While the Cat's Away...

Dave went for his monthly scout outing, so the kids and I got to entertain ourselves. I got to finish a dress for Allison (after the kids went to bed.)



The kids got to have movie night and eat popcorn and cookies.


Yeah, I know, not super exciting, but hey... we had fun!

Family Trip

We were able to go to a cabin up north for a few days this last weekend. It was soo nice to be out of the heat and up in the mountains away from everything! (Thanks to the man who used to work with Dave who generously let us stay in their beautiful cabin!)

Our first surprise...Will lost his tooth the night we got there. It had been loose for a while and finally came out when he was sleeping. (Isn't barely 5 too young to lose a tooth?)


We saw lots of this...


This was a short hike to some indian ruins. (Our friends joined us for the last day.)


The indian ruins...(my kids keep talking about how people died there, even though I told them it was because it was a very long time ago and they got really old.)


We got about 1/2 hour into our trip and while we were waiting in some traffic, we found out that the cars were all there because there was a mudslide ahead. So we ended up taking a detour along a dirt road for over an hour, in the rain, along the rim. As obnoxious as that sounds, I didn't mind it so much because we saw tons of this...

We found this beautiful scenery along the second half of the road. (No guardrails!) Needless to say, we made it home in about twice the time, safe and sound.

Birthday #5

Will just had his 5th birthday! He was lucky enough to have both grandparents there for cake and presents.


He got a watch (which he asked for)


A wood-working kit from his Montague grandparents (with a real hammer!)


Clothes from his Strong grandparents





And now he can go riding with his sister!

We love having our Will in our family!

Happy 4th of July!

We went to downtown Mesa's first 4th of July party. We had fun. Don't these pics just say Happy 4th?

Next to the big monster truck.


Next to a classic fire engine.

It was pretty hot until the sun went down. The kids liked the water activities and we liked getting out and seeing all the people and things going on. Later that night, we watched the fireworks from our backyard while the kids were asleep.