Tuesday, February 20, 2024

January





I find all sorts of selfies on my phone from the girls.
This one had me stumped because it didn't look "original".
Come to find out they have figured out how to edit  pictures.
 They added lowlights and other things to her face.
I do have to hand it to them, her hair looks really good, ha!

But I am in a heap of trouble when they get a phone someday.






It seemed like the longest Christmas break.
After a week of the dunes and New Years stuff, we still
had a whole week off from school.

We did lots of things like hot tubing at my parents.




Used our pogo passes and GolfLand
















We got to meet a celebrity!
Well, a celebrity in our eyes.
David Bowman is a member of our church.
He is a very talented artist and has a website where he makes
videos of the lessons we learn in Come Follow Me each week with his drawings.
It is called Drawn In.
He is so nifty and clever, even I 
love watching them and help me understand the scriptures more.
He has a gift, and I am so happy he shares it with others!


He lives in Snowflake, but came down one weekend to visit a
couple of stakes and one of them happened to be ours!





He taught the kids how to draw a picture of a scripture hero. 




They did pretty good!








I got acquainted with my new Christmas gift from Casey.
We do not give each other gifts for Christmas, but he surprised me this year.
I am a Bosch snob and have been using the one he gave me 20 years ago
as a Christmas gift also!
It still works great, but I saw this Ankarsrum mixer on
 Heather Thompsons instagram page and was intrigued by it.
I mentioned it to Casey one night saying how cool it looked.
 The next thing I know I am opening one on Christmas morning!
I was shocked but SO excited!!
I promised him it is the gift the will give to him every week:)






I was so impressed that I had to post about its amazingness, which
I normally don't do!
It has turned my weekly bread making into a breeze and I 
LOOOVE it so much!!!









Grandma and Grandpa gifted us another
 weekend to Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas!

It was fun having the Utah Lindbloms come in for this.
They ran around in their cousin groups doing all the
activities, having a howling good time together!
















While taking the girls to the bus stop, my tire air 
meter starting going crazy one me!

Luckily Gunnels isn't too far away.
  Sure enough
they pulled a screwdriver out of my tire!
Minus the handle.

Good gravy!




I enjoyed the 2 weeks our tress looked like they belonged in a
forest in Virginia during October.

It's like a little treat from Heavenly Father helping me get through the "bitter"
cold month of January.
I hate being cold.

I feel like it's leaves get more fire-y in color each year.





And then they drop and the kids go wild.
This is definitely a novelty for Arizona children!

I'm not too sad it's short lived since leaves get strewn all in my house and car
during this time period.







They sure can watch tv in the strangest positions sometimes.





We had been needing to get the boat on the water to check on some things all winter.

It wasn't an ideal day, cloudy and possibly some sprinkles.
But with the storms Casey couldn't work one morning so we headed on out, just
the 2 of us!


It was a beautiful day with some exceptional scenery all around us.
We shared the lake with a handful of fishermen and that was it!
I have never been on the water with it looking like a glass top surface.


The fog topped mountains almost made it seem like we were in Jurassic Park!
It was so cloudy you couldn't see 4 Peaks at all.








I was wishing so bad I could hop in and wake surf on this 
smooth as silk water!!





Driving on glass was a blast!
Full speed without being tossed and bouncing around.



My passenger princess.




The water didn't seem super cold!
But I bet my body would have tensed up and sunk straight to the bottom
if I jumped in!

I was shocked Casey put on a swimsuit, the thought never
crossed my mind!










The girls had a dance competition.
It was a DAY!
More on that later.





Lane went to WINFO!
More on that later as well.






Softball games for Della!









Mrs. Standage (who is also my cousin) 
came to watch Lindi and Penelope play in their first basketball game!
She is their PE teacher at school.
And is clearly the BEST!!






The leaves getting more sparse, but holy moly
that blue sky!!!
Unreal.







We had all of the youth over to our house after church
so they could watch the worldwide broadcast together.

The girls and I went to pick up the sandwiches from Ned's
Krazy Sub while they were gathered.

Evan, the owner, was SO nice to go down and make this for us to have
fresh for them afterwards.
We really insisted that it was fine to pick up on Saturday.
He insisted back that it was no big deal.
We are blessed to know good, kind people!!


He sure was put to work that day!!





And if he wasn't kind enough, as we were driving away he ran after
us saying he forgot he made extras just in case.
And handed a 3 ft. sub through the window.
Seriously?!
The NICEST guy!





All set up and ready for the hungry teenagers!













Clearly they were a hit!
Every ounce GONE!



 

Monday, February 19, 2024

Last Hoorah for 2023!





The morning after Christmas we took off to the dunes!


Rusty is sure loving the chance to drive and learn the ropes of
parking the trailer and getting the CanAm to camp!








Most New Years trips are bitter cold!
This year was a treat as in they had tons of rain the week prior
so everything was not in dust form and the air felt clean and crisp!
The skies were absolutely stunning.
I am grateful for such a beautiful world we live in.

And we hardly had to bust out the heavy jackets, bless!






Austin had a hookup with fireworks!
Funny enough it was through a fellow police officer connection, ha!
However, the man did not want his face exposed so Austin had to pick out the
goods in his garage through facetime to keep his identify safe.

Transferring a fraction of the loot!
We had a great show each night we were there.
In fact, other campsites cheered and clapped for us when they were over.






I think the dunes was thanking 2023 and welcoming 2024 with its
painted skies!









A new addition to our camp, the smudge pot!
Craig bought this and boy does it produce HEAT!
We loved this as it kept us nice and toasty
 all through the night while we chatted.
 

















The kids live for rest breaks so they can run, roll, jump and tumble 
on the sand hills. 











The ice cream trucks are a joy and a curse!
Waking up to the obnoxious music of them rolling in should be
outlawed!





The fire of the night got more intense each night!






I couldn't get close enough!
I love the burning feel of the heat keeping you nice and warm!





Lots of night riding





Kids getting some jumping practice in.















Gotta stay protected from the sun!















Smash burgers, of course!





The moon was unreal.
I have never seen it so big in all my life!










Grandpa and his tender skin.








Della begged Grandpa to take her down the drags.
The girl loves speed!










On the last night we took the remaining fireworks to the top of Comp hill.












We usually like to be at the dunes for New Years Eve,
 but it was on a Sunday this year.
We drove home Saturday afternoon so we could go to church.


Saying goodbye to my nursery kiddos who are moving on to Sunbeams.
I love them so much and it was a sad goodbye.






We had the BEST spread of food for dinner that night.
We all brought appetizers to my parents.
It was quite the variety with deluxe nachos, to Italian sliders, to
dips galore, to shrimp cocktail and sushi. 
All types of soda and pebble ice drink concoctions 
 flowing from my parents pantry.
YUMMMM!!!! 







I am usually a night owl but man did I hit a wall!
I slowly started to slump over and next thing I know I
woke from a 2 hour nap! 
Christmas and the dunes trip must have caught up to me!

Lindi made sure to capture it for me.




But that meant I was ready for DANCING!!
















HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!







These cups on a necklace cracked me up!






Cheers to a wonderful 2024!






The party never wants to end for us.
Breakfast at midnight? 
Why not!










I think it was 3am at this point.
Cousins swapped houses and we got these cute girlies!






A charcuterie board to ring in the New Year sounded like a great idea.