Pictures

So i finally uploaded pictures since like Easter so here you go. I always like to see pictures of people on their blog so I hope you don't mind all of them. I had like almost 300 I had to upload. It took forever. So I apologize for the picture overload.

Chad IS 17 again! 18 months of kissing metal for me. He was a little bummed to get them a second time. Like 7 years wasn't bad enough the first time. I made him grow out the goatie so that he didn't look like he really was. Although he does not look 33.

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Easter - The girls found their baskets Easter morning. After church the Easter bunny had brought eggs and hide them in the front yard. (We thought it a little odd, because we didn't even dye any eggs this year). We found that our neighbor Don had brought a few for the girls. It was fun to have them look for them. We also took a few pictures of in the back yard after church. I had fun doing Savannahs hair that day. Savannah was our photographer of the picture of Chad and i.

Savannahs Preschool Field Trip - Savannah's Preschool had a field trip to the Phownix zoo. They had an extra special treat by having a private viewing of some of the animals: snake, hissing roach, owl, ferret thing, huge toad.. The kids had a lot of fun. They got to play in the new splash pad cave area and I think that was the biggest hit. My friend Raschell came with us too. Savannah wants to work at Disneyland someday too because of her, but only if she can work with Raschell. Horray for Miss Holly. It was so much fun!!

Girls Trip to California - I have to say it was kind of nice to get to be away from the kids. I did feel a little guilty about going to Disneyland without the kids but we would be back in 2 weeks for Savannahs birthday so I thought it would be okay. We hit disney, of course, then shopping, the Newport Beach temple, church and home. I thought the temple was beautiful. Although we did not do a session, it was fun to walk the grounds after church. It looked so much like a Spanish Mission or something. I did really love that it was not white though. Made it unique. It was fun to hang out with the ladies. I still need to pull out of my shell a bit more since they are all a lot more outgoing than I. But fun none the less.

Preschool Graduation - I can't believe Savannah is a preschool graduate. She is getting so big. But I have to say I am just as excited for kindergarten as she is. It will be great. Her graduation was so sweet. They said the pledge and did a few of the things they do for their normal morning routine. We watch a little slide show of their year and it was so cute the things the kids said. They all got up to say their favorite part of Preschool. I feel bad that Savannah will leave so many friends behind. Poor Semanee and her have been friends since we first moved here. They will not go to the same elementary school and since the ward split we are not in the same ward either. Special thank you to Miss Holly. Savannah loves you and misses you so much.

Savannah's 5th birthday in California - We literally left right after Savannahs graduation to head to disneyland. I got totally sick on the way, which sucked. But hey ya puke in a garbage sack then your good right. Savannah got a $60 gift card to Disney for her birthday (compliments of have a pass and the whole get in free for your birthday bit). We also gave her a sleeping beauty dress. So we were blessed to be in the company of Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell. We had a lot of fun. Savannah even got to dance in the parade and place musical chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

The Beach - Another criterial for Savannah's birthday weekend was going to the beach. It was freezing!! We did see a baby sea lion on the beach, and made a sandcastle. Savannah enjoyed finding shells.

TWILIGHT

Yeah, yeah I know I am a little late at jumping on the bandwagon here. I friend lent me her copy of the first two book like, 3 months ago. I have been a slacker and have not wanted to read them. Starting in July I instigated no TV in the house for a month. Well we have caved since Savannah just whines and draggs on and on about it. So I limited it to from 10a to 4p no TV. I am trying to stretch it to 5p. So in that time I thought I would have some quiet time too. It is a good thing these books are an easy read. I started Twilight on Friday and just finished Breaking Dawn earlier yesterday. I think I would have finished Breaking Dawn earlier, but it is so stinking long and had to be mom on the week-days. Plus my eyes were shot from already reading 1700 pgs before I even started it on Monday.

