Oh the places they'll go!

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan is there anywhere you won't go? He's already discovered toilet water and how to open every cupboard we have, now his goal is to explore every nick n cranny in my home. This picture was fun to take- he was stuck and couldn't get out and so I got the camera and just as I said smile he stuck his tongue out at me. What a crack up! He's going to be our little entertainer for sure.

Verde River Fun

For playgroup this week we went to the Verde River by Tuzigoot National park. I didn't plan very well mainly because I had never been there before So after two hours of fun we were all sunburnt and hungry and we were all drenched (I was wearing jeans and tennis shoes.) Yet we had the most spectacular time- we had a ton of friends there, everyone could play, we went on tadpole searches (I caught my first one and it was so neat,) and visiting in the beautiful weather was heaven. Here are some photos I took.

Weekend Project

When we moved into our home three years ago there were two things that I hated about the house 1) the ugly dark blue carpet with dog hair in it and 2) the multi color, multi faded great great grandma looking curtains. We put in new carpet before we moved in and finally last weekend I removed the curtains and put up blinds. I felt so powerful using a drill and finally getting a good feel in my home. Now that they have been up for a few days I still find myself looking at them and smiling and a peace will settle over me. Silly how something so simple will bring such joy! You can totally tell that I am a stay at home mom! Out with the old!

What a big helper!

In with the new!

The Host

I included this picture just for my sister who gets wigged out every time she sees "the eye." I am excited to say that I finally finished the book. It only took me two weeks to read the first 300 pages and then only 1 day to finish the last 300. It was obviously slow in the beginning, but the ending was exciting and fast making you wish there was more. I am always a fan of the supernatural and so this was a fun book for me to read. I just hope we don't get invaded by alien souls and loose ourselves. If you enjoy reading its a fun and interesting book to read, but if you only like to read "great" books you could pass on this one.

When it's cold in Arizona

We are true blooded Arizonians when the temperature dropped from 104 one day down to about 70 the next day we pulled out the blankets and stayed warm in the freezing cold. Shiloh even stayed warm by making these delicious Jalapeno pepper poppers which came him warm for a very long time!

Play Time at our Home

These are just some random photo's that I have taken recently!

This first one is of Emma dressing up Sean as a princess which he just loved.

This was an outfit borrowed from Landon Rigg that Sean fell in love with!

We decided to make cars one day and these are the finished products.

Ryans is a school bus, Seans is an Ambulance, and Emmas is a police car.

Notice that Sean is still wearing Landon's outfit.

Pretending that he is in a spaceship and being attacked by Darth Vader.

Brotherly Love!

Seans recent favorite outfit is the cowboy boots and hat, with the sword tucked into his shirt or pajama's in the back

Indiana Jones

I thought that I would put a plug in for a great movie. I loved this movie, it had everything that I love in a movie: cute guys, action, sci-fi, and a silly non-believable side. I hesitated going because I wondered if they were going to mess up the series, but I believe it kept with the feel. For those who have seen it I hated the ant part, laughed at the monkeys, and agreed that some things are worth waiting for :). I also went with great company, a good friend that I can talk to which is what we did till almost 2 am. What a great evening!

Mountain View Preschool

Back in August Emma started preschool at Mountain View Preschool at the local Methodist Church. It has been a wonderful year! She has learned patience and how to interact with others, as well as educational knowledge. She made quite a lot of friends in her class, and it amazes me that by the age of 4 personalities are so far developed. Tonight she had her end of the year party at Ms. Pandi's home, here she is getting her end of the year scrapbook by Ms. Joni. It contains pictures and information on Emma as she progressed throughout the year. It will be a true treasure.

Her teachers Ms. Joni, Ms. Pandi, and Ms. Erika Emma and Cassidy (a good friend) Emma at her school

Playing outside at her school on her special day Making sure we get everything out of her cubby A thankful hug- Thanks MVP!

