Diamond Backs Game

We got some free tickets to the Dbacks game when we had some maintenance done from Big O Tires. You could only go on certain dates and it turned out we could only attend the game a few days after Ryan's knee surgery. So Brooklyn stayed home with Dad and off we went. I had not been to a MLB game since middle school and was worried about traffic, parking, etc, but it turned out great. Here is Chase Field.

We parked only blocks away and we went into the bless-ed air conditioned stadium.(It was about 110 degrees outside and 74 inside) We were up in the nose-bleed section, but we didn't care. We had fun just the same.

After about an hour the kids were fidgety, so we walked out to go to the kid area with an indoor playground. The mascot just happened to be taking pictures with fans right by our section.

This picture is hilarious to me. We saw this player (name?) hit a home run, so we thought it would be fun to get a picture with his cutout. Sadie got mad for some reason...? We see this body language often from our princess. And then there is Boston oblivious to everything.

After playing on the playground for a bit we decided to leave. It was a very pleasant experience and I was so glad the tickets were free so we didn't feel obligated to stay or have an agenda. I loved having a little date with my cute kiddos.

Utah Trip

I was grateful that my sister decided to get married in June. It was the perfect excuse to escape the heat. It was lovely returning home, but it also felt strange because so much had already changed in the 6 months we had been gone. It was a very relaxing trip and we did all sorts of fun stuff. Unfortunately, very little is documented here in pictures. A series of unfortunate events transpired that caused me to lose about 6 weeks worth of pictures over the summer. First, my camera phone and iphoto no longer can communicate to upload pictures. Second, my alternate photo storage area ran out of free storage capacity. Lastly, Brooklyn destroyed my phone. She rendered it completely inoperable so I lost all of my contacts, pictures, etc. Here are the (way too few) pictures I was able to bum off other people:

This crazy lot is just my parents, siblings and their families. I LOVE these guys!

Just my siblings

I look like a giant, but really I was just wearing tall shoes.

Cute cousins. Sadie, Payton, and Jessica

We couldn't forget Brooklyn in there!

We were able to see just a precious few friends while we were in Utah. Most of the week was dedicated to family/wedding stuff. Here is Sadie's best little friend, Sophie and Christopher.

We were able to go to Jordanelle lake with all my family for a day of relaxation and fun.

Playing games after the wedding was full of laughter.

We also got to see our cutie patutie neighbors, the Browns.

Geez Louise! I'm feel homesick just posting about all this. I FREAKING miss all you wonderful people!

I can't even handle all this cuteness...

Birthday Weekend

We had a lot of events Memorial Day weekend. Sadie had her Kindergarten graduation to start it off. I have previously mentioned how I think the whole "graduation" idea is ridiculous. Celebrating mediocrity is kind of silly. Well that didn't keep me from feeling like a putz when I got Sadie to school and she was the only one in casual attire in her whole class. No one mentioned dressing up, but there they were in their fancy dresses. Oops. Other parents had balloons and/or flowers for their little 'graduate'. In my behalf, I am still new to this whole school thing. I wonder if it is just a big deal in Arizona? Either way I love having an end of year program for each grade. That part was super cute. Here are Sadie and Aiden

We had been working on a pinata for Sadie's birthday for a few days. She loves Hello Kitty and I thought that was simple enough for us to make.

The final product

The day after the graduation, we left for California to visit Ryan's sister Stefanie and her family. They invited a bunch of friends and family over for a barbecue that evening. It was so fun to see them.

It was quite chilly and overcast in the morning. Our plan was to go to the beach. I thought we should borrow some jackets because I didn't pack any. Lucky for us the weather was super mild even with it overcast all day. It was the perfect weather for me.

These two are about 8 months apart

Ryan found a crab to show the kids.

We had a packed lunch and the kids spontaneously sat like this.

After the beach, we went to The Pizza Port for dinner and then stopped at an awesome park for the cake, gifts, and pinata. Sadie is hugging her cousin, Kelsey because she poked her finger on a Hello Kitty badge.

We forgot to bring a bat, so we improvised with a golf club. Ryan and I laugh at the thought of where the whole idea of pinatas came about. (I know! Let's give small children a weapon of some sort and then blind fold them! What a great idea!) I imagine so many people get injured during this tradition, but luckily we were spared any injury.

Here is Dylan

Kelsey's turn

The super cool park

I also brought sparklers too, but it was a bit too windy towards the end of the evening. So we skipped to presents.

It was such a great trip even though it was super short. We have missed Jesse and Stefanie a ton. Of course Sadie and Boston were in heaven playing with their cousins. Until next time...

May Stuff

Brooklyn is starting to mimic behaviors more and more. It is so cute to watch her figure things out. We get a special kick out of her every family home evening. Whoever is conducting knows that there will be a little shadow following along. She loves to stand with her back to the entertainment center and jabber while the person conducting speaks. Then she leads the music and folds her arms as shown here:

Brooklyn can be a bit of a menace when it comes to Boston. She teases him relentlessly and she knows just how to push his buttons.

We finally went hiking in the Thunderbird "Mountains" nearby. We found that a 9 am start time was too hot but it was still fun. We saw a chuckwalla that was about 2 feet long. He was huge.

When we drove up to hike, we ran into the new temple that is under construction. We are excited that it is only 15 minutes north of us. It is a small temple. You can sort of see it in this picture, but only if you know what you are looking for.

My honey gave me just what I wanted for Mother's day...a night without the kids! We haven't been on too many dates since moving. This was so much fun. We found a pretty authentic Japanese restaurant.

The food was divine...and so was my company. :)

Crappy phone camera illustrated here.

Another funny thing that Brooklyn loves to do is hide. She regularly sits under the bar and puts the stools in front of her. She also likes to sit in Daddy's clothes. Anything that creates a small alcove for her seems to be ideal. I just adore her little personality.