For my mom

I'm gearing up to write about our Holbrook adventure, but I'm still working on getting all the pictures from my girlfriend's camera to tell it properly. However, my mother INSISTS on seeing photos of the kiddos, so here's a few teasers.



You may be wondering why I don't have any pictures where all of the children are posed and smiling. That is mainly because Nate decided that he hated nature while we were there. SO look forward to a montage of photos with Nate in full screaming mode. I had to laugh about it or else I would cry.

Home -- again

OK, before you all mock my outrageous amounts of vacations this month, I want it noted that THREE of them were here in Arizona and all involved at LEAST a 2 hour drive with small children.

So now I'll tell you about our latest vacation. We went with a bunch of friends up to a cabin in Pinetop -- and it was heaven. 4 days, 6500 sq ft, 7 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, friends (4 families went), cool weather and 2 babysitters. I don't think I ever saw my kids. In fact, I think I only put one of them to sleep the entire time we were there. They were having waaaaay too much fun with all their buddies and the babysitters to worry about us. I read an entire book, saw two movies, went out to lunch with just my husband, stayed up way too late, and went out to dinner without the kiddies. It even managed to rain a little bit every day we were up there. It was cute to watch Ellie dancing in the rain. Dustin managed to get some basketball and a late night game of Rook in there too.

We did take the kids to the 24th of July parade in Snowflake which was really fun. (See- I spent SOME time with my kids). I haven't been to a Pioneer day parade since I was little. The floats threw candy and all the kids loved running out and getting it. Between Nate and Ellie, they filled my purse. Some floats even threw bottled water and otter pops, so I was pretty happy too. At the end a big old fire truck comes down and sprays everyone. That had to be my favorite part (insert rolling eyes here).

It was pretty uneventful, but completely relaxing. Now we start the countdown until Lola comes! One more week!

Oh and in case anyone thinks I don't love my children -- I DO! I just like a little break now and then. It's a good feeling to actually miss them every once in awhile.

Excuses, excuses

OK, so every time I get on this stinking computer, I end up doing stuff for Primary. But I figured no one really wanted to hear about our trip to Sedona, they'd just want to see pictures of the kids. Unfortunately, Nate is at the age where he doesn't sit still, so there aren't very many (which is fine since I think blogger only lets you do 3 pictures anyway). But I think we can all forgive me for my slacking as I am *obviously* not in true Maddy form -- I mean, my Christmas cards aren't even done and we're over half way through July (I may have to buy them this year GASP)!

So for the 4th of July holiday, we drove up to Sedona with the kids. It was such a fun trip. The weather was so much nicer down here and the kids had a blast. We did some shopping in Anthem on the way up and then spent most of our time at the pool. Ate way too much food, walked around down town and ate more food (ice cream, chocolate, all the good vacation stuff). PLease note how Ellie thinks she is some sort of celebrity. She wore my sunglasses and that oversized hat the whole trip. Ellie and Nate shared a room for the first time in their life and managed to stay up late chatting.

Basically just a lot of fun. I even got a massage at the Spa while I was there. That was probably my favorite part of the weekend. We then came home Tuesday night in time for the fireworks (they didn't start till 10pm!) which we went to see with friends. I then managed to be hit by a rogue glow stick straight in the nose leaving me with a HUGE bruised nose for a week. Oh how I love the 4th of July!

Where I've been

I know. . .you all thought I was dead. I've got a zillion e-mails and a hundred phone messages to answer, but we *are* alive. We've just been on vacation for two weeks. We went to Idaho for awhile, came home to do Primary, left for Sedonna, came home for 18 hours to pack some fresh clothes and then headed up to Holbrook until Saturday night. Sunday was spent sleeping, preparing Sharing Time and at Ward Council. I've got lots of fun stories and cute pictures, but I'm waaaaay too exhausted to update all of it. So you'll just have to wait in anticipation. . .