Rich and Angela

 Rich and Angie were married yesterday.

It was a beautiful wedding, a beautiful beginning for two wonderful people.

 I managed to grab a picture of Rich with three of his boys. They were eager to get their "monkey suits" off. I never did get a picture of Angie's very handsome boys. She has two. Somewhere around 10 and 15. I know I'm wrong so please don't quote me. Levi is on the left, then Luke and Chad. I'm so glad they came and supported their Dad's marriage to Angie. I am sure that meant alot to Rich.

 They did an awesome job of meeting and greeting.

 Two of my favorite people! Actually I should say 4 of my favorite people. 

 My girls and my cousins.

 And of course, my favorite Aunt.

Aunt Carol looked beautiful in her new dress. I love the color on her.

She always makes the kids feel welcome and will ask something specific about them to share.

I like that she does that.
It makes them feel important.

 Rich's little grandbaby Marlie is so adorable.

When it is time to smile for the camera she would squint her eyes tight and smile.

It reminded me of Victoria's Funny Face that she made when she was that age.

It got everyone all gooey over how adorable she is.
I couldn't stop playing with her. I miss having little ones.
My little ones are almost all bigger than me.

You gotta love weddings.

There is a time for meeting the new family, meeting the best friends, alot of smiling to the point that your face hurts, eating, drinking lots of lemon water and then there is the moment when you have had enough and are ready for the  2 hour drive home.

Victoria was proud to announce that she ate 9 cake pops and 4 egg rolls.

She slept the whole way home.

 Kirk and I rarely have a picture together. On a whim I took this one myself.

We are in black and white because,

I wanted to see what I am going to look like with white hair,

I wanted to see if Kirk will really look like Santa some day,

and....black and white showed less wrinkle definition.

Congratulations to my handsome cousin Rich

and his new beautiful wife Angela.

I can't wait to spend time with you again.

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent our first Thanksgiving in our new home extremely grateful for our Lord's blessings on our family.

We also spent this special day with my cousins Kathy, Troy and Rich.

The last holiday that I spent with my cousins was when I was 3, Rich would have been 6 and Kathy would have been 7.  We had a great time.  They arrived Wed. night while there was still snow on the ground.

We promptly ran out of butter and flour, so Kathy and I made a mad dash with all the other shoppers to the market to pick up a few things.  It was so fun preparing for our Thanksgiving meal together.

Kathy had made the comment that it is kind of hard sometimes cooking in someone elses kitchen.

I said...... I know, this is someone elses kitchen for me too!

We had so much fun just hanging out with eachother reminescing about old times and making new memories.

Jared has a knack of being involved with something disasterous without intending for anything to happen.  Well, he picked up the bottle of sparkling cider on the counter and was going to pretend to drink out of the bottle when the top blew off, hit the ceiling and proceeded to spew a fountain of cider straight up in the air, all over the floor.  We all looked at him like, What Did You Do?

What he did was harmless but because it involved JARED, anything goes.  I have no idea how this happens but he is like an accident waiting to happen.  Anything that could break, pop, crack, or explode is at risk in his presence.  We all had a good laugh with some "voltage" as Kathy called it.  You know, the thing you do when you see your kid making a complete mess of your clean floor.  We all got over that pretty quick.  We decided that Jared was just makin' memories.

After we ate way too much we walked down the street and around the corner to see the movie "In Time".  It was very invigorating walking in the crisp air with snow still on the ground.  We had a major snow ball fight as we headed down the street.  There is always fun involved with anything that Rich is doing.  We all just have a blast messing around. 

To top off our Thanksgiving we stayed up until midnight to stand in line for Kolh's Black Friday sale.  Kathy, Rich, Kirk, Daphne and I had a pretty good time standing in line for almost two hours to pay.  We thought we were nuts but enjoyed each others company.  I loved every minute of it.

We got home at 3 a.m. to catch a couple winks before heading to the mall this morning at 6:30.  Kathy and I were the only crazy ones in the bunch to make it back out  in the morning.

We all enjoyed being together.  I kept looking at us all feeling like I needed to pinch myself.

Are we really here?

Yep! We are and lovin' every minute!

 

Our Personal Plumber

 I called my cousin Rich just 2 1/2 hours away in Payson, Utah to let him know that we made it!

I started talking with him about the possibility of putting a gas line from the boiler for the dryer that was okayed by the owners.

He said that he would come this very afternoon to do it!

What a guy!

He really made life so much easier.  I was looking at laundry mats until we could get the dryer hooked up.

I didn't need to because we had

Snappy Plumbing to the rescue!

My cousins are great people.  

A Great Weekend!

Corn Shucking Party!

My cousin Rich and my Aunt Carol came up for the weekend. 

It was great being surrounded by so much family.

It was time for the corn to be harvested.  So we set up an assembly line. 

We all had our jobs.

Some shucked the corn, Rich cut it off the cob with a knife.

Then we had to blanche it, bag it and freeze it.

It was fun.

