Sunday

Today we woke up to snow! Wow. What a fun treat. Of course, as our luck would have it, Emma and Elaina had only summer clothes clean. I foolishly thought it wouldn’t be so cold on the way home. Actually, it was alright. We were in the car most of the day. It’s not soo cold in the car. We were lucky enough to have snow most of the way home. It was even snowing past Amarillo. I will admit that when we stopped in Albuquerque (or was it Amarillo?) at the local Wal-Mart we did get some funny looks. Everyone there was wearing their thick winter coats and we went in without any. I guess it wouldn’t have been so bad if Elaina was wearing more than a short skort, with a summer shirt and flip flops! Haha Then on the way out, the girls stopped to throw a few snowballs. I’m sure all those bundled up folks thought we were crazy. Oh well. That’s what happens when you don’t see much snow. You enjoy it however, whenever you can. :}

Saturday~ The way home

Today we have been traveling most of the day. It was hard to say “goodbye” to everyone, but we needed to start back towards home. To be honest, I’m ready to get back into our routine. We haven’t read scriptures or been in bed before 11 PM at all this past week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind. I just miss reading the scriptures and my hour after the kids are in bed to relax from the busy day. :} 

We have seen much beauty today on the way to Santa Rosa. We are all looking forward to getting home tomorrow.

Friday

Today was our extra day to stay in Arizona. We crammed a lot into a little time. :} Mike went with his dad to Costco for some way cheap food storage. While he was gone, I went on a little outing of my own with the kids. Don’t worry. I didn’t have to rely on my own horrible sense of direction. We had “Lola” with us. The kids named the new GPS system Lola just like in the movie RV. We had a great time. :}

Once we all got back to the house, we went to the Asian Market. It was really fun. The food was packaged so wonderfully that it made you want to buy it all.

Then we went over to Missy’s house. While Mike played on the computer with Missy, the girls played with their chickens.

Then Papa and Nana wanted to take us out for our last night in Arizona. They picked the coolest restaurant. It was like a Golden Corral but SO much better! They even had an ICEE machine! I got to have an ICEE with my dinner! I may have died and gone to heaven and back without realizing it. :}

We then went to see the temple lights. It was beautiful. What a beautiful end to a great vacation.

After seeing the temple lights, we went home and had s'mores.  We gathered around the fire pit and had a great time.  Karen had a jar of questions and we went around the circle and everyone got to answer questions that most of us didn't know about each other.  We stayed up way to late and had way too much fun. :}

Thursday~ Thanksgiving Day

Today was Thanksgiving. What a great day to be thankful! We got the opportunity to go to Sheryl’s house for most of the family to have Thanksgiving lunch together. After filling ourselves with WAY too much delicious food, we went for a walk to a nearby park. On the way to the park, we came across some blocks of ice that had been abandoned by their previous patrons. Elaina had a great time using the blocks of ice to slide down the hill.

The kids also had fun at the park.

Emma, Josh, and a few other cousins tried digging their way to China. I think they almost got there, but you know how it goes. Once you almost get what you want, it’s time to go home.

What a treat to be able to come to Arizona and get to know everyone a bit better. Hopefully we won’t reveal our true selves enough that we aren’t invited back. :}

Wednesday

Today we had a simply simple day. Jake and Josh helped Papa plant a tree. They did a really great job.

Mike went and found some yucca he could use for his mountain man adventure. He didn’t find any he could use on Tuesday, but he was a little luckier this time.

Then this afternoon, We met Renae at a really cool mall. Her daughter, Aubry, had just gotten some really cool shoes at Payless, so we went to see if we could find a pair for Elaina. They were adorable, but they only went up to size 10 ½. If Elaina had little feet, we would have had it made. :}

The girls went home with Renae and played with her dogs while I went shopping with Nana, Karen and Logan. We had a good time with lots of laughing. Apparently, being mostly blind is not the reason Jacob touches everything. We went to Macy’s and I have never seen models like that. They were very “happy” to see us. Maybe they had been recently brought in from an ice storm, but I just couldn’t help myself. I had to touch them. It was like a magnetic reaction. It was just so odd and gross all at the same time.

