There is FALL in Arizona....

You just have to DRIVE to go find it!

With temperatures above average...

we took off to the NORTH country to find FALL.

And I'm happy to say...

it does exist in ARIZONA.

And the spectacular view made it all worth it!

More Traditions to Start?

Hey, if you can get your kid to POSE for a picture like this...

then of course we have to make

SCHNEPF FARMS

one of our new family FALL traditions.

The best part about it...besides being together as a family is

that the place is in LITTLE ole' Queen Creek, AZ

where we live.

And on Thursday nights in October any resident of Queen Creek

gets in 50% off.

Now that's what I call a GOOD deal,

and one we took advantage of this year!

We had one of the BEST times...

and I absolutely LOVE the age of my kids.

There are pretty much no restrictions...and I loved riding this roller coaster with Jacob!

Katie even let Ron talk her into riding in the front car...

arms raised high!

Way to go Katie!

 

We had a blast on these four wheel bikes.

Rachel and I took on the boys...

and came out victorious!

(Well, not exactly...just in our own minds!)

 

Christopher set us straight!

 

My kids have one GREAT step dad!

Jacob winning a consolation PRIZE when his PIG lost.

Katie's PIG really did win and she did WEAR her prize!

And last but not least...we walked away with

the YUMMIEST kettle corn

that was freshly made before our eyes...

and memories that will last a lifetime!

 

Happy Fall everyone!

Sneak Peek....

Remember a FEW months ago

when Rachel found the $100 and we decided to use it to

redecorate her room?

Well, it has been a work in progress....

let's just say,

I've been a little busy.

But I am now on a mission to finish their room.

So here is just a Sneak Peek...

Note: The cute table is actually vinyl with a real piece of wood Ron cut out and attached to the wall!

(This was entirely Rachel's idea!!)

Pretty clever, huh? 

One of my FAVORITES....

We just received ONE of my favorite letters...

from ONE of our favorite people!

CAMERON!

He continues to amaze me...which I shouldn't be...

I was privileged enough to hear his

Patriarchal blessing...and Setting Apart!

But what he is being ASKED to do at this time on his mission...

is going to be HARD!

But CAMERON is the one who can do it!

Here is an excerpt from his latest letter:

 Ok. I got transferred to another city. This city is called Yevpatoria.  About my branch.... There has been a lot that has happened in this branch over the past. There are over 50 non active members. A lot of them went in-active when an old Branch President got up and said to the congregation that the church wasn't true. Some missionaries also made a mockery of the ordinance of baptism (I won't say exactly what happened) and this also made a few more people go in-active. All of this happened before I even came to Ukraine so it has been a long time. Basically, this branch is hurting really bad right now. We had 5 people come to church this last week. Usually there are about 10-15 but a lot of them didn't come because they were out of town or something. My companion is the Branch President and I am the Financial Secratary. It scares me to think that when Elder Sarkisyan leaves that I will probably be the next Branch President. It would be a really tough calling to have, especially in Russian!

President Nielsen said that I will be here for a long time which makes me think that I will serve the rest of my mission here in Yevpatoria. I had a vision when I was in church the other day. I dreamt that the sacrament hall was full of people. I am going to do my best to get it back to that. We have our own church building because there used to be so many people coming to church a few years ago. It doesn't look like a church. It has no steeple. It is just a descent size building. Pretty in my eyes. 2 stories actually!

Because I am the financial secretary and my companion is the Branch President we have to do all of the paper work for the branch and so that is what we are going to do tonight. He is going to show me how to do it and hopefully I will be able to get a grasp on it and try to do it faster. It sounds like that before I came it was taking them a long time to fill out all of the papers and they weren't getting a whole lot of time to go contacting. President Nielsen sent me here to be the senior companion and tell when we will do branch work and when we will do missionary work.

Love Always,
Elder Cameron Flewellen

This letter has brought a lot of TEARS to my eyes...

Just VERY, VERY proud!

Love ya too Elder Flewellen,

Momma Jana 

We may NOT kill Bambi...

but we do kill
SQUIRRELS!
Sorry to all you nature buffs or PETA people
but our family loves to squirrel hunt!
So a couple of weeks ago...during the kids' FALL break,
we took a couple of days to go
CAMPING and HUNTING.

This was our first successful HUNT of the day!

Ron ended up KILLING all of them,
but not without giving CHRIS a TRY!

