Sunday, February 26, 2012

Valentine's Day

My sweet husband brought home flowers and chocolate for his girls ~ Daisies for Shelby & Presley and Roses for me ~ as well as some chocolate for 
Zane & Cameron. 



We had a great Valentine's date, Chad took me to T. Cook's
I absolutely loved it!







School Valentine's Party for Presley's class!
Fruit Kabobs!



 Goodies!


 Playing Valentine games!

Love Potion!

 Valentine gifts for the girls teachers!

Valentine goodies for our classroom friends!

Family Day...Camelback Mountain Hike

A couple of weekends ago, while our friends in TX and OK were watching it snow and making hot chocolate, we are enjoying a beautiful day in PHX by climbing Camelback Mountain. It was an all-out family day! The scenery was gorgeous and we had a fun time as a family! 












Monday, February 20, 2012

Getting braces~Zane, Shelby & I (momma)!

I thought I'd let you know that we have had many dental appointments over the past weeks/month...Yes, me too...I know am old, but I decided that it was the perfect time to do a little throwback to the teen years and get braces too.  (I keep telling myself it makes me look younger- not dorkier) ha ;)  I have always hated my smile, although it didn't keep me from smiling :)  So on Monday, Jan. 30 we all went in and got braces! Eeeek!  We were all excited...but I was very scared & nervous.  Everyone did great!!  We were a little sore, but all in all, it wasn't so bad!  I know we will have sessions where we will have very sore mouths, but in the end it will be worth it!  Zane and I will have ours on for about 16-18 months and Shelby will have hers a little longer - 2 yrs!!  She had a extra tooth...I know, crazy uh!!  She had to have that tooth pulled, so now she has a gap that will need to be closed...which the braces will do that!  We have WAY
more respect for all those kids sporting these things...smiling is awkward, eating is messy/painful/gross, flossing is nearly impossible and (though I’ve gotten over this part) it has been the first time in my life I have woken up in my own pile of drool (yeah- super sexy… I know ;))  And last but not least, the inside of my mouth closely resembles tenderized meat at any given time.  BUT- all that said… in 16 to 24 months we will have STRAIGHT teeth! We are going to the best Orthodontist, Dr. Larrabee and his staff are so awesome! They really make you feel very comfortable and happy! The office is very nice too! They do this fun thing where you can earn Larrabee Loots~which are coins you can earn and trade in for toys/gift cards to places likeTarget, Starbucks & iTunes, all kinds of fun stuff!  The way you can earn Loots are by arriving to your appointments on time, no broken brackets or wires, good brushing, grades of at least A's or B's, community service work and/or wearing your Dr. Larrabee t-shirt to your appointments!! They start you out with this fun bank with 2 Loots!! They also gave us a gift sack full of goodies: water bottle, T-shirt & a teeth care package (tooth brush, wax, floss, tooth paste, mirror, tiny brush to get under your wire & mouth wash)




Larrabee Bank


My braces (Chad and I on a Valentine's dinner date)

 Zane (not wanting me to take his picture, cause he just got out of the shower and had wet hair...so he is looking goofy)

 Beautiful Shelby with her braces (she only has top ones right now, will get bottom ones later)

Brace faces hehe!



Sunday, February 19, 2012

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I'll start by saying sorry so late "Better late than never"


Well, it was our first Christmas in Arizona.  It was a little different being so far away from family, but we made it work.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, which was really nice, but didn't really feel like Christmas.  Even though the house was (and still is) not ready, we were able to decorate it just right for Christmas.  It was so nice for Crystal and Maddox to come visit and spend our first Christmas in Phoenix with us.  We had a great time together, showing them around, shopping and sight-seeing.  The kids were good this year, so Santa definitely paid a visit to our house!  We hated to be so far away from family this year, so we promise it will be different next year!  Either we will come your way, or we will host here in The Valley of the Sun!




Merry Christmas Phoenix style!!


 At the airport...picking up Crystal and Maddox!


Zane & Maddox


 Shelby & Maddox playing at one of our outdoor shopping centers... Scottsdale Quarter

 Shelby & Maddox

 Want chocolate?! Haha!

 Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

 Our first Christmas in Arizona!


A new family Tradition...a special gift on Christmas eve!

New jammies :)

Cookies & Milk for Santa!

 Looks like the kids were good this year!

Opening gifts!

Shelby opening her gifts!

Sweet memories!







Fountain Hills 
The centerpiece of Fountain Hills is a beautiful fountain; one of the tallest man-made fountains.
The fountain reaches 330 feet.  On special occasions, it will shoot over 500 feet.



Chad and I

 Crystal

 Crystal and the kids playing at the park.

 Chad and sweet Maddox
 Crystal and Maddox


 Chad and Maddox looking at the ducks


 The kids playing soccer!

Breath taking!