The Big Day!

Jefferson was such a riot to watch on his big day. 

He was excited, nervous and you could just tell it all seemed so unreal for him. 

 He is the BIGGEST Indiana Jones FAN that has ever existed. 

If fact, his nick name is Indy and everyone uses it. 

Well....schools don't allow students to wear hats but Jeff was able to talk everyone of his teacher into letting him wear his Indian Jones Fedora.  It totally cracks me up.  This kid just has a way of capturing the heart of all who meet him.  You can't tell him no.  trust me on this.  haha :) 

 Here he is with his adorable family and of course the fedora on his head and then the graduation cap.  Only Jeff can make it look good. 

This is the only pic of the money lei we gave him as a graduation gift. 

I saw the idea on pintrest and knew it was just the thing we wanted to give. 

 I have no idea what we are saying in this picture or why it looks like

I am about to punch him haha.   It was just such a fun exciting time. 

This was right after the ceremony.   

Here we are all together. 

After graduation Kendall treated us ALL to a yummy Chinese dinner (Jeff's choice)

and it was so good. 

I am so glad we were able to be there and be apart of his big day.  

I was soooo proud of Jeff.

Surprisingly I got a little emotional.

I think a big part of that was I got to thinking about how he has always led the way for my boys.

I remember when he started kindergarten and thinking oh my boys are so far away from that age. Then it was here before I knew it, same with getting baptized, and the priesthood and now graduation and mission.

YOWZA!!!! 

I know I have some time, but it hit me it will be here before I know it.

I know it's just a part of life and it's a good thing, but sometimes I wish life could just slow down a bit and my babies could stay small just a little bit longer. 

I am very grateful for the adorable, fun and amazing big cousin Jefferson has been.

We LOVE you and are sooo proud of  you and all that you have accomplished and the good example you are of being funny, kind and accepting of all! 

Summer Vacation Part One

For the last few summers the kids and I take off to Utah for a few weeks. 

It is so much fun to get to see our family and friends and nice to escape the crazy AZ heat,

But I have had a hard time being away from Ry for sooo long.  Family vacation is just not as much fun without our Daddy.  

This year with the baby being due, we decided we would be staying close to home. 

Well....My cute nephew Graduated from high school this year and we wanted to be sure to go and support him. The kids ended up missing the last 4 days of school due to the graduation date, but it worked out just fine. 

The first day we headed to the lake. 

 The weather was beautiful.  Only in the 80's.  Not too hot and not cold at all. 

Miss B was a like a little fish in water. She had a blast! 

One of the few times she was actually out of the water

There were plenty of fun toys to play on provided by Clements and the other cousins.  

such a handsome boy!  

It was a little weird for me to watch the boys go out and drive/ride all the toys. 

They just seemed so grown up this trip.  I loved it, but it was weird.  

Miss B had fun on all the toys too.  

  Aunt Christy and Uncle Kendall finally get a turn.  

We also spent some time on the ATV's.  

I just love how cute and dainty my little girl is, yet she can keep up with the boys and has such a fun adventurous little attitude.  She LOVED riding with her daddy.  

Have fun and hold on tight J-man! 

After giving the kids a ride, Ry and Jeff went on a nice long intense ride. 

They had a blast!!!  

 Ky-guy and Mitch were riding buddies most of the day. 

Ky did have a turn riding all by himself too and he did great. 

Now that was strange to watch my "baby" actually drive away. 

 He did great and had a blast! 

Ry and the kids had SO.MUCH.FUN with all of the fun things to do

I was in heaven just being able to take it easy and stay in the shade. 

It really was a fun relaxing perfect way to begin my much needed vacation.  

Thanks for the fun Clements, We sure do love you!!!   

much needed girl time

Amy's brother Tim works for an airline and for Christmas he gave her some buddy passes to come to the Mesa Scrapbook Convention with me. We always went to it together before she moved away and it just hasn't been the same without her.  They didn't really have anything new this year. Sadly I think the industry is all going digital, but we still had a blast.  We spent the next day or two going out to lunch and of course hit all of our favorite shopping spots.  Ryan and Tom were so great to take care of all the littles so we could do our thing.  We are so soooo lucky to have such amazing supportive hubbies. 

It was really fun to meet up at Paradice Bakery with Kalli and Jessica. 

We all are able to just pick right up where we left off and have so much fun together. 

I love these three girls so much and we are all so blessed to be the best of friends.    

They sure make me smile!    



Fun Mail!

 Little B was so excited when I came home from getting the mail and showed her the fun little package she got from Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell

 She was sooo excited and very careful while opening it

 Thankfully her big brother was around to help with the hard part as well as read the card to her. 

It said how happy they are of "B" for graduating from preschool and that they wish they could be there on her special day.  It was very sweet. 

 "B" absolutely LOVES the cute fragile little doll that was inside and has already found a special spot for it and the cute little trinket box in her new room. 

Thanks for being so thoughtful and making our little 5 year old feel extra special and

happy as can be.  

We LOVE you Grandma and Grandpa!!!! 

Preschool Graduation

 My baby girl is growing up too fast. 

She came home from preschool and said that she is going to have graduation,

and she is supposed to have someone special to come and tell her good job.  :) 

She told me she wanted all of her Grandma/pa's, Aunt Christy and Amy there. 

