Happy Thanksgiving!  It's been another whirlwind week with much of my family coming down to stay with us for the week to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  It is always a party!

There was much eating....a lot of eating....

It was determined that our old family recipe for stuffed mushrooms is almost everyone's favorite dish on Thanksgiving.  

Prep for the big dinner- yes my brother peels potatoes with an apple peeler.

Plenty of relaxing and chatting too- our record number of people in the 6 person hot tub was 11!

Our traditional T-day post-lunch hike- Photobombed courtesy of my brother Ammon

Gingerbread houses

A mass birthday party for Savannah, Amari, Joseph, and Uncle Ben

And some fun at the shooting range.

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the family, the food, the pie, everything.  I love that we get to take a moment to remember all we have to be grateful for before we start thinking about all the stuff we want for Christmas.  I will close this post with my current favorite quote..

" The...gift of gratitude enables our appreciation for what we have to constrain desires for what we want. A grateful person is rich in contentment. An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment." 

 ~David Bednar~

San Carlos

Last month we were invited to go with some friends to San Carlos, Mexico.  We rented a condo on the beach and had so much fun!  

On Saturday we went out on a boat for some deep sea fishing.  It was a great ride- we saw marlin and flying fish jumping, a sea turtle, lots of dolphins, Dave even saw a whale!  Dave caught a nice tuna that came back a few hours later as civeche for lunch- talk about fresh seafood!

We dis some snorkeling in this little bay- I saw some beautiful tropical fish near the shore, and at one point was floating over a whole school of silver fish.  The water was so warm and the bay was beautiful!

I think it's pretty much required to get some variation of this picture if you vacation in Mexico.

That, my friends, is a tentacle.  Which I ate.  I went way outside of my comfort zone since I am not normally a seafood person, but it was really good!  It was so fresh and well seasoned-mmmmm!

The kids just had so much fin on the beach.  They were sandy beaches with tons of shells and warm, warm water.  Did I mention that the water was warm?  The kids would just sit on the shore and let the waves roll them over.

It was a great adventure!

Back to life, back to reality

We celebrated the end of summer with our annual family camping trip.  We went with our friends, the Kings, to Mt. Doom Lemmon where we camped last year.  There is a well known quote attributed to Einstein that goes "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."  I kind of feel like we need to quit camping during monsoon season because we keep getting the same result- rain!

We got to the campground and snagged some perfect spots from a group who was leaving.  They were right by the bathrooms (key when camping with 7 small children) and next to a tiny stream.  We set up camp and as we got out lunch, ominous thunder began.  Here we are, in the middle of the forest in this huge thunder/lightening storm.  Yeah I felt safe.  Not.  Thankfully the rain held off until we finished lunch, but then it began to pour.  WE all got good naps in the tent, but it rained and rained all afternoon.  We ventured out to the pond to fish, but you can see the rain on the lake in the picture.  Eventually the rain petered out,though, and we were able to have a somewhat dry dinner and smores.  The kids had a great time!  They loved puddling around in the little stream by our camp and hiking the hill on the other side.  Ellie and her buddies from the King family made a "house" in and by the stream.  I was a little disturbed when I discovered that they had a "toilet," a little pit dug in the stream because according to Ellie "The bathroom smells".  I told her next time not to put her toilet upstream of the rest of her "house".  :) 

My mom and brother Joseph came down for a quick visit.  I love it when family comes to visit- I feel like I miss out on a lot of family fun being away from everyone down here.  We had a great time together and spent a lot of time in the pool enjoying our last week before school started for the kids.

Back to school!  Ellie started 3rd grade with Ms. Tatum.  She was nervous to go to a new school since here K-2 goes to primary school, and 3-5 goes to intermediate school.  At Meet the Teacher she discovered that a bunch of her friends from our street are in her same class, so that helped her feel better.

Leah and Joseph had their first week of preschool last week- this is them on the first day.  They were so excited to go and had a great time!

Amari started dance last week- she is doing pre-ballet.  She is living my childhood dream for me- I always wanted ballet lessons as a kid but I'm guessing that wasn't an option in the little town I grew up in.  She was so excited to dress up in her leotard and skirt and be a ballerina!

While I was stuck in the dentist office for a cavity (boo!) I was looking through a Martha Stewart Living magazine and I saw a cute ides for a clipboard wall to easily display art.  Now that we have three preschoolers, we have art projects everywhere so I thought it looked like a good idea.  Our dollar store had clipboards, so with a little blue paint left over from another project I had a quick and easy project that works great!  Now I can rotate out their work and our fridge is a little more under control.