So I have come to the conclusion as to why so many women/girls are obsessed with Edward. I can see how they can be. It was kind of facinating to me to see how he treated Bella, and I think that is the reasoning behind it. It is not that he is supposed to so gorgeous that he is like a god, but that he would do anything for her. He would die for her if it was necessary to keep her safe. I also think that it is the way that he speaks (coming from when he was human in the early 1900s) and just the way they used to treat women in that time. Yes, there were still the jerks in that day as well, but it was marrying for true love and these men would truely look at women as the fairer sex. Chivalry was not dead. I think it was the womens rights movement that changed all that. Not that I don't like my right to vote or be able to have a job equal to a man, but some things are more fitting for men and vice versa.

I am not one for romance novels but I was intrigued by how much I enjoyed this one. The second book had to be my favorite. I could relate to the way Bella felt. It was like Stephanie Meyer was writing exactlty the way I have felt in my life although I never could have put it that way. It was also like I was reliving the pain I had felt while reading Bella struggle with her 'other half' being away.

I was also intrigued by the whole mythical creatures. It was interesting how she described their lifestyles and such. That is one good perk that helped keep me going through the books. She did a fantastic job with their physical relationship that I would have not seen it that way. It was great.

So if there are any of you out there that have not read it yet, (I think I might have been on the only one left), I do encourage you to read it. They are quick reads, but then again I am a pretty quick reader. Chad can't believe that I read 2500pg in four days. Guess I knocked out my summer reading in one weekend.

Anyone have any other recommendations??

We are still alive

So I realize I have not posted in a LONG time. We are still plugging away. I still don't have a computer yet, so that is why the delay. When I download pics I will more detailed updates. Since my last post we have had a few fun things.

Chad got braces, yet again. I'd have to say he is 17 Again. We buckled down for 18 months so we don't have to do major jaw surgery 5-10 yrs down the road. When he had braces for 7 years the first go around, he had a tooth die and so it has caused his other teeth to move in and caused bone loss in his jaw. So by moving them all back now, putting in an implant it will allow the jaw to repair itself. AND... his dumb mouth was the cause of his headaches for years. GO figure.

I got to go on a girls weekend trip to CA. WE headed to Disneyland (with no kiddos), shopping, movies, and just hanging out with good friends. I had a blast. Thanks so much ladies for thinking of me and bringing me along.

Savannah graduated from Preschool. It was so much fun to see her with her teacher. She sure does miss Miss Holly. It was exciting that she has reached that milestone. She is SO excited to start Kindergarten in August. ALthough I keep threatening that she will not go, because she keeps throwing HUGE temper tantrums. Ahhhh!!!

Savannah turned 5 on May 15th and celebrated her birthday in Disneyland! Since we have our passes she was able to get a $60 gift card for her birthday. We told her that was her present and she got to pick out anything she wanted. She got sunglasses, a princess book, a keychain (because she has SO many keys), and an Ariel shirt. Plus she still has money left over for next time. We also gave her an awesome SLeeping Beauty dress (thanks Raschell) the morning of to wear over there. I did her hair all fancy and put in a little comb crown. She was in heaven. They have a new Celebrate Parade and she got picked out of the crowd to dance a bit in the parade. It was lots of fun.

We also had some visitors the end of May. My good friend, Andrea, from BYU-H came to visit with her youngest Ellyit. We had fun hanging out and taking the kids to the zoo. Her little girl is just a few months younger than Charlotte and they had fun playing together. Unfortunately Charlotte must have got a bug from nursery because she got a little bit of the runs then she gave it to Ellyit but she got it more as a stomach bug. I felt so bad. Chad was awesome and helped clean up puke throughout the weekend. I hope they had fun although we didn't do a ton it was fun just hanging out with old friends.

We have also started to do some fun summer stuff indoors. We were off to the Stuffington Bear Factory to see how they make bears and were able to make our own teddy bears. We also went to the Cerreta Candy company and had a tour of the factory. The girls got to make a chocolate pizza as well.

I have been doing lots of mystery shopping lately and doing the Anthem Outlets. I will be starting them AGAIN in July. It is a nice payday, but oh so time consuming with the work orders. I will also be heading over to LA next week to do home shops. I'll take what I can get.

Right now we are enjoying our lower than normal temps and trying to get through the summer. Chad is busting his tushey, so that he can make his goal for the quarter and get our bonus, and hit the premium mark so we can go to New York in October. We really want to go to New York since neither of us have been there, plus to add icing to the cake, we won't have to pay for it! Hopefully that will happen. WE have until mid August to qualify.

