Another Day in the Life of Logan

It was a nice overcast summer day.  Logan asked if he could go shoot his bbgun in the backyard.  I said sure just don't shoot towards the houses.

Literally Logan came back in 5 minutes.  He had Grant run in to get me and this is what I find.  Logan is becoming quite the hunter!  Him and Grant gutted it and found 4 babies inside.  They had so much fun.  Oh man, now that would probably gross me out.  So glad they didn't come get me to show me that part!  

Girls Camp

Kiersten had a wonderful time at girls camp. She was a 4th year this year. Which means she had to hike and set up camp. They slept in sleeping bags under tarps they set up all week long. 

Danika, Alyssa, Kiersten, Khloe, KristiAna, Holly

Kiersten was nervous to be out camping like that. We are definitely a toy hauler camping type family. But she ended up really enjoying it!!  It rained most of the last night which made it cold. But she still love it!

Roosevelt Lake with the Smart's

We got invited to got the the lake with the Smart's.  Justin and Hunter were on a scout campout so they couldn't come.  But the other kids and I jumped at the chance to spend the day at the lake!

Kallie and Kiersten are too cute!

Oh how I love these two!

They always have a fun time together!

No broken foot was going to keep me from enjoying the lake.  I even took the boot off to enjoy a few tube rides.  Misty and I rode on the same tube.  We laughed, we cried and we might have cussed a little!  It was such a refreshing day!

I can't thank this lady enough!

She let me vent about life without any judgement.  I probably shared a little too much of the struggles going on with Justin's depression and his withdrawal from me and the kids over the past 9 months.  But she just listened and gave good advise.  We joked about Justin's addiction to picking crab grass for hours in the back yard. Any way he can find an escape to be alone he does it.  My heart hurts so much right now.  It makes me extremely sad to know he hasn't been feeling happy or joy for a very long time.  Even though he says it has nothing to do with me, it is a little hard to not feel like I should be able to make Justin happy and make him feel happy.  I sure hope a change in medicine and some sessions with our new therapist in the Mesa are can help us both.  Heaven knows we need it!

Any way the lake was a wonderful retreat and like therapy for me!  Thanks Misty!

Swim Team

This year was a little different than most.  The boys only made it to 2 swim meets this summer and one of those got rained out after only 30 minutes.  But they enjoyed getting up in the mornings and going to practice.

Both Grant and Logan would made it to the finals, but we will be in Texas that weekend so they will miss it.  Hunter didn't make it to any swim meets between basketball camp, Mexico, Texas, and scout camp outs.  And this was the first year Kiersten didn't do swim team.  

Jenny and I were all matchy patchy one swim meet so we had to take a picture!  I love this lady and am sure lucky to have her as my friend!  We are Twizzler friends at that...hehehe!  Inside joke!

Look at the abs on this kid!  He told me, "Wait mom let me flex so you can take a picture for the LADIES!"Another fun summer of swim team has come and gone!  So proud of the boys for working hard and being willing to get up earlier every morning to jump in a freezing cold pool!

We love the Pima Flippers!

Summer Fun

Ella has been enjoying having Carsyn Shupe come over so much!

Today they made bracelets.  Look at that smile of Ella's.....

man she posed and everything!

So Worth It

We seriously have the best neighbors and friends!

The Pryor's are the bomb diggity!

We watered their plants for a few days and they repay us by getting us dinner!

It was a thumbs up by everyone.......especially mom!!

We love the Mac and JP!

David Archuleta

My mother in law got all the couples tickets to see David Archuleta in concert at the David M. Player Center for the Arts. It was such a wonderful concert!!  

 It was a nice evening out. Kiersten even ended up getting to go when her grandpa Cluff offered her his ticket. He said, "I just love her so much and I don't want her to miss getting to see him and meet him. It will be a much bigger deal to her than it is to me."

Mom got us back stage passes and we got to meet David and his band. It was super cool!!  Grandma B was down from Utah visiting so that made it even more special. Thanks for the fun memories! 

So Funny

Ella is a horrible eater.....by far my worst water out of all 5 kids. So I have resorted to feeding Ella baby food in the squirt containers. 

She still puts up a fight but it is literally the only way to get her to eat fruits and vegetables. Today Aubs was trying to get her to eat some green beans, peach and Greek yogurt mixture. Yeah I know it sounds gross....hahaha! 

Ella took one gulp and said, "Oh dang, that's gross!"  

It was hilarious!   

Aubs and I busted up laughing. Out of the mouths of babes right :) Ella sounded more like a teenager than a two year old!

Seriously Speedy

Ella is a wild child!  She has NO FEAR!

She loves the scooter she inherited from Grant.  She can ride it so fast and weave in-between things with such easy.  Anyone that watches her on her scooter comments on how impressive she is on it.  Impressive and a tad bit scary!

EFY at Northern Arizona University

Kiersten went to EFY with Kallie Smart.