Cousin Fun

We had my sister's kids for a couple weeks this summer- one week with just the kids, then the second week with their parents visiting. I was a little worried about having 7 kids (three three-year-olds!) but it was easier than I expected and we had a lot of fun together.

One night we did a hot dog and marshmallow roast in the back yard which Dave and I weren't very enthusiastic about this since it was 100* outside, but the kids were just begging. We agreed to do it and as soon as Dave got the fire going the kids all ran screaming from the flames and smoke, and wouldn't even go near the fire until they got on their gas masks (pool goggles). Dave ended up cooking everyone's hot dogs because they didn't want to do it for themselves, and we had to wonder what the point of it all was. They did cook their own marshmallows though because Dave absolutely refused to touch them. He has this "thing" about stickies. 

The big kids loved playing the Wii for a little while every night, and would ask me several times a day when they could play. One afternoon I told them to go play upstairs instead, and I cracked up when I realized what they were playing. They had gotten out our old halloween costumes and were playing Super Mario Brothers "live" ! (Amari- "I don't want to be Toad- he's ugly and mean!") They made the playroom into a level they had to pass. I was impressed with their creativity. It is a good lesson that when you can't get something you want, think outside the box and make your dreams happen another way.

We celebrated the 4th of July together- My sister is really creative (and has a lot of great Pinterest ideas!) so we came up with some fun crafts for the kids, made a great 4th themed dinner, then wrapped up the evening with a great fireworks show put on by the dads.

Sweet Summertime

I hate getting behind blogging because I get overwhelmed trying to catch up so here we go- the first half of summer in two minutes!

Amari learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  This kid is a natural athlete.  After a few tries she was riding her bike like a pro- even around corners and up our driveway.  She loves being able to keep up with Ellie!

We went up to Utah for a couple weeks- we had endless amounts of fun with both sides of the family- It was great to be somewhere cooler and somewhere with more options of things to do.  I love Tucson, but kid-friendly activities are somewhat limited here, especially in the summer.   It was so fun for the kids to spend time with grandmas and grandpas and cousins, uncles and aunts.

Joseph caught a fish!  Which he promptly dropped in the dirt-poor fish.  Uncle Matt was pretty brave to take all the kids fishing!

 We've had my sister Anna's kids for the last couple weeks- it's been a lot of fun doing things together!  In the picture at the zoo you can see a white bandage on Joseph's eyebrow- a few days before we got Anna's kids Joseph was running around the pool and slipped and cut his eyebrow open on the edge.  I left the other kids with a friend, and took Joseph into Urgent Care.  The doc had a bad time trying to stitch J up because he wouldn't hold still to be numbed, so he was feeling it the whole time he was getting his three stitches in.  That night at home he managed to pick out two of the three stitches- I was so mad at him!  after that we held it together with Steri-strips, and luckily for J it stayed together pretty well.  He'll probably have a pretty good scar though!

April Adventures

Time flies when you're having fun!  We went out to San Diego almost a month ago to go to my youngest sister's wedding  We stayed in a hotel with some other family members and had a great time hogging the hot tub and spending time together.  Dave and I did a BBQ for the bride and groom's family and it was definitely a "loaves and fishes" moment.  We had enough food for 30 but people kept coming...and coming... and we ended up with a lot more than 30 people.  Dave and I were worried because we didn't want  people to leave hungry, but everyone got fed and there were actually leftovers.  The only thing we ran out of was plates, and luckily I had some extras in the car.   

Rachel got married in the San Diego Temple- a beautiful temple!  It was so peaceful to be in the temple with all of our family and celebrate the sealing of Rachel and her new husband Jason.  The day Rachel got married was a pretty chilly day for southern California, but I had a lot of fun being their photographer after the sealing. I'm sure by the end of our pictures they were tired of hearing me say "just act natural!" which wasn't good advice anyway because natural is just a tiny bit crazy for those two (love you guys!). 

Dave and I left the kids with another sister, Anna, to take a week-long road trip together for our 12 year anniversary.  Bless my sister's heart, she took all four kids on top of her three and did fun adventures with them every day while we were gone.  The kids did great with her and Dave and I had so much fun together.

