Rain, Rain, and More Rain

This last week we got more rain than we got in all of 2009 combined. I loved it!! Although, I have realized I could never live somewhere like Oregon (Ben just told me I shouldn't say things like that because then he'll end up getting a job there). I think I enjoyed the rain so much because we would be getting sun again soon. I went out and took pictures of the flooding that we had.

This is the park just down the street from our house.

This is the same park. I took this picture because I thought it was really funny that they still had the sprinklers coming on even though the park was totally flooded.

This is going into the park right next door to our house. The night before I took this the water was clear to the top of the hill but it had soaked in a little bit before I got this picture.

This last picture is the park/wash behind my work. It had turned into a real river instead of an empty wash. Those are ducks down there swimming around in it.

We have lived in Arizona for 4 1/2 years and I have never seen rain like this, even during monsoon season. I took most of these pictures Friday morning. The park down the street from us was completely empty of flooding by Saturday morning when I drove past. Thus are the joys of the rain in Arizona.

Nate's Birthday, Christmas, and our 12th Anniversary all in one Awesome post

Nate turned 11 this year. I can hardly believe that I have a son that old. For birthdays we let the kids pick their birthday dinner. All year, since a visit at Uncle Dan and Aunt Anne's last Christmas, Nate has been telling us that he wanted prime rib for his birthday dinner and molten chocolate cake for his birthday cake. I had kind of hoped that he would forget about it but to no avail. He stayed firm and reminded me of it several times throughout the year. Therefore, Nate got a very awesome birthday dinner. Next year we have informed him he has to have hot dogs or something very cheap.

For his birthday he got a double-sided light saber and he and Jared have been enjoying battling each other.

This year for Christmas it was just our family. We were able to have my sister Becca and her "friend" Nick over for dinner on Christmas Eve, which we really enjoyed. Sorry for those of you looking for pictures I was a slacker and didn't get any of Becca and Nick so you will have to ask Becca for them. On Christmas Eve we always give the kids new pajamas and slippers and then we read the Christmas story and sing some hymns to go along with it. We love this tradition and loved having Becca and Nick come and share it with us this year.

The kids in their new Christmas pajamas.

Christmas morning waiting to come down stairs.

Ben and I have been married for 12 years today. We've had our ups and downs but I would not trade one second of the last 12 years for anything in the world! On Friday night we went out to dinner and then to see Sherlock Holmes. It was a really fun date and I actually really enjoyed the movie. Thanks for a wonderful 12 years. Happy Anniversary Ben!!

Bonnie took this picture of us before we left on our date. This was out on our front lawn. She did a great job.

Mesa Temple Lights

Ben's brother Jake and his family live down in Mesa. Despite the fact they are only 1 hour away it seems to be hard to find time to get together. Thankfully they called us to see if we would like to meet them at the temple to see the lights and we found a time that we were both available.

We loved being with them and seeing the lights for Christmas.

All of the kids in the visitor center. From back to front Bonnie, Gwen, Nate, Hallie, Jared, Brooklyn, and Cameron.

Official

This morning Bonnie looked at the thermometer in the car on the way to school and told me,

"Mom, it is freezing! I will not be surprised if it snows before the day is through."

It was 59 degrees.

Does that make us official Arizonians (is that even a word)?

Zoo

The kids had Veteran's Day off school so I took them to the zoo for a couple of hours. Nate was very excited to go because a new Komodo Dragon exhibit opened today. The zoo has two Komodo dragons and they were pretty cool to be able to see.

We went to visit the Orangutans and there was a very big one hiding under a sheet. The little one kept sneaking up and pulling the sheet off the big one. Finally the big one got irritated enough that he went after the little one who promptly ran to its mom for protection. It was kind of fun and we all really enjoyed being able to see it. This is the little one hiding with her mom.

I took this picture and realized how hard the zoo worked to try and make this exhibit very Africa-like. But no matter how hard they tried I just don't think there are any palm trees in Africa.

Overall we had a fun trip and I enjoyed spending the day with the kids. I am so glad we got a zoo pass so that we can spend a couple of hours every so often and not feel like we have to stay all day to get our money's worth.

Halloween Fun

For Halloween this year we had some fun activities. First we went to the Pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. After looking around for a while my kids picked the biggest pumpkins they could find. They thought it was great fun. I however am 99% convinced that the pumpkin patch people went and bought walmart pumpkins to stock their patch and then charged us 3 times the amount. Next year the grocery store pumpkin patch will be just fine.

Our ward had a fun Trunk-or-Treat on the Thursday before Halloween. Nate was gone to Outdoor Ed for the 5th graders and Ben is in India so I took Bonnie, Jared, and Gwen. I told all the kids that they could be whatever they wanted for Halloween as long as they could make it from what we had here at home. I did offer to buy accessories. Bonnie drew her pirate flag on her shirt all by herself. She is quite a little artist.

For Halloween we had a family party at home. I didn't want to go trick-or-treating cause I just don't really like it, and Jared ended up with strep throat anyway so it worked out well. We carved the pumpkins, made some very cool Halloween food, and watched a Scooby Doo movie. We also turned off the porch lights. We live at the end of a dead end and nobody usually comes down here anyway, but we wanted to make sure.

I love this picture because it shows a lot about my kids personalities. Gwen was still drawing her design for her pumpkin and deciding what would be the very best. Jared is already scooping the seeds out of his because he wanted to be the first one done. Bonnie is carving her pumpkin. She had made the design before the other kids started and took her time drawing her very best on the pumpkin. Nate is drawing his design on his pumpkin after deciding he had to make a design that was "different" from everyone else. Here are the finished products.

Here are the fun foods that we made. Mummies.

Witch fingers

Worms on a bun and moldy bones.

The kids loved our Halloween and I rather enjoyed it myself. I am looking forward to skipping trick-or-treating every year. The trunk-or-treat is plenty good for me.

Catching up for the last month...

Since we last posted things have been kind of fun and crazy for us. It started with Gwen taking a dive off a bunk bed and breaking her arm. This was made bearable by the fact that she got to choose the color of her cast and only had to have it on for 3 weeks. She actually broke both bones; however, she was moving it around fine the night it happened so we didn't take her to Urgent Care until the next day. After taking the x-rays the nurses were very surprised at how much she was still using it. Apparently we better watch her closely she is one pretty tough little girl.

This was followed very soon with Jared being Student of the Month for September. They always do the assemblies at the first of the next month.

Then we continued on to Jared's 7th Birthday. He is getting to be so big. Time has sure flown by. We are so glad to have this guy in our family.

As you can tell he got just what he wanted.

The Raingutter Regatta for scouts came this same week and we got Nate's boat made the night before. We love this activity and would trade it in for the Pinewood Derby any day. Despite the look of this picture Nate did win this race.

We also have been taking a Kung Fu class as a family which we have really enjoyed. We all earned our white belts this month.

So despite our lives being turned a little upside down...

And sometimes feeling completely worn out...

Life goes on without too much wear and tear.