around when any of my sisters have been pregnant. So this has been so fun to be here and to watch her family of 3 go to 4. When we were all growing up we didn't always get along and Age will be the first to tell anyone how mean I was to her:(... Yikers! BUT...I am happy to say that we have all grown up since then and we just have become the best of friends. Now if we could just get our other sister Tifani back here we would be perfect! We sure miss her and can't wait for her to be back for GOOD this summer. I'm so grateful that my parents wanted to have so many kids and that I ended up with 3 sisters! I just love them all so much and I'm so grateful for them. I hope that my kiddos will be blessed with another brother and a sister so they can have that bond with each other. Hopefully my next post will be a new pic of my nephew! Love you girls...!!!

Aren't they so cute?!

We had my niece Kylee over last night while my sister and her hubby went out. These two little girls are just the best of friends and have so much fun together! You should see them when they see each other for the first time. They both start jumping up and down and screaming because they are so excited! I had to give my kids a bath because they were so dirty from being at the park earlier. We have arrived at that moment where Tyler is too big to be in the tub with Ashlynn because she has noticed his "boy parts". Yikes! So now Tyler has graduated to the shower and Ashlynn gets the tub all to herself...which she LOVES! That girl is a fish and can sit in there for hours if I'd let her! Kylee wanted to hop in with Ashlynn and how could I say no to that little face? They were just way too cute in their towels so I just had to take a pic:). Little girlies are so much fun!

Blue Arizona Sky

For the past week the weather has been amazing...about 80 degrees! I know that sounds CRAZY and we are only in the middle of January! It's been so nice but I don't want it to stay for too long. If it cooled down to around the 60's that would be so much better. But I certainly can't complain:). I met my friend Shauna at the park yesterday for a play day. We packed lunches and brought the kids bikes and scooters. It was a great day and so refreshing to be outside in the sun and blue sky! We have all been trying to get over this sick bug that keeps passing through our family. It's been one of those linger longers that are not fun. So being out in the sunshine for an afternoon was much needed! If you look close at Ty's picture he is missing something...his top front tooth! His teeth have been slow on coming out...this is only his 3rd one and he's 6 1/2.

I just couldn't get over that gorgeous blue sky!

New Year's Snow Day

Happy New Year!!

On New Year's Day we drove up to the White Mountains to find some snow. My parents went, my brother Andrew came and our good friends the Bybee's. We all just followed my parents and Dad found us a great spot to camp out and play for a while. It was great! Tyler has been asking about snow for months now. When we told him it doesn't snow down here he was pretty bummed. It took us 2 hours to get there but we found some. Ty wasn't much into taking pictures, he just wanted to play and fly down the hills. Ashlynn was a little cautious at first but then she just dove right in...literally!

My brother, Dave and Spencer made this snow cave for the kids to climb through. At first it was kind of small, then the boys made it a lot bigger thanks to my Dad's shovels! That's Dave and Ashlynn with their heads in the hole.

Dave wasn't able to get all the way through but he tried!

Here is Ashlynn with Ariana...they are the best of friends and never leave each other. Spencer was taking Nana down for her first run down the hill. So much fun! The best thing was that it wasn't very cold at all...it was almost 50 degrees out...too hot for me to wear my coat. It was sunny and gorgeous out...perfect for a snow day!

Ty and Kohl were little animals together! They didn't stop going until they physically had nothing left. It was mostly our kids that called it quits. Thank goodness for Spencer though...he brought fruit for the kids to snack on. We went hiking back farther and he saved the kids with oranges and pears. We played right through lunch and packed it up when the kids were soggy...tired...and starving!





Mom was so freezing cold and Dad kept sinking into the snow. But they had fun watching us play and be silly...and Andrew jumped right in on all the fun!

I love this picture of Ty up on the hill...looks like such a stud!

Okay...so those of you that REALLY know me and know some of my past have heard the story of me breaking my collar bone sledding the day after Dave proposed to me. Ever since then I am a total and complete baby about sledding! I don't do it very much because speed and hard snow freak me out now. This was the one and only time I went down that day. I held on for dear life and screamed like a little school girl the whole way down...it was great! The pic is kind of blurry but I am always so nervous right before and then I look like this when I get off. I made it and have no broken bones...yeah!

It was a great little day trip and not too far from home. We totally want to go back and hopefully we can before summer comes around again. There is much more to Arizona than dry deserts and cactus. Who would have thought we can have snow too!

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and Santa was really good to us...I mean the kids:) They must have been really good this year but I didn't think they were this good! We had a lot of fun watching the kids and how excited they got with each gift. The best was when the kids found the best gift on the back porch after they were done. Santa gave Ty a bigger bike and Ashlynn a scooter...they just couldn't believe it!

Grammy & Grandpa sent money this year so Christmas came again for the kids! I took them to the store and they got to pick out exactly what they wanted. They were kids in a candy store going insane with excitement! Ty picked out "Cars" stuff...art's & craft projects. Ashlynn picked out EVERYTHING Barbie! Thanks Grammy & Grandpa:)

After we opened up presents we had my sister Adria and her family come over for breakfast. She brought stuff for waffles which added to our famous Christmas morning breakfast. It's a tradition in Dave's family and we have added it into our family. It's delicious I must say...Quiche Lorraine...broiled grapefruit...ham from night before...and orange julius! Yummmmmm! Then we went over to my parents house and talked to my brother Matt on his mission in Alaska. He sounds so grown up and is having such a great time up there! We exchanged gifts with them and headed back home for a while before dinner. A few hours later we were back at my parents. They made a meal fit for a palace...it was divine! Thanks mom and dad for the yummy dinner and thoughtful gifts! We love all of you near and far and wish you a Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas Eve Fun

So Christmas Eve started with the famous Campbell Sugar Cookies. These cookies I have only heard about and have never actually seen them. One day I was looking in the cupboards and I found this old looking box with cookie cutters in them. I showed them to Dave and he freaked out. He goes, "Oh my gosh those are it!" Little did I know how important these were to Dave and what I was in for. Before today Dave had made two other batches of these cookies and decorated them all my himself with some help from the kids. He willingly made me another batch of the dough so the kids and I could get them ready to make for Santa. Dave had to work on Christmas Eve so I was left to get everything ready for our big meal that night. I made sure that I spaced everything out and I have to say it turned out pretty dang good. We had the Stoker's over who are some of our good friends from Iowa that live here now. We had a delicious ham dinner, opened our Christmas pj's, decorated cookies and just had a great time! I recorded this video of Dave and Doug doing something so funny and retarded. I will post that next so don't miss it!

It's been a year...

A year ago today was when my Grandpa passed away. It's hard to believe that much time has passed already. Time goes by so quickly and it's so easy to forget what really matters and what is most important in life. My family is so important to me and I love each of them so much. Living away from all of them for so many years I really came to value the importance of family. Nothing can shake it or brake it...it's forever. I am so grateful to be apart of such an amazing family and heritage. My Grandpa was an amazing man and I know he still watching over each of us. Not a day goes by that he doesn't come into my mind or I glance at the picture of him and I. His example of living a righteous life...serving others and loving others is priceless. I sure miss him but I know there will be a day when I see him again. I feel very lucky and blessed.