In case you are wondering why you LOOK up...
well you must realize the process of squirrel hunting.
First, I drive VERY slowly
through the forest, while the family looks for squirrels.
Second, when they yell squirrel...I slam on my brakes.
Everyone jumps out of the car shouting and hollering...
so the squirrel runs up the tree!
You then shoot it out of the TREE...although sometimes they are hard to find!


This is Christopher's kind of shot...
when they are on the ground...and you make sure they aren't suffering.

I like to HELP look....


Rachel chose to do this,

While Katie and Jacob stay a SAFE distance away.
And just to point out how cute Katie looks...
with one of her FLOWERS'
in her hair!
Such a FASHIONISTA!


I didn't take this picture on purpose,
but I loved how when I got home that I noticed
all the kids were LINED up by age (and height).
A picture I would NEVER have been able to get on my own!
I just LOVE these kids!


Final count....5 in 2.5 hours!
I'm just impressed these KIDS will touch them!
Not only will I not kill BAMBI or a SQUIRREL...
but I won't be touching them or eating them either!
But I LOVE the joy I feel in spending time with my family...
and the wonderful LIFE it is becoming!

add Taxi Driver to my list of JOBS...

I've decided to add
TAXI DRIVER
to my list of jobs.
This is how I spent my yesterday
afternoon...and evening.

I drove the kids home from school.
I drove the girls to Activity Days with a pit stop at Summer's house.
I drove the girls home from Activity Days...but stopped to pick up Rachel's friend.
I drove Katie home so Baylee could pick her up in time for dance class.
I drove Rachel and all of her friends to a Birthday party.
I drove Christopher to mutual.
I drove Katie and Baylee back from dance class.
I drove to pick up Christopher and three of his friends from mutual and back to our house for a sleepover.
(No school today...Ugh!)
I drove to Christopher's friends' house to pick up clothes.

And just when I thought my taxi driving duties were over...
and I was sound asleep in bed...

I get a call at 1:15 a.m.
I drive back to Rachel's sleepover!

And Rachel can NO longer give me grief for singing and dancing in the car!

FRIGHT night returns!

WE were blessed to spend this HALLOWEEN
with Hailee and Leo!
Ron fixed us is INFAMOUS grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp,
steak and fried potatoes!
Can you say...YUM!!

These two became BEST friends!

Leo the Lion with Grandad!

My Beat UP football fan!

This is the cutest bat I've ever seen!

Camouflage NINJA doing what a NINJA does!

My HALLOWEEN kids...minus Christopher! He is too old and cool this year to dress up!

Mall Queen

My Mall Queen is

RACHEL...

so it came as no surprise when she wanted to spend her

11th BIRTHDAY

at the mall...shopping with her BFF'S.

That's short for her Best Friend's Forever.

So with Katie and myself in tow

we took off to the Superstition Springs Mall for a birthday night of shopping.

Katie...Madison...Summer...Rachel

Mall Bound!

A girl must stop for food...energy for more shopping. Izzy joins us for the fun!

Rachel LOVED opening all of her presents...especially this cute R to hold all her hair flower clips, pictures, earrings and jewelry. Perfect girly gift for my Rachie!

Rachel gets money and gift cards...to add to the money her Grandma's gave her!

Perfect gift to give a girl whose going shopping!!

Izzy...Madison...Rachel....Summer

BFF'S at least for this birthday!!

As for the shopping????

She spent it all and LOVED every minute of it!

Happy 11th Birthday my sweet girl.

Five months of CUTENESS....

Sydney is a DREAM baby.
She came to visit 2 months ago...and I have been wanting to post these pictures along with their visit...but it took me awhile to adjust to my new JOB.
So here are the amazing pictures...I think they show exactly what a SWEET, little baby Travis and Melissa have.

We sure LOVED having you visit!
Travis and Melissa, too!!

Paper Chain

Our paper chain...
WE are counting down the days until
CAMERON
comes home.
Words cannot express how grateful we are to this amazing KID who is
setting the example in our home of
SACRIFICE,
OBEDIENCE,
FAITHFULNESS,
INTEGRITY,
DEDICATION,
and LOVE.
We miss him everyday...and look forward to his return.

Pretty...Pretties Hailee

The CUTEST little GRANDBABY...
(They are all cute!)
came to visit us this last weekend.
One day while Hailee was crying I asked her if she wanted to get

pretty, pretties

with me!
So I sat her on my bathroom sink and got her pretty, pretties.
And then of course,
I had to take her outside for a VERY special photo shoot.








She is definitely...

pretty....pretties!