Our Lives in a Nutshell

In July we took a family vacation.  The first one in a while and much needed.  Life was bliss and perfect in every way.  Our family and Nana and Poppa and our nephew Kyle headed for California for a long weekend at Disneyland.  First stop...the beach!

It was almost painful feeling how much we miss the beach, the sand, the waves....

Next...we spent the next three days at Disneyland.  It was awesome. 

 Daphne drove Poppa around.  I remember doing that as a little girl.  It brought back memories.

 Can't go to Disneyland without visiting Pooh Bear and Tigger. 

We went to having fun to this....

Our home was broken into while we were gone.  They pretty much cleaned us out.  They even checked the toy cash register. The thiefs left a huge mess. Before we left for Disneyland we had decided to move to Logan, Utah at the end of the school year.  Well...now we are doing this...

Packing!
We have decided to move now. 
Why not. 
We don't want to live in our neighborhood any more...  So we are packing.  We don't have jobs here and we don't have jobs there, so what's the difference.

God has an incredible plan for our family.  He has been unfolding it in fast forward though.  A little hard to keep up with.  We are excited to be starting a new chapter in our lives but sad to leave friends and family behind.  We will have to post the updates!

The Phoenix Haboob

Just in case you were wondering what a Haboob is. 

Here it is.

July 5, 2011 we had our first big "Haboob" of the year.  It is a desert term for "dust storm".  One would think that these only happen in the Sahara Desert.

Now you know it happens in Phoenix.

Water Rockets

We thought we would spend some family time shooting off the water rocket at the park the other night.  Yeah, it was still 100 degrees out at dusk but it was worth it.

This water rocket we have had for probably 12 years.  It is made from PVC, a tire valve, a bike pump and a 2 liter bottle with water.

I came across it in the garage the other day and decided it was time to pull it out again and have a little fun.

I kept trying to get an actual picture of the bottle leaving it's resting position and kept missing it.  One second it is there and the next it is gone leaving behind a stream of water.

 I did finally get one.  It looks like Kaleb is going to be hit in the face with it but I assure you that he is a couple feet away.  It only "looks" like that.

Jared has always found time to attempt to wrestle his Dad to the ground. Now that he is actually taller than Kirk he "thinks" he might be able to do it.  

Kirk still out weighs him so it will be a long time before he can pull his Dad over. 

 You can just barely see the bottle flying out of the picture.

It was a little hard for Victoria to pump an endless amount of air into a Squirt bottle.  She was funny to watch because she was trying every single kind of technique to force the lever down.

I love this picture.  Catching an empty plastic bottle falling from about 50 ft in the air is like trying to catch a feather floating right in front of you.

AAwwww....he missed!

I love this time of day.

Aarrgh!!!



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.

A Mud Storm

Victoria informed me that the storm we had the other night was a Mud Storm...not a Dust Storm or a Rain Storm!  Noooo.....it was a Mud Storm and this is the proof!

Only in AZ can you have a Dust Storm as thick as fog and rain at the same time.

It makes the dirtiest mess.  Everything is coated with dust.  The streets, the side walks.  Everyones car...except our neighbor who doesn't have anything better than to wash his car every single morning!  No kidding.  Usually your vehicle looks out of place if it is the only one that looks like you went mud womping on the way to the grocery store.  But our neighbors car looked out of place being the only polished vehicle in a 20 mile radius.

And don't bother washing it because there is more to come.  They even closed the airport due to NO visibility.  Living in the desert is definately interesting.



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.