Butterflies!

Maybe the rain, or maybe the pretty flowers but our flower beds were like butterfly gardens today. I loved it, I couldn't count them all. The boys wanted to touch them, but I asked them to pick flowers instead.

New Tenants!

Some time in September the sister missionaries are moving in. We have the perfect space for them, a guest house, that until now we've just rented out. Hopefully, their missionary excitement will rub off on all of us.

Watch My Legs, Can You See My Legs Moving?

Who doesn't want to dance to "Eye of the Tiger"??

They made it!

This is serious stuff, there were boys there who had been fasting since Thursday to lose weight, some others eating a snickers every two hours to gain weight. One boy (not my boy) passed out and the ambulance came and gave him an IV ! Crazy! Luckily our boys came through it still conscious and ready to eat their promised pizza and cookie lunch. Is that counter productive? Eli weighed in at 118 pounds (120 is the max for his team), Nathaniel weighed in at 88.3 pounds (90 is the max for his). We shaved their heads in case they were really close. Whew!
Nathaniel is in the center of the picture with a shaved head, he's one of the tallest kids on his team even though he's more than a year younger than a lot of them. No wonder he weighs more he's a head taller.

Eli was pretty fired up after making weigh-ins.

BRIGHT RED, SWEET, and JUICY WATERMELON

We just picked it from our vine this morning and let it get ice cold in the fridge. We'll have 8 melons in all, huge and beautiful. I think it is the juiciest melon I have ever taken a bite of, and it definitely requires outdoor eating! Thursday, I harvested 8 acorn squash and put them in the pantry, Savanah said it reminded her of her Laura Ingels Wilder books when they would store food for winter. Well, I am so pleased with the parts of my garden that did do well!

A Birthday Tribute to Jen!

The family we grew up in.

I have the best big sister in the world! I have always watched her. As we grew up she was always faster than me, and smarter than me, and needed a lot less food and sleep than I did. She was always cool, with more friends than me, like times 10. And she seemed to always really know what she liked, like music, and movies, and books, and people. Her birthday came and went in August, without much (any) of a to do from me, and I want to say I'm sorry. You are the best! You are SO special! You are organized and you plan so well. You have great direction for your family and your self. You are beautiful and get more beautiful every year!!! I added a few songs to my play list that you liked (you may not like them now) when we lived together, however long ago that was, it some times seems like yesterday. I love you! Happy Belated Birthday, Jen!

Flag Football!

Zach started flag football. So, officially no one in our home goes to bed before 9:30pm and most often 10pm, which makes 5am come earlier and earlier. AAAHHH! I'm sleep deprived, and I don't function well, when I'm sleep deprived. Anyway, Zach dressed himself for football, he doesn't like to wear shorts, so he doesn't own any shorts, so the outfit is something that just happened (a horizonal striped shirt, with camo shorts). But this day I always knew which kid was mine, and I love him so much!

Marine Life in Our Yard

This has to be a new toad

because it's smaller than it used to be.
Crawfish

We (Andrew, Ry, & I) got irrigation again today. For some reason it seemed more alive than normal. We caught 3 crayfish (they look like mini lobsters) and put them in a mason jar until the kids came home from school. Then, when the boys had gone to football, we released them back into the "wild" or the irrigation ditch, I feel sad when I see them dead in the yard. The little pleasures in life are so big to me. The sun shine, rippling water, billowy clouds, little animals, trees blowing in the wind, and little children discovering all of it. Sometimes I feel guilty for not having more to "do" besides clean my house, make dinner, organize my clan, help with homework, garden, and enjoy life. Many people around the world have challenging everyday lives. And I suppose they don't have time to smell the roses. So, even though today I'm making a difference at home, in some tomorrow I'll make a difference in the world. My day will come when I can better share what I have, but today I'm learning to be patient waiting, and learning and practicing what I'll be able to share tomorrow.

I had a Great Birthday!

As birthdays go, it was the best I have had in a long time! I got up late and ate whole wheat waffles with fresh peach compote (complements of Ryon) with my family. I just hung out trying to assemble Ry's new water rocket car until 12pm. Then at 12:30pm went out to lunch with my great friend Sarah, who took me to have the best gyros I've had since I was a kid. Then, I came home and took a long nap, I have no idea how long. And around 6pm we went to see Dark Knight. And how could I forget, in the morning I told my family that my language of love is most definitely acts of meaningful service so everyone got to work and vaccuumed, mopped, mowed, and made just about everything sparkle and shine. I really felt loved.