On the way home, we went to a Mexican market place. It was amazing. It was really neat to see all the different pieces and parts of animals for sale. There were also tons of fruits and veggies. Also an amazing array of baked goods. They had a tortilla maker with fresh tortillas for sale as well as a restaurant filled with traditional Mexican food. It was a really neat place to visit. I wish we had something like that close to us. Our house would have fresh fruit all the time!

Tuesday

We have two “words of the day” for today. Perfect and Patience.

Today we had a really fun day. Nana was brave enough to have a cooking class to help us make pizza dough. It was really fun to see the boys, Emma and myself (no, I didn’t see myself) learn to work the dough and work together. Once all the dough was together and rising, the boys were off to cut some yucca. The girls and I stayed with Nana and Aunt Karen (and Logan) and we got to make the pizza dough into little balls. Once the balls had set, I learned how to make a “perfect” circle. Nana is super smart. She’s done this once or twice before. I could tell. :} We took the pie pans we were going to grill the dough on and made a circle the size of the bottom of the pan. Once the circles were cut out, we placed them under the plastic on the table. Wahlah… a form to make a “perfect” circle. I’ll be honest. Even with the guide, I still had problems with making a “perfect” circle. I found that circles are as hard to make with dough as they are with pens and paper. :} It made for a really fun time. Karen and I had a great time laughing at ourselves. We also teased Nana about how “perfect” she is for the rest of the night. Emma would come and go. Nana taught her the word “patience”. That is what it takes to make “perfect” pizza circles. Once Emma worked on her “patience”, she made some lovely “perfect” pizza circles. Hopefully this lesson on “patience” will spill into other aspects of her life. “Patience” is something we could all learn to gain a little more of. :}

Once we were thru grilling all the pizza circles, we got the opportunity to play old Maid with Nana, Aunt Karen and Logan. It was a lovely time.

After all the excitement of “perfect” pizza circles and Old Maid, we got to go visit a friend of Nana’s. She was a really neat lady who has a bunch of chickens and birds on her land. It was really neat to go see.

Soon after returning from visiting the chickens and birds, we got everything ready for the pizza party. It was really fun to see most everyone. It’s amazing how time has changed all these small kids into big young adults. I, of course, have stayed the same. Haha It was really nice getting to catch up with everyone and their families. It helps us look forward to Thanksgiving even more than we already did. :}

Monday

Today has been a really fun day. We woke up in Flagstaff and got to Nana and Papa’s house shortly after noon. We spent the afternoon laughing and having fun. Well, mostly. Mike and I asked Nana if she would be willing to cut Emma’s hair. Emma wouldn’t let me brush her hair at the hotel, so Mike was given the opportunity. Therefore it was decided that Emma needed a haircut. Haha Poor girl has been blessed with the best of both worlds. She has extremely thick hair that is straight on the top layer and curly underneath. It tends to make huge mats of tangled messes around her neckline. She has also been blessed with a tender head. Not a good combination. She has been fighting the idea of a haircut for a couple of weeks. Today, she didn’t have a choice. :}

She was really lucky to have Nana be the best stylist on earth. :} She was a grump throughout most of the haircut. She was determined for a while that she wouldn’t go out in public with her new hair. Oh what a drama queen! Haha I am really impressed with how great her hair turned out. Even she started to like it. Now she is a drama queen in another way. She thinks she is the most beautiful creature on earth. Haha Oh what would I do without an ego to contend with? Haha

The Grand Canyon

Today we made it to Arizona. We saw lots of plateaus along the way. We even saw some (very little) snow on the sides of a few mountains.

We decided to go on to the Grand Canyon today. Our original plan was to go Flagstaff today and stay the night. Tomorrow (Monday) we were going to go see the Grand Canyon then head on to Nana and Papa’s house. We decided to go ahead and head on to the Grand Canyon today since we would be there before too late. I’m so glad we did. It was really exciting. Emma was a bit nervous about how high up we were, but she eventually got over it. :} Elaina made me extremely nervous because she was her normal energetic self and kept walking/running along the edge.

