Walker's Ode to Mama

Mama you are so cute; like a lovely flower. You smell so sweet, you'll be my friend forever.



Love you my Little Walker Man!

Surprise!

Walker and Wyatt were up to something for quite some time today. They kept running back and forth from one part of the house back to mom's room. After a while I was asked to come see my surprise. This is what I found:

This is Walker pleading for the bath they set me up for:

This is Wyatt "cleaning up" after I told them that it was too late for a bath tonight:

This is the mess cleaned up according to Wyatt and Walker

Meet The Family

Our family, I'm sure, is a lot like other families, but from afar I often envy those who have large families with cousins, aunts and uncles and all kinds of relatives bustling about. We are pretty self contained. I've spent a lot of time wishing and praying for more family. I have even spent time mourning the fact that adult relatives didn't foster relationships with me when I was a kid or care to connect now that I'm older. Just within the past month I've told my children stories about cousins I used to have and recently posted a commentary about shoes on my Moments In Time blog about wearing my Uncle Jeff's hand-me-down tennis shoes as a kid. Then, on Mother's Day I get an email, one that I glanced at and thought to myself "Nah, can't be." But guess what? It was! My cousin Gara (also a neice of Uncle Jeff) emailed me and she too has had enough of the no family contact. We've spent several days emailing and catching up. Honestly I don't remember the last time I saw her, but I know she was younger than 10. Here is my long, lost, happily reunited cousin Gara and her beautiful family! I am just so delighted to have her back in my life!






Meet Gara, Her husband Ryan, and her beautiful sons Gabe and Noah. They live far away and we probably won't get to "meet" for a while (or at least until one of us is independently wealthy), but it's a great start and leave my heart a little hopeful for the future family possibilites it might hold.

Thanks Gara! Oh, and by the way, it's great to see a freckle face like myself somewhere in the bunch! I did remember that we both had freckles, but forgot until I received this adorable picture of you!

Just Your Ordinary Arizona Day

Yesterday it was 98'. When we left the house this morning to go to the end of the year pancake breakfast it was 68'. On our drive it sprinkled. On our way home the sun was shining at it was 72'. We stopped and took the short hike at the entrance of where we live in Estrella Mountain. The sun was shining, the desert was blooming, you can see from the photos we had a great time! By the time we got home, it was cloudy again. The kids then enjoyed a surprise down pour while playing in the yard. They huddled under a pool towel tent and laughed and giggled through the 15 minute storm. Shortly we'll be leaving for swim team practice. Undoubtedly it will be 90'. This is where we live and this is why we live here. Summer is coming, but it's all the days in between when you can almost always be outside that make it such a great home. We don't really even mind the summer. We just don't stray far from our pool.

It's a Celebration

Once every seven years, Krista's birthday falls on the same day as Mother's Day. This was her year and for the 5th time in her life we celebrated her birthday on Mother's Day (she's 35 and was born on Mother's Day, 1973.)



Lyndsee turns Sweet 16 on the 17th so we partied a bit for her too. She's too old for a "family" party so I'm sure she and mom will hit the town for some birthday fun next weekend.



Of course Mom and I had our turns in the spot light and it was just an overall great day. How can a celebration as big as this be anything but fun??!!?? It was a bit of work too with all of the food prep and clean-up, but just the mood of the day made it worth it!


It was fun for me to see all my kids sing "Love Is Spoken Here" in Sacrament Meeting. Next year Mikensee will be in Young Women's so it was bitter-sweet for me. Wyatt and Walker were a bit confused by all the revelry. They weren't quite sure whether to sing Happy Birthday or what, but they had fun. They didn't understand why there weren't any presents for them, but they are growing up and they handled it pretty well today. Kylese and Kysha enjoyed the day too, playing dress-up, petting the bunnies and hanging outside. . The kids all went swimming! I think they're crazy!


Jessica had some TLC from Lyndsee and Marcus and they straightened her hair. She loves it. Too bad swim team starts tomorrow and the effort will get shrank back to a sea of curls as soon as she hits the pool! Can you say A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E?



Happy Mother's Day!

Father-Son Campout

Up near Payson there is a beautiful creek. This is the location of this year's Father-Son Camp out. Although the event was supposed to last until Saturday afternoon, the boys just couldn't be apart from me that long. Unfortunately I warned dad that this might be too long and hard for them, but dad had high hopes, so I spent Wednesday and Thursday preparing for them to go. I think it took longer for me to prepare for the trip than the time they spent on the trip, but you can tell by the photos that even though short, was well worth the trip. It was really hard for me to let them say good-bye (although not quite as hard as last year), but they didn't fare much better this trip than last time. This is only the second time in their 4.5 years that they have been away from me. I guess the attachment is mutual!

When Mike called me last night to tell me they were on their way home I was a bit sad and a bit relieved. Sad because I had plans for a nice day off, relieved because it was a bit strange having the house, just me and the girls, and it just didn't feel quite right. I know I'm not ready for my kids to grow up just yet, but I am glad the boys had a little time together, just each other, but I still prefer family camp outs where we can all be together. Mike insisted Wyatt was sick and felt warm, but the truth is, the only kind of sick he had was HOMESICK!

The Entertainers

This is one of several musical performances put on today by this dynamic duo, but unfortunately due to my limited lighting capabilities with my digital recorder this one turned out the best for viewing. They are something!

Mikensee's Piano Recital Performance

Jessica's Piano Recital Performance