Braden's Starting To Walk!

Me!

I've been tagged twice this week by my friend in Flagstaff, JENNY KEMPTON, and a ward friend, BRITTANY WILLIAMS! I told Drew today that I don't have 7 weird things that I do, I'm "normal" and he started rattling things off. So THANK YOU DREW! Here are a couple he dished to me and a few I've added.

1. Whenever someone comes into town and stays at our house, I buy new towels for them. It's something my mom always did (even when I was married and living in UT, every time Drew and I came down to AZ my mom bought new towels for us).

2. When I put my make-up on in the morning I always make this kissy face in the mirror until I'm done. I don't even realize that I do it, but Drew always notices. I don't think I'm the only one who does it. :)

3. I've moved throughout the USA as a kid. My dad was never in the military, just loved switching jobs! Utah, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Washington, Colorado, and Arizona. I've moved to Utah 3 different times and I still hate cold weather!

4. I have to have my checkbook register up to date daily (I actually do it on the computer) or I feel unorganized. I absolutely hate that!

5. I am somewhat of a scatter brain...ok, not somewhat, and if it's not written down or on a calander, it absolutely doesn't happen. Since I've started having kids I've lost almost all of my memory.

6. I HATE, HATE, HATE scary movies. I don't even like it when a show has scary music. It gives me nightmares and I lay in bed thinking the absolute worst--most of the time involving my kids. I can't even watch TV shows like Medium, Unsolved Mysteries, etc. They wig me out!

7. I also hate wire hangers! Most mornings when I get dressed I comb through Drew's dry cleaning to find any wire hangers that have been used.

That's about it! Guess I do have some quirkiness! :)

Megan, you're up so when you get back into town I'm tagging you!

Today's Tragedy

Today it seems that the whole city of Phoenix (and suburbs) are in shock with the tragic crash of two media helicopters while following a police chase. It has been on all of the tv channels, interrupting all scheduled shows for most of the day. It has gained national attention and I'm sure that many of you have seen footage. 4 men have lost their lives (2 pilots, 2 journalists/photographers) and the city is in mourning. It is such a sad tragedy. Our deepest sympathies are with their families.

Monsoon Season

This is a picture of one of the monsoons that we had roll in this week. All week we've had nightly rain, thunder, lightning, and dust storms. Each evening they roll in and then roll out by the next morning. It has been WONDERFUL! It is a rare occasion for AZ to receive rain (much less, a good downfall) and I love sitting under the porch for the spectacular lightning and smelling the clean air. The great thing is that it cools down the weather and is tolerable for awhile--if you can deal with the humidity. This evening Braden, Hallie, and I went for a walk and were able to spend some time at the park..usually unheard of this time of year. It was humid but cool enough to enjoy the outdoors. The kids LOVED it since we've been hibernating from the hot, beating sun.

EFG

Hallie was able to go to Especially For Grandkids (EFG) this year and had a blast with all the cousins and grandma and grandpa. When they arrived, Drew got Hallie and Lexie (her cousin who is around the same age) situated with thier backpacks and hats. The backpacks were huge on thier little bodies and the brim of thier hats fell into thier faces, despite making it as tight as possible. They both looked at Drew a little overwhelmed and Drew had to send them over to grandpa and escape before he started getting emotional!

But by the time we picked them up on Saturday they were old pros and had a BLAST doing all sorts of fun things: fishing, riding horses, treasure hunts, princess parties, slushie machines, and tons more. She learned all about tithing and has been collecting and organizing (and reorganizing) her money in her cash box. She loves adding to it, which Drew loves since that is totally a quality from him.

Drew and I were reflecting about her that first night, wondering what she was doing, etc. and Drew mentioned that we needed to let her go because she is going to grow so much from EFG and she certainly did.

The first picture I took of her when we very first saw her is a classic. She had that “camper” look—she had “done” her own hair for 3 days, she was hot, smelt like the outdoors, she was filthy, but the smile she gave us when she saw us made me start to cry!

She had such a fun time and grew much closer to all her cousins. It was hard to leave them when we left for home, but it will make reunions that much more sweet.

Vacation Detox

I am a little late with the July 4th pictures but we've been detoxing from being up in Utah....you know---laundry, emails, voice messages, mail, grocery shopping, to dos, etc. All the fun stuff that you get to come home to!

Anyway, we had a wonderful Fourth. It is my favorite holiday and we love spending it in Utah where everything is so family oriented. We did the parade in the morning, hung out with Drew's family, had a delicious dinner, played and swam with the cousins, listened to the music from Stadium of Fire, and enjoyed the amazing fireworks! Since the weather did not permit sparklers, my MIL bought bubble wrap and the kids went to town. Hallie pretty much disappeared from the time we got there until it was time to go home. She loves hanging out with all the cousins! It was ONLY 100 degrees in Provo so we were really enjoying the COOLER weather! (no, seriously!) ALL of our Utah pics are in the photo gallery.

Chalk One Up

Drew has officially been a business owner for 1 year! It was the weekend after the Fourth of July when Drew decided to go off on his own and start his own appraisal company. I am so proud of his accomplishments and determination to succeed in fulfilling a huge goal. He works his tail off and definitely puts in some serious time, but I know it is worth it to him to see his company growing and progressing. Even after a long day of work, he still admits to loving his job. As a wife, that makes me so happy. We have been so blessed in the past year and it is quite mind boggling to see how our lives have changed for the good. Drew, I love you and appreciate all that you do for our family. Congrats!

Tempe Beach Park

On Friday we went to the Tempe Beach Park with the Williams, aka (and more famously known as) Broc's family. We had a great time!

We first had dinner and saw Superman during our dinner! We were on Mill Ave (for any of you locals, you know that anything is possible on Mill) and a guy was dressed from head to toe in the whole Superman costume. He was just walking around and the kids LOVED seeing Superman! Then, on the way to the park, Hallie and Broc held hands the whole time. The adults joked that we were just there to supervise their date. They were oblivious to us watching them.

The park is a huge splash playground with slides, sandbox, and little water canals throughout the whole park. The kids loved it and it was great to be able to cool down in all this hot heat! The picture of Hallie and Broc on the blue whale together is my favorite! We were laughing at them so hard. Obviously, they were having a great time!

Has Anyone Seen My Sucker?

What more can I say about this kid? The lost sucker got Drew and I laughing so hard. The funny thing was, he was looking around trying to find it and had no idea that it was stuck to his forehead! After about 5 mins he found it and continued licking it.

D Backs Double Daddy-Daughter Date!

On Wednesday Drew and Hallie went with my dad and Chandler to the D Backs game for a daddy-daugthter date! Drew was a little leary about how long Hallie would last but she did great and they stayed until the 8th inning--long enough for Hallie to sing one of her favorite songs, Take Me Out To The Ball Game"! Drew bought her a baseball, which she slept with that night, and a t-shirt, too. At 3:30 AM Wednesday night she woke up crying. I went into her room and she said, "I want to go to another baseball game!" I told her that she'd have to take that up with her dad in the morning and to go back to sleep! She rolled over and was completely out again.