We arrived around 2 and left @ 6. OK. We actually started leaving @5, but we made a couple of stops along the way. We came up to a lookout and we could see the river. It was absolutely beautiful.

Here is what we have seen most of during our trip….

We made it to Albuquerque!

Wow, first day of traveling is almost complete. I have been pleasantly surprised at how nice this trip has been so far. We haven’t had very many arguments and we’ve had lots of laughter. We have felt all the prayers for the car. It has been running smoothly (so far). 

We drove by a LOT of cotton fields.  Of course that brought up Farmville on Facebook and how we have been growing cotton there too.  haha 

We arrived in Albuquerque @ 5 PM. The kids were really excited that we got to stay in a “pueblo”. It turned out to be a really nice hotel.

Our room even has a balcony!

It was still a bit early, so we decided to drive up the mountain (which is really close to our hotel). While driving up, we saw a Deseret Book Store. That got us to thinking about the temple. I called Dana to see if she would Google the address, but she was not home. While in the middle of calling Mother, Mike spotted the angle Moroni. What a cool thing. Heavenly Father has sure been with us this trip. We walked around and got some pictures. It was really beautiful.

Then we went up the mountain to the “World’s Longest Tram”. We walked around for a bit and got to see a beautiful view of the city. I can’t remember the name of it right now, I left the booklet in the van.  :}

Finally we decided it was best to come back to the hotel and google a pizza place. Yeah for pizza! On to Flagstaff tomorrow so we can see the Grand Canyon.  We are all looking forward to getting to Nana and Papa's house Monday and seeing everyone we haven't seen in WAY too long!  We have been very blessed with this trip.  :)

Wanna trade lives?

As my beloved brother pointed out, it has been a while since I last wrote on my blog. I will admit, I have been busy. I know. It doesn't happen too often. Haha

Friday, Jake had friends over. He had fun. I hid out in the bedroom with Elaina. We played Sorry and watched movies. It was fun… enough. :} Friday and Saturday were Emma’s performances for show choir. Her solo on Saturday was excellent. Teachers came out of their way to tell me how much they enjoyed it when I was up at the school helping out. Her performance was at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. It was my first time seeing that place. It was really neat. I got some fun pictures of the kids.

Sunday was extremely busy. Mike had an early meeting, then when he came home we took the boys up to their meeting, left straight for the airport and dropped Mike off. The girls and I then went to church. After church, we came home, made dinner and left for choir practice. Emma loves the choir and Jake and his friends have decided they want to be in the ward choir also. Therefore, I got to go to choir practice as well. :} Lucky for us, the boys had a fireside @ 7 so we had about 30 mins to get home and get them changed for that. :} Don’t worry. I wasn’t bored while the boys were at the fireside. Emma remembered that she had to decorate a turkey for Monday and write an essay about why it wasn’t a turkey. We worked on it during and after the fireside. I was impressed that it looked as good as it did. I forgot to take pictures. I was tired for some reason. :}

Monday, well, I’ll be honest. I don’t remember much else of this week. I know that at some point, Emma had activity days (with two kinds of homemade cookies), the boys got to young mens activities (in two locations) and we made a poster for Emma being “Student of the week” in her class.

Today has been filled with trying to get the car fixed (something about the front alignment) and now laundry and it's only 11 AM. I am hoping that if I get laundy done, we will have clean clothes to pack for when we leave early Saturday. I’ll be honest, I am looking forward to seeing everyone. I’m just really tired. :}

Two visitors in one morning? WOW!

We have had the rare occurrence of having two moms come visit this morning. Of course it wouldn’t be morning without Mean Mom coming for a visit. Haha Emma has been a treat (more so than usual) to live with especially in the mornings lately. Poor Mean Mom has been having to work overtime with Emma lately. I think it has more to do with hormones than anything else. I just hope and pray I Mean Mom makes it with all my her hair intact until she moves out. Haha She seems to fight everything and everyone in her path. Sometimes it can be a bit much to deal with. This morning was no exception. Apparently Elaina looked at her wrong (yes, literally) and Emma started hitting her and screaming at her. Mean Mom nipped that really quick with a reminder of yesterday morning. Oh, did I forget to mention what happened? No worries. I’ll fill you in. :} I was using the squiggy to clean the dew off the windows so I could see out the windows while taking the kids to school. While doing the backseat window, I noticed Jacob and Emma hitting each other. I opened the door and told them to get out and start walking. They were quite stunned to say the least. Those two were lucky they were picked up at the corner! I’m just getting really tired of all the fighting in the morning. Most of it caused by my hormonal 10 year old egged on by my easily agitated 15 year old or over-stimulated 7 year old or trying to be funny, but not 13 year old. UGH!  This morning, Emma quickly sulked and adjusted herself so she didn’t have to look at Elaina. Ahh, the joys of the morning commute! Haha

