My parents came to visit a few weeks ago. We were all very excited to see them and lucky to have them here for eight days! But as always, the time flew by too quickly. That always happens when you are busy. What were we busy with?...

Well, the first few days my parents had a meeting/reunion in Gilbert with all of my dad's siblings.

The rest of the time we crafted...

Played games...

Enjoyed the beautiful weather...

And went to Disneyland!By we, I mean, my parents, Fisher and I, Curly, Lou, and Bubba AND Grandpa and Grandma Woodbury, AND Uncles and Aunts Dave, Kathleen, Dixon, Susan, Paul, and Michelle, AND don't forget my cousins Cayenne, Mark, Rick and Elyse and their children Chugsworth, Peep, Atkin and Nels! Phew! It was a party!

And we have a plethora of pictures from the party... I had to narrow it down from 500 to these few..

Curly exploring in California Adventure.

A Green Army man outside of Toy Story Mania.

Lou and Fisher getting ready to ram Curly and I

Grandpa and Grandma riding the Bug's Life Chew Chew with Lou
Grandma Woodbury with Bubba

Curly, Lou and cousin Peep - Princesses on Parade

Lou has grown a lot since last year and was barely big enough (with her shoes one) to ride Grizzly River Rapids - It was cold and wet. Not her favorite ride.

Grandpa and Grandma Woodbury waiting to watch "World of Color" in their sweet rides.

The gang after World of Color

Day 2 - Entering Disneyland and on our way to meet the princesses

A Disneyland Classic - It's a Small World

Last year Lou pouted while the rest of us rode "Thundermountain Railroad." Thanks to her growth spurt, she joined the fun this year!

Tower or Terror - It was a scream! Curly was not a big fan and did not come with us the second time.

Grandparents make great pillows when you are too worn out to keep your eyes open.

Grandma W getting a quick hair trim in her condo bathroom
Who needs roller coasters when you can ride with Grandma?
Curly and Chugsworth enjoying an early morning power walk and chat

Master Disney vacation planner Pika with her adoring fan club

The whole group

My cousin Elsie and I with our babies (just one week apart)

Day 3
This is my memory of my childhood visit to Disneyland - My dad spinning us on the teacups until my sister was sick!
Goodbye Disneyland!

We were sad to leave, especially knowing that my parents would return to Idaho soon after. We are grateful for their chauffeuring us to and from Disneyland and putting up with our crazy girls day and night! It was a fun and memorable trip to be there with so many members of our family... But now as you can see, we are bored...

I sound much worse than I feel, but my friend was persistent that I send Lou down to play so that I could take a nap. So off Lou went and I laid down thinking, "I don't know if I will be able to fall asleep this early in the day..." An hour and a half later, I was waking up.

I love my friend. Since moving here we have realized that while there are many things we don't love about Arizona - living in a wonderful neighborhood with good friends makes it all worth it.


Stay tuned for some serious blogging... family visits, Disneyland, and my birthday.

Baby Bubba

It's cliche, but I really can not believe how fast time flies and how quickly this sweet little thing is growing! Bubba (as her sisters call her) is three months old. She is all smiles and burbles and sweetness.
She has the cutest toes and has discovered her hands and is often clasping them in contemplation of some grand event.
And she only has eyes for this fuzzy bear mobile. Diaper changing time is happy time for Bubba. The moment you plop her on the change table she sees that bear and starts smiling and talking.

A Date from Nate the Great

We had a lovely surprise two weeks ago. Lainey's brother Nathan decided to take a long layover in Phoenix on his way home to Boston. His "layover" lasted a week and we were very happy to have him. He was a wonderful guest - neat, helpful, low-maintenance and appreciative of my cooking :)

Nathan knows a lot about pretty much everything and he enjoys plants and gardens. He was very helpful in giving us ideas for our garden and helped clean it up, plant new seeds, and collect some grape vines to root in our yard. He is also a computer whiz and spent many late nights doing some fix-ups on our computers AND he set up an old laptop in our kitchen for me to use as my recipe/calendar/radio computer. I am loving it!!! Nathan happily tolerated the girls early risings and was a wonderful babysitter. Curly and Lou loved having an in house "tickle monster" and in spite of their dinner time protests that they didn't want to "sit by a boy" were very sad when it was time for him to leave.

Nathan has the same talent for taking photos as my mom does and he managed to capture many great shots of our prosaic daily life. . .

After picking him up, we visited the Mesa temple and each took a turn doing some temple work.

Curly playing with Bubba.

Lou getting ready to peel a "temple" orange that Nathan picked

On Saturday we drove to the mountain 3 miles from our house and took a hike and picnic lunch.

At the park - Curly's "sand" angel

Bread making day - Lou tried to be helpful by taking the loaves out of the oven right after I put them in... resulting in some mis-shapen bread.

Our garden has been pretty pitiful, but we managed to produce some very healthy looking sugar snap peas. YUM!

Nathan took on the task of official Bubba carrier. It was very nice to have a safe set of hands always willing to hold her.

Curly and Lou helping make cookies.

Curly and Lou playing the "plano." We have been teaching Curly until she started lessons this month and so far she is doing great!

Thank your for coming to visit Nathan!!! You are welcome any time!

Out of the mouth of babes...

Disclaimer - You have to be familiar with Toy Story 3 to appreciate this post.

Last night at dinner Fisher and the girls were discussing Toy Story 3's nomination for an Academy Award (I am not sure why). During the conversation, Lou, who is into whispering secrets, leaned over and said, "Dad I need to tell you a secret."
"Okay." Fisher replied.
She leaned over and whispered, "Hey Dad, Nice a**"
"What?! I am not sure if I heard you right."
She replied, "Nice ask."
"Oh, I think you mean, 'Nice ascot!'"