Update overload! Hold on to your hats!

Time flies by in the blink of an eye. I have some great pictures I've been meaning to post but somehow time keeps slipping by. I wanted to share all of the ones that I consider "blog worthy".

First up my twenty-somethingth birthday! Ok, I guess I'm not old enough to hide my age yet. I'm 26!

That feels weird to type and even weirder to say. For some reason I still think I'm only 21. Oh well, to think is to create, right?

Jeremiah got me a cute beach cake that ended up all over our faces. mmmm, whipped cream waves.

Here's Simon and his best buddy Tyler. They are two peas in a pod when we get them together.

Simon wanted to eat his breakfast outside so here is his breakfast picnic.

Zeus wasn't invited and quickly got shooed away. Next time we'll have to make doggy pancakes too.

Ryan LOVES his swing! It tickles his tummy and makes him giggle!

We took part of a Saturday and spent some time at the Mesa Temple grounds. Simon loves the fountians. Here we are resting under a big tree, getting out of the heat.


I love this picture. I know it's blurry. That's what makes it fun. Weeee!

For Memorial Day weekend, we took trip to the Mountains to see our families in Springerville/Eagar.

This is Simon's very first EggMcMuffin.
We don't do fast food often so don't think we are crazy for thinking this is worth commemorating.

We HAD to stop at the huge dumptruck in Miami. We've driven past it dozens of times and this time we had to get some pictures of Simon with the dump truck.

The weather was Beautiful in the mountains. It was cloudy and a bit rainy and just perfect! We took a drive one afternoon trying desperately to get Simon to take a nap.

We kept driving. . .

and driving. . .

and ended up at Big Lake!

As you can see, Simon isn't sleeping.

We took the long way around, from Alpine, on dirt roads. The drive was very pretty.

On our was back home we spotted this AMAZING steam engine just sitting on the side of the road in Globe. I can't believe we never saw this thing before. We couldn't pass this up. Simon was one happy camper. He loves trains more than anything.


These pictures were too sweet not to post.

Sadly, this is our swimming pool. It is just big enough for little Ryan and Simon to sit in. Just sit. There's not even enough room to splash.

As long as it gets them wet, they love it.

It reminds me of the Bank commercial: "Someday, a Real Vacation"

And last but not least: falling asleep at the table. Priceless!

Cantaloupe Corner Giveaway!

I just posted a Giveaway for a cute Cherry Blossom shirt on my Cantaloupe Corner Blog. Come check it out! I would love for one of my friends or family to win!

http://www.cantaloupecorner.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Happy Anniversary to us!

6 years ago today Jeremiah and I were married in the Mesa Temple. 6 years already! Now we are still very happily married and have the two most beautiful boys in the world! All I have ever truly wanted in life is a happy family and to really feel loved. Thank you Jeremiah for giving me everything I have wanted. You are the best husband I could have ever asked for. I love you!

So, what did we do to Celebrate?

(I brought my camera with me everywhere we went today but forgot to take pictures!! grrr)

First, we loaded up the kids and had breakfast at Denny's so no one had to cook.

Then, Jeremiah surprised me! Marie came over to watch our kids and Jeremiah took me ice skating at Polar Ice!!

I have been trying to get him to go ice skating with me ever since we first got married. I am HORRIBLE at it but it is so exhilarating. I felt like I was back in high school again. Jeremiah ended up loving it and even talking about putting Simon on a hockey team when he is 4.

After Ice Skating we went to "As You Wish" to paint pottery. We did this last year on our Anniversary and loved it so much we wanted to go back. Jeremiah painted a car bank and I painted a piggy bank. The only thing I don't like about this place is that you can't take your creations home right away. I really wanted Simon to see my pig I painted to match his bedroom! lol. I sound like such a nerd!

If all goes as planned, we will even get to go to a movie tomorrow.

Jeremiah, I love you!

Kaboose, Baseball, Mission Call and More

May has been lots of fun! Busy fun. So much has gone on and I'm still trying to play catch up.

I've done lots of work on Cataloupe Corner. It has been exciting to see my ideas come to life. I have lots more to post in my store once I get pictures. I've started doing women's shirts and even cute kid's bucket hats that are soon to be added to my store. It's so much work but I am LOVING it! If you want to keep up with Cantaloupe Corner you can check out my shop blog http://www.cantaloupecorner.blogspot.com/

Here is Simon looking for airplanes in the sky, sporting a new shirt.

I enjoy every minute with my boys! Simon gets funnier every day. Just yesterday he was telling Ryan "Don't give me any angry eyebrows!!" ha ha.

And a few days ago he pulled his underwear over his head and was running around the house saying "I'm so silly!" ;)

The highlight of the month for Simon was this: the Red Kaboose!

