Olivia's 7th birthday party

We had a great party for Olivia this year.  I think everyone had a wonderful time.  Her party was inspired by our days at the beach this summer.  This pelican was not on the guest list!

After some playing in the water the kids were ready to warm up by the fire and roast hot dogs.  The parents had a wonderful crab chowder. 

Olivia wanted a few friends from church, a few friends from school and the Miners to come.

Here are her school friends, Ally, Olivia, Sophie, and Morgan

We also brought marshmallows to roast! 

The Gardners are always a treat to have around.  I was so sad to hear that they would be moving to Texas.  Andy and Daniel were made for each other. 

Of course, we had to play a little beach football.

And stuff ourselves with marshmallows!

As usual the Miners were a popular treat!

We swam, we ate, we enjoyed friends and the fire and we opened presents.  This has to be the greatest party yet!  It was so relaxing and just a PERFECT day. 

Update on #3

Race Car number 3 is still held in high regards.  I found this setup in Sam's room this morning.  It seems Sam wants all the other cars to know that #3 is the best car!

Good-Things-to-Come

Good-Things-to-Come

Birthday Parties!

It was time once again to celebrate Barbie's birthday because finally all my sisters were in town.  Andrea and Valerie arranged for us to make our own Straw Sandwiches.  They were great.  Even the kids were choosing the rye bread and sauerkraut.  Above is a picture with Barbie and Mike with the grandsons.

 

 

Here are some of the granddaughters.

Happy Birthday, Mom! These desserts sure were yummy.

 After Mom's final birthday party we celebrated Mimi's 90th birthday.  Mimi had her closest family join her for dinner at her favorite Italian Restaurant, La Fontanella.  Her youngest daughter, Sally, was unable to make it out for the celebration.  Below is my Mom's brother, Walter Reed II, with his son, Walter Reed III...aka, Walter and Reed.

 Next we have Reed with his mom, Chris. 

 Here I am with my mom.  We had a nice dinner.  I was full after the yummy appetizers.

 Then Mimi's niece, Lori, and husband came.  Lori's mom is Mimi's sister, Patty.  Lori and my mom are close in age, look similar, and are good friends.  While growing up, many people thought Mom and Lori were sisters.

 Then Todd and Valerie were sitting together.  By the way, if you think we all look so dashing, it is because we just finished taking our family picture.  There were 27 people in the picture; it was quite the task.

 And here is Mimi's sister, Patty, and her husband, Uncle Dick.  Daniel and I were the last to arrive for dinner.  The only 2 seats left were one next to my mom and one next to Uncle Dick.  I just laughed to myself, gave Daniel a kiss and said, "Have Fun!"  Then after dinner Uncle Walter started harassing Daniel about his dinner partner.  You see, Uncle Dick has had a lot of life experiences he loves to share plus he can't hear very well.  So the conversation one has with Dick it totally one-sided.  You end up hearing about all the wonderful things he has accomplished!  But Daniel is very, VERY kind and respectful.  He just sits, listens, and asks more questions.  Daniel is a saint!

 After dinner Kate and Mike W. made Mimi the HUGEST cake I have ever seen not made at a bakery.  It wasn't just some yellow cake mixes thrown together.  It was very impressive.  Mike said it had something crazy like 3 dozen eggs, 5 pounds of sugar and several bags of lemons.  It was a delicious, dense lemon cake. 

Happy 90th birthday, Mimi!  We love you.

First day of school for Sam and Olivia

 We arrived home from Phoenix and 10 hours later Sam's first day of kindergarten and Olivia's first day of second grade began.  Class starts at 8am.  I really like the early start, we will see how the kids do. 

 

Sam was very excited to go.  His teacher is Mrs. Sherman.  She is in Mrs. Engelhardt's room which is the same room Daniel had for kindergarten.  I am sad Mrs. Engelhardt is not at Bubb anymore.

Olivia was very excited to see her friend Sophie, unfortunately they are not in the same room.  Olivia's teacher is Mr. Franklin.  It is said that he is the best 2nd grade teacher and one of the top 2 teachers at Bubb.  All the kids just love him.

Mogollon Rim

When I was younger my dad would always take me camping.  He would come home from work and say, "Barb, I'm going camping with Lindsay." He would gather his things and we would go for an overnight campout.  I always had such a great time.  Usually we would not have a plan as to where we were going, but one camp spot we did visit more often was near Young, AZ.  A campground called Canyon Creek.  The most memorable part is that the road crosses the river. 

So this summer we decided to go camping with the Wilsons, and Mitchells when they arrived.  

Here is Kate and Picco.

We arrived late at night.  After setting up our tents and making a small fire we sat and played guess the prophet game.  It was a great evening.  It the morning the kids went off exploring.  The kids were good at staying together, but we decided Daniel should go with them.  That was a great idea.  The kids got to see a lot and we got the campsite cleaned up.

Aaron was the last to get up.  He always needs his beauty sleep.

Seth was up and helping all around.  I think he feels at home camping.  Seth helped take down the tents, clean up and cook breakfast. 

Here is Lu's breakfast!

This is the whole camping gang.

After we got packed up we headed to the creek to play in the water and then we decided to go see the fish hatchery.

 

This is the famous Road I remember from my childhood.  I loved driving thru the creek.

The boys went way up the river looking for a bunch of somethings.  The water was quite cold!  It took some getting used to.  Kate and I stay with the younger kids hopping rocks near the road.  I love hoping rocks.  I could do it for hours. 

We love Mimi

Every afternoon while Lauren took her nap we would go play cards with Mimi.  A few days we ended up watching the cooking channel.  That was actually very relaxing.  Everyday has been so great.

Happy Birthdays!

As soon as we awoke in Phoenix we headed for a swim in the pool. We love it here more than anything!


After a great morning swim, lunch and a nap Leslie, Kira and MadZ came over for a birthday party for Mom and Lauren. Leslie found a fun cake that was tasty and happy, but more importantly Leslie found chocolate cupcakes, with white frosting and red roses. That was the kind her cake Barb's dad use to have for his birthday. What a fun tradition to try to keep. Here is Barb and Lauren sharing their cake!

Blow girls blow!

We took this opportunity to take a photo shoot with the Mitchell girls.

After our birthday cake celebration with the granddaughters. Then we took Barbie, Mike and Mimi to Pinnacle Peak Patio for dinner. We had a great steak dinner and listened to a country singer on their outdoor patio. The weather was great!


Chloë wanted to go to the bathroom so we went and this is what we found. Cow stalls.... The setting was great, we enjoyed the rattle snake, cacti and saw dust on the ground.

We had a great birthday celebration for Barb and Lauren. I am glad I had her on your birthday, mom. We love to celebrate with you.

Paint with Friends

We have been gone a lot this summer, which I love, but the kids wanted to see their friends. So we had them over the day before we left for Phoenix.


The kids were very creative with their art. I love seeing the kids grow up. Sam and Olivia painted scenes and did some more modern art!