Cody and Kate got married

Just a few weeks before my brother got married, Justin's brother got married! Our lives have been full and busy this summer! It's been fun getting to know our new sister-in-law and we welcome her to the family.

My brother got married!

My little brother, Adam, got married to Kaycee a few weeks ago and so me and the kids packed up and drove up to Montana. My mom flew down to drive with us and I am so grateful for her help. Rylee got to be the flower girl and Cole was the ring bearer. They were so cute all dressed up, but of course, couldn't have been more bored with the ceremony. So because of their good behavior, we went for ice-cream in-between the wedding and the reception. At the reception they had a good time eating all the yummy food and dancing. And since the DJ was taking requests, Rylee requested the chicken dance. Even Gracie got into that one!

HOLY COW!!!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've blogged. Seriously! I've never gone this long between posts before! I have so much to share with all of you but so little time to do so. I'm going to dedicate 1 whole hour later this week (hopefully tomorrow) to catching up on my latest and greatest news. But I have been keeping up on all of your blogs, even if I haven't left comments. Love to hear how all my family and Arizona friends are doing. Until tomorrow! ??

Don't worry, we're still here

I don't have any pictures to post just yet, but we did make it to California and are slowly getting our lives back in order. I love the weather and being on a farm. The kids are loving being able to spend so much time out doors and all their fun new chores, such as, gardening, picking vegetables from the garden, feeding the chickens, riding the golfcart to go find blackberry pushes for a special treat, and all the other fun things that come along with being on a farm like riding on tractors playing in dirt all day long!

There will be pictures soon, as soon as I can find my camera hookups. Till then!

Some last minute fun!

My parents were here visiting this last weekend and we had so much fun! We went swimming, shopping, eating, game playing, show watching, rough housing, and overall had a great time. My parents even took all three of our kids to a movie so Justin and I could have some much needed alone time. It was great. We finally got to go check out Dave and Busters for a bit and had a good time. Here are a few of the pics that I took. Most of the pictures are on my mom's camera so I'll have to wait for those ones.

Swimming

We have some of the very best people in our ward at church and one of those couples is brother and sister Allen. They are so sweet to open thier home to so many of us to use their swimming pool and backyard. So, while my parents were here, we took advantage of that and had a morning full of fun wetness! Rylee loved the diving board! Gracie thought it looked like a lot of fun, but once she got on it, looked down and saw how far down her daddy was before he would catch her, she quickly changed her mind and made due with jumping in from the side instead. Cole loved wearing his little arm floaties and the freedom of being able to swim around the whole pool with them on. Rylee also started to climb up the slide, but quickly decided against that when she got near the top and saw how far down the ground was. It was super fun and I can't wait till we go again!

Good Thing We Like Pretty Things !!!!!

An exciting event in Rylee's life!

Rylee brought this . . .
















to show me today. It use to belong here. . . She's so excited to have lost her first tooth. She's been working on it for a while. She says she doesn't want to give it to tooth fairy yet because she wants to keep it, so she's carrying it around for a day or two in a little baggy. I can't believe my baby has lost her first tooth!

It's Time

Some of you may have heard that we are moving back to California. It's true. We'll be moving in just a few short weeks, just after my parents visit at the end of the month. Real Estate hasn't been as lucrative as we had hoped (dang market!), and while we've been okay up to this point, it's time to move on to something new. So, we've decided since we have to start over anyways, why not start where we want to be!

We have mixed feelings about it. We are so excited to finally be living where we've always wanted to be and raise our family. We love that we'll be so close to so much of Justin's family and just a bit closer to mine (but hopefully we'll get to travel to see my family more since we don't have to juggle travel time and two families).

We are also very sad to be leaving so many AWESOME friends that we have made during our nearly five years in Arizona. We plan to make the most of the time we have left.

Something I need all of you Arizona locals to help me with is to figure out what I've missed. We've lived here for nearly five years and have done and seen many things, but I want to be sure that we don't leave the state saying "I wish we had. . ." Here is a list of the things we have done so far. If there is something you've heard of or think we must do before we leave, please leave a comment and let me know!

-Tempe Town Lake Splash Park
-Phoenix Zoo
-Wild Life Zoo
-Science Center
-Dinosaur Museum
-Arizona Museum for Youth
-Downtown Mesa Art tour
-Renaissance Festival
-Pumpkin Patch
-Zoo Lights
-Christmas Parades

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. We've actually done quiet a few super fun things!

Brite Tapes

Does anyone else remember growing up with "Brite" tapes? My mother-in-law gave me several that she had from when her kids were small and I just got them out for Rylee to listen to. She loves them! She is listening to them non-stop! She's even beginning to sing some of the songs, such as "gratitude attitude" (something there's is a small lack of in our home sometimes). I love Brite!