Our trip began with not one, not two, but THREE trips to the local walmart.  Walmart on trips is such a family joke but we kept forgetting things so I would send Dave in again.  Dave said on the third trip in he used the far door because he just couldn't say hi to the same greeter again.  We drove up the coast on Route 1 to Big Sur that first day.  The coast is beautiful but it was so windy and cold that we didn't stop to admire the view much.  We camped at Big Sur and were very impressed with the huge coastal redwood trees.  We had taken all the seats out of the van and were sleeping in the back- it was actually not too bad.  

On Tuesday we went up to Monterey and visited the aquarium there.  They had a fascinating Jellyfish exhibit that was my favorite thing.  After lunch overlooking the ocean we drove to Portola State Park.  No one was there except one other couple.  We finally found a ranger who was going home and he said that due to budget cuts he was the only one that came to the park to check on things, there was no other staff.  We camped near the back of the park and didn't see a soul all night.  It was a tiny bit creepy to be that alone but a little awesome too.  

We made stew that night, and Dave handed me his bowl to hold while he got water from the pump.  I told him I was putting it down on his camp chair but he didn't hear me and sat right in it.  It was funny but I couldn't laugh because Dave was sad that his only pair of jeans (it was really cold!) was stewey.  We washed them out in the bathroom and took turns holding them over the fire to steam off a little.  They were still damp the next morning so I rigged a clothes line with an ace wrap over a floor vent and we jacked up the heater in the car.  Worked like a charm and "smoked jeans" are now the new trend ! (Keep bugs and people away!)

Day three was San Francisco.  We did so much in the one day we had.  We got hustled by the "Information Man", rode the cable cars, had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, toured the old WWII sub anchored there,  walked over to Ghirardelli Square and had a fabulous chocolate sundae, hiked some huge hills and saw the golden gate bridge on our way to Chinatown, admired the distinctive architecture of the neighborhoods, walked down Lombard Street,  bought a tea set in Chinatown, and got back to our car with some pretty sore feet!  What a fun and vibrant city!  I felt a bit like a back wood hick there but people watching was super fun and it was a cool experience.

Day four we drove to Yosemite.  One of our favorite things to do during the drives was to ask each other questions from "The Book of Questions".  It is a little book I got off Amazon with a bunch of random scenarios and questions.  I was surprised that after 13 years of knowing Dave there were still some answers he gave that I didn't expect.  Yosemite was amazing.  We drove up from the south so our first stop was the Mariposa grove of  Giant Sequoias.  

That picture is Dave standing by the roots of a fallen tree- they were huge!  Definitely a place that makes you feel small in the grand scheme of things!

As we drove into the park this was the view- EL Capitan on the left, Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls on the right.  It was so breathtaking that I got out my camera bag to switch lenses and forgot all about it until hours later.  It was gone with several hundreds of dollars of equipment- the only sour note of our trip.  

We spent Thursday and Friday on Yosemite- another beautiful bit of earth!  This is still "pre-season" for them and it was already crowded so I'm glad we went when we did.  

A highlight of our road trip for Dave-finding giant oranges at this fruit stand.  No kidding, these things were bigger than large grapefruits.  Anyone who knows Dave knows that he is rarely seen without citrus nearby, so he was just thrilled to find these. 

 A highlight for me- central California.  I was not a California fan, but I fell in love with the rolling hills, mountains, and green of central California.  I decided that some day in the future we are going to buy some land near Hollister and have a little farm.  We must have driven past hundreds of acres of grapes, almond trees, strawberries, and other produce on our trip- things must grow really well there!

It was a great adventure, just like the last 12 years have been for us.  All the same, it was good to get back together with our kids and go home and sleep on a mattress again.  Ahhhhhhh

Sabino Canyon

If you live in the Tucson area and have never been to Sabino Canyon, you are missing out!  Dave had last Friday off and Ellie was wrapping up spring break, so we decided to head up there with the kids and a picnic.  We had a pretty big group with our family, another family, and a couple of Ellie's friends.  We had to circle the parking lot a few times because it is a pretty popular spot with hikers and outdoor types, but it all worked out and we had such a great time.  When you get there you can either hike or for a few dollars take a tram to the top- we all voted for the tram.  We had so many kids and so much stuff!  The tram goes up the canyon which is green and beautiful with a mountain stream all the way up twisting back and forth across the road.  We rode all the way to the top then got off on the way back down to eat lunch and let the kids play in the water.  I had brought nets and the kids were actually catching little fish in the stream.  The kids played for hours with their buckets, pails, and nets, the adults relaxed in the sun, and the weather was perfect.  We will definitely go again some time!