The summer has been here for awhile I know! But I’m just trying to catch up here…give me a break!

Swim lessons were a new activity for us this year…the kids loved it! We are going to have to do every summer!

 

We had to say good bye to some very good friends :( We miss you Norris’s and Cliffords

Grandma Debbie got tickets to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang…for days I couldn’t get that song out of my head!

Kate was afraid of the child napper and Will fell asleep after the Intermission…awesome!

Becky and Theresa…sister in laws :)

Kevin decided he wanted to try out his green thumb this year… here is the before picture,  about mid March

before plants and seeds

after…now we had to wait…

 

About 1 month or so later!

Since this picture we have had a few tomatoes and LOTS of squash!! Not too shabby for out first time :)

We had a Grandma Ensign Visit

Girls Night out

Fun learning at the local library…hey its FREE!

Kaleb is so funny, he always brings a smile to my face :) most of the time!

More pics will to come…

We loved our anniversary get away last year so much we just planned on doing the same thing again!

SAN DIEGO :) And right now, the heat in AZ sucks! So San Diego is a great break from that, at least for one weekend.

Once we got there we took a little cruise on the bay…

This was funny to me…so I took a picture of them!

Then we went to our FAV Mexican Food Restaurant…Casa De Reyes

YUMMY :)

That night I thought we were headed to Kevin’s Aunt and Uncle’s home, but he surprised me by driving around town and ending up at the Holiday Inn…right in the heart of down town SD. Thank you babe! oh and thank you Bob and Debbie :)

The next day we drove around the town a bit and ended up seeing some cool sites.

LDS San Diego Temple

 

Pretty flower on temple grounds :)

 

There were rows and rows of these headstones, it was amazing.

This is Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery

Point Loma Light House

We went to the Padres game later this day…it was fun :)

Then our last day there we went over the very high bridge…(me don’t like heights!!) to Coronado Island.

Hotel Coronado…its a such a beautiful place…

AHHH…the beach…I miss you!

Thank you Kevin for 10 years, three sweet kids and a best friend…I love you

Kaleb did a “Readers Theater” play about Jane Adams. He was the narrator.

He really enjoyed performing and he loved his teacher Mrs. Ebenholtz!

He is so lucky to be able to be in her class next year too! She’s moving up to 4th grade :)

Kate had her end of the year plans too!

She had a field trip to the Phoenix Symphony

Then she did a musical called “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” She played the baby goat (go figure…)

 

Kate loved her 1st grade class and will miss her teacher Ms. Neal very much! She was Kaleb’s 1st grade teacher too!

Kaleb is onto 4th grade and Kate is onto 2nd…oh my gosh! I feel old!

This was more like a play group, but we still had a little party at the end of the year. This was the cake that had a scanned picture on it, the kids loved it!

 

Will and mom taking a moment to smile :)

Congrats Will! You are growing so fast…too fast!

Kate is finally 7 yrs old!

She had a Luau Party…with lays and flowers, sorry no coconut shells!

This is my lame attempt to make her cake…oh well,  outcome was supposed to be a palm tree. She liked it, that’s all that matters right?

At first “Fuzzy” was life less and boring…

Then he received his red heart…

Then came the fluff…

He has to have a bath after that…

$15 later and a shirt to cover him up and you have one happy kid!

You even get a box to take him home in! Will called it “Fuzzy’s Bed”

One of our family goals is to go to the park each Saturday. Usually this means just visiting one of the local neighborhood parks, but yesterday we instead decided to go to Papago Park, a large park in Phoenix next to the zoo. We were glad that Grandma was still here to enjoy the day with us.

We first had a picnic lunch and then then enjoyed watching the ducks play around in the ponds.

Amie took some portraits of each of the kids that turned out very nice…

            

Next we visited Hunt’s tomb. George W. P. Hunt was Arizona’s first governor and served 7 terms. He built the tomb for his wife, and was himself entombed there after his own death. It sits elevated above the valley and offers some great views. Since it sits right next to the zoo you can see some of the animals.

Finally, we ended by hiking up to “The hole in the rock”. The kids had a blast climbing all over the rock formations.

Here are some pictures Christmas Morning.

Kaleb got the Wii he so desperately wanted, Kate got her Easy Bake Oven, and Will got his Bike.

Then we were off to Mesa to have more fun with family.

This year was wonderful and we are so blessed.

This year we spent Christmas Eve at home, just our little family!

It was a first for us! So we thought we would make a tradition of having a candlelit dinner and try to teach our kids some manners!

Then of course…the Nativity Play

Then we went out in the front yard and planted our little candy mints in the ground, so that in the morning, after Santa came with his magic sleigh, the mints would grow into candy canes!

(With all the commotion in the morning, I forgot to take a picture! They really did grow into candy canes though!)

Finally, before the kids hit the hay…they must snuggle up and listen to the “Night Before Christmas”