They had the best week.  It is an expensive thing but the way I look at it, in this day and age, it is an investment in my child's soul!  I feel really strongly about giving my kids opportunities like this.

I was so excited to drive up to Flagstaff and give the girls a ride home.  It was even better than I had imagined.  Hearing their stories with such first hand enthusiasm just confirmed by impression that EFY was were Kiersten needed to go this summer.

The way this program can increase a teenagers spirituality in a fun and cool environment is amazing!

Kiersten LOVED it so much!  I loved hearing how her testimony had grown so much in just a week.

Kiersten's COW (crush of the week) was the shortie to the left of her in this picture.  His name is Decker and he lives in the Mesa area.

One thing Kiersten really liked was when the boys formed lines to the cafeteria and sang church songs as the girls all got to go first for lunch.  It was on the day everyone dressed up in church close.   She said it was so neat to be treated with sure respect!  

They both loved their counselors, Heidi and Jared.

I loved every minute of hearing her and Kallie talk about their week!  They laughed and laughed, shared their testimonies and their renewed desire to stay close to the spirit.

Well worth $500 in my book!

Fun in Tucson

While the boys were at U of A basketball camp, the Little's (Grant and Ella) and I had some fun ourselves.  Aubrey came with us as well.  She was suppose to stay a few days and then go home with Grandma and Grandpa Boswell when they can on Tuesday to get their car worked on.  But since I broke my foot, and Aubrey has no job yet, she was happy to stay and help with the kids.

We rented a 4 bedroom house.  It was totally in a sketchy part of Tucson, not hard to do I know....hahaha!  The house had a small hot tub and a pool.  It also had a playground and putting green.  So the kids really enjoyed being here!

Aubrey's friend Harry came to visit us while we were in Tucson.  He recently moved to Queen Creek.  He was a funny guy!  He was so playful with the kids!

This is us enjoying some Culver's for dinner.

Harry ended up staying the night at our rental house.  The wasn't awake when I had to leave to take the boys to basketball.  So Aubrey stayed to wait for him to wake up.  The little's (Grant and Ella) and I took this opportunity to go out to breakfast.

Breakfast was so yummy!!!

If you are ever around the U of A area and need breakfast, hit up Blue Willow.  You will not be disappointed.

Silly kids are the best!

They can make anyone laugh..... oh how I am grateful for these kids!

Monkey see monkey do right?

Ella saw Mr. Grant showing off so of course she had to join in.

Then Ella was insistent that I do it too!  And Ella insisted on taking my picture.

I am sure I looked like an idiot..... but you know what?  I could care less!

Yummy fun breakfast.....great way to start the day.

Came out, started the Denali and the AC didn't work!  Are you kidding me?  No warning, just bam enjoy the blow dryer.  Also the check engine light came on.  So I called Justin asked him what I should do.  Couldn't find a shop to get it into so we ended up taking it to a dealer.  Because of the kids schedule and the uncertainty of what was wrong, I ended up having to rent a car.  It was such a pain in the butt!  But thank goodness the AC just needed to be charged.  It needs something else but Justin said he could order that particular part much cheaper.  It wasn't something that affected the AC.

After breakfast, the little's and I headed to the Tucson Children's Museum.

Oh did they have fun!!!

Finally Harry woke up and needed to head back to Queen Creek so he brought Aubrey to us.  The kids had a fun time playing.

Ella was in heaven!

She could have played for hours and hours here.  She threw a pretty big fit when we had to leave.

In case you don't know, Ella Jane LOVES kitties!  She loves anything that has a cat on it.  Cat stuffed animals, clothes with a cat on it, cat stickers, anything with a cat on it she loves.  So in the VET play room she loved the poster of different cats.

We joke that she will grow up to be a single lady with like 90 cats living in her house......bahahaha!

Leave it to Grant to climb in the animal cages.

Then Ella was close behind him!

This would be proof that Ella is OCD.  She insisted on sorting the vegetables by colors and types.  Even Aubrey was like, "I don't think most two year olds do this!"

Well Ella isn't your average two year old.

Ella thinks she is ready for this step.  I am ready to not buy diapers anymore, but I am not ready for the "fun" of potty training.  I should get my act together because she probably really could do it.

One evening I took the kids to a skate park.  They are all excited for the skate park in Safford to be finished.  Should be done mid July.  How exciting is that!!

Yes even Ella had to get in the bowl and ride her scooter.  

Ended the night with dinner at B.J.'s Brewery.  Pizookies for dessert really hit the spot!

Justin came to Tucson Friday afternoon to watch the boys last little bit of basketball camp.  I had to pick Kiersten and her friend Kallie up at EFY in Flagstaff at 7:00 the next morning.  So Justin came to take over so I could make the drive to Flagstaff.  Aubrey came with me so when my broke foot got too sore she could take over the driving.  Come to find out she is a HORRIBLE driver on the freeway.  I honestly started to have a panic attack as she almost got in a wreck like 5 times in a matter of minutes.  Thank goodness for other responsive drivers who avoided her.  Yikes, it was SCARY!  Even she was like, "I have no idea what I am doing!  I think I am having a panic attack too!"