If you know Simon, you know that he LOVES trains. 2 weeks ago we went home to Round Valley and got to stop by the kaboose in Superior. We usually travel at night and never get to stop on the way. Simon's eyes lit up when we pulled into the parking lot. A KABOOSE!!! He got to sit up on the steps as I took some memorable photos. We wanted to go inside but they were working on it that day :o(

There were also some old train parts on display, engines and boilers and such. They were HUGE!

He loves his new hat I made for him. I think he looks so adorable but I'm a little biased ;)

We took a drive out to the shooting range so Jeremiah and Simon could hunt for reloading brass. We found pretty much nothing but Simon had a ball climbing the hill and finding treasures on the ground.

(Shotgun shell treasure)

Daddy and Simon

We also got to teach Simon how to play baseball. The weather was amazingly beautiful.

Simon played with Keaton's Better Batter Baseball. Mostly he would have his dad or grandpa hit the ball and he would run and retrieve it, run back and say "you're out!"

This little guy can't get enough of trains. He played trains for hours at his Grandma and Grandpa Hall's house. He would stay up until 9 or 10 at night just because he didn't want to put his trains away. Then he would wake up at 6 or 7 in the morning and start all over again.

The next exciting event was Sunday dinner at Grandma Udall's house. To our excitement and surprise we found out that Jordan was opening his mission call after dinner! I'm so glad we got to be there to share this with the family.

So, where is he going?

GUATAMALA CITY SOUTH!

Congratulations Jordan! You will be a great missionary!

Here are a few more pics from the dinner.

Here is Ted taking a picture of me taking a picture.

a few of Jordan's friends came by to hear his mission call.

Ryan must have been flying under the radar. I don't have many pictures of him this month. I'll have to remedy that for next month. Here is my sweety with his Grandma and Grandpa Udall.

This picture makes me giggle. Both of my boys have become attached to the strangest toys as babies. Simon loved washcloths and rags. He still plays with them. He gets rags out of the clean laundry and wraps his trains and cars up in them and tell me to open my "Christmas present". Or he will use them as blankets so his trains can go to sleep.

Ryan has chosen shoes. He will roll or scoot from one side of the room to the other until he can get to a pair of shoes, his shoes, Simon's shoes, my shoes. . .

In this pic he found one of Jeremiah's shoes. I wonder if he will still love shoes when he is Simon's age.


This isn't the best quality picture but this is our backyard campfire at the Hall's. Everett and Keaton posed for a cute picture. They are the best of friends!

Bragging Rights!

I am the proudest mommy in the world! I know we all think our kids are the smartest and the best but this time I really do have bragging rights!
Little Simon is 2 1/2 years old, 3 in June. We have been working on his alphabet, letters and sounds, for a long time now. He picked it up suprisingly quite easily. We have made songs about how to spell his name and watched the Leap Frog "Letter Factory" dozens of times.
But, you never really realize how smart your kid is until he starts to do this:

Yes, he is spelling out words on the fridge! Simon can now spell a few simple words like cat, dog, and box. Pretty amazing for a two year old, eh?



Story time has been so much fun with him because I can point to certain words and he can sound them out!

Great Job Simon! I'm so proud of you!

Never get in a fight with a moving car.

Good news and Bad news. . .



The good news is: We had a family get-together yesterday and today.

The bad news: it took this to get us together:



(warning: if you are squeamish, you may want to avert your eyes now.)

Jason was riding his bike to Grandpa's farm in Eagar when he got hit by a car! We don't know all the details about how exactly it happened. Jason doesn't remember anything about it. He remembers being on his bike and then being in the Ambulance.

According to the policeman who was on site, There were 2 cars going down the road by the golf course in Eagar. Jason was riding on the side of the road (the shoulders are very thin). The first car went around Jason, leaving plenty of clearance. Jason must have assumed that there was only one car because he then swerved into the road, hitting the second car with his front tire
(or the car hit him.) A witness said he flew about 20 feet before finally hitting the ground.

Well, lucky Jason got to take his first helicopter ride all the way down to Scottsdale. After some x-rays and a CAT Scan the damage only consisted of a cracked rib, a small bubble in his lung, a chipped tooth, and some serious cuts, scrapes, bruises and road rash. He is doing well, and should be able to go home tomorrow.

What a great way to get our family together ( I hope you can sense the oozing sarcasm).

I keep thinking that if we would just communicate better on our own, Heavenly Father would have to force us to call each other by having something like this happen ;)

Here are Jason's visitors the first night. This picture cracks me up. We are all posing like it is a happy moment as poor Jason lies broken in his bed. Ah, memories.

(BTW,Ted was taking the picture)

A few random shots

(back row)Chris, Mom, Dad, Aimee, Jesse, Marie, and Jeni

Marie, Jesse, Chris, Aimee, and Dad

Ted, Dad and Jason


Heidi came the second day.

And cute little Ryan got to go today too to see his uncle. He kept us all entertained.

I am thankful to Heavenly Father for watching over Jason. Not many people can get hit by a car and live to tell about it. Even fewer walk away with no broken bones.

Jason, we love you. I hope you have a speedy recovery.