Rainy Day = Adventure

We were greeted by a huge rain storm this afternoon. Madi thought it was the greatest thing to play in. It had wonderful, huge drops and everything. It was warm, but not hot. It also cooled us down to about 70-80 degrees. Fabulous! Well, it caused everything around us to flood temporarily. It brought out tons of frogs... or toads.

We decided to go on a hunt. We walked around in the ankle deep water and found at least 5 frogs. We also found where they were gathering and making a huge ruckess. What fun!

True Happiness

We went to the Children's Museum of Phoenix while Lolly was here. The kids had a great time. Here's the proof . . .

Bennion Family Reunion

(this is the shirt from the reunion)

Our Bennion (my mom's side) Reunion was cram packed with fun activities. Unfortunately my camera died and I didn't get a lot of pictures.

First and most importantly, I learned how to make my great grandmother's fudge. I'm pretty excited about this one. I wasn't able to eat any due to my gallstone situation. Carson and the kids verified it turned out fabulous by inhaling 1/2 the batch in just a few minutes. I'll have to make some soon as to not forget everything.

We also had a pie bake-off. What a fun thing. I think we ended up with 15 different kinds of pie. Mine didn't win, but Carson tells me it was delicious. (I made Paula Dean's chocolate toffee pie, the 4th pie down)

The entire reunion was 1940's theme. They played old games, held a family pinewood derby, and had 1940's makeovers. I wish I would have got some pictures of my cousins makeovers. Their makeup and hair were perfect.

The other "super" fun thing we did, was have a "Super Hero Day." Being that we literally moved 4 days prior to this trip, I wasn't able to prepare to much for my kids costumes. For Madi, we pulled out some old scarves at my mom's & they turned out great!

For Cal, my sister-in-law, Brandielle, has 2 onsies for her son, Gibs. She was nice enough to let Cal borrow one for the day. Cal was Batman while Gibs was Superman.

The super heros gathered outside and played old games like Simon Says and Red Rover. They also had a great battle consisting of marshmellow guns. (PVC pipe used tyo shot mini marshmellows at each other)

All in all it was a great runion.

"Happy Owl Birthday"

We made these fabulous cupcakes for my sister's birthday. It was great fun! And the cake was chocolate while the frosting was peanut butter and cream cheese! DELICIOUS!

I hope you had a Happy Birthday, Lolly. We loved having you here!

We Love You!

Fishing

(Josie's House. Isn't it pretty. I know, everyone wishes they had one. We do.)

Carson was all about "fish" on our trip to Oklahoma. He wanted to make sure he was able to take Madi out to eat fish and he want to make sure he got to take her fishing. So, there was a "guys afternoon out." All the boys and Madi went to a hole-in-the-wall fish and steak shack. All the girls went to Panera Bread Co. Yum! Yum!

Then while at Josie's, we spent one whole day fishing in her pond. It turned out to be a blast! And those of us that stuck it out the whole day got toasted, even though it was cloudy.

At first we weren't catching anything, until Carson ditched the store bought fake bait and caught a grasshopper. Instant success! He had the first catch of the day. What a rush of excitement.

Carson later caught a large mouth bass.

We now knew what the fish would eat. So we set down our poles and went grasshopper hunting. The funniest part was that Carson took off his shirt and used it to try to catch grasshoppers. It worked twice.

Once we had our bait, I immediatly caught my first fish! I was so excited! I've been fishing one other time that I can think of and I only caught one fish. In this one day, I caught 6 fish! It was so fun!

We even convinced my dad to come out to the pond for a little bit and he caught one as well.

Madi ended up catching quite a few fish, but she didn't want to get to close to them. I don't blame her, I didn't want to either.

It was a pretty fun day at Josie's we ended it with a bang... literally. Carson lit off a bunch of fireworks.

Fun with Family

So we, about 1 week ago, got back from a trip to Oklahoma and Missouri. We spent much time with my family and had a fabulous time. First, we met my sister Laura (Aunt Lolly) in Flagstaff. She then rode with us all the way to Oklahoma. It was great fun!

Once in Oklahoma, we got to spend time wuth my immediate family. Not everyone, but those I don't get to see very often.

This is Gibs and Cal. Gibs is my brothers son. He was born the day after Cal. What fun for cousins. I also was one day apart from a cousin. We were best friends growing up.

We only stayed at my parents' house a few days. Then we were off to my sister's (Josie) house. She lives roughly 1/2 way between my parents' and grandparents' house. We were at here house for 2 nights and had super fun. (see the fishing post for details). After Josie's, we headed to Missouri for a huge family reunion. (it was my mom's side of the family) We had a great time and got to see tons people.

After the reunion, we headed for home. Lolly came back to our house, where we got to celebrate her birthday (see the owl post) and have a fun outing.

We had such a fun vavcation! Now back to the real world, cooking and cleaning, oh yeah, and unpacking.

It rained almost everyday we were gone. We loved it. We endured the bugs and humitity. While we loved and lounged in the rain and greenery. It's true that you don't realize what you had until it's gone. We miss the green.