sisters

love to see these two all cuddled up!

looks can be deceiving

this may look like an old water heater, but i bet you didn't know it was a bucking bronco.  

these kids were having a blast "helping" Jason!  on a side note: we know have hot water again!  win-win!

Happy, Happy Easter!

Easter time is always very fun in our neighborhood.  our annual pot luck has grown and changed over the years.  with most of our littles in soccer, we've started having an evening party rather than a breakfast.  the girls were thrilled to break out the baskets.  (when will they stop "posing" for the camera?)  this was Colin's first bone fide egg hunt, and he was unsure what to expect.  

 this is most of the motley crew that gathered for the big egg hunt.  (Colin is not pictured as he was too busy playing basketball and i am too pregnant to chase after him for a photo op.) 

once he got the hang of the hunt, he found it fun.  he had lots of help from sisters too!

                       

 dinner was delicious!

 and we gathered enough candy to wire these kids for 3 days!

 Easter Sunday we had a fun dying Easter eggs before church.   

church was uplifting and a wonderful celebration of our Savior's life, atonement and resurrection.  and marked Anna's very first performance with the ward choir.  afterward, we hosted out Earl family for dinner, and snapped some pics of these Easter cuties.  

Happy Easter!

spring break, mountain style!

we are so lucky to be surrounded by generous friends and neighbors who invite us to their great mountain retreats.  usually, we've gotten away during the dog days of summer (and fall), but this time we went during spring break, and there was actually a little bit of snow.  

 this poor kid has inherited pink furry snow boots and pink gloves.  since this is likely his only snow day this year, we were not willing to make a more masculine investment.  

 the double-decker view from the family room of  this cabin is amazing.  me and my sore back enjoyed it very well during our stay.  

 some may have said, "there's not enough snow for a snow man." but these 4 proved them all wrong!

 here is our favorite activity up there, quad riding.  the scenery is too delicious not to explore.  and the quad gets us places we wouldn't otherwise be able to go.  we got stuck twice and lost 2 machines to repairs, but we still had an amazing time.  

 the girls had so much fun playing with Conner. 

 the quad takes us to such amazing places to hike and explore. 

 we got to see some cool Native American hieroglyphics.  

 love my boys!

 we rode to the top of a neighboring mountain for a fun and delicious picnic in the snow.  

 quad/rhino rides are also excellent for lulling nappers to sleep!

big thanks to the Whites for sharing their piece of heaven with us.  we love the opportunity to explore and play!

happy Valentine's day

this year the girls wanted to photo Valentines as seen on Pinterest.  so we snapped these photos them, and then popped lollipops in their hands to treat their fiends.  

autumn leaves in January

many people think we only have one season in Arizona (or rather the Phoenix area), but we have four just like every other place.  our seasons are just spaced out a little differently here.  it's true that our longest season is summer.  and i'll go ahead and characterize summer as temps 85 and above.  typically this warm season lasts from about mid (or early) April to mid (or late) October.  next comes the season best referred to as winter. a cooling off that thankfully tends to occur during the holiday season.  cool temps stretch into January and February when we surprise many visitors with freezing temperatures. Spring is usually the six-eight weeks between freezes and Summer generally occurring in March/April.  

so what about Fall?  well our Autumn is usually a few days in January when the leaves fall!  here are my children revelling in their 24 hours of Autumn.  

the FLU reared it's ugly head in our house again this month.  along with strep, a stomach bug, and double ear infections.  someone in our family has been sick almost every week since Thanksgiving!!!!  we are looking forward to those warmer temps that Arizona has in store for us!

this is halloween!

 so, we carved our pumpkins the night before halloween and they looked great!

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we had so much fun with our friends, 

  

 and as siblings!

happy halloween!