it's been a painfully long time since i've posted anything on our blog. by painful, i mean every time i think about my lack of posting, i get sick to my stomach. i hate that time is slipping away and i have failed to record the daily ins and outs for my children's sake. life has been FUN these past few months. here's a quick recap to get me updated.
october: we spent an entire week in texas with grandma and papa and loved every minute were there.
we got to finally meet sunny and alfred and jamie and love knowing more of our family that is so special to us.
we drove the entire 17 hours each way with uncle nick and it was way too long! more on this trip later. for halloween, blake was a jedi, raegan was witch, sarah chose rapunzel and jax was superman.
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october was also u2 and my 10 year high school reunion.
november: what a beautiful month. this is always my favorite time of year. thanksgiving was spent at my parents house. i also competed in the casa grande triathlon. my first ever and i loved it and the turkey trot 10k on thanksgiving.
december: was just as busy as every other december.
holidays parties filled almost every weekend and we always enjoy every minute of it. the girls had another ballet recital and it was fun to watch them even if one of them was too scared to dance :)
we met alex's girlfriend from boston who became his fiancee on christmas day.
we celebrated jaxon's first birthday quietly with granny and opa the day after christmas.
he is just adorable and growing too fast!
january: kc and sherry moved to hawaii on new year's day! we celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss early in the month and i ran another 10k at the end of the month.
february: alex and katherine were married on the 12th and i got to be their official wedding photographer. i have really started to love taking pictures and want to get a lot better. raegan was student of the month- way to go, goosie! jake made me the most beautiful chalkboard and magnet board for valentine's day and i love them. jaxon is climbing on everything.
he makes us laugh every day and loves to eat. this is very new to me-a child that eats.
march: we went to mexico for spring break and enjoyed every second of it. i love watching my kids play and run and dig and splash without a care in the world. they bring me so much joy.
blake played lots of frisbee and wiffle ball. raegan and sarah loved the waves and making castles.
jaxon just loved everything about the sand...eating it, laying in it, rolling in it and putting his face in it. i even found sand in ears 3 days after we were home.
april: so far april has been beautiful. baseball is in full swing now and our only player this year is blake. jake is still coaching his team and they're in their first year of machine pitch. their team is the angels but jake refers to them as the halos. today was general conference and easter sunday and it has been a peaceful day. lindy came by with her girlies to watch the morning session and we had a potluck at the compound this evening. raegan will turn 6 on thursday and i just don't know where all the time has gone. i remember when we brought her home from the hospital it was the day before easter and she was so tiny.
this is what we've been up to. jake was released as a primary teacher and is now teaching the 14-15 year old sunday school class. i was released from the primary presidency and i'm now busy as the ward camp director. i'm enjoying it so far and it should be a fun new adventure.
we got to finally meet sunny and alfred and jamie and love knowing more of our family that is so special to us.
we drove the entire 17 hours each way with uncle nick and it was way too long! more on this trip later. for halloween, blake was a jedi, raegan was witch, sarah chose rapunzel and jax was superman..JPG)
october was also u2 and my 10 year high school reunion.
holidays parties filled almost every weekend and we always enjoy every minute of it. the girls had another ballet recital and it was fun to watch them even if one of them was too scared to dance :)
we met alex's girlfriend from boston who became his fiancee on christmas day.
we celebrated jaxon's first birthday quietly with granny and opa the day after christmas.
he is just adorable and growing too fast!
he makes us laugh every day and loves to eat. this is very new to me-a child that eats. 
blake played lots of frisbee and wiffle ball. raegan and sarah loved the waves and making castles.
jaxon just loved everything about the sand...eating it, laying in it, rolling in it and putting his face in it. i even found sand in ears 3 days after we were home.
Sarah started preschool at Orange Patch with her cousin Rachel
I don't love this picture, but it makes me realize even more how much we look alike
Jaxon had a contest with Blake to see who could grow their top teeth in first...
