We're so glad when grandparents come!!!

With great excitement, we anticipated the arrival of Grandpa and Grandma Lovell (my parents). Curly and Lou could not stop talking about when "grandma comes". It was a short visit but we had a lot of fun. My mom notices details and thinks my kids are cuter than I do :) so she is always ready with her camera - I wouldn't have most of these pictures if she hadn't been so quick to take them! So here they are without further adieu...

The little pom-pom people that Curly and I made (and didn't quite finish) - Curly put them on Grandpa and Grandma's bed to greet them when they arrived late Wednesday night. (See what I mean about details)

Playing Peek-a-boo in the big suitcase... There is a story behind this suitcase. It was empty but needed to be transported to our house. My Grandma Woodbury and Aunt Pika managed to pack one of our live houseplants (that we didn't have room to move) into the suitcase along with other various fillers (treats). My parents checked it on the airplane and the plant arrived looking the same as when it had left! If you ever need something packed carefully- call my Grandma and aunt!


And true to form - my mom also remembered to get a video of Curly riding her bike without training wheels.


After a morning of bike riding and playing in the backyard, we were all worn out. Curly and Lou snuggled up with Grandma for a nap.

My dad and Fisher went to work organizing the garage - they hung these shelves and some tool organizing hooks on another wall. ..

and ta da ... we now have an organized garage. Curly and Lou keep saying "Our garage is bigger!" Thanks mom and dad!!!

We took a hike to a different peak in "Thunderbird Park."

Lou and Curly were very excited to make it to the top!

We saw the sun beginning to set. Because of the recent rain, there was grass sprouting up everywhere - Green in arizona?!

Nothing like an In n' Out burger after a good calorie burnin' hike :). I can't believe my mom shot this picture at the perfect moment. Curly and I managed to dump a glass of ice water in my lap! It apparently attracted some attention (see all the nice people looking at us)

Saturday morning we headed to the park for Curly's soccer tots class. Grandpa was her "parent".

Their visit flew by much too quickly and we found ourselves saying sad goodbyes at the airport on Saturday afternoon. I think Lou was in mourning at church today - Her nursery leaders thought she was sick because she just lay on the floor and wasn't her usual bubbly self :( I think she just misses grandma. Thanks for coming mom and dad! We miss you already.

A visit from the North

This week we were very lucky to have a visit from Fisher's brother and his family. They flew down from Tri-cities Washington. We spent a lot of time outside - parks, a hike, and playing in the backyard. The girls loved having cousins to play with and eat with and have sleepovers. I loved sharing/learning cooking tips and secrets. Fisher and I enjoyed having someone to play "Ticket to Ride" with and good conversation with family! We are very happy that they made the effort to come! THANKS!

Our neighborhood park

They couldn't stay away from this "climbing tree" in the backyard

It's rare that a picture of Fisher and me makes it on the camera! Hiking at Thunderbird park a few miles from our house.

All of us, including the kids and my brother in law's wife (who is 7 1/2 months pregnant) made it up this mile long trail without breaking a sweat :)

Cute cousins - Instead of "enjoying" the view they spent our few minutes on top looking for their imaginary butterfly named "Sugar"

In other news - Fisher is ready to give birth...

To some big-lipped babies!

Rain Rain...

don't go away! We love the change in weather. Not much to report on here except the rain... 5 inches in one week - almost the yearly average here. All the parks are water retention areas and they turned into big lakes. The "rivers" actually had water flowing down them. We loved it! But now it's gone, back to constant sunshine.

It's growing on me...

Whenever people ask me how I like Arizona, my reply is, "I like it more than I thought I would." This is true...but I am finding that I am continually liking it more than I think I will. Sure, I miss my family and "normal" seasons but even though I complain about a winter without snow...70 degrees is lovely. I usually get the "January blues" and as I was falling asleep last night, I realized that they haven't hit yet... I guess sunshine is good for me.

But, what really makes me happy to be here are the wonderful people I have met. Particularly at church - they are just simple, salt of the earth people, trying to raise families and do good. They remind me of the friends that I left behind in Salt Lake and Washington DC and Idaho. It's good to have friends.

Inspiration for the day... or for life