 

The same weekend we watched a lawn mower race at the Scarecrow Festival at Malad Fairgrounds.

It was hysterical.  Some of these guys really got into souping up their ride on lawnmower and rode it like a dirt bike.

Everyday, Victoria watches to see how Kathy wears her beautiful long hair

so she can wear hers the same way.

It is really cute.

Kathy braided Victoria's hair in a rope braid the other day so that is her latest desire of the day.

While at the fair grounds, Rich and Kathy went for a helicopter ride. 

Rich is just short a few hours to having his helicopter pilot license. 

It was so nice to see brother and sister do something together. 

They flew over Kathy's house.  You can see the garden and our van.  It isn't just anybody who has an aerial view of their home.

It has been fun spending time with my cousins. 

I love them. They are a lot of fun.



Flash Back!

My cousin Kathy posted this picture of us on her blog so I swiped it. 

I remember this day, (I think we were at Redondo Beach, Calif.) because I didn't really want to wear the same thing that my sister was wearing and I didn't want my hair in two pony tails.  I wanted it down like Kathy's and my mother said "no, it will get tangled if you leave it down."  So up it went.  Kind of reminds me of every Sunday morning that Victoria protests and insists on her "One Pony Tail MOM". 

I remember that I had bought one of those black velvet posters that you color in with markers.  I think Kathy and Kim got one too.  I remember having to walk around the pier with that ocean breeze blowing and my poster was like a sail ready to fly to new places.

I pointed out to Victoria Aunt Kathy, Auntie Kim, and Uncle Rich. And she chimed in pointing to me adding "Daphne".  I think the glasses and the hair make her think that.

We always had good times when we were together.

I never felt singled out and the youngest when we were together.  They always included me in and didn't ditch me like the other cousins would do.

I love them.
I would give anything to be at the ocean right now.

4th of July

Man it's HOOOOTTT!!!

So what do you do on the Fourth of July when it is 110+ degrees.  You swim hoping that it will actually cool you off. 

The water was a little refreshing at 84 degrees. Pretty close to bath water but still worth the swim. 

It was nice visiting with Nana and Poppa and Auntie Kim.  We don't get much of that so it was nice just hanging out and floating in the pool dodging water bombs, squirt guns, canonball splashes and underwater torpedoes.  We would be talking and someone would grab an ankle and yank you off balance.

The cousins had a great time goofing around.  Some of the things that the boys were doing was a little wierd.

They would line up on the diving board and take turns diving in, or do cannonballs.  There were usually waves at the other end of the pool where the adults were hanging out.

I love watching the kids swim and jump in.  They burn themselves out to the point of exhaustion.



Gardening in PJ's

Somehow I missed these pictures of when we helped Kathy plant the rest of her garden! 

We started after dinner so Victoria is already in her PJ's. 

I love it when the day is winding down and the sun casts long shadows.

It is beautiful.

Pumpkin the cat loved laying in between the rows.  Zeus was supervising to make sure that Kaleb's row was straight.  I would have never imagined that my cousin Kathy and my youngest daughter would be planting seeds together.  They pretty much even have their hair the same way.  Long and beautiful.

I love how Kathy includes my kids and engages them into doing things.

The kids were very excited to help plant seeds.  I think the pets were too.

By the time we got home Kathy called to say that the corn had already grown an inch above the ground and that the onions were a little above that.

It was so peaceful.  The most exciting part was that the air temperature was very comfortable. 

It was beautiful.

The grass IS greener on the other side!

                                       I surprised my cousin Kathy.

She was putting together a surprise party for Troy's 50th birthday.

I thought I would surprise her and just show up.  But then I started thinking that it would be more fun if we could plan ahead and have something to look forward to.

Really, I just couldn't contain myself.

So I called her up and said I had something exciting to tell her.

Her first thought was that I got a job.

No. I wish. But no.

Then she said

You're coming to see me!

Yes!

We were like giddy girls counting down to the day we would see eachother.

Jared was still at Scout camp and Kirk was finishing up a mural job, so Daphne, Kaleb, Victoria and I drove 11 hours to Utah to cousin Rich's house and then another 3 to Malad, Idaho where Kathy lives.

We went through a culture shock. 

There was snow on the mountains still, green grass, flowers on the hillside, and cooler temperatures.

We were at Kathy's for a whole 5 days and walked every day.

It was awesome!

Rich's dog Duke went for a walk with us the first night.  The kids rode their bikes.  Kathy and I pulled Victoria along by the handle bars and had to keep reminding her not to put on her brakes.  We walked almost four miles that night.  The alfalfa was beautiful and green.  We discovered at this time that Victoria was extremely allergic to the greenery.  Extremely is such a mild word for what she went through.  She couldn't open her eyes by day 3 and the pharmacy is closed on Sundays.  She did so much better when we got some medicine into her.  She would walk around with a cold washcloth to put on her eyes.  Uncle Troy was coaching her on rinsing her eyes with water which really helped too.  She was quite the trooper. 

