Thanksgiving in the AZ!

Apparently I only blog once a month now....
We had a wonderful time in Arizona with Jesse's family. Warm, sunny, no work, no homework, no dieting, just playing and eating. Does it get much better? I wasn't really happy with myself in gaining 3 pounds in a week. I would like to think that I gained three pounds in muscle with the 7 mile hike up to the top of this mountain...

OR, the 20 mile bike ride, OR, another 9 mile hike along the road up the canyon. But I think it was all of the wonderful food that my In-Laws cooked. Grandpa's smoked turkey looked like it should have been on the cover of a magazine. (This picture doesn't do it justice. It was seriously sparkling!)

We went to the Arizona/Sonora Desert Museum that was really like a desert zoo. We saw Mountain Lions, Havelina's, Black Bears, Snakes, all kinds of crawling things, it was a fun place.


Did I mention that it was warm there? It was in the high 60's...beautiful. We did a lot of outdoor cooking in Grandpa's outdoor kitchen. I think I would cook out there all year long. We really enjoyed the fire and eating under the stars.




I think that these two look like twins!

We had a great time with family and the kids especially with their cousins. They see each other once a year and it is if they live across the street from each other. That's the way it's supposed to be right? Unconditional love! I love it!


P.S. Ricky Bobby got to join us! He loved AZ too!! I think he's smiling! :)

Halloween and other things!

Item #1 Blessings!

Last weekend Jesse and I had the opportunity to receive our Patriarchal Blessings. I have been thinking about this for about a year now and we finally made it happen. We both stop going to church around the age of twenty so we missed the opportunity to get it when we were younger. We had a wonderful experience last Sunday. Our kids were there, Jesse and I did it together it was great. His blessing talked of me and mine talked of him what a wonderful blessing to have the Lord recognize our eternal love for each other. What a wonderful teaching experience for our kids. I told the kids before we left that this man the Patriarch, is very special and that Heavenly Father talks to him. The kids thought that was so cool! We both cried like babies, several times that day. I felt the spirit almost constant that day. What a great day!

Item #2 Found!
Guess who found the camera? ME! Here are a few photos that I found....



Item #3 Halloween!

Dylan was a Lego this year, thanks to Grannie Joan for the wonderful idea. This boy is passionate about Lego's. He breaths, eats, sleeps, and dreams Lego's so it was perfect that he was a Lego this year. He was the only one of his kind in the whole school so he thought that was pretty cool. Cheap too!
Sophie was a cowgirl this year. She loves petty skirts and so I thought she could be a cowgirl this year. I look everywhere for cowgirl boots, Wal-mart, Pay less, Shop-KO, D.I., and I finally made the trip to Target and I found the cutest pink boots! She was so, excited and so was I, she wore them until she went to bed.

I was a witch! The kids loved that I dressed up, they thought that I looked scary.
I had my spider greet the kids at the door. He was a hit!


It rained and blew like crazy just before the kids were ready to go out, but low and behold the sun popped through at the perfect time. It was cold we had to layer up but they had a great time and got tons of candy!
Let the sorting and trading begin.....


The pumpkins! Dylan's did a skeleton pumpkin and Sophie a cat and a moon. They are getting to the age that they do it themselves. Sophie had a little help from Dad but Dylan did it all by his self!

Busy!

That is what you could call this beautiful fall month of mine! Busier than I would like to be that's for sure. We had another fun time with Grandma and Grandpa for a week. They started out in New Mexico to watch the famous hot air balloon festival and when the balloons couldn't take off because of the weather they were out of there and took a detour to Santaquin. A 600 mile detour to be exact. The kids really love when they come and who wouldn't they get tons of attention, love, tickling, kissing, long walks, hiking, donuts, ice cream, hugging, rides to school in the Corvette, card games, and much more. They are so good to travel all the way up here to see the kids. (they really don't care to see us, it's all about the kids.) They were also nice enough to take us to dinner before they left at Market Street Grill. Yum! Jesse and I would go there for our birthday's because it was so yummy (and I always received a gift card from my employer) but since moving to Santaquin we haven't been there since. I think that I said, "this is so good" about 50 times. I could have gone home after the Clam Chowder. It's always a good time when the "Whitney's" come in town! I would love to show some of the fun things that we did like, hiking the "Y", (this time Dylan passed gas on the "Y" OH, his Dad is teaching him young!), the Haunted Provo River Cruise, (nothing to write home about), the many trips to the fruit stand, (I'm still not sick of squash or peaches), but someone (Jesse) has lost the camera. Sad.

Here we go~

First:
We had our first annual "End of Summer Party" We had so much fun this will be a long tradition. Who knew pizza, 10 bucks of plastic and a bottle of baby oil could be so much fun!



Second:
Another visit from Grandma and Grandpa is always great. We all went to Snowbird to attend Jesse's cousin John's weeding reception. It was a beautiful reception up in the mountains. It was a really nice dinner party and I think I promised the kids to be on their best behavior and the reward would be donuts. My kids will do anything for a donut! Of course they were perfect! I love this photo of Sophie and her Grandpa, you can just feel the love between them.


Third:
My sweet neice Princess Shaylei got married to her Prince Steven in the SL Temple. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. It was so special to have our family in the temple to share in her special day. My camera was in my purse the entire day and do you think that I snapped one photo??? NOPE!
Fourth:
We had our first "official" sleep over with friends. They had so much fun and they actually went to bed at a reasonable hour! The kids with Mason and Jacee!