Emma's 5th Birthday

Well it's official when Emma woke up this morning she stated, "I'm 5 and that means I'm smart and I can drive." Wow- they sure grow up fast. Emma, Sean and Shiloh spent the night in the tent in our backyard (it was suppose to be the Father and Sons outing but it didn't work out and so they had it in our backyard.) When they came in the house Emma found her bike and presents waiting for her. The cute hop and skip put a smile on our faces. She spent the day enjoying gifts and playing. At 2:30 we had her friend birthday party. We played water races and water balloon toss, then we decorated our own individual cakes. At this point I realized that the party was going to have to be moved into the house because the temperature had just hit over 100 degrees and their poor red faces were sad to look at. Amazing because on Monday there was snow on the mountains behind us. After cleaning everyone up and giving them something to drink we opened gifts, sang, and handed out thank you bags. We then just hung out in the air conditioned house and played for the last 20 minutes. It was such a fun time to see Emma interact with her friends. After the party and the clean up we made Emma her birthday meal- she choose "steak and corn on the cob." CRAZY- what 5 year old picks that for their meal. It was a wonderful day and I want to THANK everyone who participated and called- it really made her day a special one!

The much anticipated bike!

The loot

The water bucket game

Making of the cakes!

The birthday cake- Strawberry of course!

Learning to ride her first real bike

Emma and her father goofing off before going to bed!

Happy Birthday Emma

We sure Love you!

Stephenie Meyer Book Signing

OK- I will admit I am still a crazed high school girl. Along with millions of other women I love the "Twilight" series and am madly in love with Edward Cullen, yet want Jacob to win Bella's life. August 2nd is a day set aside to be addicted to the final book in the saga, and December 12 is a night to watch her movie. Last night I had the opportunity to attend her book signing tour in Tempe. You had to buy her new book "The Host" and a ticket to get in, and could take two more books to get signed. I drove two hours and in rush hour traffic to get there. Better than my friends who waited two hours in line to get in and got us front row seats. When she came out she answered questions then we stood in another line to meet her and get our books signed. It was sooooo neat to talk to her in person, she is very sweet and fun. Just some fun statistics we guessed 30% mormon, 30% goth, 10% men, and 60% high schoolers and about 700 people. I am so glad that my friend Julie convinced me to share in this adventure. (Afterwards I locked my keys in the car at a gas station in Scottsdale- thank goodness there was an In 'n Out next door during my wait)

Happy Mothers Day

Emma's preschool had a special Mother's Day Celebration. They made cute placemat's with their hand prints on them, which were laminated, set the tables, picked flowers and decorated cupcakes and made juice. After we ate and visited they sang to us. It was adorable! Then we watched a movie the teachers made, it had our kids telling us why they love us and what we do to make them laugh. It was the sweetest mother's day event I've ever had. (Emma is the one on the left in the bright doorway- next to the really tall kid)

That was the highlight of my week, because the rest of the week really makes my job as a mother look unenjoyable. Ryan got the flu and threw up everywhere and then had diarrhea that woke him up every hour or so. Sean got strep throat and had a dozen fevers and uncontrollable coughs. Emma felt left out and so rebelled. Then in the midst of it all I got a violent flu, after throwing up for 5 hours straight and passing out Shiloh rushed me to the emergency room at 1:30 in the morning. Thanks to Kelli for saving the day and coming over to watch our kids. After getting meds and an iv for my dehydration we returned home in time for Shiloh to go to work. What a wonderful man I am married to!! He stayed up all night with me, went to work for just a few hours and when he came back home and made sure I slept the rest of the day. He took care of everything while I recouped. He never complained once and treated me great!

On Sunday he stayed home with the sick kids so I could go to church and actually learn. It was nice, but it felt weird to have it just be me. He made an excellent dinner and I feel truly loved as a mother! I am very grateful for my three energetic kids!

