i love my sister

I know I am a loser blogger. I am disappointed myself when I see the same old posts here on the blog. I hope to do better.

We had a fun few weeks. Spring Break was just that, a nice little break from school with beautiful spring weather. This weekend has been nearly perfect weather. I am in love with Arizona in the spring. I am growing basil, cilantro, rosemary & thyme. And I planted flowers. We spent 12 hours at the dunes {that's enough for me} and it was actually really enjoyable. Mike's mission friend & his wife came with us and it was nice to spend some time with friends.

Kate & Arleigh came to town for a few days. LOved it. Arleigh & Avery played, Kate & I just yapped and made bread {yes, we are little red hens...we ground the wheat & made the dough & baked the bread...YUM} we went to the cutest park. We shopped, ate out a little too much {sorry, Kate} and we went to the botanical gardens which were really neat, esp the butterflies. However, I bent over to take a picture of the girls and got skewered by a cactus in the backside. yikes. I pulled 3 huge pokies {for lack of a better word} out and it was like needles. that'll teach me. yowza. It was a lot of fun because the girls are just at the same stage, doing the same things, etc. Arleigh is a sweet pea. We were sad to see them go. Come back ANYTIME!

I have to say that Avery is a crack up right now. Mike says she is "so smart". And I agree. She is mimicking. And she is wise, I think. She gets what is going on around her, it's weird. She teases and plays. She is standing, wobbling, crawling up the stairs. saying words, signing a few, sleeping through the night {praise the heavens} and waving, blowing kisses, dancing {shaking her head side to side}. I just love her like crazy. She has her daddy wrapped too. She loves to be outside, loves the swings at the park {arleigh & avery went swinging together, loved it!} Alright, enough of my swooning, just wanted to document the sweetness of our ten month old.

lots of love from beautiful Arizona.

Little Nash.....

just too cute.

I had to post a few more pics because I am way behind on my blogging and they are just too cute not to post. Everybody is doing great around here, loving the great weather lately, wish it would last longer. We are excited for our brother/uncle Jared who is getting his mission call this week. yay! love you jar! I am busy...too many things to do. I have been quilting with a group from church, what? yeah, I am trying to use that sewing machine ;) Thinking about planting some veggies. didn't know you could grow things in AZ, but apparently you can. Webelos {enough said}. And lets just mention facebook. I am very new to this phenomenon and I have reunited with many friends. it's fun, though it is yet another thing to waste my time staring at. yikes.

loves.

t-r-o-u-b-l-e

Ok, so this is what I found this afternoon. No, she didn't fall, but it was close! She is getting so confident and adventurous. She definitely loves her freedom and thinks she's so big. What am I going to do with this pill? climbing on everything these days...guess I have to buy a dreadful gate. I haven't had to deal with this before. definite plus of living in a rambler ;)

"Angry Face"

Avery is 8 months old. She LOVES signing time, she smiles whenever she hears it. She is getting two baby teeth. She is not such a big fan of baby food these days. She is getting to be a better sleeper...she goes to bed awake and cries her little self to sleep. She has an "angry face" and she knows how to use it! She is crawling all over the place. She loves the bath tub and splashes with the best of them. She has a decent sized booty...but teeny tiny feet. She loves her mama. She also likes her brother and sister. She loves her daddy too, mostly when he sings her to sleep. Avery is starting to try lots of foods...cheerios & chocolate & crackers. She likes big people food. She's the thirstiest baby I've ever met. She loves to drink water & juice. She loves her cousin Arleigh. She says mama, dada, ball and all done {or that's my interpretation of her words:) She knows the sign for sleep. She gets dragged along as I suppose all third children do...misses naps, hops shopping cart to shopping cart, and most of the time has a smile on her face through it all. She is a gem. I love her to bits.

"kind of a big deal..."