We did survive the trip to Flagstaff.  

The kids had planned to go see the new movie Finding Dory, that was released today.  I heard how good it was.  Ella LOVED it!  Justin said she just sat the entire movie, ate her popcorn and was glued to the screen.  So glad Ella liked it and that the kids got to have an evening out with their dad.  The next morning Justin packed the kids up and went back to Safford.  The girls and I got home a little after noon.

It was a fun week in Tucson, minus the broke foot.  That was just annoying!

U of A Basketball Camp

The boys have been so excited to attend this camp.  Hunter earned half the money to go to it and Logan didn't quite earn enough, so he has to work when we get home to finish earning the money.

The boys LOVED every day of this camp.  It was Monday thru Friday, from 9:00 to 3:30.

I loved picking them up each day and hearing about their day.  They were always full of stories and excitement!

The last day they got to have some of the U of A basketball players sign something.  Logan got his hat signed and Hunter had a basketball that he got signed.  It was a great week for them!

No Joke

So Sunday as I was making lunch after church, I went to grab a cutting board out of the cabinet.  I pulled out a plastic cutting board.  Unbenounced to me, a large wooden cutting board fell out as I pulled out the one I had in my hand.  I was barefoot and the wooden cutting board landed right onto my right foot, just above my big toe.

It hurt like the dickens! 

It swelled up and kept hurting.  But I didn't think much of it, other than it was a pain.  The kids and I were leaving for Tucson in just an hour to spend the week over there so that Logan and Hunter could attend U of A basketball camp the coming week.  So no time to worry about a dumb foot/toe.

Well by Monday night it was aching a lot and I could not move my big toe at all.  It was kind of strange so I decided to go ahead and take myself to an Urgent Care.

I got X-rays and.....

Sure enough I broke my foot!!!  What the heck?!?  Same foot same bone as the last time.  Slight different area of the bone but still what are the odds.  I have a couple of fractures on the head of the first metatarsal bone.  So look like I get to wear this awesome shoe for the next 3-4 weeks.

The urgent care doctor was concerned that I might have severed my tendon.  So I had to go see an orthopedic surgeon the following day.  Oh what a mess that would have been.  Luckily the reason I haven't been able to move my toe wasn't because of a severed tendon.  The specialist thinks my toe is just traumatized and hurt that it doesn't want to move.  It just needs time to heal!

At least he is going to let me stay in this shoe instead of that tall boot I had to wear last time.

I just think it's crazy the timing of this.  It happened at home but I still ended up going to an urgent care out of town because of the timing.  Oh I swear life is comical!

Temple Blitz

In order to go on the temple blitz trip, each youth had to do some family history work.  They had to index 100 names and find 25 families names to do baptisms for.  They went to the 5 operating temples in Arizona over the course of 3 days.  Hunter loved indexing.  He often too the laptop to the dance studio and would index when he had a break between classes.  He has so much enthusiasm when he would talk about the names and people he had indexed for.

Thanks to Aunt Carol, Hunter was able to get 24 family names to do baptisms for.  Thanks Aunt Carol...You are the best!

Hunter looked forward to this trip for months as he worked towards completing the requirements.

Kiersten had so much going on during the week surrounding this trip that she decided not to go on it. I know wish I would have made her go.  As soon as Hunter got home and told her how amazing of a trip it was, she regretted not going.

The youth started out by doing baptisms at the Gila Valley temple.

Then Friday morning early they traveled to Snowflake to do baptisms there.

Straight from there they traveled to Phoenix and did more baptisms there.  I wish I could have been a part of this trip!  The baptismal font at the Phoenix temple was gorgeous when we did the tour of the temple, prior to it being dedicated.  

What a great looking group of youth we have!

Hunter never passes up a chance to get a picture with pretty girls.  On the ride home, Hunter and Tucker opted to travel home with the beehives.  Said he was tired of the loud deacons.  

Friday night they took the youth to Jester, a clean comedy club.  Hunter said it was hilarious and he loved it!

Then Saturday they woke up early and did more baptisms at the Mesa temple.

I love this picture taken at the visitors center at the Mesa temple.  I love that the Savior is look down upon our youth.   I know the Savior truly does look after these kids and I know he will be there for them as they progress through this life.   I love all the smiles on the kids faces.  They just beam with the spirit!  It is so wonderful for our kids to be surrounded by good friends.

They then finished off the trip at the Gilbert temple.

Such good yet silly, crazy kids!

Hunter and Tucker Wilkins are the best of friends!  Hunter had so much fun with Tucker on this trip!

It was a wonderful experience for Hunter and all the youth!

Hunter already has great plans for when Logan is 12 and the Tucson temple is open.  He wants to do a family temple blitz with him, Kiersten, Logan, Justin and myself.  I can't wait to make that trip!