In this picture it was still undecided, but the winner is......Jaxon!
Found matching shoes for all of my boys and couldn't pass them up.
The baby's cost the most-dad's the least. I don't get it.
Rae has taken an interest in doing her own hair and
comes up with some really creative do's.
One day I came across Sarah playing.
Should I be concerned?
We went to the outside movie at the amphitheater and loved it.
The weather was wonderful!
The kids had their primary program yesterday and because their parts were memorized and they were brave and didn't need help,
Dad let them have all the ice cream and toppings that they wanted after church.
Can you say, "sugar high"?
Stay tuned for part two.
Okay, really. This kid is just the cutest thing EVER! We love our Jaxaroni! At 8 months he finally loves food, but only the big people kind. These pictures are when we game him a piece of sausage and he was incredibly pleased! He has 2 bottom teeth and almost 2 top teeth. He makes funny faces and when we laugh, he makes more! His very favorite friend is Blake and gets really excited when he comes home from school. When Jaxon was 6.5 months old, he decided to sit, crawl and stand all for the first time in the very same day! Now we just can't slow him down. He still is famous for his adorable fish faces and makes them whenever he is really concentrating on something. He's not quite sleeping through the night, but takes two two-hour naps during the day. He loves baths, Flash, going nakey, getting tickled (he has the best thighs!), falling asleep in my arms, and popsicles. He absolutely hates getting dressed and the texture of pureed food. That's about it. We sure love this kid to pieces!
Jake and Nick were trying to put up the tent while I was trying to keep 4 kids and a
I got the kids and dog loaded back into the car, but not without doing a number to our clothes, shoes, and even the interior. When the tent was set up with the rain flap, I went to work mopping up puddles inside the tent with Huggies diapers (great absorbent qualities) because we had more of those to spare than we had blankets. Jake and Nick thought I was a genius. I just used what I'm familiar with. After I accepted the fact that this was going to be the dirtiest camping trip E.V.E.R., I was able to let go and have a fun time. We, (meaning Jake and Nick), finally got dinner made while I entertained children and dog in the tent,
then we proceeded to eat in the tent and change into dry clothes and tuck into bed. The kids had a great night and I realized that they were having a great time because none of the work fell on them and that they would most likely have some fun memories of this trip. Because of the rain, we all got to bed super early...like 7:30. Because of that, we all got up super early too...like 5:45. We made delicious boil-in-a-bag omelets and cleaned up camp. 
We were packed up by 8:00 because everything was muddy and we were basically out of clothes and dry shoes. On the way home, we decided to stop by the bicycle graveyard,
which by the way is not a graveyard at all,
but a very lively bike lot that ships things
(not sure what things) all over the world and is also one of the
50 most popular destinations in AZ for a day trip.
The boys enjoyed it and seemed to find things they absolutely.couldn't.live.without. As for me, I could totally live without the fact that my washing machine and dryer have been running non-stop since we got home at 10:30 this morning. That's all.
*Jaxon eating everything.
No joke.
Not kidding.
*Flash finding a great chew toy.
Look closely.
Yep. not joking on that one either.
*Having 2 men there. And having them admit that if I hadn't come,
they would have left the minute it started raining,
but they had to prove their manliness to me.
*Coughing all night. ALL night.
*Getting the van stuck in the mud and not knowing
if we were going to be able to ever go home.
*Getting home less than 24 hours after our adventure began.
The End.
Kindergarten, Mrs. Smith
As we arrived at school this morning, she quietly informed me that
I didn't need to hold her hand anymore.
Then as the bell rang and it was time for her to line up, her hand slipped quickly into mine
and she held on and asked me never to let go.
Oh! How I wanted to take her up on that offer!
Second grade, Ms. Meinhardt
Blake on the other hand, practically took off running as soon as we got to school,
but tried to not show me how excited he was.
So they're off on a new adventure and so am I...
Tempe beach park with only 2 kids, woo-hoo!
