What a Ride!

Last weekend, dad and I decided to drop everything and take a ride to Safford to see Taylor. We had a great visit as we took a tour of his living quarters. However, the best part of all was the Beast ride Taylor took me on! I have been on more Beast rides than I care to mention but it has been long enough that I had forgotten how rough and bouncy it was. The Beast can really get with it. I am not sure if it is the driver or the engine power that determines the intensity but for what it is worth it took my breath for a moment. There is nothing like a good Beast ride to remind me why I love driving a cushy ol' Suburban! Thanks Taylor!! I had a fun time.

Our New Puppy!

Isn't he cute?

This is Doc our new puppy! Doc is short for Doc Holiday from the movie Tombstone. We don't have the Doc yet, but we'll get him in a couple of weeks after he's grown a little more.

The Way I Create

I've made a blog for all my crafts. Go ahead and check it out! thewayicreate.blogspot.com

Happy Easter!!

This year since Cooper is getting older I decided I wanted to start some traditions. So Friday during the day I got all of our eggs boiled and Cooper and I waited until Travis got home so we could dye Easter eggs as a family. We had lots of fun. I love that Cooper is old enough to participate in things like this!

Here are my two favorite guys! Look how handsome they are!

Cooper L-O-V-E-D dying the eggs

He was so proud of his creations!

Here are all of the wonderfully colored eggs. I boiled WAY too many eggs but I didn't want it to be over in two minutes! Now lets hope I can figure out what to do with all the left over eggs!?!

On Saturday in between sessions of Conference we hosted an Easter egg hunt. I was able to convince Travis to let us have it at our house. (Thanks Honey, I know you had a lot of homework!) So the Easter Bunny hid all the eggs out in the park area by our house and the kids had so much fun! We had Cami, Jeremy, Heather, Doug, Ben, Briana and all of their 12 kids.





After the hunt we had subs, chips and drinks to complete the festivities. We had so much fun. Thanks to everyone for coming!

On Sunday we had a quiet day listening to Conference and teaching Cooper the true meaning of Easter and then we had a good ol' fashion Easter Dinner that I made. This is the first time I have ever made a real ham and rolls (thanks to Mom for teaching me how to make bread!!) and I have to tell you it was really simple and I loved the fact that I was able to make all of it! So even though we had a million left overs I was proud of myself!

I hope every one had a wonderful Easter.

The Fam

Really?

Kennedy loves to draw and is always asking for more paper to draw on. So the other day I got her a pad of paper so she could draw until her heart was content. After a little while she brought me a drawing and said "mom, this is you" I said "really?" She replied with "yes, that is how your hair looks and that is the baby".I guess a child's perspective on looks differs from an adult. For now the photo is kept in her room so she can see it. What a great reminder to do my hair everyday!!

Cousins are so much fun

Last Friday Bethany, Briana and I decided to take the kids to The Arizona Museum of Natural History. Allie was supposed to join us but Cooper was ill. The kids had lots of fun but I admit my favorite part is seeing them all together. Drake's birthday is in June and Devin & Kennedy both celebrate their birthdays in September. Yes, that means those little ones are only months apart from each other in age. How fun to be able to spend time together and have playmates who are not only your same age but belong to your family?
We asked the each of the kids their favorite part of the day and Drake said his was seeing the dinosaurs. Kennedy of course said her favorite part was the gold! They have a small area outside whre you can pan for gold and she thought it was heaven. Devin said he liked the waterfall. Every so often there is a large exhibit that had a waterfall/thunderstorm that would go off and the kids just went crazy for it.

Bethany, Briana and I thought it was so funny to watch the kids on the tv mirror image. They could go behind the screen and become projected into the show that was playing. Thank heaven Bethany didn't get any photos of me behind there.
But, I think the best part was seeing Briana, Bethany and I stand around the crocodile exhibit for 20 minutes trying to determine if the crocodile was real or not. It never moved and it never even blinked it's eyes. As soon as we turned to walk away I saw it move and hollered to Bethany. Of course when she came it inspect it was back to it's frozen state.

For now I just feel lucky Ben has gotten to do a good majority of his medical schooling here. We hope he will be able to continue. As for Flint, its been fun having them here for the past year but it looks like they will be moving again this summer. We will miss them but the fun times we get to spend together make it all worth while.

Before and After

I thought it would be fun to give the world a view of the before and after of Judd and Taylor's bedroom before Judd got married and moved away. The first photo is the room before the move. I don't know what kept the room from being condemned but some how those boys dodged a bullet.

Then Caitlin took on the task of keeping order in Judd's life. Good luck Cailtin! Now for a view of the room after Judd moved out.

Taa Daa! It's like magic. Clean up and a room appears from the rubble. Well, Jordan you may want to choose this over the shop...because the boys have been in there too! Love, Mom

Sealing the Deal

We don't want Jordan to feel completely left out, so here are a few pictures from Judd and Caitlin's big day.

Now that is trashy

Since Queen Creek doesn't recycle we have trash pick up twice a week. It's kind of nice in my opinion. Every Tuesday & Friday Waste Management comes to pick up our can. Well, yesterday was pick up day and Doug took the can out to the road before leaving for work.

