California

We haven't been on a real vacation in years and this year we were able to go on two! Texas in July and then we just got back from California for October Break. Joes sister Dyan and her husband Ryan signed up to listen to a time share thing and got a smokin' deal on a resort in Newport Beach. So their family of 5, our family of 4, and Joes other sister Karrie and her family of 5 (minus Jeremy), all stayed in a 2 bedroom suite together. It was super nice, it had a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, 2 bathrooms, and much more. All we did was go to the beach for 4 days, but it was heaven.

Keelie and Hadlie. It was impossible to get both of them smiling at the same time

the girls-Keelie, Abby, Kate, Annie, Hads, Hannah

All the kids-Jake, Jack, Hannah, Rocko, Abby, Annie, Kate, Keelie, Hads

Keelie buried in the sand

Joe boogie boarding

tough guys

This hole kept Hadlie contained for awhile. She eventually figured how to get out.

Annie, Kate and Keelie digging in the sand

The whole gang

My poor baby

Yesterday the girls were jumping on my bed and Hadlie fell and hit her face on the footboard of our bed. She has a pretty good gash right next to her eye. This was about a half hour after it happened. Joe ran to the store and bought some super glue and we closed it up! I didn't get a picture of it today but it is alot more bruised and swollen. Poor baby girl! Its times like these that we wished the Platts still lived here so we could have taken her to Jeremy and he could have patched her up for us.

Speaking of the Platts, we made a last minute trip up to Prescott Valley on Saturday to visit Joes sister Karrie and her family that just moved up there a few weeks ago. This picture is at Watson Lake. It was fun but we had to stand in the water or else the ants would attack us. There were seriously like a million ants.

A few weeks ago we drove up Tonto Natural Bridge with the Grovers, a family in our ward. We didn't take a ton of pictures because we were just there not to long ago with my sisters family. But this time Joe and Travis took Keelie and Carson farther back under the bridge. This is a cute picture of Keelie and Carson.

Keelie started dance class a few weeks ago. She seems to love it except she won't ever show me anything she learns. She also loves that her cousin Kate is in her class! How cute is she in her leotard and tights!

Reading

This is mostly for my records, but I also wanted to brag about my Keelie Jo a little bit. I try not to brag about my girls to much on here (cuz I know its annoying) unless its their birthday or a special occasion. I think this counts as a special occasion. And if you can't brag about your kids on your own blog, where can you, right? But anyways, I just wanted to have it recorded that Keelie has started to read and she is only 3 years old! She has known her letters and their sounds for awhile now, and can write most of them. The other day she started sounding out the word TAN (there is a tanning salon next to my gym). So the last few days I have been working with her on other 3 letter words, and she is doing so well. She has always surprised me with how fast she catches on to things. And lucky for her she is so smart cuz I am not the best teacher!
This is just a list of the words we were working on yesterday

Texas

We just got back from a super fun trip to Frisco, Texas to visit my sister Stephanie and her family. We did tons of fun stuff, but I will just do a quick summary or this could get really long.
We got there Sat. evening., then went to church Sunday morning.
Monday we went to a childrens museum in Dallas that the kids loved. Then me and Joe and my brother Nate went to the JFK 6th Floor Museum just a few miles away.
Tuesday morning I got to go to my sisters cycle class that she teaches at the gym and got an awesome workout. Then we went swimming at the Frisco Athletic Center. It has a fun kids area, a lazy river, slides, etc.
Wednesday we drove into Oklahoma and went to the wild animal park. It was awesome, you drive your car through and the animals come up to your windows and you can feed them.
Thursday I got to go to my sisters class again, then we took the kids to the dollar movies and saw Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. That afternoon we took the older kids to the beach area at Lewisville Lake. We had fun swimming and building sandcastles.
Friday morning I was able to run to Sam Moon and get myself a new purse/diaperbag before we left on our long drive home.
At the museum

Joe sitting on the grassy knoll outside the JFK museum

There were x's on the road where JFK was shot and Joe stood on it and took a picture of the window from where the shot came.

I snapped one quick picture at the pool before we left.
Keelie, Maci, and Bryce

At the beach

The wild animal park.

the ugliest animal i've ever seen

the ostriches were so pesky. we couldn't get rid of them

for some reason the giraffes were behind the fence. good thing they have long necks!

I think this is the only family shot we got the whole time.

Summer so far

We have had the best summer so far. And we haven't really even gone on vacation yet. We just pretty much relax and go swimming everyday. I'm lucky because Joe is just teaching the morning session of summer school, so I have him home early every afternoon.
Kendal had her birthday party on the 4th of July. It was a princess party so Keelie got to wear her Cinderella dress. They decorated crowns and instead of pin the tail on the donkey they put lipstick on and had to kiss a frog. Keelie insisted on putting the lipstick on herself.



They made a huge slip n slide with a tarp that pretty much covered the whole backyard. These pictures aren't the best but they show the slip n slide pretty good.

This is Hadlie flying across the slide.

These are just some random pictures i've taken lately. We were in the car and Hads couldn't find her pacifier so she improvised by sucking on her big toe. And no, her feet were not clean at all.

Just a picture of my cute girls in their jammies going to bed late again.

Anniversary

Happy 7th anniversary! We celebrated by going swimming with family during the day. Then went to the temple and then to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Its been a great 7 years. I love you Joe!

Summer and Hads

I love summer. Probably because I'm married to school teacher. Joe is teaching the morning session of summer school and then is home by 12:30. We have been swimming everyday since Memorial Day. We bought a family pass to all the Mesa pools and have had fun going to Stapley pool almost everyday. We did try out Shepherd which was fun, but I think I like Stapley better. I am excited to try out some other pools that we haven't been to yet.

Keelie and Kate warming up during a safety break at Stapley

I forgot that I hadn't posted Hadlie's stats from her 12 month dr. appt. This is just for me cuz I like to look back and compare size and stuff with Keelie when she was a year, and for future kids.

weight- 20.3 lbs. 30%

height- 30 1/2 in. 90%

head- 18 in. 75%

What can I say about my Hadlie girl? She is definately more opinionated and fiesty than Keelie ever was. She knows what she wants and is not afraid to scream until she gets it. And forget about trying to take something from her. She will fight you for it! We switched her into a front facing carseat which she doesn't seem to like very much. We are hoping she gets better before we make our 15 hour drive to Texas in July to visit my sister. She does not like church either. She lasts about 15 min. in sacrament meeting before one of us (usually joe) has to take her out for the rest of church. I hope i'm not making her out to be some unhappy baby that cries all the time because she's not. She really is happy most of time. She is definately a daddy's girl. She knows where her nose, toes, ears, head, and bellybutton are. She folds her arms so cutely when we say a prayer. She doesn't like to be left out of anything. If we are playing duck, duck goose with Keelie she is sitting right there next to us. When Joe plays hide-n-seek or tag with Keelie, Hadlie joins in to, which mean Joe holds her while he runs around. Her favorite is to hide in the bed under the covers. She cracks up when someone finds her. Even though Hadlie is a bit of a challenge sometimes, we love her so much and wouldn't trade her for anything. She is our little Hadlie madlie girl!