It was so sweet, but just not a possiblity. 

I explained it to her and asked if there was anyone that lived here

 that she would want to invite instead. 

She smiled BIG and without a moments hesitation she said Brother Hundley

(he sits in front of us at church and they adore each other)

and "MY" sister Cluff. 

I explained that Brother Hundley works in the day, but we could definately  invite "her" Sister Cluff. 

We did and she was sooooo cute and excited about it. 

Becky Cluff has always been such a sweet friend to me.

She has 12 kids and after I had "B" she begged me to let her watch her

every Wednesday to help with her baby withdrawal.  haha

She has always been so sweet with "B" and it sure was nice to have an afternoon a week

all to myself.  She is ALWAYS serving people

and has been such a good example to me.  It is so hard to live far from family and ask for help,

but Becky is always my go to person when I need help.  I LOVE that woman!   

The kids were all adroable.  Becky wanted to make "B" a graduation hat, but didn't want the other kids to be left out so she made them for the entire class.  It was adorable!!!! 

They sang cute songs and got to introduce themselves.  They had to say their name and what they want to be when they grow up. 

"B" said she wants to be a church Mommy.  :)  I asked her later what that means, and she said you know like you.  A mommy who takes care of her sweeties and packs the big blue bag to church to teach all the children.  (primary teacher) I have this huge blue bag that I put my manual and games and such that we will use during class.  It was adorable.  

Here she is with her diploma from Ms. Staci.  

We took a thank you gift for such an amazing teacher.  I found the card idea on pintrest.  It was actually a Mothers Day card but we changed it a bit to fit Ms. Staci.  I loved that it was simple enough that she could do it on her own.  We also made a pencil out of a long plastic tube filled with hot tamales and wraped in paper to look like a pencil.  We painted the lid pink for the eraser and used a chocolate kiss for the lead.  I used rub ons that said thank you and "B" wrote her name.  

I also made her a wood pencil I got at the Wood Connection in Utah with Amy.  

 I forgot to get pictures of them til right before we walked into graduation. 

They aren't the best pictures but it's better than nothing I guess. 

After some frusterating experiences I decided I wasn't going to blog anymore. 

But....after feeling the love from my readers who say they have missed it (haha)

I decided to try and pick it back up again. (that is if I can figure out the new changes they made to blogger.  Oh my) 

To be completely honest I enjoy it.  It is a simple way to journal

the things going on in our family and such a simple way

to keep connected with out of state family. 

So now, to play catch up...

Moving is always such a HUGE ordeal so when my sweet sister Christine

called to tell me she was going to be in town for her BFF's birthday, I was sooooo excited. 

She spent the first two days celebrating with her and making her feel like a million bucks only the way that Christy can. 

I even got to go over for games with the girls and it was just SOOOO.much fun!!!  I do love these ladies and am glad they always let me come and "play" too. 

 Christy spent the next two days helping me pack. 

I felt like I had an ok start on things, but once she was here, things really got done. 

I will never forget the great service she did for me.   

She is a good hard worker and amazing packer. 

I seriously can't thank her enough for all of her help. 

 Because Aunt Christy was involved "B" was  right there in the middle of things. 

She was adorable and did a great job actually. 

Who knew packing could be so fun.  

 I had so many angels come and help me out with the move. 

I got some killer cleaning tips from Carla Smith (RS President)

I never knew just how awesome baking soda is for cleaning. 

She is a pro. 

 I loved the talks, support and oh my goodness the LAUGHS that I shared with Kate Merkley (visiting teacher and friend) 

She is no doubt an eternal friend I will cherish always. 

It's amazing how fast work flies by when your with fun people. 

 Staci and Gwen were incredible and always asking to watch "B" for me

so I could get stuff done, and brought in yummy meals. 

It was very helpful and touched my heart

each and everytime they offered and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Such great examples of the kind of friend I want to be. 

Moving is hard but moving while pregnant is even more exhausting.   

Now that we are in our new beautiful home and loving it,

I need to come up with a fun way to thank these amazing people in my life.  

It is people like these who make moving just sooooo darn hard. 

I am glad we are only a few miles away though.  

I will always cherish the remember the kindess and service shown to me and at just the right time. 



Beat the Heat!

It is already getting soooo hot.  I told the kids the weekend was going to be really hot a few weeks ago and asked them what they wanted to do.  We decided to rent a big blow-up wet slide and then invited as many friends over to enjoy it as we could.


we had all the small little friends come over in the morning

they were adorable and fun to watch.

there were some pretty awesome tricky moves

with lots and lots of smiles 

The boys invited their friends over after lunch for some more intense sliding. 

We munched on fruit and otter pops all day. 



We ended up being out side from 9am til 6:30pm. The kids had a blast and I enjoyed visiting with the moms.  My cute friend stayed til the very end.  We decided we were too tired to cook so we ordered pizza for dinner and ended the night with a pizza party.  It was such a laid back fun day.  I can't wait to do it again. 

  

 

                                I counted 32 little friends (not including my own) who were able to come and keep cool with us.  It sure was fun!!!

I got spoiled with some yummy thank you treats.  Bread from Gwen, Pot Stickers from Jolie, cookies from Becky and brownies from Amy.  I'm thinking I definately got the better end of the deal.  :)