Merry Christmas!

Here's the latest batch of pics from the camera:


We had a fun s'mores night in our backyard with our friends. The weather was perfect and we had fun.


The kids got to see Santa at the ward Christmas party. Mckenzie was so excited that she accidentally cut some kids in line and just jumped on Santa's lap.


Will was happy too.


This girl was not happy. She just wanted her candycane and "leave me alone!"


At the Lindblom family Christmas party, there is a talent show. Will and Mckenzie were encouraged to sing a song, so they sang Jingle Bells with gusto in front of everyone.


Mckenzie got to be an angel in the Montague Christmas Eve nativity. She was so serious about doing her first part well, she wouldn't smile at all! But she sure did a good job.


Will got to be a shepherd.


Here's some random pics of Allison...for some reason she likes to wear this helmet and it's kind of funny. Although she's inching her way to the terrible twos and all that it implies, this is a cute girl and she brings us so much joy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is yet another preschool picture.


This Thanksgiving week we had our first Strong family reunion. It was fun to see everyone and reconnect while we did some fun things.

We did a family hike on South Mountain.


We took family pictures (the kids are being entertained while the adults took a picture.)



Here's another picture in our official t-shirts. We had pizza at Carrie's house.

I didn't get a ton of pics because I either forgot or had my hands full with kids. But we enjoyed spending time together!

Thanks fam! We had fun seeing everyone!

Interesting Blog

I just read this post on this blog that was recommended by a friend. It really made me think and I am totally behind this attitude. I hope you read it and think about it.

Single Dad Laughing

Happy Halloween!

Here are the kids before we went out on Saturday night. First we went to the Montague's for their annual ward party (since our ward doesn't do a Halloween party). Then we went trick-or-treating to our neighbors/friends from the ward.

This is the one picture of Allison with her hat on. She hates it.



We went trick-or-treating to Grandma's house.
Yes, we dressed up (a little). We had a costume party on Friday, so we just dressed up again with the kids the next night. That was the first time we've dressed up since we were married!



This was a video I took one evening of Allison. I just thought it was cute.

Pre-Halloween

We got to go to a Halloween party thrown by Dave's sister. The kids were so excited to dress up in their costumes. They had lots of fun. Thanks Aunt Jill!


Allison got some new jammies from her Aunt Melinda. She would only let me put them on her this one time. I really had to convince her that they were pretty. So I had to take a picture. And she totally milked it for the camera.


We did pumpkins for family night. No knives at our house...only markers. The kids had fun.


Mckenzie had a Halloween costume parade and program at her preschool. This is her saying 'hi' to her sister as she walked by. (I loved the clown costume behind her!)


More Halloween fun to come...Happy Halloween!

Cleaning Tips

So we have relatively new bathroom fixtures in our bathroom. I've been trying to figure out the best way to clean them...I've only ever had older fixtures. After some experimenting, my husband finally asked the manufacturer who said that vinegar is the best bet. I looked online and found this website: Vinegar Tips and so I tried cleaning my bathroom with vinegar. And it actually worked! The tub is the cleanest it's been since we got it...ever better than the harsh Clorox with bleach that was scratching it. I just had to share. I will probably try more of these uses (since I bought 2 big bottles of vinegar at Costco several years ago and they have just been sitting in my pantry ever since.)
I would love to hear how it works on older fixtures...let me know if you try it!

A Day at the Zoo

Since the kids had vacation from school we got together with cousins and went to the zoo. We hadn't been in a long time and they all seemed old enough to enjoy it.
Mckenzie liked the tractor by the petting zoo.


How many cousins will fit in the clam?

Ride'm cowboy!



We had lots of fun! Definitely something to do again.

"Day-cation"

So the kids had a week off of school and Dave took a day off of work and we jumped in the car and started driving. We had planned a route, just some places we hadn't been before, and we started driving. We found this drink-hole for cattle in the hills outside of Globe. So we got out and explored. The kids loved it. They felt like they were real explorers.




Then we drove some more. We saw Christmas, AZ on the map and decided to stop. Here's what we saw:

It was a campground.

This bus was parked there...the only vehicle. It was called The Magic Bus and was pretty interesting.


We saw the Gila River there also. It was pretty fast.

Allison looks like she's fishing...she's just playing with a big stick.


We drove through some small mining towns. We both decided that we're really glad that we don't live in a small mining town.
This was a huge mine that we saw just outside of Kearny. Several entire mountains were just completely changed by the mining.

Storm

We had a pretty good storm on Tuesday. It's been forever since it has rained and even longer that it's been 100 degrees or hotter. I was beginning to wonder if summer would ever end! But we finally got rain, and wind, and hail! I was standing in the kitchen, listening to branches fall off our tree and watching them...it scared me! I called Dave at work and he said a tree had fallen on his boss's car and lots of awnings (that were bolted to the wall) blew off, as well as parts of the outside warehouse that were destroyed. It was pretty crazy. This was the destruction at our house...thank goodness it didn't get the house!


There is a branch resting on the porch roof, leaning against another branch in the tree. I had Dave pull it all the way down so it wouldn't fall on anyone.


This little girl was playing in the mud (even after I asked her not to...there's just something about mud and kids) and she wanted her picture taken.


That was the excitement at our house!

First Day of Preschool

Here is Mckenzie on her first day of preschool. She looks so grown up with her huge back pack. She seems to enjoy going to school, especially her teacher.


Allison had to get in on the action. She's such a fun girl.


Dave gave the kids our old cell phones and I caught Mckenzie and Allison talking to each other on the phone.


The second day of preschool. Apparently taking a picture is now part of the routine. :)


The fourth day of preschool. (She remembered the picture today.)



We had a fast rainstorm the other day and it produced two beautiful rainbows. (It's hard to see the second one on top of the first one in this video.)

Building a Birdhouse

Will got some wood and a real hammer and protective goggles for his birthday. Thanks Grampa! (I think...) He's been begging his daddy to make a birdhouse so they finally started.

First Day of Kindergarten

Here's my big boy on his first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe he's already there...it's the end of an era, sending my baby to public school. And it's all-day! But I know he's ready (even though I'm not and am still kind of traumatized.)


His cute posed smile.


With his two sisters.


Here's Will and Mckenzie on the playground before school. She thought she was so big playing with the big kids. Until Will told her she couldn't play and she came back crying.


Doesn't this face just say everything about the first day of school? He told me that he was worried about it...so was I. But he's done really well and I know that he's excited to learn.

Way to go Will!!

Family Camping

It's been a while since I downloaded pics from my camera.
These are from our annual family reunion where we go camping with all the cousins. We had more rain than sun, but not too much mud.
This is Will and the little kids at the campfire, which always made me worry, but how can you keep kids away from fire?


Here's Allison, being helpful as always. :)
She was actually fairly independent, which made my life easier, since my other kids aren't always.
She's getting so big!


Here's my dirty girl...she was this dirty the entire time, but doesn't her smile just say it all? That's why I'd still take her again...she loves it!


Allison wanted to join in the baseball game, but got distracted by a pen.