Caterpillars

This was from before when my camera was broken. Caterpillar season was huge here and they boys loved it. They got a new best friend everyday and played with it until it didn't play anymore, if you know what I mean. Yep, this is Preston kissing his buddy and Spencer trying to eat his.

Broken Camera

Remember about 2 months ago when I said my Camera was broken. Well this is why it was broken. Garett took the boys for a walk in the forest behind our house, he wanted to take pictures so he could brag on the blog about this amazing trail right by our house. Well he took picture but he also dropped the camera breaking the lens. Good thing I got the extended warranty!

Anyways this is the awesome trails that are right by our house. Before we left for our crazy summer we would go for a walk every week. There has to be a couple miles of trails and they all lead to a hobby park, where they have BMX bike trails, control airplane landing strips, boxcar raceways, etc. The boys love to go and watch the planes.



So I have a camera again, not mine but a new one. It turns out that Garett dropped it just right and they couldn't repair it so I got a new one, and it is this years model so it is a little better. Cool huh! Thanks Garett!

One Year!!!

It has been one year since we moved into our house.  Boy has it changed!!

Things that have changed:

New Water Heater

New Dish Washer

New Washing Machine ( I know it is not part of the house)

Fence

New Garden Lot

Took down an ugly bush and replaced with grass

Add Blueberry, Blackberries, Strawberry plants

One Bathroom, Hallway, Living Room, and Kitchen Painted

Wainscotings Hung in Kitchen

Window Tinting 

New Shelves in Closets and Garage

New attic latter

New light Fixture in Kitchen and Hallway

New Shower Head and arched shower curtain rode

Attic Fan

Air Conditioning got Maintenance and now works!

New Kitchen Faucet

French Doors added to make an office

Fixed leaky Chimney

New Playground

We Hope to Do this Year

Paint Garage floor, Paint upstairs (our bedroom and boys room and bath)

Power wash our deck and repaint

Extend our Garden

Get front flower bed trimmed and under control.

It may be eaiser to rent and maybe cheaper but we won't have learned so much!

4th of July

We went to the best 4th of July Party!!! It was at somebody's house who we did not know, they invited everybody in our ward/church. We really didn't want to go at first because it was a little bit of a drive and just because we didn't know these people but I am sure glad we did.They live way back in the sticks, in a nice house with lots of land. I didn't feel like I had to hover over my kids to keep them safe. They had great food. Tons of food, sparklers and other things for the kiddos to enjoy. The best part were the fireworks, they were literally 15 feet from where we sat. Doesn't get better then this!

Preston's favorite part was playing swords with his glow stick. He was so sad to find out it still didn't work this morning. This is us waiting for the main event.

Aunt Susan don't look at these next pictures!!  

Spencer was all about the sparklers!

They were supervised the whole time.

Puppy Training

Let me start from the beginning......When we first went to Canada, Auntie Sues slowly feel in love with Salta. They enjoyed watching TV together, and sitting on the couch that Salta was never allowed to sit on. Once in a while Susan would say something crazy like, maybe I should get a dog. We really didn't think she was serious.

My dad breeds Chihuahuas. When we when to Az.  I feel in love with this puppy, actually everybody is in love with her. I thought of Susan but never really thought that she would commit to a dog. They are a huge time commitment. Well after a week my dad started getting calls about her, somebody was going to buy her. I called Susan and just like that she owns a dog.

So Garett flew back with the puppy and we will take her to Canada when we go. So in the mean time I get to train her. She is pretty good about potty outside but I wouldn't call her potty trained. She can sit and lay on command about 95% of the time. But the most important is she sleeps though the night in her crate. That is better then our boys!

So this is Morgan.....at least it is for now!!!!

This was taken before we cut our grass. Poor puppies had to jump just to get though it! Oh Salta doesn't love Morgan but she deals with her and all of her puppiness.

Arizona/Utah/Arizona/Chicago

The boys and I arrived in AZ. the first of June.(It was a long flight with a long layover and they lost my luggage, which I got at 11pm that night) They started swim lessons, which they loved and hated at same time. They played lots with cousins and puppies, but they loved teasing Grandpa the most!!

Garett got there a week later(surprising us a few days earlier). Garett was eager to get to regain his post of world's coolest dad so he took the boys and cousin to zoo! (See below post). The goat was the favorite animal they saw.

The next day we went  down to Tucson to help Garett's mom move into a new apartment. (On the way back the tire in my dad's truck blew out, we were very lucky that it happened when and where it did) . On the 17th of June we left Phx to go to Kanab to visit our favorite adopted grandparents, the Robinsons. While we were there they boys were able to ride a pony, go to the coolest public swimming pool ever and drink 5 gallons of homemade grape juice. There favorite toy to play with was the bird bath!

We then went to SLC to visit, Super(they didn't understand what great meant) Grandma and pa Jackson, Uncle Chuck and family and Aunt Sue and Uncle Dan who were visiting from California.  We went to the zoo and got trapped there because of the rain. We also celebrated Father's day, which meant a lot of really good food. The boys loved being the main source of entertainment. While there they enjoyed playing with a bird bath at Super Grandma and pa's house and the one at Uncle Chucks!!

While in Utah we went and saw my childhood friend Bre and family. It was really fun to see her house and how big her kids are.

Above is a picture of all the men on Father's day and below is us at the zoo!

The next stop on the trip was Showlow to visit Grandma and pa Jackson. Instead of a bird house the boys got to play in a fountain, which they clogged with pine needles. We also went on a hike, which was just a little to long for these stroller loving boys.

We then headed back to AZ. And Finally the last stop on the trip was to Chicago. Such a lovely place (I am saying this was grinding my teeth together).  After a 5 hour layover they cancelled the flight. So I then had to take me and my two tired boys and my dog who really had to pee to a hotel. After eating and taking care of the dog, the boys fell asleep watching a movie at 10:30pm. We had to wake up at 3:30 to catch the shuttle back to airport so we could fly home. Needless to say I am so done traveling, but we still need to travel up to Canada!!!

Fort Bragg

We started this summer off by spending some time down at Fort Bragg with Friends. Garett was working at the hospital delivering babies. We went running, to the post pool, strawberry picking and ate a lot of really good food (made by Julie and Dave Kimsey).  The army paid for a hotel that was on post and the boys loved staying there, they especially loved eating the Continental breakfast which had hard boiled eggs. We ate about 2 dozen eggs while we where there. Sorry there are no pictures for this part of the trip, just forgot to grab the camera.