Saturday, August 10, 2013

August happenings

As much as Abbey digs up our yard and causes mischief, she is very good for our kids.  There's just something about a dog that is wonderful for children.  It was so fun to watch Kyle playing with Abbey and the both of them enjoying every second.  Look at the smile on Kyle...


Mark and I have been married for 18 years!  It's crazy to me that it's been that long!  I love him even more now than I did the day we were married.  I love the children we have and the family we have together.  So glad he's mine FOREVER!  Here are the roses he gave me for our anniversary - so beautiful!

Here in the Arizona desert we got some monster dust storms!  They are actually really fun to watch roll in.  This one Colton and I were coming back from his school.  We knew we would be driving into it, because we could see it was already blowing over our house.  I had Colton snap these with my phone.  It's interesting how you can see the rays of the sun peeking through the cloud, and then the storm just blocks it all out...


First day of school again!  Man, it's hard to see the summer end.  I love the lazy days and not having to set an alarm.  At the same time, boredom starts to set in, and I think as sad as we are to say goodbye to summer, we are also ready to have a schedule again.  The kids love having new clothes to wear and getting to be around their friends all day.  It's a good thing.








Even though school has started, summer doesn't really end around here until a good ways into October, so we still have lots of swimming to do.  Today, Colton and his friend, Caiden, raided the ice cream and finished it off.  They were in 7th heaven as they dug in to that cookie dough ice cream (Colton's favorite)!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Colton's 12th BiRtHdAy!!

Colton turned 12 this year!  Kind of a big birthday!  He became a Deacon at church, and he started the ranks of Junior High!  Love this cute boy!  He asked for German Chocolate Cake...


 Hmmm...look at that Colton - guess you didn't blow hard enough.  Why won't those candles stay out?  We loved seeing him try to keep those suckers out!




Bryan knew Colton wanted some Adidas slides (just like his).  He used his own money to get them for him.  Sweet big brother!  Colton was so excited!

He was also excited about this REALLY nice professional soccer ball...


Colton had asked for all soccer stuff - and he got it!



Look at these two twinners!  They have a lot of fun working together...Josh and Sarah came over to participate in the birthday fun!

The next weekend, Colton had a "friends" birthday party.  They had Colton's favorite "Better Than...(whatever)" cake, ice cream, and played "007" with the adults trying to find all the kids who were trying to get back to our house from across the neighborhood without getting caught (at night).  It was a lot of fun!





Colton's friend's family makes these AWESOME coconut rice crispy treats.  They are seriously amazing!

The EAGLE (Scout) has landed!

Bryan finally finished his Eagle!!  So proud of this boy!!  He is such a great example of everything a Scout should stand for.  He truly IS "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent"!  Now we get to plan an Eagle Court of Honor for him!  Also, he is now free to go take his driver's test and get his driver's license.  Woo hoo!  Way to go Bryan!!  Pictures from his Eagle Scout Board of Review...