Happy Third Birthday, Ry Guy!

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He wanted Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast (whole grain of course-maybe he didn't say that part). He blew out the candles, twice, just for fun. As for a cake, he wants candles on that too, he told me. And he wants a "bubble bath cake". I asked him how to make it, he said, "you know, you cook the rice, and then when it gets bubbly, you put it in a pan in the ven." Now that it's made, not quite per bubble bath cake specifications, I asked him if he wanted frosting on it, maybe white? He said "no, just like it is". Meaning no frosting. The sad part is, it is probably the ugliest cake I have ever made!!! Oh well, it's only a birthday, and I will probably get to make like 108 birthday cakes before my children turn 18 and move out. So, I guess this one will not really matter that much, representing less than 1% of the cakes I have and will make. Ry is such a great little guy. Always happy, always creating something new to do, always on the move.

At the end of the day...

Cake!

And lots of balloon fun,

after a family movie.

I want to wear a diaper.

So, I recently heard (from a reputable source) that you should try to minimize the number of "no's" you say to your children daily. So, when my potty trained boy said he wanted to wear a diapers again, I said yes, and put one on him as a hat, "but mommy wears underwear" I said. He didn't give in, so, to kill some time until he gave in, we did a little photo shoot of him wearing a diaper and me wearing underwear. Staying home is so much fun! Andrew wanted in on the fun, too. They kind of reminded me of the US water polo team!

Happy Anniversary! Happy Forever!

Fourteen years ago today we said our "I do's." Sweat was pouring off his face and/or he was crying. It all seemed surreal to me. But I was happy. Here we are 14 years later, and I love him more than a 1000 times more today than I did that first day. I know who he is, and I like him a lot. We've had lots of laughs and cries over the years, and lots of crazy adventures. He is handsome (sexy), kind, intelligent, and rich (at least in the ways that matter to me)! I love you, Ryon, you're the best! I'll try not to go senile first, but I'd rather it be me than you:).

Tackle Football Has Begun!

Practice from 6 - 8:30pm Monday through Thursday. Ten hours of conditioning, then CONTACT! Nathaniel is planning to hit someone hard enough to cause snought to come out of his nose, I guess the coach has promised a crisp $10 to anyone who can do it. My boys are the heaviest players on their teams, so I won't be the mom out there worrying my kid is going to literally get the snought knocked out of him.

My Andrew had his kindergarten check up today. Kindergarten has begun but we are still trying to figure out if the principle will let him start school, with his October birthday . He's ready, thanks to little mommy Savanah. She's gotten him perfectly ready to go, I really want to keep him home, but I also think it's the best thing for him to go to kindergarten a few hours a day, it's only 3 hours. But I'll sure miss him, and those big blue eyes! I've never missed a kindergartener before. I only have one child left that needs any vacinations before they turn 12 years old. Hurray!

Andrew at almost 2 years.Andrew at 4 years, still so sweet.

New Friends, Great Fun!

The Barney's invited us to stay with them in their beach house (the kids say it looks like a Humvee),

right on the beach on the Sea of Cortez.
Because of the new moon the low tides were really low when we were there! Twenty vertical feet below high tide, it was amazing!Eli was coaxing a crab out of it's hiding place.
We visited the pools at the Mayan Palace, just up the beach.

The ocean life was amazing! We found out this is an endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle, very few are seen laying their eggs. We were super lucky!

We saw the sun rise just before 6am every morning, it was beautiful!
Zach was so happy here.
Best of friends & brothers!

The first morning dad & daughter headed out to swim a bit in the sea, it was nice and warm.

Zach called these big shells his shopping cart.
He loved shell shopping!

Ryon was exploring the clam holes,

with his finger?

There were more whole shells on this beach than I have ever seen on a beach.


I snapped a shot of Ryon and the kids on the beach through a window in the stair case.
The first morning Savanah was looking out at the water.

We didn't really use it, but I liked the colors in the sail.

We're home! What great friends! The Barney family invited us to their beach home to enjoy great food, beautiful weather, and lots of wild life that we just don't encounter here in Arizona, like a real blue whale that was about 9/10 eaten that washed up just down the beach from their house (It was huge!!!). And the sea turtle that swam in at high tide, laid 5 batches of eggs right in front of their house, and then made the long walk back just hours before low tide (that's when the kids found her), so cool! I wonder if they'll get to see the babies emerge from the holes some time in the next few months, that would be awesome! I was reminded why I thought I'd love to be a biologist or an oceanographer. I love nature, it's inspiring and so beautiful.