When my sister’s family was visiting this past Spring, they found the most awesome metal cactus to take back with them … actually to send with my parents on their drive back. Anyway, Ned was the name and so we had a family photo with Ned while we were at their house on the last day …
thanks sista for the family photo …
Another post from our WA trip 
What a great time we had playing at the lake …
Make a Smilebox scrapbook
Another post from our WA trip …
Last breakfast with the grandparents before our journey back to AZ. Enjoyed a nice brunch after church …
We have the most awesome program through the City of Phoenix … they have something called Culture Passes and you can go to the library and ‘check out’ tickets (4 free tickets) to a variety of zoos and museums in the Valley. We happened to have passes to the Desert Botanical Gardens and we were able to go on a night when they had flashlight tours. They only did these through the summer and we were fortunate enough to catch one of the last nights in August … it was much cooler than it would have been if we had gone earlier in the summer so it was just awesome.
One of the pictures that didn’t turn out was a picture of a great horned owl … it was HUGE and perched right on top of one of the shade structures. Amazing. We could hear it so clearly.
What a great program. We had a blast! Love all that we are learning about the desert and the amazing programs in the area.
Make a Smilebox slideshow
Aren’t they cute in their matching shirts!?!
Every Friday is t-shirt day so they get to ‘branch out’ from wearing their school uniforms and wear a t-shirt.
Check this out … found a week ago before heading off to church. The kids were amazed and so was I!
We had the best view from inside as it perched up on our patio furniture …
What a great trip over to Lyman Lake. We headed out planning on getting to the campground later in the evening on Sunday night and get back on Wednesday afternoon. A fun outing with the kids during Fall Break.
Well … half way there, with the canoe on the top of the car, we felt like we were going to fly right off of the road! Wind gusts were up to 40 mph. Before we left, I checked a couple of places to see if they were available …
check out our great “campfire” … probably the best one I’ve every made …
We had a blast and with ‘bonus time’ and got the 2brd condo for less than $50/night. Camping was going to be $20 so this was the best tent ever! The first night, it was so cold outside with the wind chill. The kids & Eric headed to the pool and I couldn’t even comprehend the idea of going outside, let alone in my swimsuit! It was so windy that their towels blew into the pool … very thankful I didn’t venture out to join them. Brrrrr! As the wind gusts continued to get worse, we were so thankful for our alternate plan and decided to stay there another night.
The canoe never left it’s perch on top of the rig and the poor dog, never left her large white kennel …
Great scenic shots … probably make the cut for Christmas card pics this year … kids are getting good at posing for me …
I should add … since we didn’t get to actually tent camp … they are all in the tent in the backyard as I type this up … I’m looking forward to another night in a nice big bed
Well, I posted pictures from my cousin’s wedding to my Facebook so I’ll share a link to that … Kate’s Wedding
Enjoy!
Wow, did we have a fun day hanging out at my brother’s pool all day after my sister’s b-day party. The cousins played until they were all prunes! He has such a beautiful house and it was so much fun just being with family. Such a comfort and ‘being’ and laughing at similar things and enjoying the friendship that we are very fortunate to have as adult siblings … to really love each other, care for each others kids and to know, no matter what, that we’d do anything for each other! What a blessing that I hope we all pass along to our kids! It is even more awesome to see the similar relationships developing as cousins What a great institute ‘family’ is … God is so smart that way .
Here are some more pool shots … too many to post so I’ll insert a photo show that I know the kids will enjoy watching … especially all of the pics that Carson took with her underwater camera! You can tell they had a blast. I narrowed it down to 98 pics … now do you see why I’ve had a hard time getting up to date on the blog! I was on overload for which pics to post as I know almost 100 for one post is just too many but out of not being able to make decisions … you get most of them all Enjoy!
The guys got up early and headed out on a fishing trip. Fun times. Here are some pics that Eric took out on my brother’s boat …
