Arizona Road Trip

The Salt Flats

Grand Canyon

Manny and Marla

Jeremy and Hunter

Mike and Jeremy

Tamara, Hunter and Taryn

Tamara, Rachael, Elise, Devin, Ryan, Cody, Dylan and Taryn

The kids in front of the Luxor

In July we took a family vacation to Arizona and back. Along the way we made fun stops and saw very cool things. We left on a Friday right after lunch.

Our first stop for the night was Klamath Falls, OR. The next morning we drove an hour to the Lava Beds National Monument in Tulelake, CA. There we saw Lava Beds and climbed through Ice Caves. The kids had so much fun, I don't think they wanted to leave. After the Lava Beds we drove to a Fallan Nevada and stayed there for the night.

Sunday we woke up and drove to Las Vegas. We made it just in time for dinner. After dinner we had time to walk around and see a few different hotels and do a little souvenir shopping.

Monday we were a little slow getting around not realizing how long of a drive we had ahead of us to get to Casa Grande, AZ to stay with my cousin and her family. We did finally arrive about nine o'clock that evening. We ordered pizza and chatted until we were too tired to chat. The next day we had a yummy Breakfast and a BBQ lunch. The kids got to swim and get to know their cousins.

After lunch we drove to Scottsdale, AZ to spend the next three days with Mike, Jen (Jeremy's dad and his wife) and Jeremy's little brother Hunter at their second home. We got to visit, the kids spent most of the days in the pool and we ate great food. Jeremy's grandma flew out from Iowa to visit too.

We then headed to Chandler, AZ to spend the following three days with Manny and Marla (Jeremy's dad and his wife). They didn't have room to sleep all of us so we stayed in a near by hotel. We visited and the kids swam and again we ate great food.

Monday morning it was time to head home. We stopped at the Grand Canyon before we reached our first stop in Kanab, UT. It was so cool seeing the Grand Canyon, something I'll never forget. The next day we stopped at the Great Salt Lake and met up with my very old friend Jolynn that I hadn't seen since high school. We drove to the Salt Flats on our way to Twin Falls, ID where we stopped for the night.

Finally we were on our last driving day and we were almost home. Hopefully the kids will always remember our road trip and I can't wait to do it again someday.

New House

Formal dining room and the walk way.


My Kitchen!


Front of the house.


Back of the house.




For those who haven't heard yet, we had a house built earlier this year. We never imagined the day we would actually have a house big enough for all of us to enjoy. Our house has five bedrooms, two and half baths, a living room, family room, two dinning rooms and kitchen and a two car garage. The build started in February and we moved in in June. It's in the perfect location, the kids didn't have to change schools and Jeremy and I are within walking distance to both of our works.

It's been a while

Hello to those of you who read my blog. I hope to be updating this very soon. New pics and news about what's been going on in the family for the last year. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've posted.

Pumpkin Patch with my Niece

So I get a phone call last week from my sister telling me that I need to take Trinity to the pumpkin patch this year. Last year she got to go with her pre school class so I took her brother. Well, this year he is in pre school and went with his class. Her thinking is that I took him last year so I must have to take her this year. I was so happy to hear that she wanted to go!
My friend from work was planning on going to a pumpkin patch with her niece too so we decided to take the girls together. It was a different one that I hadn't previously been to. It was a bit of a drive too. When we got there we did a pumpkin launch, walked through a really dark hay maze that you needed a flash light to see where you were going, played in the kids play area, Trinity got to ride a pony and then we picked out our pumpkins. On the way home we had lunch at Burger King and then Trinity came over and played at my house for a couple of hours with the kids.

The Pumpkin Patch

The kids eating ice cream before we left

Water rubber duckie race

Team work washing the pumpkins

The tractor ride back from the pumpkin patch

Dylan got the wheel barrow for us

Cody leading us through the corn maze

The pumpkin launch

Playing on a tractor

The kids in the hay maze

The hay pyramid

Last Friday the kids didn't have school and I don't work Fridays so the kids and I spent the day together. We went and had lunch at one of my favorite places called Hula Boy. The kids had never eaten there before so it was a treat for them. After lunch we went to a pumpkin patch here in town. The kids played on a hay pyramid, walked through a hay maze, they got to see and pet the animals, we did a pumpkin launch, walked through a corn maze while Cody led the way and then went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. We gave up on the corn maze when we found the escape hatch which put us almost to the pumpkin patch that you would normally take a tractor ride to. We picked out our pumpkins and then took the tractor ride back to the main area. Rachael washed all the pumpkins off for us and then we headed to the car.
After the pumpkin patch we took Rachael over to her Friend's house for a sleep over and the boys and I went to get Halloween costumes, Dylan's hair cut and then dinner at Taco Bell. What a great day spent with my kids.

Girl's Beach Trip

A few weeks ago I was invited to go camping at the beach with some girls I went to school with. I hadn't seen them in a long time and it was so much fun to catch up. We left Friday night. We got to the beach at about 9:30. We set up camp and had some drinks and snacks around the campfire. We played a game when we were finished outside called Kings. It's a card game that was really fun.
Saturday we got up and ready and went to have breakfast. After breakfast we hit the outlet mall and shopped until we dropped. Literally. We were there for almost 5 hours! But we all got lots of great stuff and great deals. For dinner we walked across the street from the RV park to a place called Pelican Pub and Brewery. It was my first time going there and I was pretty impressed with the food and the service. After dinner we walked back to the camper, had another campfire and then played Apples to Apples until we were all too tired to play any longer.
Sunday morning we got up and packed up camp then walked over the beach before we headed home. I had such a fun weekend. It's nice to get away sometimes and have a good time with just the girls.

Rachael's 10th Birthday

Rachael in her Hannah Montana Wig with her friends

Group picture of family and Friends

Tinkerbell cake

Rachael's cousins

Rachael with her friends



Where does the time go? My baby girl turned 10 last month on the 27th of September. She's getting so big and acting like a teenager already. We had a little birthday party for her at our apartment. We had the usual family and friends and she had 3 friends from school over too. Rachael is a little obsessed with Twilight at the moment and she wanted everything Twilight for her birthday! They didn't have any Twilight themed party decorations so she went with Tinkerbell. We had cake and ice cream and she opened her presents and then played with her friends after the party.