Vacation Time - Boise, Idaho

On Friday, June 29th, Brent, Max & I left Alpine, Utah, and headed north to Boise, Idaho to visit Brent's sister, Sonja, and her family.  The five hour drive was uneventful and I had a great nap along the way.  When we arrived at Sonja & Jeff's home, their dogs, Aster & Fergus welcomed us and loved on Max.  Fergus then urinated on our car tire and on the wall outside the bedroom we would be staying in.  He is a great dog with a fun personality but we were a little leery about his welcoming tactics.  Needless to say, he didn't do it again.

 Our stay in Idaho included going to a Food Truck Rally for dinner, walks through the neighborhood, attending a baby shower for one of Brent's cousins, and eating the fantastic food that Jeff & Sonja prepared. YUMMY!  This is a picture with Owen.  He is 6 and very artistic.  Owen & I built a helicopter together out of Legos too.

 On Sunday, July 1st we took a short trip to Table Rock, a mesa that overlooks all of Boise.  We parked near the top of the plateau and then walked along the trail to overlook.

 In this picture we have Furgus starring at Jeff, we have Owen, Ian, Sonja, little Max & Brent.

The view of Boise, Idaho. 

 The three of us.  What a great looking group!

 Owen & Ian are very adventurous.  They kept their mom jumping after them as they neared the edge of the cliff.

 Brent & Sonja

When we first got out of our vehicles, Owen caught a green cricket.  For the our hike to the overlook and back, Owen & Ian kept looking for more crickets to catch.  Ian REALLY wanted to carry one around.  Luckily, Owen found a few more crickets.  Boys are great!  No bug fears!

Vacation Time!

The last week of June, Brent & I went to Utah to get a break from the intense Arizona heat and to visit family.  We drove up on Sunday, June 24th and arrived in time for Amy Jensen's 11th birthday party.  She is such a fun young lady; very sweet and thoughtful.  The next day Amy, Mark, Lizzy, Max and I went for a walk to the Peppermint Place.  Every year that we go to Utah, I always take a walk to the Peppermint Place to see what cute things they have on their shelves and to buy some yummy candy.  Amy, Mark, & Lizzy all picked out a Beanie Baby and I ended up with some chocolate "bark."  It's hard to imagine going for a walk at 1 o'clock in the afternoon in Chandler, but we took our little adventure in the middle of the day and the weather was phenomenal!

 Brent & I took a road trip to Park City, Utah.  I had never been there and just wanted to go to see what it was like.  Week took the scenic route to Park City which included going over the mountain on a dirt road.  We stopped and took a picture. :)

 We walked up and down the quaint Main Street in Park City.  The boutiques were well over priced.  But we kept smelling bar-b-que.  We walked up and down the street until we found the restaurant serving the delicious smelling food.

Feed Me!

 After our huge lunch, we went to the ice cream shop for a huge scoop of ice cream.  The shop had "Life is Crap" shirts.  I had never seen these kind of shirts before and had to take a picture of one of them.

Before we left Park City, we went to the ski lifts to see what action was happening.  They offered lifts up and down the mountain, sled rides on concrete-ish tracks, roller coaster type ride, zip line, and several others.  It was a busy place.  The prices were ridiculous so we just watched.  It was a very nice day trip and I love spending time with my sweetheart, Brent!

A Short Trip to Kingman

For Father's Day weekend, Brent, Max & I headed up to Kingman to visit. 

 

Mom looks fabulous!!!!

On Sunday, Brent & I took a short drive to Oatman, AZ.  Brent had never been to the little mining town to see the roaming burros.  He was surprised at how many there were and how friendly they were.

Max was ready to make friends with all the burros he met.

On our way down the narrow, windy mountain road, we stopped off to see what was at the top of these stone steps.  We hiked up the short trail and were glad there weren't any rattlesnakes around.

We found this small pool of water with fish.  Kind of strange to find this in the baron desert.  Not even Max wanted to have a drink out of it. Yucky!

Perry's Graduation

 Thursday, May 24th, 2012 was Perry's big day.  She is finally done with high school.  She graduated from Corona del Sol High School.  We are all VERY happy for her!

 Mitchell show's his love & support.

 All of the graduates are waiting for the boring speeches to get over with so they can get their diplomas.

