Anniversary

A couple weeks ago Derek and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. 

Now, 8 years later I see why people always told us we looked young. 

I couldn't have picked a better husband. He truly is my best friend. I love you Derek! 

In our 8 years we have had 3 kids.

Moved 7 times.

Lived away from family for 4 years.

We've had 7 different vehicles.

3 different dogs

Derek started and finished school.

And so much more. 

Can't wait to see what the next 8 are like. 

Moving

That's correct we are moving yet again. Our house is officially for sale now. We don't have an exact move date yet which will likely happen in about two months possibly less.  The crazy part is we don't know where we are moving! It's definitely out of New Mexico. We are waiting for official word on Derek's job transfer. Oh what a life we have. Maybe someday we can stay somewhere longer than 2 years. I think for awhile I was sure his company would get the project for a hospital expansion in Albuquerque. But we found out at the end of April that wasn't the case. That's given me a few months to get comfortable with the idea of moving. I love our home here but I'm okay with moving. Now if we can only find out where and when sooner rather than later. I'm trying so hard to be patient but there are moments when I just want to scream I can't handle it anymore.

Father's Day

It seems that its become a tradition to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Mother and Father's day. Each of the kids gave daddy a shirt. For dinner Derek grilled some steaks while I made the sides. At dinner the kids all said why they love daddy so much which is always fun to hear.

Here we are all ready for church

Maeley took this picture for us. 

That's a shadow going across my arm not a weird tan line.

Happy Father's Day! 

quick trip

A couple weekends ago we made the trip back to Phoenix. We went because my Grandpa Stratton passed away and we were going to his funeral. It all happened pretty fast. He wasn't sick for years like my other grandparents had been. He was in and out of the hospital/rehab for about 2 months before he passed away. Lucky for me we were able to see him when we stopped in Phoenix on our way to and from Disneyland. It was nice to see extended family that I haven't seen in several years. Although it was a lot of driving over the short weekend. While the funeral was in Gilbert the burial was in Tucson. The first 26 hours of the trip about 12 was spent in the car. I'm so grateful Derek was able to get off work and be there with me. Plus he even played his violin at the funeral.

Father's and Son's

A couple weeks back our ward had the Father's and Son's campout. While Derek's work is insanely busy he wasn't sure he'd be able to get off at a decent time on Friday to make it. Chase and our neighbor Alexander were already talking about it and excited. Derek decided it was worth it to leave work a little early to take Chase camping verses the heart break he would cause not going.

Here they are all ready to go.

The sole picture from the actual campout.

As for me and the girls I let them decide what to do. Maeley even made a list. First was dinner at Chili's. Maeley had a certificate for a free meal that she got from school. She had been very anxious to use it. Then we went to the store to pick something up for breakfast and get a movie from RedBox. Unfortunately RedBox had nothing that looked interesting. Instead we went home and the girls chose to watch Cinderella and I painted their toes. It was a nice evening with my girls and sadly I forgot to take pictures. 

summer

Its been interesting adjusting to summer. This is my first summer break since Maeley has started school. Before summer wasn't much different than all the other weeks of the year. I do some school time with them each day. Maeley signed up for the library summer reading program. After only a week she already qualifies for the free book at the end of the month. I think we will be visiting the library often this summer. There hasn't been too much fighting but I do have to limit the time they can play on their LeapFrog Explorer game systems. This week after breakfast we've been going on walks to nearby parks. Maeley enjoys riding her bike and Chase his scooter. Zoe on the other hand wants nothing to do with a bike ever since this crash landing. I think its been wonderful getting some fresh air to start the day.

Here are some random pictures of the kids from Friday.

Chase has really become quite the pirates enthusiast as of recent.

Zoe doesn't take naps often but it was cute to find her asleep in my bed wearing her fairy costume.

Kindergarten graduation

I just can't get over the fact that its summer break and school is out. Where did the school year go? Maeley was pretty excited about her graduation program. It was a cute program and fun to watch Maeley. 

Getting ready for the program to begin.

Maeley's part was welcoming everyone.

They did a cute little song and dance. 

Maeley's teachers, Ms. Cox and Mrs. Haugen

As much as Maeley has loved school this year she was looking forward to summer break to "spend time with family" as she puts it. I can't believe how much she has grown this year.  To celebrate Maeley getting excellent grades we went to Red Robin this weekend. One of our kids favorite places to eat.

Mother's Day

Derek and the kids got me some new pj's and some earrings. I was surprised by Chase and how he was determined to make cinnamon rolls for me for breakfast...just like last year. He is such a sweet boy. Overall it was a great day. 

Derek quickly snapped a picture before church.

After being sick Friday and still weak Saturday when I woke up Sunday feeling good I wanted to get things done. I mentioned to Derek how I thought moving the bookcases in our room to the loft would look nice. Then he wanted to move the chair and ottoman from the family room to our room. Needless to say we did some rearranging that day. 

Here are some after pictures. Simple changes but its made a big difference. 

Disneyland: day 3

We had a character breakfast scheduled for 9:30 on Main Street and Disneyland opened at 9. The girls were requesting to meet Princess Aurora that day. Derek and I decided to get to Disneyland early and wait so we could be one of the first in line at 9 to meet the princesses.

We made it first in line.

Being one of the first in the park has its perk. Pluto came up to Chase and took his hand and walked with him for a couple minutes. Chase felt pretty special after that.

Here we are speed walking to be first at the rope at the end of Main Street. 

It worked we were second in line to meet the princesses! Success! 

We've got to work with Zoe on her smile.

Fun to meet The Fairy Godmother after just meeting Cinderella.

Parker and Chase

Briar Fox was pretty entertaining. Here is is after stealing Zoe's balloon. She was a bit concerned but he gave it back.

I thought it was hilarious that all the kids gave Captain Hook a hug. 

It was a great breakfast. I ate way too much food and it was fun seeing so many characters.

After breakfast Derek, Blaine and I took the girls to see Tinker Bell and Terrance. They were pretty excited.

Zoe and I on the Winnie the Pooh ride. This was Zoe's favorite by far.

After the ride they wanted to meet the characters.

After that we left Disneyland and meet up with Chase and strolled Downtown Disney. That's where the kids got charactures done. They turned out really cute.

After that we went back to the hotel and drop stuff off then headed back to Disneyland.

Of all the characters we meet we did not see Daisy Duck who Zoe wanted to see more than anyone. Kim saw Daisy and took this picture with her phone near the end of our last day. Kim asked a cast member if she would be coming back out and they said 6pm which was about 30 minutes later. We went to the front and waited only to be disappointed when we found out she had gone to Goofy's Kitchen instead.

It was a great trip. Different from my others but still great. We learned that Chase and the girls are complete opposites. While Chase loved all the "big" rides Maeley wanted nothing to do with them after going on a few she didn't like.  Can't wait to go again someday!