We had a great time visiting with Kathy's kids and Troy's family.  It was nice seeing Aunt Carol.  She has always been my favorite aunt.  We played a super loooooooong game of Uno.  I think we went through 7 decks of cards!  We were starting to help eachother just so we could end the game.  It was hysterical.  We learned a new game called Nertz. Wind and Sundi were winning every single game. They were really good at it.  Especialy Wind.

If you ask the kids what was one of their most favorite part of the visit...they really enjoyed being outside and it not being blazing hot and the animals.  The goat Zak was pretty funny to watch.  He would see Victoria come out from around the house and he would stand up on the fence and wait to see what she was going to feed him next.  Kaleb got the experience of collecting warm eggs from under a fluffy chicken.

 We drove up to Power House next to a river for a BBQ.  We thought we had thought out what we needed to cook hamburgers and hot dogs.  Kathy had made delicious potatoe salad.  We hadn't brought a grill for the fire.  So we were busy planning out how we could cook hamburgers.  Once the fire was lit and ready we went to get the hamburgers and discovered that we had forgotton to bring them.  Pretty funny.  We rolled with the punches that evening and still enjoyed our time together in the outdoors.  It was absolutely beautiful.


 The kids love having family.  Kathy's youngest son Blue just graduated from High School too.  He is two months older than Daphne.

The hills were covered in these sunflowers.  I think Kathy said they were South Dakota dwarf sunflowers.

It was fun having a campfire.  We marshed marshmallows for smores.  Another reason why Kathy and I walked every day.  We could eat whatever we wanted.  It was great.

Troy had accidently thrown a couple sticks that Daphne had put aside to carve into the fire.  Oops.

These were a some of the flowers that kathy had planted by her door.  It fascinated me how they weren't burnt to a crisp.  I feel like we live on the moon sometimes with all the rock around.  Kathy's whole yard and the fields around it had green grass and beautiful flowers flourishing.

 

Jumping on a trampoline in the country is a way different experience than jumping in our backyard. I was apprehensive to jump too much because I didn't want Victoria to fly off into the field.  Our tramp has a netting that surrounds it.

Victoria sent me on a guilt trip once again that she wants to ride horses like her friend Hannah.  She knows that Daphne has taken lessons in the past too which doesn't help the situation.  So anyway, Kathy heard and asked if she would like to ride Dragon Fly even though she hasn't been riden in YEARS!  She had the cutest pony saddle for her.  Dragon Fly did very well.  She wasn't too sure at first but Victoria was the perfect size.  And Daphne did an awesome job of saddling her up.  Victoria had a smile of pure satisfaction and content.

We visited the reservoir in town and  saw who could throw a rock the farthest.  Of course Blue threw the farthest.  I don't think I could even get it anywhere near what he did.  It was fun to just sit there and watch the kids and talk.  We were sitting on the hill above the bank and Zeus would go to lay down to cool his belly and pratically throw his body down on the ground.  He would slide several inches on his belly.  It was funny and cute. 

Daphne brought Sundi, Kathy and Aunt Carol homemade soap from a friend at Farmers Market.  And the kids painted rocks to leave around Kathy's house.  Just a little piece of us to leave behind.

More pictures of special memories.  I can't wait to live closer to Kathy.  We share so many similarities.  I think those Thomas genes came through on both of us. 

We decided to spend a few extra days in Utah with my cousin Rich and his kids.  We laughed so much.  Daphne teases him excessively which he dishes right back.  They got into a water fight at Payson Lake.  Daphne had thrown a cup of water on him and missed.  So she refilled and nailed him pretty good.  Well, Rich had a better cup.  He picked up the water jug filled with ice and water and waited for her to come back and got her head to toe.  We laughed so hard I was crying.  Now if Kirk would have done that there would have been hail and brimstone flying.  But Uncle Rich can do it.  He was always fun as a kid and he is still alot of fun.  We played at the park in Payson several times, watched a few movies from the Redbox and shared some great family time.

Rich's dog Duke is an awesome dog.  He just loves attention and getting some good rub downs.  There was one afternoon I was sitting in the backyard talking to Kirk on the phone.  Duke was laying his head in my lap getting rubbed and enjoying every minute of it.  He got this look like he had an idea.  I watched him jump up into the planters between boulders and dig a hole.  Well, I thought a hole.  Actually he was digging up some furry animal thing and freaked me out because he was proudly bringing it to me to show like....

Look what I have

Wanna see it?

NO

Uugghhh Yuck.  I did everything but scream.  I ran into the house and he looked at me a little heart broken.  I actually felt bad like I hurt his feelings.  It was a piece of deer and its fur.  I heard he came home one day with an entire leg of a deer.  I am a city girl.  Our dogs don't come home with things like that.

Well, we had a great trip.  It was hard driving the whole way myself.  We missed Kirk and Jared but we all enjoyed our time away as well as Kirk and Jared enjoying peace and quiet.

We are ready to make the move out of Arizona.

It is time to move on.

Start over. Or again.