New Car

Now that I have a job where I have to use my own car we purchased a 2005 Scion xB. The xB gets good mileage and is fun to drive. I know some people don't like them but I do!

The best part is that Amber can drive it so she does not always have to drive the Mazda. Also if I need the van for a scout outing she is not stuck at home with no car.

WATER FIGHT!!!

Laurel pouring water on Josh

Lawrence about to get mom

Last Friday Azaria had a friend over and they found a package of water balloons we had never gotten around to using. They nicely begged for me to start filling them up as they had tried themselves and had very little luck. I found some buckets and sat down by the spicket and began to fill about a hundred water balloons which my fingers got very tired of tying. A few escaped my buckets early as the kids had to see just how well they would pop and a few got overfilled so I was wet before the balloons even started flying...lol

The neighbor kids saw what we were up to and quickly joined in on the water fight. I think the balloons lasted about 5 minutes tops before they were all gone. A few kids didn't even get to throw any as they didn't get over to our house soon enough. That didn't stop the kids though, they just took to filling up the buckets and soda bottles with water to pour on each other. The wagon was used to transport the water buckets to the next person to be doused. All the kids had a blast and I enjoyed watching it. We love our new neighborhood and all the friends on the block. We've already bought a few more packages of balloons from the dollar store and are going to get some other moms to help fill the balloons so this time all the kids will have some to throw and be able to have fun keeping cool in the heat.

Back to School!

The kids were excited to head back to school. Lawrence is now in 3rd grade and Azaria is now in 1st grade. They were so enthusiastic to get going the first day they were up by 6 am when school doesn't even start till 9 am. Lots of kids from their old school moved to this school when it opened last year so Lawrence now has two of his best from first grade in his class this year again. Azaria has a few girls from church in her class so she already knew some people. Their teachers have both told us how well behaved in class they are. I'm glad they save any bad behavior for me at home :)

Azaria had such a great day last week the that the stuffed monkey in their class named Marley came home to tell us all about it. If Marley comes home with your child though he likes to be read a bed time story and you have to do something fun with him also and write about it in his journal. Zari decided since he is a monkey he would like to play at the park so off we went to monkey around with Marley.

Alan's New Job

I started my new job this week with Perkinson Reprographics in Phoenix. I will be still working wth KIP, HP and Canon printers. Now I will also be working with OCE printers and a few new software packages for job tracking and billing. Also I will be taking the roll of Manager in the future. I am very excited to be working for a larger company that is growing. The very best part of this job is that I will not be driving all over Arizona to support customers. There are only three customers out of the Phoenix Metro area. Closer to home is always good.

Back into his Arms

Three weeks ago at my appointment with my midwife she was unable to pick up any fetal heart tones. We were sent in for an ultrasound the next day and found out that at 20 weeks our baby Dallin was gone and no longer had a heartbeat. The news was devastating as we really thought he was a keeper once we had passed 16 weeks which is when we lost our little Everett last year. We decided we wanted to wait and let things happen on there own. He was born at home last night at 22 weeks. We found he had gotten tangled in his umbilical cord which was wrapped tightly around his neck three times. Though small he was so perfect and I was amazed by his tiny features. While we are so sad that we won't get to keep him here with us I'm thankful for the short time I got to have him. I can't wait for the day when I will see him again and wrap my arms around him. Till then I will take comfort in the fact that he is home again.

"He never takes away except to give us back something better. It means we must be brave enough and determined enough to wait...because it often takes Him time to turn a painful situation to good. We can embrace our pain and not resent it because blessing is coming." ~~Ann Anderson

The Girls Love to Dance!





Alan and Azaria are all dressed up for the Daddy Daughter Dance that the school holds every year near Valentines day. She was so excited to go to a dance all by herself with Daddy. She told Alan he needed to wear his handsome clothes that he wears to church. Kids sure can boost your ego :) Of course once they got there Alan said Zari didn't really want to dance though he managed to get her to dance once with him. She still had fun though and wants to go again next year. Alan enjoyed talking with all the other Dad's who's daughters weren't so interested in dancing either.

To the left Laurel and Azaria enjoyed spinning around and dancing together. Though I think Laurel did more tumbling to the ground then dancing as she gets a bit crazy. Azaria was having fun making her twirly dress spin around.

Lawrence Loves to Build


Lawrence keeps busy to with one of favorite pastimes Lego! Here he is with his friend Matthew working on more Lego creations. He loved all the new Indiana Jones Legos and since he doesn't have any of those sets he took to creating his own. He now has a whole Indian Jones creation. There is a jungle, temple, air planes, and more. I love to see all creative things he comes up with.

Larels New hairstyle

Not sure if everyone has heard yet but Laurel decided to give herself a hair cut last week. Amber took her to a hair stylist and the pictures below are the aftermath of the hair cut. Atleast she is young and the hair will grow back. And she is so cute it will make up for the mullet!!!!





















She is sad that she cannot have a pony tail anymore but we are sure she will not cut her own hair again.