Project Life | Week 33

Week 33 | The week started off by celebrating Grandpa Vern's 80th birthday. The whole family showed up and celebrated this precious man's life. We love our Grandpa Vern dearly. It is such a blessing to see our children interact with their great grandfather. I hope that they will always remember him and get more opportunities to be around him.

This week we traveled back home. I included a photo that Carol took of Landon applying makeup all over his face to make him a Ninja Policeman. Taylor has a new front pack for her baby. She loves to carry her dolls around everywhere in that thing! It is so cute. And to top of our week, our baby boy turned three! It is so hard to believe my littlest is really no longer a toddler...he is becoming a big boy!

Project Week | Week 32

Week 32 captured our road trip to Colorado. We spent 4 full days there and enjoyed every minute of it. The weather was gorgeous and being with family was awesome. I captured some great photos of the kids with their great grandfather. This trip was all about Grandpa Vern who was turning 80.

Taylor has two best friends in Colorado: Sydney and Faith. Sydney is uncle Tim and aunt Vickey's family dog. Ever since our visit last Thanksgiving, my kids have been enamored with this dog. Taylor would just lay on the floor next to Sydney and pet her. I find this interaction to be precious! Taylor's other best friend (besides her cousin Laila) is Faith (her second cousin). Faith is a couple of years older, but they get along well.

Ryland Turns 3 | Photo Shoot

Interview with my 3-year-old | Ryland

I like to interview my kids around their birthdays to document them at their current stage of life. Here are some of the answers Ryland gave me today.

Favorite TV Show | Team Umizoomi
Favorite Food | Pizza
Favorite Song | Old MacDonald
Favorite Animal | Lions & Tigers
Favorite Movie | Thomas & Friends
Favorite Color | Orange
Favorite Number | 4
Favorite Nickname | Monster
Favorite Toy | Monster Trucks
How Many Blankies Do You Have? 3
Who Do You Love? Grandma
Favorite Memory | Circus

Summer of 2012

Yesterday was technically the last day of summer for us. The kids start school on Monday. Ryland and Landon will be in preschool, and Taylor will enter into all day kindergarten. Another big milestone for our growing family!

I've been thinking about our summer and how we spent our days...the good and the bad. Although we had some lows, the good days definitately outweighed the bad ones. My kids had a wonderful summer and say they aren't ready for school to start yet. But I know once Monday rolls around, they will be super excited to see their friends and teachers again.

Here is how we spent the summer of 2012.

• First visit to the circus
• swim lessons
• 4 beautiful days in San Diego with the Mac Pack
• summer movie fun every Friday at Harkins Theaters
• Checked out the Arizona Science Center with our babysitter Brianna for the first time.
• family movie nights
• VBS at Cross of Glory
• speech evaluations for Landon
• countless days at Grandma's house
• pool time
• minor fender bender -- rear ended
• Wet 'n' Wild
• Hank looking for a new job
• road trip to Colorado for Grandpa Vern's 80th birthday

This summer we purposefully took a break from activities like dance and karate. The idea was to keep our summer simple. As I look at the list above, we still had a pretty busy summer with lots of fun activities and special memories were made.

Lots of changes are on the horizon. I am super excited to see our story continues to unfold.

Project Life | Week 31

My parents came over Sunday evening to spend the night and watch the kids for me the next day while I worked. Luckily on Sunday evening, we had a little bit of rain. My kids, due to Opa's prompting, went outside to play in the rain. I caught this cute photo of Ryland enjoying the downpour. Taylor's dance photos came in this week too so I included them in the layout. The beginning of the week was all work, but the rest of the week was all play! Early Wednesday morning, the kids and I drove to San Diego to stay with our sweet friends --the Mac Pack. Wednesday evening, we packed a picnic dinner and ate on the lawn at Seaport Village. The kids loved the boats, planes and helicopters nearby. It was a fun night for sure and the weather was insanely awesome...we wore jackets!

Thursday morning, a new photographer friend was in San Diego as well as was taking photos of families. Carrie and her sweet family had their photos a few days before ours and they turned out fabulous. I was excited to see ours too! This is one of the few photos that Ace posted...the rest are still to come. This has to be my absolute favorite photo of my children. I can't believe these kids are mine!

On the back of the 8x10 photo of the 3 kids, I blew up this cute one of Ryland walking on the beach. He loved the ocean!This particular photo was taken at La Jolla Cove and it was probably the best beach we took our kids to. 

Friday, we headed to Coronado Island--the ultimate vacation spot for families. Carrie invited Amber and her two girls to join us. I met both Carrie and Amber at NAU. They are precious women! So this last page includes photos at the beaches we visited and a family photo (minus Hank) at a park down the street from Carrie's parents house. This vacation worried me a little with the traveling alone with three little kids and single momming it for 5 days straight. I was worried I would be so tired. I have to say, this vacation was probably one of the best memories of our summer. Carrie and her kids are so easy to be around and we love this family dearly. All I can say {again} is that no matter what, we are blessed beyond measure!