Another trip to the Cabin

Ok so the pictures are a little backwards but I can't change it. Thank you weird computer! Anyway we made another trip up to the cabin over Labor Day Weekend. Everytime we go it is just so much fun. The weather is ALWAYS beautiful. This weekend was no exception. We arrived just 10 minutes before the rainstorm came in. We got to sit on the porch swings under blankets and listen to the rain. We were able to do games, smores, quad riding, anything relaxing we did it! This weekend we went up with Chris and Jenni Rice, and Derick and Jessica Fringer.

This is what happens when Aaron's in charge of watching all the older kids! At first it just started out with Riley and Tristan on the quad (see pic below), but lo and behold, he can fit 5 on one quad! Such talent babe, I'm very proud of ya! haha!

Earlier we had bought all the little girls coordinating outfits. I loved dressing Raelynn up all warm and cozy for cooler weather! I thought she looked adorable!

This is how it origianally started on the quad. Even just the two of them on there made me nervous, imagine my reaction when I saw all 5!


Our trip to Walmart. A very full truck!! I love having a girl baby right when my friends had theirs.

Hopefully we can go up again soon! One of these days we're not gonna come back from the cabin because it's so darn relaxing and wonderful!

Swimming with the Rices

One of our last swimming days of the summer! Chris and Jenni were in town so we went over to the Kinkade's for a fun day of swimming!! We even took Raelynn in the water for about 5 minutes. She never cried, just kind of looked around.

The Three Amigos!

The boys LOVED going down the slide. Tristan, our accident-prone child, climbed all the way to the top and decided to just LET GO! Down he went hitting half the stairs on his trip down and landed on his butt. It was one of those 'it was hillarious moments, but also sad because your child is crying'.

Aaron just being a dork!

Raelynn and I. She was 8 weeks old.

We got out just in time. As we were picking up pool toys, thunder and lightning started!

Tristan's First Day of Preschool!

Talk about a night and day difference! Tristan was super excited to go to school ever since he woke up this morning!! He did great when we arrived, colored a picture, kinda wandered around while I finished up paperwork. He goes to school with his cousin Braden and I was told by a teacher of his that they were kinda buddy-buddy the whole time which I think is so cute! It was a more relaxed dropped him off so we were able to play around and get some pictures.

Riley's First Day of Preschool!

Nervous does not even explain how I felt taking Riley to school this morning. It had nothing to do with being sad that my little boy is now 4. Unfortunately I was extremely nervous because yesterday at church when I tried to take him to Primary his teacher came to get him from me, he started hitting and kicking her. So you can imagine what's going through my mind. I have no idea what happened but after a quick chat, he gave me a thumbs up and walked through the door. There was definitely fear in his eyes which broke my heart, but he was so brave. When I picked up him up his teachers had nothing but positive things to say about him.

These pictures are after I picked him up:

He had asked me earlier that morning if he went to school without crying if he could have a cookie and my reply was, "honey, if you can go to school without crying, you can have TWO cookies!" So, true to my word, we stopped by a store and I gave him $1.00 and he bought his own cookies. After that we walked over to JC Penny where they're having a HUGE sale and he picked out a pair of fire/flame flip flops for $3.00. We had such an awesome afternoon just celebrating the fact that he didn't throw a fit, nobody was injured and that he had fun and wants to go back!!

We'll see how tomorrow goes with Tristan's first day of school. . .

Slip 'n Slide Fun!

Oh how I LOVE Summer!! A few weeks back we had playgroup at Heather Cook's house and we were told there would be a slip 'n slide. When we got there, we saw this HUGE black tarp that just puts every slip 'n slide to SHAME!! Seriously, I can't believe my friends and I have never thought to do this with our kids! There was an awesome turnout and the boys ran around for hours and still didn't want to go home almost 3 hours later!

Seriously, just look how big this is!

Raelynn was only two weeks old when we went. Niki, I love that you have this camera because it takes great photos! Niki did a little photo shoot of Raelynn for me. Thank you sis!

National Night Out

On Tuesday night we heard about this National Night Out event going on at the fairgrounds. The gym Aaron works at actually had a booth so we went and helped out. His booth had a push up contest which the article below talks about. There was FREE food, which will make any night great! There were firefighters and policemen everywhere so the kids were like in heaven. I didn't take any pictures because I wasn't actually going to blog it, but my good friend Jessica text me today and told me to look at the newspaper online because they had snapped a picture of me feeding Raelynn! So here it is....!


Here's the article from the paper:
August 4th was National Night Out - an event that encourages Police-Community Partnerships, crime prevention, safety and neighborhood unity, Cottonwood was one of 15,000 communities across the country taking part in National Night Out 2009. Highlights from the Cottonwood event included a demonstration from the kids at Tae Kwon Do Unlimited, boxing and Muay Thai demos from Golden Cobra Center of Fitness, free hot dogs and burgers off the grill, demonstrations and booths from all local law enforcement and safety divisions - including a live Taser demonstration and live SWAT team and K-9 enactment.

Cottonwood Police Chief Jody Fanning explained that that no funding for the event came from city offers, instead most of the funds came from cash and property seized in local drug busts.

Undeniably fit Golden Cobra Preston Whitmarsh went on to win the popular push-up challenge by besting the crowd and completing 80 push-ups.

UniSource employee Anna Chavez volunteered to be shot in the back with a Tazer gun by Cottonwood Police Sergeant Gaerth Braxton-Johnson at Tuesday's National Night Out.

Pioneer Day Celebration

Last Saturday we went out to Camp Verde to the Pioneer Day Celebration. It was at this beautiful hacienda-style home with 5 acres of land. Perfect for our whole stake!! My friend, Kylene and her daughter, Alex rode over with us and we met up with the Fringers and Rices.

There was so much for the kids to do. The stake set up live music, crawdad fishing, butter making, hay rides and an amazing dinner with an assortment of desserts! We were in heaven! The boys found their way to the chickens and goats. There was also a fountain with these giant goldfish in them. One of the goldfish was pregnant and it was the funniest looking thing!!

Aaron, the boys and Alex on the hay ride

Ava was such a brave girl crawdad fishing!! Those little things creep me out and she would pick them up like it was nothing!! Riley caught one, Tristan didn't. He was so freaked out anyway I don't think he minded. This was as close as Tristan would get to Ava:

Kylene shaking her baby jar of butter