Today I went to the side of our house where our can is kept and it wasnt there. I thought it may be outside the gate and looked to see if Doug had not pulled it into the backyard. With trash in hand I looked around puzzled wondering where our can went. A while back Doug installed cameras on the outside of our house. These have come in handy for several things but I thought I would check the video from yesterday to see if I could find where our can went. While watching the video I could see the garbage mans truck come to a stop in front of our house, pick up the can and dump it contents into the truck. He gave the can a little extra shake and there went our can! Yes, straight into the truck with all the other trash. I watched the video as the driver pondered for about 5 minutes what to do then he took off. So, I called Waste Management to see if we could get a new can delivered before Christmas. The representative asked if I knew what happened to the can. When I told him we both laughed! He said maybe the driver was unaware it fell in. I informed him that the driver was fully aware! Maybe next time the driver could be a little more proactive and call the main office to let them know we are in need of a can since he drove off with ours!!

Happy Birthday to Heather

I know this is a little late but I wanted Heather to know that we were thinking about her this week.
Heather you are one of the most giving people I know and I feel blessed to call you my sister. Thank you for all you have done for our family and for the love you share. We hope your birthday was full of happiness and love.

Aunt Annie

Just one reason we love her.

Enjoy!

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Thanks a lot family

So i am glad we really document important things that happen in this family. Things like births or partys. But something has either slipped through the cracks or is considered not that important........JUDDS ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! He holds the record in the brothers for the longest time courting a girl among the brothers. :) no hard feelings family.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving 2009 was a pleasant event at our home this year. Good food, good company, and lots of good conversation. Here is a view of what took place.














We ate outside. What a beautiful day and family!














Caitlin and Judd's first Thanksgiving together.














Kimber relaxing after dinner.














Sorry Heather but this was the only picture
I had of dad and the "shirt". The shirt had to
have a place here somewhere.

Ben and Briana

Lacie! Isn't she cute?

Barbie Girl

Doug and I thought we would enjoy a dinner out as a family last night. Being a planner and knowing Kennedy can get anxious at a restaurant I told her to pack her little backpack with things to do. You know crayons, paper busy stuff. She did really good and was very well behaved. About half way thru the meal the people next to us were laughing and just getting a kick out of Kennedy in general. I of course monitored what she was doing and they just seemed to be enjoying her. It wasn't until they were really laughing that I looked over to see what she was doing. To my surprise she packer herself a Barbie. Maybe next time I should inspect the backpack first. The Barbie she was dancing across the pony wall was naked!

HI!

Just thought I would throw some random pictures on the blog since it has not been updated in ages. Here we have some Smith Farm pictures that I took and my bowl of macaroni and tomato!

Cruising!

So does it really matter that we have been back from our cruise for almost 2 months? It is never too late to have a happy memory. So with that said I thought I would share a little of our adventure. We sailed out of San Diego and our first port was Catalina Island. We opted to stay on the ship that day since neither of us had any burning desire to see the Island.

The first picture is our ship the "Elation. Next you will see Catalina Island. Not much to look at.















The next day was totally a day at sea. We loved the ocean breeze and the beautiful view. We ate, and sat in a variety of places to enjoy different views, and we ate, took naps, ate, visited with other passengers, ate, I read a book and a half, and did I mention we ate? Well, we did! The next day we stopped in Ensanada Mexico. This time we did leave the ship and walked into town. I had a blast looking in all the shops. I am not sure it was the highlight of the trip to Russ but he never complained. I loved the sights and the smells. The people were very friendly (of course they wanted us to spend our money in their shop)! It was a great trip. We ended up back in San Diego after enjoying 5 wonderful days on the ocean. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Next time I want to choose our destinations. Okay, and they have to serve Molten Chocolate Cake or I we will have to find a new cruise line. It is a must for me!

Reading with a view

Mean, nasty seagulls.











Chocolate Molten Cake

Most handsome man on board!

Trick or Treat?

Saturday evening the Valencia (single YA) ward had their Halloween party in our front yard. It was a lot of fun with costumes and food galore. Those YA can think up some real creative costumes. Speaking of costumes, Judd and Caitlin won the couples award for best costumes. They came as Jedi Knights. Caitlin furnished the clothing and Judd furnished the light sabers. They make a striking (ha, ha) pair don't they?

Happy Anniversay

Happy Anniversary to our wonderful parents.

Mom and dad met after dad moved down from the ranch where his family was in the Aravipa Canyon to live with his older brother, who happened to live down the road from the Stanford family. This is how dad came to know mom. While on his mission, mom wrote to dad and even hand made him a tie and sent it off to him. It didn't take long when dad returned home from his mission for the two to decide to marry. On October 19, 1974 mom and dad were sealed for time and all eternity in the Manti Temple. They made their first home in Bluewater, New Mexico where dad worked in a mine. Four months after being married mom was expecting their first child and who wold have even imagined 9 more would follow?

As each of us children grow older and wiser we admire and love our parents more and more each day. Their example of marriage and what is ordained of God is a true blessing to us children. I have never heard my mother call my father by his name or my father likewise. They always refer to each other as "Hun" or "Honey". They have had a date night once a week every week for as long as I can remember. Dad always calls mom his girlfriend and as kids we were always telling mom and dad to stop kissing it was gorse. Dad always brings mom flowers each week and I have never heard either of them share a cross word with each other. Family has always been their priority. The relationships that the married children have now reflect the example set by our parents and their love for one another and family.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad we love you very much!