Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! May you have a happy, safe and blessed day!

December Dune Trip

I know these posts may seem weird to some of you who don't understand the significance and greatness of the dunes (because you've never experienced them for yourselves) but we have SO MUCH FUN! We look forward to these monthly trips because we truly have an awesome time as a family when we go. Here are a few pics from our last trip.

Thanksgiving @ Pobieglo's

We celebrated with Mike's family on Black Friday! All though it was not a black day for us! We had a great time with everyone. Mike parents are truly wonderful people, I can't imagine my life without them. They are so loving and giving, especially with their grandkids. Mike's brother, Scott and his wife Lindsay have a sweet little girl, Sara. She is getting so big and becoming such a fun little girl! We love you all!

Thanksgiving @ Cronin's

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family on Thanksgiving Thursday. We had a great time and so did the kids! We all ate too much and the kids were wild, but what's new??

We hope that you and your families were able to be together and give thanks for all of the many wonderful things that we are blessed with.

Our Niece, Sara

Every time Sara goes for a ride in my Rhino (like a golf car on steroids with a full roll cage and backseat) she goes to sleep! On this particular ride she was drooling and was slumped over. It was pretty funny!

She also likes to ride on or in anything with a motor! She convinced Uncle Mike to ride her around on her cousin Carlee's quad. Sara can steer but she's not strong enough to push the throttle by herself.

Dune Season!

Dune season has started! For those of you who don't know what that means...our family goes to the dunes (in California off of I-8) many, many times between November and March. It is such a fun family activity. We get to spend 4 days together, as a family once a month, with no telephone, no satellite tv, no computer, no errands and no other interruptions! It's a nice break and we look forward to this time of year. Enjoy the pics!

Pumpkin Carving with Carlee

Carlee's pre-school class did pumpking carving in class. All the parents were invited and we had to bring a pumpkin. The kids had to draw the face using shapes and the parents had to carve them. It was interesting trying to carve Carlee's. She drew eyes, eye brows and eye lashes then a nose and a mouth. Needless to say it only had eyes...mom's not very good at carving difficult patterns! We read spooky stories, had treats, made jack-o-lantern paper bag puppets and sang songs. It was really fun spending the morning with Carlee.

Halloween Parties

We went to 3 different Halloween parties in 2 days! We went to my dads Real Estate office for trick-o-treating, a Haunted House and potluck dinner. Here are a few pictures of Carlee and her cousin Audrey and Aunt Nicole with Olivia. Next we went to the daycare Carnival of my niece, Sara. That was a lot of fun with games like, Cake Walk, Ring Toss, Arts & Crafts, decorate your own pumpkin, Pin the nose on the Jack-o-lantern and more food! We had such a great time with everyone. Thanks for inviting us along! The third party was a pumpkin carving and potluck dinner at some friends house who we know from the Fire Department. Do you think I remembered to take any pictures?? NO, I was busy talking of course!

Schnepf Farms

We went to Schnepf Farms last weekend with the kids. We hadn't been since Carlee was a baby and let me just say...this time it was a lot more fun! Mike's brother, Scott and his wife Lindsay and our niece, Sara, also went. We had a great time and the kids were worn out. They did rides, ate food, picked pumpkins and just ran around.

Zoo

We took Logan, Carlee and our niece, Sara, to the zoo a couple weeks ago. It was really fun. Sara is 18 mos. and starting to recognize animals and say their names. When you would ask her what animal it was she would tell you and do the sound the animal makes. She was so funny! This is always one of our favorite things to do with the kids.

Couple more pics...

Here are a couple more cute pictures of Carlee from Dance class.

Sometime I'll have to sneak in and take a couple while she's actually doing something!

FYI...

Thanks to everyone who has been checking on Mike. He is healing very well and is now in the "going stir crazy" faze of his recovery. He is 6 weeks post-op. If all goes well he'll be back on shift after Christmas. He was a little perturbed that I posted about his ACL injury/surgery and asked that I remove it from the blog. So, me being the nice wife that I am, removed it under much duress and much, much arguing. However, I just wanted to give an update to let everyone know he's getting better everyday!

Dance

Carlee started dance this week at Jeanne's School of Dance. SHE LOVES IT! What little girl wouldn't, right? She is in the Beginning Combo class. 25 minutes of tap, 25 minutes of ballet and 10 minutes of tumbling. She goes to class on Mondays. What do you think her first question is on Tuesday mornings? "Mom, how many more days until I get to go to dance again?" Boy does it make for a long week! I get to hear her "practice" everyday too..."shuffle, shuffle, toe-back", she's absolutely adorable! I'm glad she is having a good time and getting to do something of "her own".

Soccer

Logan started Soccer with AYSO again. His first game was on Saturday, September 15th. He loves it and has a really great time. Mike is the assistant coach (since he got hurt he couldn't be the head coach). The head coach, Coach Ron, is an awesome coach. Their team is pretty good and they play really well together. GO TIGERSHARKS!

First Grade

Logan started First Grade this year at Red Mountain Ranch Elementary. I know, I know...a tank top for the frist day of school? I had different clothes picked out for him. However, when we woke up that morning there was a Heat Advisory and Heat Warning for the day. They suggested people not go outside unless they had to and to dress accordingly. I wasn't sure if he would have recess outside and I didn't want the poor kid to croak on the first day of school! The joys of living in Arizona and starting school the second week of August!! I have since learned that on days when it is extremely hot they keep the kids inside for recess. THANK GOODNESS! His favorite subjects are recess and lunch! Go figure! He does like his teacher too and knows several kids in his current class that were in his Kindergarten class last year. He is doing well and reading a lot! He is getting really good at math too!

Princess Party

Carlee got to attend her first Princess Party. The Mia Maids from the ward threw a Princess Party for all the girls in the ward under 8. All the girls had to wear their best Princess dress! They had punch & cookies, got to decorate their own crowns or wands, play games, get hair & make-up done and sing! It was a lot of fun once Carlee got into it. She played shy when I tried to drop her off but when I came back to get her she was having a great time and didn't even notice me.