Greer Day 3

When I win the lottery (probably not going to happen since I don't pay the lottery), but when I win I am buying a cabin in Greer and spending at least one weekend a month up in the cool pines.  It's so refreshing to the soul!

Hunter actually caught this fish with his bare hands!!! Pretty exciting!

I finally got my fish for the trip.  I didn't spend much time fishing so I was happy to even catch one.

Kiersten was equally excited to catch a fish.  She said her trip was complete at that point.

Ella.... well she is just a nut!  She thought this plastic wrap made wonderful glasses.

The kids all found cool walking sticks.  Grant thought he was so funny picking this huge one out as his.

I love this guy of mine!  He drives me insane but I am glad we are still pushing through.  Depression sucks!

Look at that cute face!

I love little kids that love stuffed animals!

This was our home for the weekend!

We didn't get a picture before Quincy had to head back home for work.  Loved having this crew come with us for the weekend!  Tons of fun!  Had a blast the last night playing cards.  We taught out older kids a new game called "Oh Crap".  It's fun!

Played a mean game of soccer!  I believe us girls BEAT the boys.  That would include Justin and me playing against each other.  What a sight that was.  I was glad he finally got off his phone and came outside to join us.  And what better way to show him that I was glad then to beat him....LOL.  Just teasing!  I was just glad he came out and got involved.  He spend a lot of time on his phone, I almost had to call him Mona. BAHAHAHA!  That would be our exchange student from last year that really spent the whole weekend in greer last year on her phone.

As we headed home on Monday we of course had to stop at Darbis Cafe in Pinetop. 

Their smothered biscuits and gravy with green chili is killer.

Banana fosters french toast does not disappoint either!

What a group!

It was a fun filled weekend!  Love getting away!  Until next year Greer!

Greer Day 2

So glad everyone made it up to the cabin safe.  Justin and Kiersten didn't get there till about 11:00 at night because Justin worked later then planned.

Justin is like a cute little kid, just happy to catch a fish.  Even if it's not big enough to keep.  In his opinion its even better because then he doesn't have to clean the fish.  HAHA!

After we fished in the morning we took the kids to the annual Greer Boat Race!

I love this girl right here!

She is pretty much amazing in every way!

Ella stole Warners place on Aunt Gloria's lap.  Ella was pretty happy about that..... Warner, not so much.  He ran off crying.

Ella is an outdoors kid for sure.

We had a couple of boats win and make it to the finals.  That's always fun.

This year the kids got to be part of the action.  They were part of the catching crew.  Don't you love Avery's pose.  She is such a character.   I love her!

The kids had a wonderful time doing this.  And they even got to pick a treat from the snack bar for helping.  

Oh how fun this weekend was with Gloria.  She makes me smile all the time!  She is a party all on her own!

Isn't this a perfect Labor Day weekend tradition!

Then it lunch at the Molly Butler Lodge for Hunter's birthday lunch.  And then more fishing.  The kids could ride their bikes to where we fished in the Little Colorado River.  It was so nice!  Us adults all went back to the cabin and had a little nap.  Kiersten helped watch Ella and Warner at the cabin.  Of course Gloria and my nap was like 30 minutes.  Now Justin and Quincy, they took like 4 hour naps.  Oh well I was grateful for the 30 minutes I got.

Logan must not have any feeling in his legs because this cold water did not bother him in the least.

Thank heavens for Uncle Quincy.  He cleaned all the fish and showed the boys how.  Justin pretended to be busy with his phone and didn't help one bit.  I don't think he even felt bad about not helping.....hahaha.....it was kind of funny.  Justin hates cleaning fish and eating fish for that matter.  He had a good fish dinner that night.  Everyone ate fish, expect Justin.

Hunter was proud of how clean he got his fish.  It was a great Saturday!

Birthday Boy

Hunter decided instead of a birthday party he wants his BFF, Brody Brown, to come with us for a long weekend to Greer for Labor Day.  I thought it was a brilliant idea!

So Hunter was lucky and got to spend his birthday with his family and BFF, up in the cool pines fishing all day!  It was the perfect birthday for him!  

Hunter caught 5 fish today!  So he was a pretty happy birthday boy!