Fifth:
For the 24th of July we had a chance to stay in my friend Jackie's condo up at the Gateway. It was a lot of fun, the kids had the best time in the fountains. It was great to walk out your front door and be in the middle of an outside mall. Thanks Jack!

sixth:
The first day of School. My wonderful boy started second grade and I still can't believe it. He was so excited!He has two teachers, they team teach and at first he was a little nervious to have two teachers but now he LOVES it. They are great! Then my sweet Sophie started Kindergarten, I know give me a moment....She was SUPER excited to go to school and to be close to her brother. Her classroom is right around the corner from his and she loves it! I just went to SEP's and Sophie's teacher Mrs. Esquerra said that the best part of her day is when Dylan comes to pick her up and both of their eyes just light up when they see each other. Ohh!




Seventh:
On Labor Day we left and headed to Montana to Uncle Scott's wedding reception. We were sad that Uncle Dave and Daddy could'nt join us they were working but, that meant that Aunt Lynnie and I could ride up together which was one of the best parts of the trip. Just chattin with my sis and the kids completely entertained by their sweet cousin Kenadie was a perfect way to spend 8 hours!! Uncle Scott was nice enough to host all of us at his home. We all camped outside of his house, it was a big "Shuman" rondavue. I think I laughed the entire weekend, between my sister and her girls it was a riot. I also think I saw my kids once a day and that was at night, they played with cousins all day. Super fun! We went to a beautiful lake and Dylan once again amazed me with his Kayaking skills, he loves it. I was a little nervious the whole time because the water was freezing and if he fell in I was perpared to turn on my past lifeguarding skills to save him...Great Memories!





Eighth:
The kids had a wonderful oppurtunity to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa in Arizona. They just can't stand to be away from them for too long aren't they the best. Jesse and I took them half way to Page, AZ. I cried when we left and about five more times until we got home. Then I cried after I would talk to them on the phone every morning. Ohh and then again at night when I went to bed...They had a wonderful time swimming, playing with cousins and just getting spoiled for a week. Jesse and I felt like we were dating that week. We planned something every night to keep us busy. We went to the temple, dinner, hiked the "Y" (I know, I couldn't believe that Jesse would do that but he did. He spit on it a couple of time just to note), dinner with cousins, movies, and much more! It was a great week all around!
Not a great photo of us all sweaty and hot but I had to prove that we did it!
Ninth:
We had a great summer again we are so blessed to have wonderful fun memories with family. Ok, this post took me all day! Note to self, don't go four months without posting AGAIN!!!!

I'm Back Baby!!

Sooo much to post...all Summer and half of Fall! I hope that I can remember it all! Finally back to civilization with regular internet instead of dial-up! What were we thinking? More tomorrow!

Magic~

We were lucky to get to go to Disneyland this year with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jim, Aunt Ottie, Gregory and Ryan. We had a great time! We spent the first two days of our vacation at Newport beach. We secretly wish that we could have stayed there a couple more days. The kids loved the beach and the ocean it was their first time to see the ocean. Dylan sat down maybe once, he was in the water even though it was freezing, he was digging in the sand constantly, and running with his cousins, he loved it. My little Sophie played in the sand all day, finding shells, filling up buckets with sand, she loved it. We stayed at a wonderful house on the peninsula it was two blocks from the ocean and right on the harbour. It was beautiful! Jesse and I rented beach cruiser bikes and rode the boardwalk and around the entire peninsula. My hiney was a little sore but that might have been the highlight of the trip we had so much fun! We stopped at the pier and I had a frozen banana my new favorite treat! Yum! We also at at the famous Crab Cooker! Fantastic the best shrimp and scallions that I have ever had. (My mouth is watering just typing it!)

Next stop Disneyland! Disneyland is nastalgic for me, some of my favorite memories as a little girl were at Disneyland. It makes me smile and get emotional when I see my kids there. I feel that I have come full circle. My Mom and Dad always made our trips to Disneyland magical. I hope that Jesse and I did the same for our kids. We got to stay at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. It was really nice to be so close to the park. When you walked into the hotel you could smell suntan lotion so yummy. We spent five glorious days at Disneyland and California Adventure, daddy thought that three was enough but I could have done it for seven. :)

Jesse and Dylan soaked on Grizzly River Rapids!

Sophia with the "real" Cinderella! I thought that she was real too. Her voice was amazing and she asked Sophie where she was from and I said Utah and she said (in the best Cinderella voice ever) "Did you ride your horse and carriage all the way here? What a long journey you have been on!" I got goosebumps and Sophie was in Princess heaven! So fun!



Dylan loved Grizzly River Rapids, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Soaring over California and Buzz Light year. Sophie loved Tea Cups, Dumbo, Monsters Inc., and the Toon Town Roller Coaster. She went on Big Thunder but about half way through she started to cry (she didn't like when it went dark!) My favorites were the Churios, The Screamer, Big Thunder and especially Soaring over California. It's my favorite and Jesse's too! Dylan went on anything, which surprised me a little he is usually so cautious, I think that having 2 older boy cousins helped a little. We loved watching the parades and fireworks and the kids especially loved the water slide at the hotel. What a wonderful week we had with family. Ohh, if we could only be on vacation all the time. Back to work! :(