Cousin Reese's Birthday!

We were invited to a Harries Birthday celebration for my 3rd cousins Grace Reeb and Reese Morgan (my Dad's cousin's children).  It was a picnic at Picacho Peak Park (halfway between Phx and Tuscon -where some of the family live).  We ditched out of church after Sacrament meeting so we could make it, and it was a beautiful day to be outdoors (67 degrees).

The kids spent most of the time playing a game called "Cherry Bomb" on this spider thing.

 I got to visit with my Dad's Aunt Amanda, cousins Amy, Beth, and Bill, and their spouses/ kids.  

They are a great family and we really enjoy spending time with them. 

My Reese loves his cousin Reese!

Snow!

I got this snow suit 75% off last spring at Gymboree, hoping to make a trip to Flagstaff to do the Polar Express this winter, but it looks like that isn't going to happen.  So when I got an e-mail that the Gilbert Town Center was having a free snow day -and it happened to be on a Saturday I had off, I was super excited! What they do is haul in snow from Fagstaff in a big truck, then they pile up a bunch of hay bales and dumped the snow on top, forming a little hill. Then all the kids go crazy until it's all melted. Someone from a snowy-state would think we were all nuts ;)

This was Grayce's first time seeing snow, and it couldn't have been a nicer day!

(75 degrees) 

 

Reese loved climbing to the top of the hill, and then seeing how long he could balance there before someone bumped him off and sent him sliding back down the hill.  While Hayden, Grayce, and I checked out some of the other activities, Reese kept an eye on us from this vantage point. 

Hayden was a good sport going around to all the booths with me.

The Great-Clips booth had red and green hairspray, which is why 

Hayden's hair looks green in one of the snow pics.

When the (grouchy) Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, 

Hayden got so nervous he said, "Uhhhhh, I don't know!"  

Christmas Pictures

On a fine Sunday afternoon I dressed the kids up in these cute matching pj's (from Gymboree), and we drove around the neighborhood until we found the perfect orange tree for me to take some pictures of the kids in front of. 

My Mom gave me her old camera when I was attempting to win that last contest, and I love it! While it's still not as nice as a lens camera would be, it is so much sharper and clearer that my last camera was.

I think the final product turned out pretty good! 

We had a lot of fun.  I pretended like a bottle of hairspray was attacking me to get their attention and smiles. It worked great till I accidentally sprayed myself in the eye.  I only had a few drops in a water bottle to try and rinse it with and so I just kept wiping it till it stopped burning.  A kid rode by on his bike and nearly crashed when he glanced at me.  When I looked in my rear-view mirror I realized I had mascara smeared all over the left side of my face.  All totally worth it for some good pics!

Thanksgiving

The Wed before Thanksgiving, Edward called me and told me we were closing on the sell of a house we'd been renting in the west valley, and to meet him at the Title company to sign papers right after work.  The Title company was way up in north Phoenix, so when we finished up I got to thinking...if I headed straight to Page from there...it'd shave an hour off our trip and I wouldn't have to fight traffic getting out of Phoenix later.  So we said farewell to Edward (he has to work Thanksgiving since Wal-mart-black-Friday is now Thursday evening) and I loaded up the kids and headed out.  I was still in my scrubs and we didn't have toothbrushes or anything.  I called my Mom and she hit up the local Page thrift store for some warmer outfits for us, and the store for toothbrushes and diapers for Grayce, and I stopped in Anthem and bought myself a pair of pants.  

Brian & Sarah and little James were in Page for Thanksgiving too, and my parents invited a few widowers over for dinner as well, Brother Palmer, his son, and Reba Jones.  It was great visiting with everyone.  We went on a few hikes with Uncle Buzzy & Uncle Brian, and I played a great game of Scrabble. 

Friday morning my Dad followed us out of town, he was headed fishing at Lees Ferry, and we were headed home.  We all stopped at the-cut and spent an hour at the sand dunes.  This is the kids favorite spot to come to.  They can run as fast as they want, and not worry about tripping or falling over anything but soft sand.  It's like a toddlers haven.  All that red sand and blue sky does my heart good. 

As we passed back through Anthem we saw they had the giant Christmas tree up so we stopped for a closer look.  The kids saw a sign for the new Disney Moana movie and begged to go.  So we called Edward and asked him to meet us at the theatre (he was enjoying his day off at a car show in downtown Phx).  Saturday I made Edward a Thanksgiving dinner and got all caught up on laundry.  I know that seems like a weird detail to include -laundry -but it's a big deal to me.  I only ever get caught up on laundry a few times a year.  And I'm never really technically completely caught up if you count the basket of socks that I never have time to sort.  We all just rummage through it till we find a match to wear for the day.  If only I had a four day weekend every month, I could fit all the fun and work I want/need to do into my schedule ;)

Photo Contest

Several years ago I won a Christmas photo contest from Gymboree with this gem:

 I received a $2500 gift card which has been great for buying baby gifts as well as clothes for my own kids. 

So when I got an e-mail for another photo contest, I decided to give it a try.

This contest was for Uncle Ben's Rice, and you needed to display one school aged child, and their parent, cooking together, or with the finished (cooked) product.  The contest ran for several weeks and you could enter a photo a day so these were the pictures I submitted.  

I made it to the final round with one of my photos in the top 25 -there would be 5 grand-prize winners, giving me a 20% chance of winning.  And of course, out of all my submissions, they chose prob my least fav one:

 I teased Edward that they picked this one cuz he looks kinda like Uncle Ben himself here ;)

In the final round, you needed to get on-line votes for your photo, so we spread the word through the neighborhood, social media, and Reese's school (The grand-prize winners won $15,000 for themselves, and a $30,000 makeover for the child's school cafeteria -so Reese's school was excited about the possibility as well).

We didn't win, but it was fun nonetheless.  And Uncle Ben's sent all the 25 finalist this cooking set, cook book, and a $100 gift card to Safeway/Albertson's.  So in the end I won something (though not quite the same as $15,000 lol).