It was a great day of fishing for these two!  Great weather and fish were biting!

We had red velvet cake for Hunter's birthday since it is his favorite!  With the left over cake he asked if he could smash it in his face.  Of course I said, "ABSOLUTELY!!"

And so Hunter had a wonderful time smashing cake in his own face....hahaha!

Now look at that face.... that is one happy teenager!

Happy Birthday Hunter

13 Things I Love About Hunter

1.  His sense of humor!

2.  His love of life!  This kid has so many dreams and I am sure knowing Hunter he's going to do them all!

3.  I love what a hard worker he is.  This kid will get up at 4:30 in the morning all on his own and get to basketball practice.  Not one day was he late or did he miss!

4.  Hunter has become a very helpful kid!  I am loving that!

5.  I love his desire to choose the right.  I recently hear his phone making a bing noise around 9:00 at night.  I figured it was a text and told him he needed to be turning his phone in and to quite texting because it was that time of night.  He showed me his phone and said, "Mom no one is texting me this late.  That's just the reminder I put in my phone to read my scriptures and say my prayers!"  LOVED BEING TOLD THAT!

6.  His love of people.  

7.  I love what a deep thinker he his.

8.  I am loving the fact that he is an extremely talkative Cluff boy.  I think we broke the reserve, non-talkative Cluff boy mold when Justin and I started having boys!  Hunter will talk to ANYONE and about ANYTHING!  He is going to make a great missionary.

9.  I love when him and Kiersten get giggly!  It makes my heart smile!

10.  I love his smile!

11.  I love the fact that he makes his bed every morning and it still has 3 stuffed animals on it!!!

12.  I love his style!  This kid loves to match more than any boy his age, matter of fact probably more than any girl his age, that I know.  I love how much he loves SHOES!

13.  I love how he plans fun things to do with his friends.  Like bigger and better hunts, laser tag games and capture the flag.  Hunter is such a fun teenager!

Can't believe Hunter is a teenager now!!!

Greer Day 1

Our tradition of going to Greer for Labor Day seems to really have stuck.  

And.  I.  Love.  it.

I joke with we are up there that Greer was the town that I spend my summers as a child.  Totally not true, but super fun to pretend like I did.  

Such a picturesque little town!

Only took an hour and the boys had caught this snake.  It was not a water snake or gartner  snake so I made them let it go after just a few hours of observing it.

Our cabin was right across the road from the Greer Cafe.....lucky me!

Pizza was yummy!

Brownie Sunday with carmel drizzle was even better!

Ell competely agrees with that statement....hehehe....

The sign side you had to be 12 or younger to use the horse swing.  So Hunter was excited he had one day left he could "legally" swing on it.

Look at that silly teenage boy being silly on a horse swing.  I am glad Hunter is such a fun teenager.

Logan is such a good fisherman!

Literally this was captured in the moment!

Logan's expression is the best!  

Ella attempting to cast her line out and reel it back in.  That was super entertaining to her.  Oh and of course falling in the cold water.  She loved that part!  She is such a fish and didn't care one bit that the water was so cold.

We can't wait till Justin and Kiersten get up here.  And we are excited to have Quincy, Gloria and their kids staying with us this year.  It's going to be a great weekend!

Student of the Month

Logan is Student of the Month for Mrs. Turley's class.  
Mrs. Turley wrote in the school bulletin that, 
"I have been so impressed with Logan.  He works really hard in class. He gives 100% on EVERYTHING he does.  He is also very kind to the other students in the class.  He is more than happy to help anyone out that needs it.  He is respectful and positive.  His personality and positive attitude makes teaching fun!  I am so glad to have him in my class.  What a great kid!!!"

Talk about a proud momma moment!  I am beaming with happiness right now!

As Student of the Month Logan gets to eat lunch with the principal and pick what he wants to eat from the Taco Shop, El Mesquite.  He is really looking forward to it!

I am so proud of Logan for standing out so early on in the year as a good student!  This year Logan has really started to show a lot of responsibility with his school work.  He is doing all his homework without being asked.  He is studying for tests and has straight A's on his progress report.  He is loving being over at Pima Elementary this year!  It's been a good change for him and he is loving all the new friends he is making!