I noticed I haven't said too much about Charlotte. She is a crazy climbing monkey. She climbs everything! She also have my high pitch schrill that I had as a kid. She makes the silliest faces and will tell everyone they are naughty. Can you guess what she gets told a lot? She loves Daddy and whenever she says it she has to yell it. She gives the best little bear hugs too. SHe and Savannah have been into babies and polly pockets. They are FINALLY starting to play together pretty well. Charlotte is a lot like Dorey from Finding Nemo. Remember in the movie 'Oh look something shiney. SOmething shiney?? WHere??' That is totally Charlotte. She is so easily distracted. If she is getting into something she shouldn't be or just in our face, we will ask her where her baby is. THen she is 'Baby?' and off she goes to find it.

I will try to upload pics soon, and get it all in a sideshow or something. I have just been a huge slacker. I know. That is our life in a nutshell.

Jon Schmidt awesome song

Jon Schmidt actually did a benefit concert at my high school to help us raise money to gut our pianos and refinish them. He has such an amazing talent, it is awesome to watch him play. My sister sent me the link of this song and WOW is about all that can explain it. Charlotte loves it! She has been dancing around to it. Enjoy. **You will have to pause my music for the blog at the bottom so you don't have two things playing.**

Wishin and Hopin

So Chad and I are house hunting. We found this house that is kind of bigger than we were looking but it is about $50K less that the ones in the smaller size we were thinking. It is a forclosure, so I am guessing that is why. We made an offer a bit lower than the asking price so we will see what the bank says. I hear it takes FOREVER to hear back from the bank so we are keeping our fingers crossed. This is the floorplan. It does have the deck off the master which could be fun, for Chad and I. It has a huge backyard for Phoenix, but nothing is done. All dirt! SO we would have a project for the summer/fall.

If you click on it, it will get bigger.

So lets hope we get it. I will be happy to have the playroom upstairs in the loft so the toys are not EVERYWHERE. We would be house poor for a while since we would have no furniture to put in the formal living/dining up front but I don't care. We can have carpet parties right? I am just excited for the extra large closests and pantry. Whatcha think?

PS. Jen if we get it that front room and 3rd garage are all yours to store your stuff for the summer if you guys head back to AZ after TX. :) That is if we hear back before you have to head out.

I'M BaaaaaaaaaaaCK!!

Okay so I have been way out of the blogging world for so long. I hate that I don't have a computer. I think I have a love hate relationship with the modern technology world. Anyway, just thought I would try to make up the last 2 months in a very long post. Hope you all stay long for the ride.

In January we went to visit Texas. It was great to be able to see Hailey compete in one of her gymnastic meets. I wish I had my camera with me that night. She did great. Her floor routine ROCKS! One day I took the girls over to the pond to feed the ducks. It was fun. Charlotte wanted to run and jump in. Savannah thought the goose was a swan.

Feeding the ducks

Running to the ducks

This face cracks me up. I am so glad I caught it.

When we saw this sign Savannah insisted that I took a picture of it.
On our way home we stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen. Charlotte had never had an ice cream cone before. She was so funny. She would lick it and love it but then because it was cold she tried to wipe it off her tongue. It was pretty funny.


Valentines Day
When we got home we had some great friends plan a Valentines Day party. But it was a "Flash Back Prom". Since we never got to go to a prom with our sweetheart they recreated it. They had pictures when we first came in, punch, dancing and little bit of rock band in the garage. It was lots of fun. Some dresses were awesome! I was regretting wearing one of mine from high school. I should have worn my older sisters. It would have been more fun.
All the Girls

