Hello from CA

So I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted to the blog. But it's been pretty crazy. It started with a visit from cousins, followed by the flu (me), followed by what turned out to be bronchitis (me), followed by packing all our possessions (moving company), followed by a trip to DC (all of us), followed by a move across country. Phew!

Now that we're in CA though life is good- minus a touch of shingles (me). **Tangent: I am really grateful for my health but good grief my immune system needs a kick in the butt.** But we are all in good spirits and glad to be together again.

Today we went with Tj to his work's Family Day. It was a fun day. They had lunch, guys repelling and throwing candy (a big hit with the kids), ice cream, face painting, character drawings, pinatas, a blow up jumping castle and blow up slide and SO much more!

Tj helping with the grilling.

Joel enjoying his hot dog and Cheetos.

Vance chowing down on Cheetos!

Joel loved going down the big blow up slide.

Vance wasn't so sure!

And since we're Californians now we decided we needed a CA ride.

What a difference a year can make.

Tj has spent the last year getting back in shape. Notice any difference?! (This picture has not been photo shopped in any way.)



Here's a reminder of about a year and a half ago:

Notice anything different?! He looks super young huh?!

Visitors

After several weeks of being the visitors we got to HAVE some visitors with us back in Florida. Our good friends the Boyce family came and stayed with us for a few days. We went swimming, wrestled (at least the little boys did), went to the beach, colored, and played some good old fashion boy play. It was a fun time!

The Characters: Joel, Riley, Vance and Tyler (in the back).

My kids being doofs. They're going to regret this
when they're in high school and I show all their dates!

Beach bums.
Can you tell which ones have an overprotective mom?!

This is how I will picture the boys forever.
Always together, helping each other or at least trying to.

The Rest of the Rest of the story.

So for part of the time we were in AZ we went to Yuma to see Angela and her family. We also got a visit from my oldest sister Dana (although I'm kicking myself that we didn't get a partial "sisters" picture!). We also went and saw my brother Landon and his family as we passed through Phoenix.

The boys playing with their cousins.
They loved that they could play on the computer
all by themselves, and Allie was a good teacher!

My cute nephew. He is just so adorable!

We ended our trip in the Phoenix area with my brother and his family. It was a fun week! We had a birthday party for Emma, a trip to Shamrock Farms, sewing with Auntie Kimmie (my cousin), Emma's first dance recital, s'mores and camping in the backyard with Uncle Brody (aka the kid whisperer- he got 4 kids ages 2.5 through 8 to sleep outside ALL night within 15 minutes of being out there!) plus EASTER! It was a super fun time- at least for my boys. lol

The kids at Shamrock Farms Dairy
It was a really fun day.
We got to tour the farm, see the cows get milked,
feed and pet baby calves, and get free milk!

Easter morning!
My boys were so excited that they got so much
candy- and I let them eat it! Thanks Easter Bunny!

Games at the birthday party.
Who knew that Red Light-Green Light and
Freeze Tag are alive and well?!

The Rest of the Story.

Growing up my mom would often listen to Paul Harvey and "The Rest of the Story" while she ran us to piano lessons, gymnastics, doctor appointments etc. So this title is dedicated to her. Here's the rest of our trip to Safford.

The boys with the cat Sobe. Remember she is the anti-social
member of the family. Oh yeah, you can't see her because the kids
are smothering her. She must have realized that resistance
is futile when it comes to these animal lovers. :)

One of our many trips to El Charro.
A trip to Safford is not complete unless you eat there.

My daddy took us back to the ranch where the poppies
were in full bloom! Joel was in heaven!

Joel cleaning Monie's mirror for her.

Auntie Ra Ra took us to the Reid Park Zoo.
This inanimate frog that didn't even spray water
was their favorite part of the zoo! Crazy kids.

The boys and I at the zoo.

Trip to Tucson- Relatives

So this last week my mom and sister went on choir tour with the community college choir and so we decided to venture to Tucson. We stayed with my Aunt Sheri and Uncle Brent. It was a special treat because my cousin from Tennessee was visiting and had his five year old daughter with him. We also hung out with my sister (although I don't have any pictures of us with her, oops!) while we were there. We also got to go visit my Grandma. It would have been nice to see more of my aunts, uncles and cousins but I dropped the ball.

Me and my Grammy.
This is my mother's mom and at ninety something
looks amazing and is still so full of energy!
Love her!

Vance, me, and Grammy.
Vance was named after her husband, Vance.

The boys and I with Grammy.

This is my cousin Jason's little girl, Evy.
She's about a year older than Joel and they
had a fun time playing, torturing the dog, etc.

The kids cheesing it up.

Real Life Cowboys!

So the boys were getting tired of playing just at Monie's house so we thought we would brave the cold and go to the park. Well after about 2 minutes we decided we were too cold (come to find out it was like 42 degrees that morning, oops!) so I started thinking about what we could do. I wanted to get the boys a souvenir from Arizona and I thought what would be better than cowboy hats?! So we headed to the local cowboy outfitters. We walked in and the boys were in heaven! They showed us where the kids hats were and the boys each got to pick out their own hats (of course they picked the same hat). Then they have this REALLY old mechanical horse and so each of the boys rode that. Joel thought the bear head on the wall was great. It was really fun. They were so excited to go show PaPa their hats at work!

Vance riding the horse with his new hat.

Joel looks good in his hat.

Real life cowboys.

Snow, Mountain and Arizona

So Saturday my daddy took us up to the mountain. Both of my parents, the boys, my sister Jaron and I drove up near our cabin. For those of you surprised, yes Arizona does have snow. We built a snowman, wrecked a snowman, made snowballs, ate (non-yellow) snow and just enjoyed playing in the snow.

Us in front of our (teeny tiny) snowman.

The boys wrecking our (teeny tiny) snowman.

Vance making a snow angel.

Joel's turn for a snow angel.

Snow!

Vance liked eating the snow.

And you've gotta love those snow boots. lol

The boys with Auntie Jay Jay.
It had started raining/hailing so the boys
were anxious to get out of the snow/rain/hail.

Joel had a fun time!

A day on the ranch.

The boys and I went up to my daddy's ranch with him today. He had to do a few things and so we tagged along. Then he saddled up the horses and we went for a short ride on his horses. The boys had a fun time although the short ride was enough for them (and me too). :)

Joel and Vance with the cows PaPa was feeding.

Joel holding Salmon still.
(Can you see how excited he is?! LOVE it!)

Vance on top of Three Star.
He had such a fun time.

Joel atop Salmon.
He had such a fun time riding with PaPa.

Vance and I on our ride.
He's a good cowboy!

PaPa and Joel on our ride.

It was a beautiful day and a fun time.

A Backyard!

We've made it safely to Arizona. The boys were champs on the airplane. We've been staying with my parents. I don't know if any of you have ever had the chance to watch your kids play where you grew up. It's been so fun!

The weather here has been BEAUTIFUL! It's been mid-40's in the morning and then it warms up to the mid 70's. Lovely! Joel found the backyard the first day and has spent the majority of the week in there. The only way it could get any better was the day he found the trampoline. He's had a blast and Vance of course is never far behind.

Joel scaling and exploring the terrain.

Vance taking a break from the exploring.

This one is a bit blurry but you can see how
much fun they're having running around.

Hanging out in the grass.
They LOVE playing in a backyard.

The boys love jumping on the trampoline.
I'm surprised at how high Joel can jump.

This is the boys sleeping in the bunk bed-which is one of their
favorite things about Monie & PaPa's.
The cat on the end of the bed is Sobe. She doesn't like people
and spends most of the day running away from the boys-
but we found her on the end of the bed one night. lol