My Prickly Pear

There are many beautiful aspects of Arizona that I love, and I finally captured one of them in a good picture. These are some flowers blooming on my prickly pear in my backyard. They are blooming sort of late, but there are a lot of blossoms this year. If you are where it is still snowing I hope you can enjoy this picture.

Tagged

4 Movies I could watch over and over 1. Pride and Prejudice 2. Sound of Music 3. The Prince and Me 4. apparently any kid's movie

4 Jobs I've Had 1. American Fork City Recorders Secretary 2. Senior Missionary Training Center Head Custodian 3. Spot Welder for Mity Lite (Church Tables & Chairs) 4. 8th Grade Social Studies/Science Teacher

4 Places I've lived 1. American Fork, Provo Utah 2. Oregon City, Oregon 3. Las Vegas, Nevada 4. Tucson, Phoenix, and Cottonwood Arizona

4 Favorite foods 1. Chips and Salsa 2. Turcado Sandwich from Verde Lea Market 3. Strawberry Shortcake from Will Trezise 4. Steak and Potatoes

4 TV Shows I Watch 1. Smallville 2. Lost 3. Scrubs 4. The Office

4 Internet Places I visit daily 1. Gmail 2. Hoggard Herald 3. Friends Blogs 4. Family Blogs

4 Places I've Vacationed 1. San Francisco 2. Lake Tahoe 3. Texas 4. Washington DC

4 Places I Would Rather Be 1. Asleep in my bed 2. Anywhere without allergies 3. With friends 4. A deserted island with Shiloh (oooh la la)

2 People to tag 1. My brother in law Aaron 2. Monica

Collin Raye Concert

On Saturday our family went to the Verde Valley Fair in Cottonwood. We rode some rides, watched them auction some animals, and got sunburned. It was a fun family affair. We then hired a babysitter and went back for a Collin Raye Concert. It was awesome!

This picture was taken with a cell phone camera, so it really doesn't do the concert or the distance justice. Shiloh and I were on the 3rd row in the middle, only about 20 feet away from CR. It was SWEET! Below is a 12 second recording from my camera, still not high quality but great proof. It was a very enjoyable concert.

Heritage Park Zoo

Emma has a wonderful preschool and since it is the end of the year they went on a field trip to the Prescott Zoo. Which is a one hour bus ride! This time I decided to ride the bus with all the kids, and from now on I will just follow behind the bus. Crazy! The zoo was fun and the kids truly enjoyed themselves. This is a classic picture of Emma and Sterling Sorensen, who is one of her best friends. They have a lot of fun together!! The next picture is Emma and Sean being goofy with the sign.

8 Wonderful Years

In February nine years ago Shiloh called me on the telephone and asked me on our first date. We went to a U2 Laser show at the Hansen Planetarium. We had a great time, unfortunately it took us another 10 weeks before we had a second date. At that point it was finals and I was moving to Oregon for the summer with a friend. When I returned we dated for another 5 months before we were engaged on December 10th, 1999. He proposed to me after we had dinner at the Roof. We were married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple on April 28, 2000. We went to Lake Tahoe for our Honeymoon.

He stayed at BYU an extra year while I graduated, his last semester he only took bowling so it wasn't that difficult for him. We then moved to Tucson where he attended the James E Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. I taught 8th grade until Emma came two years later. Once he graduated we went to Phoenix for a short time and that's when Sean joined us. When he was only 5 days old we moved to Cottonwood and he has worked for the Ledbetter Law Firm ever since. We also had our third child Ryan here.

Yesterday we celebrated eight years of marriage! He was called out to an officer shooting the night before and worked until 3 am. When we woke up we couldn't wake him up, therefore we tiptoed around all morning and I left him a Happy Anniversary poster. I went with the kids to the Prescott zoo all day, and he went to work. We did get a babysitter and went to Sedona for dinner at the Javelina Cantina. Which turned out to be absolutely delicious. When we got home I read the third book of Fablehaven until midnight and he went to sleep. Yep it's been 8 years and "I'm lovin him lots 'n lots."