I was also fortunate enough to have Silly Mom come visit. Believe it or not, I was actually in a good mood before and after Mean Mom visited. :} I was telling the boys about reading some of the fun stuff on http://mylifeisaverage.com/. I told them about a class that played with the whole “the floor is lava” thing. You know, where you melt if you touch the lava. Well, the boys said that was just not something they could do. They are too serious to disrupt a class like that. Haha Well, Silly Mom was inspired to try and have a little fun with Josh.  When Jake got out, Josh decided to move to the front seat. Silly Mom thought it would be fun to pretend to drive off while he was in the middle of moving. So, as he shut the back door, I she pushed the gas a little. He started jogging and grabbing the open front door. I she stopped and let him in. We both had a great laugh. We haven’t laughed like that in a long time. It was really nice. I think it also helped that Jake was running off like we were the plague while a small cluster of kids were sitting around the flag pole in front of the school gaping at us. The looks on their faces were priceless! I don’t know if they got a kick out of it like Josh and I did, but it gave them something to talk about for the rest of the day! I hope Silly Mom comes back more frequently.  She's a lot more fun to have around than Mean Mom!

My weekend update

Since I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath, I thought I better fill everyone in on our weekend. :}

Friday (my anniversary), I spent most of the day babysitting farms on Farmville. I know. I lead such an extraordinary life. I did, however, find out that I am responsible for the part of the boys’ brains that makes them get obsessive compulsive about new things. Haha

Mike and I did manage to have lunch together. I can’t remember the last time we met for lunch. He’s usually on the other side of town or out of town. It was a nice surprise.

Then Friday night, the boys went on their aaronic priesthood campout. The girls and I stayed home. We were going to go to Chick-Fil-A for dinner since all 3 of us had coupons for a free sandwhich. Once we got there, though, the place was packed. We were also working against the clock. Elaina was starting to get upset that the “big chicken” would be out. We decided to go to Burger King instead. Elaina played in the playland while Emma and I talked like “big girls”. We had a really good time. Have no fear… the Haley curse was with us. Elaina spilled her drink down the front of her shirt and all over the floor. I had ketchup drip on my shirt. Then while cleaning up, I stuck my hand right in a couple cups of ketchup. Emma apparently has more Roberts in her than Haley. She was able to make it thru the entire meal without spilling a thing. Haha Then the girls and I went and watched Monsters Vs. Aliens that we rented from redbox. I’ll be honest. I really liked that movie until Sunday morning (yeah, we didn’t get it back on time. Big surprise!). We watched that show at least 6 times in those 2 days. Elaina had to make sure everyone saw it. At least twice! HAHA

Saturday Jacob had a lock-in at his school. He really enjoys those, but they do take a big toll on his body. The only rule we had was that he would still need to go to church Sunday. He was soo tired he wasn’t able to follow simple sentences Sunday morning. Haha He stayed true to his word, though, and made it all thru church. Then he went to choir practice that afternoon to boot! I’m shocked he made it. I expect him to come home from school today and sleep until seminary tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary to me (and Mike)

Since today is my anniversary, I figured it would be fun to let you all in on a few of my wedding photos.

Today, it seems like yesterday that Mike and I got married. Other days, it seems like we’ve been married forever. Haha  

Today it has been 11 years since I was smart enough ~although at times I feel I was a bit crazy~ to marry Mike. He is my perfect other half. I’m lucky to have him in my life. Sometimes I think he actually feels the same. ;} So, Happy Anniversary Mike. I love you.