Thursday, February 15, 2024

Dancing Ivories





The girls dance studio does a big photo shoot once a year.
They pick a color for everyone to wear.
Last year was red, this year was off white, white, cream, ivory color scheme. 


You think that would be easy.
Not so much!
Lots of trial and error with too sheer, see thru or
clings to not attractive crevices!


Practicing their poses.










It was a bitter cold day and in fact I think it started to sprinkle during Della's group shot.








I was a little disappointed at the chaos and how unorganized it was.

I felt their individual shots were majorly rushed and didn't turn out amazing
like they could have been. 


Della only ended up with a headshot.












Oh well.
But they sure looked cute!



 

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Sand Turkey







This pile of groceries freshly delivered is the best 
thing I could ever see when opening my front door!


Combining a dunes trip with Thanksgiving is always a treat to prep for.
Hours of my time were saved by letting someone else shop for me!
It still never ceases to amaze me the brilliance of this concept!
BLESS!!





Having a teenage driver to help with duties is also an amazing thing!
I laughed so hard seeing Lane pull up from filling
 the CanAm with gas hitched on the back of TT (tiny truck).






This was an exciting trip as we sold our RZR and got a new (to us) CanAm.
She did well on her maiden voyage!







The kids coloring as we finished Thanksgiving preparations.





It was quite the spread!
Minus the sand turkey like the title says.
We took a poll and everyone quickly turned down
 the traditional bird for a brisket! 
We found a 20 pounder at Sams Club and Casey smoked it to finger licking perfection!










This year we had my parents, Figueroa's and their friends Brian and Sierra ,
and  Jefferson/Katie.










Rusty celebrated another birthday at the dunes!
He turned 14, and has probably spent half of them in his type of paradise.
What a lucky kid!

















The girls are getting to be better duners!
They prefer riding over staying back at camp.







Grandpa babysitting all of the toys while we all went shopping
at the shirt mart.




Lane starting smashburgers for everyone.




Birthday cake time!





Landon prank calling Abbey and Camille was absolutely hilarious!
He has a future in phone sales!















Not sure why he is driving but this is terrifying!








 

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Baseball, Birthdays and Some Other Things.





The last day we were in Wyoming Della didn't seem to be her chipper shelf.
We got home and the next morning she had a burning fever, sore throat and
had zero energy. Same story for Lane.
They both got hit hard with the flu and missed a week of school.

I can't remember the last time we had kids that sick for that long.
It was no fun.

This is her at the end of the week feeling much better!
We went outside to get her some fresh air.

You can see how happy she is to put the flu past her!




The youth put on a Veterans Dinner to honor those who have 
served our country.
Casey asked my cousin Leah if she could come speak.
If you know Leah, you know she is a God and Country- fearing woman!
She once taught History to highschoolers.
She is very involved in politics and her community.
She serves on the Queen Creek town council and volunteers for
sex trafficking organizations. 
She even had red, white and blue for her wedding colors.
It was so nice of her to come speak to us about how we need the Savior
to help us through these hard times our world is seeing today.






Rusty started baseball for his school team.
He did great pitching some games and loved being back out on the field.









I heard a knock at the door at 10pm.

I had a hunch it would be for Lane.
I was right!
He was already in bed so I quietly tried to wake him up to go see 
what was at the door.
He moaned and mumbled then rolled over, even after hearing what it was.
I told him I would take a picture and he gave me a thumbs up.

Ha, boys are so different than girls!
I'm sure most girls would have sprung out of bed with excitement.

His friend Phoebe asked him to WINFO.

I shouldn't be complaining, I ended up with a midnight snack!




Treys parents were out of town so he spent the night at our house.
We put them both in the toy room and it melted my heart to see
them playing a game with the girls.






LANE TURNED 17!!

As you can see, he loves posing for pictures.
Candid shots it was.




Oakley sunglasses, gift cards and candy.







And more money from the grandparents. 








Top golf sure got a lot of business from us!

Rusty had his birthday party.
We went down at 5pm for his event to start.


His friends from school.
Daxton, Cannon, Trygg, Redding and Trey.








After their time was up Casey took them to Andy's, then
to play basketball at the church the rest of the night.

I stayed at Top Golf because Lane showed up with his friends
for his party!





 

I love when I can hit 2 birds with one stone!

He didn't want a big 16th birthday party.
And to be honest, he didn't want this party, either.
The kid hates attention!

But this was a good compromise and I pinky swore I wouldn't sing happy birthday
or make a fuss in public:)