 Brent & I congratulate Perry after the ceremony.

 Perry requested a chocolate cake with white frosting with a picture of herself on it.  The cake was super yummy and Mitchell got to eat her face!

 Ahhhhh....Mitchell was able to kiss his wife who is now a high school graduate.

 Perry and cute Kim.

 Perry and her mom, Diann.

 Perry & Grandma Fern

 The pinata was filled with chocolate candies.

 Perry took down the falling streamers.  She is so nice to clean up after her own party.

Perry requested that I some day make her a blanket.  It had to be PINK.  So last November I started to make a blanket for her.  It's nice and big and will keep her warm all summer long (if she has the ac turned down really low).  

Happy graduation Perry!  We love you!

Easter Time!

We had a fantastic Easter celebration this year!
We had Mitchell, Perry & Diann, Perry's Mom, join us for Easter dinner and festivities. We had ham, cheesey potatoes, corn, peas, homemade rolls, and a yummy Luscious Lemon Angel Roll with strawberries. We were all stuffed!!! Mitchell insisted that we have an Easter egg hunt even though he is 18 & married. He also requested that the eggs have money in them & not just candy. What do you do when you have teenagers too old for an egg hunt who still want one? You have your egg hunt in the DARK!

The kids were equipped with flashlights as they searched the yard for camouflaged eggs. I had fun hiding the yellow eggs among the lemons that were on the ground. He, he, he. When they picked up something yellow off of the ground, it cold have been a rotten lemon or a egg with money!

Mitchell & Perry searching for eggs by the shed.

Will spiders crawl up their legs? Will they find scorpions? Will the get covered in sticky spider web? Will they find the egg with the most money in it?

Grant, Mitchell & Perry ready to count their eggs and their money.

Perry ended up with the most money. Grant found the most eggs & came in second with the money. Mitchell really wanted Perry to give him 20 cents so he could have a nice round number. She refused. She guarded her money. After the eggs were counted and money calculated, we played Mitchell's new game Cupunk (?) You use ping pong balls & try to get them to bounce into a cup. VERY fun and VERY much like Mitchell. We hope next year's Easter is this exciting :)

The Fashion Show I Forgot About

The daughter of one of the ladies I work with at Aprende, works for Dillard's. Part of her job is to put on fashion shows. So in December of 2011 Perry and I volunteered with several other Aprende staff members & families to be in the fashion show. Perry has runway experience and no problem workin' the runway.

We were able to pick out our own clothes to wear from the entire Dillard's collection. Perry chose a pair of Miss Me jeans, button down black lace shirt and a delicious purple scarf. I had a hard time picking out clothes I could eventually buy at 40% off. This amazing purple dress had a price tag of $350. Even at 40% off, I couldn't afford it.

At least it looked good, right?

Perry LOVED the Ugg boots in gold. She is modeling a gold and black blouse with black leggings.

I think she is smiling at Mitchell who is sitting in the audience.

The gray sweater dress was a surprise find at Dillard's. I've never been too keen on frumpy sweater dresses. However, this one was sheer and fitted. I liked the boots too.

This dress was a keeper and affordable too!

Perry is a lot braver than I am. She had no fear wearing this silver goddess dress!

Yes, she knows how to work the camera!

My last outfit was a purple pirate top with black leggings. The top was made out of t-shirt material. Although I liked it, I couldn't imagine paying over $60 for a t-shirt!!!! No way!

Our final walk down the runway.

Our modeling group. We had lots of fun entertaining the crowd and showing off some Dillard's fashion.

Grant Turns 15!

Grant loves to make faces, especially, on his birthday. He is 15 years old, a freshman in high school and could be driving a car with a permit in October. Are you ready for this? I'm not!

Grant's birthday fell in the middle of the week. Life had been very hectic that week and so there wasn't a BIG celebration like we would have like to have done. However, we ordered Macayo's for dinner and ate at home. We also had a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake for dessert. We had a delicious meal!

Grant received this amazing remote control helicopter from Brent. It is a delicate piece of equipment that could be damaged easily. Grant took great care to keep it from getting damaged has he flew it around the house. Grant also received a small refrigerator for his bedroom. Yes, I'm enabling him to be lazy but he really liked borrowing my school refrigerator last summer. Love you Grant!