Trick-or-Treat

Another photo album by Smilebox

Museum Fun

Make a free scrapbook

Labor Day

The summer gets long in Arizona, but heading up to Payson gives us a little break from the heat. We went to Woods Canyon Lake for a little hike and it was only 77 degrees! The kids mostly enjoyed playing by the water, while Brooklyn liked eating the mud.

Strike a pose!

We took the kids to Home Depot for a free activity. They built message boards.

Hard at work

While we were at the lake we saw the mama bald eagle across the lake while one of her babies (21 weeks old I was told) was squawking at us in a tree above. It was a fun weekend with family!!

Coeur d'Alene

I went on a girls trip to Coeur d'Alene, ID in August and had a blast. We stayed at MJ's lake house right on the water. The weather was perfect! Above we are enjoying our delicious homemade ice cream that was huge (and cheap)!

On the dock ready for another trip on the boat.

Our ride for the weekend, aka "The Beast"

The view from our porch. So beautiful!

Dobson Babies

Well, it has been over a month since my last post and so much to catch up on! Jordan, Gena and Amber came over for breakfast back in August with all of our kiddos (except Kaya who is in 1st grade and had to be at school). It was so fun to catch up with the girls and see all the kids. Above is Amber with Gena's baby Derek. Gena with Amber's youngest, Cassidy

The kids lined up from oldest to youngest. (You should have seen the performance of 7th grade Prep Chorus songs with dance moves that was going on to try and get the kids to smile. I think they were in shock instead! I am not sure this is the best one, but just picked one)

RJ and Brooklyn

Sadie and RJ working away

Back To School

It is that time of the year.....back to school. Colton started his 4's preschool class today. He was happy to go, but it really didn't seem like a big deal to him. He didn't seem nervous or overly excited, just happy to go "play".

Brooklyn was enjoying watching her big brother take pictures.

So handsome!

His teacher this year is Mrs. Flores. I think it will be a great year! I can't wait to see how much Colton learns and grows during this school year.

Staycation 2011

Each summer we try to do a "staycation" with the Eslick's and the Murphy's. We find a place that has a fun pool for the kids and this year we picked the JW Marriott in Scottsdale. The kids enjoyed the lazy river, water slide, water sprayers and just playing together in the water. Brooklyn LOVED going down the water slide with Mommy. She has no fear in the water!

Snack time is also a big hit at the pool.

The four boys had so much fun together!

Good thing Jessica is having a baby girl so that Brooklyn has a friend to do some "girly" things with. The adults had a great time too. Two of the grandma's came over to babysit all the kids while we went to dinner on the Marriott property. It was nice to enjoy a good meal with our friends. We are looking forward to next summer when we can do it again!!

Hall of Flame

I some how managed to break my camera last weekend, so I can't upload my pictures. I am using s few pictures from a friend, but unfortunately I can't get some of my favorites....yet. I took the kids to the Hall of Flame for a special water fun day that PBS was sponsoring. Some of the fun things the kids were able to do were: use fire extinguishers to put out a real fire, pump water, shoot a target with a real fire hose, climb on a fire truck, dress up, and slide down a fire pole.

Colton and Cody pumping waterThis was just a small hose the kids could play with. There was a big one that a fire fighter helped Colton aim. I know he doesn't look super excited in this picture, but it is all I have now and I promise, he did have fun!

Of course, Brooklyn liked the dress up part!! Such a girl!

Why do we LOVE Payson?

We try to go up to Payson on the weekends during the summer when we can. My parents spend most weekends there, enjoying some "cooler" weather. Here are some of the things we LOVE about going to Payson....

Concerts in the park. (And wearing long sleeves in July!)

Meeting Justin Bieber at the store! Ha ha! The girls really wanted a picture.

Riding our bikes, especially going up "the beast"

Climbing rocks at the park

Swinging on the porch

Hiking with all the cousins

Eating outside on the deck! We don't have plans to go up there in the coming weeks, but hopefully we can make it up there again soon!

Race Cars & Water

Colton had a great race car themed birthday party to celebrate turing 4......

Lots of sweet treats for the birthday boy and his friendsBrooke, Cade and Bridgot

Painting wooden race cars

Slip-n-slide races

Colton and Jackson ready for a battle! Thanks to all of our friends and family that came to celebrate our birthday boy! We missed all of you that were out of town.

The Big 4!

Special birthday breakfast.....cinnamon roll!! (He actually opened a few new cars in the morning, so only ate a few bites because he would much rather play!)

My last minute attempt at a race car cake with whatever supplies I had on hand. Was planning on just a simple cake for our family dinner, but the birthday boy wanted "a car cake with toys on top", so I did what I could to deliver. He was happy, so that is all that matters!! I can't believe our little man is already four years old. Colton is such a sweet boy and we love him so much. We are very blessed to have such a fun and loving little boy.

Let's try it again!

So it has been a year since I posted anything on our blog. I follow lots of other blogs, but have not been motivated to keep mine up to date. Here I go again, I am going to try to get back to it and update it often. Leave some comments and it might keep me motivated to continue posting!!

4th of July

We spent the holiday weekend up in Payson trying to escape some of the summer heat. Saturday it was 118 degrees in the valley, so 95 degrees didn't seem too bad in the mountains. Especially with shade and some afternoon rain, it was delightful! The cousins had a great time playing together too. We ate most of our meals out on the deck, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Brooklyn was trying to keep up with the big kids and made it up this rock by herself (with mom behind, just in case!)! She loved the park and had Kylie as her "helper" everywhere she went. During the day we went to the park and let the kids jump in the bounce house, go down the big inflatable slide (the favorite!!), and participate in some races. We were ready for the concert in the park and of course....fireworks!! Both of the kids enjoyed the fireworks, even though they had to stay up past their bedtime to watch them. We got a few sprinkles on our heads before the show began, but we got lucky that the storm passed us and allowed us to have a great 4th of July in the park.