All the boys

Ragnar Relay
So back in November Chad agreed to be in the Ragnar Relay Race. It is a race with 12 people going from Wickenburg to Mesa. Most of the team was from our ward so it was cool to really have them get to know each other at more of a personal level. (three guys all sleep in the bed in a 5-wheel will do that ;) ) Chad was more of a weekend warrior in his training, and getting down to the wire of the actual race he was thinking, hum maybe I shouldn't have said I would do this. They also changed the race route a bit and added an additional 24 miles. So the race now ran from Prescott to Mesa. Chad was runner #12. For the race there was always someone running, day and night. They started at 11am on Friday the 27th of February. Chad's first leg of the race was at around 9pm in the middle of nowhere. He thought it was kind of cool running all alone but kind of creepy too. He could hear the coyotes and there was no moon out. His Ipod's battery died so he borrowed a teammates and he later said it was really creepy listening to 'thriller' when it is so dark. His second leg was running just up the road from our house. Savannah was excited to see daddy and cheer him on. This was his longest leg. The last 2 miles were killer he said. Our elders quorum president Allan was awesome to be there for Chad while he was running. He got him some gatorade and water and was there every 500-1000 ft to cheer him on and give him water. (I was a slacker and had to bolt home to get the camera since I forgot it). Jill was good at helping run him in to the end. Since Chad was runner #12 he was the one to cross the finish line on Saturday night. He was great to be there at the end of the race and see him come running in with all this safety lights on. Total he ran a little over 19 miles. My dad was with me at the end of the race and we brought him back to sit in the hot tub to soak all his muscles. I think he was glad it was over and VERY glad he did it. He is planning to do it again next year. I would love to run too but my body will not let me. I am so proud of him for doing it. Running in a race that is 202 miles, wow ... I can't even begin to imagine the sense of accomplishment. I love you babe!!

The Dramatic final 100 ft

Super Man Finishing the Race
The Super R.A.C.E.R.S

Van #2

Disney #2

My mom goes on an art tour every Spring to California with Dixie College and one of the days she goes to Disneyland. She really wanted us to come out to see her while she was there. Chad had to work so I took the girls over by myself and went to Disney. So the first weekend of March we were off. We left on Friday around 10a and when we got there, we checked in then i took the girls over to California Adventure to see the parade. Charlotte loved the characters and bubbles. She was waving to everyone. Savannah wanted to eat at Ariels Grotto. I didn't realize you had to have a reservation but they were able to squeeze us in and even sitting inside and not on the patio. We were definitely paying for the princesses that is for sure. The food wasn't that bad though. Savannah loved that fact that each princess came to our table. Charlotte was just wanting to go to bed. She was almost falling asleep at the table. We went back to hit the sack and so we could head to the Magic Kingdom in the morning. Yes, I know i am crazy to take my daughters to Disneyland by myself on a Saturday. We did see a few new characters like princesses at Ariel's Grotto, Mr & Mrs Incredible, Frozone, Sully, Handy Manny, Woody, so that was good. It wasn't too bad and we didn't go on too many rides but had fun. We met up with mom around 4pm. I had my pedometer on me and at the end of the day we walked 10.5 miles. Savannah did almost all of it too. I gave her a piggyback at the end of the night and she totally crashed. I have to say my arms were sore in the morning. It was a fun trip BUT I have to say I will always be bringing Chad with me in the future. We survived but it was very exhausting.

Charlotte was terrified of Mr. Incredible.

Frozone kept getting right in Charlottes face while she was in the stroller and she was doing everything she could to get away from him even though she was strapped in the stroller.

I wanted a pic with Small World in the backgroud with Grandma but Charlotte hadn't warmed up to Grandma yet. And she decided to throw one of her notorious fits.

On Small World with Grandma. Charlotte had to be a big girl and sit on the seat and not my lap.

St. Patricks Day
So one of my creative friends had a brilliant idea to get the kids together to celebrate St. Patty's Day!! We let the kids color pics and had lunch. The big hit was the little pill sponge thingys. Remember those things. It looked like a little pill and you put it in warm water and it was dissolve and become an animal or something? Anyway, the kids were all in awe of those. So thanks M.E. for a great time and fantastic idea.

Do we Look Irish?

Savannah and her friends at their St. Patty's Day lunch.

Just a few fun pics from the past couple of months

You have to wonder what she is thinking with that look.

New Fisher Price sponsered play area at the zoo.

Tea Party with Grandma Theresa

Boy did that take me a whole lot longer than I thought it would. Hopefully it was 2 hours well spent and you all enjoyed all the pictures. Sorry about that though, I just figure pics help to tell what is going on better than I can.