Besides the fact that I just found a HUGE-O scorpion in my front room. and that's a big flipping deal, these are a few other things that are kind of a big deal, right now :)



We went to see our Suns play! Thanks to Bunkers for giving us the tickets, they were great! And our kids loved it...we were glad the Suns won. {our record is not so great this year} Got to zoom in on my Leandro and Stevie, and it's always funny to see Shaq's big feet. During quiet moments Payton would yell out "Shaq!!!" and everyone around us would laugh. Didn't get a knod from the big diesel, maybe next time! It was lots of fun. {forgive Mike, who cannot take a picture without sticking his fingers in front of the flash...}


All these cute grandkids are kind of a big deal! Wow, haven't we multiplied? We think they are so fun...


Avery is on the move! She thinks it is a Big Deal! She is a cute little crawling baby. I have lots to update about her...{see next post} The snotty nose in the picture is appropriate since that's another big deal...she's getting two tiny teeth on bottom and that's making her a miserable human being!


Yes, Michael is kind of a big deal...he is a bjpenn.com celebrity and I tease him endlessly. He went to Vegas to support his brah and even though his brah got worked, no seriously WORKED, he had a fun time hanging out with them. I'm teasing honey, I know you don't really think you're a big deal :)

making juice and shooting hoops...

Just wanted to post a few pics of what we've been doing...
Mike and the kids have been juicing oranges and MAN, it is good. The kids love it, drink it straight from the juicer :)
And Payton started basketball! He had his first game last Saturday and he did great. He shot about 5 baskets and made 2! He sure looks cute out there and is enjoying himself and practicing at home with Dad.

my nephew Quinn

thought I would post another pic of my newest sweet little nephew. He is home now and doing well. love him!

happy new year baby

We had a fab time at the New Year's bash this year. It has been months {literally} since Mike and I were out on the town without baby in tow. So it was a nice little date night. Friends of ours rented out the ice skating rink and the boys all played broom ball and we skated {Kris was talented on the ice and oh so entertaining...Leigh & I were more conservative, we'll call it} I ate ice one time and still have a huge bruise to prove it. We ate lots of goods and rang in the new year with sparkling bubbly and noise makers. It was really truly the most fun new years party I have been to. We need to make it a tradition! Enjoy the pics...hope your '09 is filled with lots of love.

tooth fairy

Well after intense debate, it's official that the tooth fairy is a girl. And she is broke right about now because Payt's teeth are dropping like flies. Monday after school his bottom right was totally bent down and facing towards me. So he pulled it right out {with a little encouragment...funny how pain is obsolete when it's sure to result in cash} and wow he was sure glad to find $5 in his tooth fairy pillow Tuesday morning. Tuesday night after dinner he was messing with bottom lefty and then I pulled it out! He didn't even blink! I'm afraid the tooth fairy set herself up for bankruptcy by leaving $5 the first night...so now he has $10 in that lightning mcqueen wallet! He is so happy and sticks his tongue through his gap. funny boy.
Monday night we went to dinner with Granny & Pop. Payt showed them his loss and suddenly Roger disappeared to the bathroom. He came back to the table and smiled at Payton. He had a gap too! Payton's eyes were so shocked! {Roger had taken out his bottom mouth piece} It was funny. Then Pop put in back in...and then Payton was really shocked! Funny story...Joan was driving Payton to school yesterday morning and she was asking him about Pop losing his tooth too. Payt said "it's not magic. There's Santa, the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, Jesus & Heavenly Father. That's it." He's got that right!
He also told me that the tooth fairy is rich {as I was prepping him that sometimes the tooth fairy doesn't bring the same amount of money for EVERY tooth} and that she builds her house with all the teeth. That has got to be one nasty house! Anyway, there's a tooth fairy buzz going around our house. It's new and exciting! He struggled horribly to keep his eyes open for a picture so this is as good as it gets! Congrats tooth-less Payt!

Christmas pics...

We had a great Christmas holiday. lots of fun together and lots of pics. Here are a few...