This is why we live in Arizona...

Every Sunday morning at 6 a.m.

when my alarm clock goes off to get up and ready for church...

I think to myself

how much I DO NOT like 8 a.m. church.

However, when we get out of church at 11 a.m.

and home before

the other two wards even meet...

I LOVE 8 a.m. church!

Funny isn't it?

What I have really enjoyed are the Sunday afternoon naps, quiet time reading a good book,

or just spending time with my family.

Because of our beautiful temperatures we wanted to do everything

OUTSIDE!

We even got the kids to come outside to eat snacks and play some 

homemade CORN HOLE.

(We are a bunch of rednecks!)

   My silly man...just loves having his picture taken!

   I don't think they are too happy about it either!

 Ever since Ron and I met we love to compete at everything we do. And while I like to think I could

BEAT him...

I have yet to do so!

We are laughing in this picture because he really doesn't have it in him to "throw" the challenge my way!

Nope...he can't do it!

He always says,

"Why play if you aren't going to win?"   

 

 I guess I can't argue with that!

 Jacob spent his ENTIRE afternoon in this tree right outside our house or along our block fenced wall!

I love that he spends his days outside with all the neighborhood kids!

It seems like Chris is usually TOO busy to join us but he told me today that he was taking a 

LAZY DAY!

I am so proud of him...

he BLESSED the sacrament for the first time last week,

and this week he was the only

PRIEST at church...

He showed his leadership skills teaching another man how to do it. 

I laughed last week when he told me they wouldn't have him do it until he had been trained!

The one thing I've learned about a church calling...

you don't get trained,

you listen to the SPIRIT

and you hope and pray for the best!      

 This picture made me laugh out loud!

My cute Katie

is obsessed with popcorn!

She asks me everyday when we can make popcorn!

She has also been known to

HOARD

popcorn...

like not let anyone else have it!

She will hide it,

take ownership of it...

and otherwise keep it from your grasp

so that she can eat it ALL!

My otherwise sweet little girl...

turns into a totally different child around popcorn!

Just ask anyone who has tried to share it with her!   

A memorial and a Spring Day

A beautiful family in our ward is grieving today.

After a long fight with cancer,

our friend

Jamie Cooper

passed away Wednesday night

leaving behind

her beloved husband, and five children.

Here is the link to her page.   

This has been especially difficult news for my sweet hubby,

who has dealt with his own loss and grief.

When I asked him what we should do...

or what we should say,

with tears rolling down his face

he said,

"I don't know."

I was surprised that he wouldn't know what to do having once been in this man's shoes. 

It just goes to show that the way someone grieves the loss of a loved one

is never an easy experience.

So we will continue to pray for them,

serve them in any way we can,

and wrap our arms around their children.

It is because life can be short

and we never know when our time may be up

that I especially

enjoy days like today with my hubby.

He originally had taken a three-day weekend off to enjoy a 

Father-in-Son 

weekend with my boys...

but when that got cancelled I thought we could head out of town

as a family and enjoy this rare occassion.

I'm so proud of my sweet hubby that instead of

spending the weekend

in a paid for hotel in San Diego...

that he choose to stay home and fulfill his Sunday calling to 

teach his gospel doctrine lesson

instead of cancelling and making someone else do it!

  I always say,

"I married a GREAT man."

So instead we stayed home and enjoyed the beautiful

SPRING

temperatures of Arizona.

Spent the day together, running errands, eating lunch with the Lambson's and enjoying each other's company!

Life really doesn't get any better than that!

So take the time each day to 

CHERISH

every moment you have with your family!

Life is too short not to!

          

We've got Spring Fever

I've caught

SPRING FEVER.

Actually I really caught a cold and I didn't feel good today...

so it made it really hard

to not want to 

JOIN

my kids outside

and to enjoy our nice Spring weather.

We spent part of our morning doing this:

 We made another step

towards our

BIG TRIP

in October by submitting the kids' passport applications

at the post office.

Everyone must have had the same idea as us...

take the kids during Spring Break when they are out of school. There was a line full of families getting passports!

Now we wait 6-8 weeks for them to arrive!

So excited to have one more detail (hopefully) worked out!

Rachel spent the day at Amazing Jakes with her friends from school.

Chris spent the day with his girl friend that he met at EFY two years ago.

Katie did nothing...but enjoyed every minute of it!

Jacob spent the day...

      building a castle for his lizards

they call it

"LIZARDITIS" 

I had no idea we had so many neighbor kids his age

but they have been

playing together from first thing in the morning until dark.

When he came inside tonight I asked him if he wanted dinner since he hadn't eaten since breakfast...

he said,

"No mom....I think I've lost my appetite!"

On a separate note,

Katie gave me this note today:

 I sure needed that from her today!

She has always been my special sunshine girl.

So easy to please, 

so obedient and hardworking,

so helpful,

so willing to serve her family...

gosh I sure do love her!

***********************

Tonight we cancelled Young Women's since most of our girls were out of town.

However, this special girl needed a little

LOVE

since her boyfriend just left tonight

for his mission.

      (We tried to have Jacob take our picture!)

It actually turned out perfect...

we managed to put a smile on that sweet girl's face!

Love ya Ali girl!    

Nothing like spring in Arizona

My kids have officially started

SPRING BREAK.

I've been viewing Instagram and Facebook the last two days

and I see lots of friends

traveling all over the country ...

but I say the 

BEST

place to be this time of year

is right here in Arizona!

I really should have taken pictures today

(but I do have a job!)

of my kids playing ALL day outside!

Jacob had all the neighbor kids entertained while he caught every lizard outside.

(Poor lizards...they don't stand a chance with Jacob!)

Our little neighbor girl wouldn't even go get a 

PEDICURE

with Grandma because she was catching lizards with Jacob!

Rachel babysat a neighbor all morning and took them to the park for a lunch.

(Rachel is a GREAT babysitter)

Katie played with her friend Emmie with squirt guns, water bottles and anything else they could find to get

Chris wet.

Chris was busy doing the BIG yard we have...

which took him an entire morning!

Of course, he took lots of water breaks...

or should I say he came in for more WATER to get the girls wet!

I also had bought the game

HEDBANZ

for us to play while we were home this week.

    However, my kids and I are too old for this game...

Seriously we haven't watched DISNEY movies in so long it took us FOREVER to try and guess our movie characters!

Have I ever mentioned that

BOYS love RACHEL?

This girl always have the boys crushing on her...

but I am proud of her!

She sticks to her morals and beliefs

and is such a beautiful, strong, talented young woman.

And she has a STRONG, PROTECTIVE

step-dad who keeps the boys'

in their place!

Including today when he took them down in arm wrestling!

 

 I love Ron's face in this picture because this boy actually thought he stood a chance...

 Nope...not a chance!

The funny thing is...

these boys thought it was just good ole' fashioned arm wrestling,

but Ron was letting the boy know,

"You better not mess with my daughter!"

Sometimes I read "comments" about

what a great mom someone is if they take their kids to Hawaii every year on vacation, or if they attend every festival, carnival, fun runs, etc...

but I'm wondering if I can just be a great mom

teaching my kids 

the value of work and daily chores,

to play in the dirt with the neighbor kids,

to work hard at my job that provides them with food and clothes on their backs,

to spend an afternoon playing a game

or an evening popping popcorn and watching a movie?

Is it possible that it can be just as GREAT a spring break...

spending it nowhere else but

HOME?

To me there is nothing like 

SPRING break in ARIZONA.

       Postscript:  I promise Arizona Spring pictures tomorrow!