We've Moved!

 Our new house!!

 

It has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, just over 2000 square feet and right across the street there's a nice big park!

 Before we moved, Kayla made a boat for school, she had some help from dad. At school they raced the boats and she got third place! Great job Kayla!

Last weekend we went to Safford to spend time with Jake's family. We first went to the County Fair, it was just us with Jake's 2 sisters Jesa and Tara. We rode some rides, looked at the exhibts and the animals! Lots of fun!

 Riding the spinning bear!

 The girls and I rode the ferris wheel!

 Jake and his sister Jesa rode the flying swings!

 Weeeeeeeee!

 We celebrated 2 birthday's, Samantha(6 years old) and grandpa's(62 years old)...I guess cousin Matthew thought we should be celebrating his birthday too! haha

 

Kayla and Samantha hanging out with their cousins.

 Cute and crazy cousins!

 Jake and Tom having fun at my sis n law's baby shower.

 All the cousin's watching grandpa open his presents and hand made cards by the kids!

Everyone who came to my niece(Kailyn) blessing on Sunday!

 Samantha had her 6th birthday on Oct 12th! We had pizza, presents and a Oreo ice cream cake! Didn't have a party with friends like last year because things were hectic with the move so it was just the 4 of us.

 Opening presents!

She got a LPS toy, Halloween pjs and socks, silly bands and a puzzle!

 

On Samantha's birthday I took the girls to the Sea Life Aquarium in Tempe. There were lots and lots of different kinds of fish! The coolest things to see were the stingrays and sharks! So it was kinda fun but WAY to expensive for a little place at the mall! I think one time is enough for me!

So silly!

In case anyone doesn't know, Silly Bands have become the latest tread amongst kids! They come in all different sizes, shapes and colors! My kids have been begging for some for weeks and I finally gave in and bought them some today. They chose Harry Potter, which is cool I guess but I thought they'd pick something more girly, well knowing them they'll be asking for more. I feel another collection coming on.....yay.

Utah (days 1 and 2)

We arrived in Utah Sat. night just in time to watch the fireworks! We had great seats right in front of the BYU stadium where we listened to Carrie Underwood putting on a concert.

The girls sitting on top of the cougar while waiting for the fireworks to start.

Fireworks!

We were right beneath them! 

On Sunday we went to Temple Square. 

Salt Lake Temple

Kayla and Samantha sitting by the pond at Temple Square

Jana and her fiance Steve, what a cute couple!

Jake and the girls, so many pretty flowers everywhere at Temple Square!

Jake and I next to one of the Joseph Smith statues

More statues of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith

A pretty fountain!

After Temple Square we went to Bountiful to visit with grandma Anderson and eat dinner.

Jake and my dad playing with dad's little helicopter. He was flying that thing every chance he got! I think he's obsessed!

Ben, Mark and Emilee just hanging out

Jillian and Cody taking it easy

Little Jack found some big shoes to walk around in!

Cody and Jillian with their cute baby Joseph posing for a picture on grandma's balcony, the sunset was so pretty, that everyone decided to take a picture!

Samantha didn't want to have her picture taken, oh well it still turned out nice.

Ben and uncle Tyler

Grandma, Randee and dad

Emilee and Mark with their kids Jack and Lucy

My crazy brother Ben!

Our VACAY

Our vacation was originally going to be 2 days in northern Utah for a family reunion with Jake's family and then 3 more days in Orem Utah with my family. But the reunion got canceled so we decided still go to Utah but take our time getting there stopping at some sights along the way.

 

It started on Friday July 2nd with lots of non stop fun! Our first stop was Flagstaff. We stopped there to look around and find out directions to the Lava Tube Cave just north of Flag. After we got a bite to eat we headed to the Lava Tube.  Jake and I were there years ago but didn't remember exactly how it was, but we were told to bring our jackets and flashlights because its pitch black down there, cold and very slippery! Well when we got there, and realized that we forgot to pack good flashlights, we just had 1 ok one and 1 that was about to go out. Well we thought maybe we would be okay and just see how it goes. As we started climbing down which was very rocky and slippery, we decided to not go very far through the tube because it would just be too dangerous for the kids.  So just as we were about to leave, a very nice group of people started climbing out and asked us if we needed some flashlights cuz they didn't need theres anymore. So we said sure and took their flashlights and hiked some more through the tube! Thank goodness for those kind people because the girls loved it!  Well somehow as I was climbing, I banged my left ankle really hard on a rock and it bruised up from above my ankle to the bottom of my foot! I couldn't believe it! Here I was worried about the girls getting hurt, geez! Anyways, when we finished hiking through the tube, my ankle started hurting more whenever I walked and even when I sat down. I knew it wasn't sprained or anything serious, I knew it was just bruised really bad.  Thankfully it started feeling better the next day and wasn't too bad on the rest of our trip to Utah!

We took a picture of us on Jake's camera phone cuz I didn't have our camera with us at the time but he accidently deleted it. So these are pictures off the internet. Yep its just a big hole in the ground!

 Here's the opening of the tube, its bigger than it looks.

 

 Inside the tube! 

Next stop...

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THE GRAND CANYON! 

My first time to the Grand Canyon and I've lived in AZ my whole life! So beautiful!

So Grand!

Jake went when he was a kid and of course it was the girls first time too and they loved it!

Looks like we're standing too close to the edge! Ahhh!

We hiked down to a lower point where we could get a closer look. See those brave people behind Kayla...they hiked down even lower! Not me! I'm not that daring!

 After our oohs and ahhs at the Grand Canyon, we left and got something to eat, looked in a couple of gift shops and then headed to our campsite there at the GC. The girls helping Jake put up our tent, they did a great job!

 Kayla being such a big help to daddy!

 Samantha having fun putting up our tent!

 Inside our tent, Samantha just before bed!

 Kayla just before going to sleep.

 

 On Saturday morning we stopped at another GC viewing point. We are at the top of a old tower and your able to see just how HUGE the GC really is! It looks like it goes on forever and ever!