One last AZ thing

Each time I come down for a visit all of my sisters, aunts, cousins, mom, and grandma try to get together for a little craft night.  I always look forward to it. This night we made "celebrate" banners.  They turned out really cute. I accidentally left mine in AZ (could you put it in the mail mom?).  Anyway, I love these ladies.  They are some of my favorite people.  Who wouldn't want to be part of this bunch!?

I love how Rachael, Vita, Carianne and I are all in stripes. Clawson girls unite!

It's almost summer

When we got back from AZ our feet were pretty bad.  A pedicure was in order.  Brenden got Emmie and I one for Mother's day so we took our girls and had some fun!

It was getting warm so we put the sprinkler up in the yard.  Our neighbor Ruby came over and then we got a call from other friends wondering what we were doing in the heat and it turned into a party!

It is nice having good friends... especially when they have a boat and take us on boat rides!

Arizona Week #3

We swam over at Aunt Rachael's house one afternoon.  Even though it was 100 degrees outside, the pool was still freezing.  Emmie and Kate didn't care.  They must take after Brenden (the fish).  Pete on the other hand had fun throwing toys in the deep end and then making me squirm in the water as I tried to fetch them. 

Grandma Jody treated Emmie and I to Rita's.  Have you ever tried it?  It is italian ice AND ice cream.  Amazing.

 

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday.  We had an ice cream bar at my grandparents house to celebrate.  A good time was had!  I unfortunately have no photos of this event because they are all on my sister's camera (feel free to send me some C).  I do have this picture though, It is uncle Matthew putting Peter's hair in the ceiling fan.  Matthew might just be Peter's favorite play mate. 

 

Uncle Gregg is awesome.  That is all. 

 

I got to attend a temple session with my mom and sister.  It was so fun getting to spend the morning with them in the temple. 

My niece Jenna was in a play - Winnie  the Pooh.  She is adorable and very talented.  Emmie and I loved the show!

 

We made a trip out to Safford, AZ to visit my grandma.  My kids thought grandma's house was just as fun as I did as a kid.  The play room, the park, the freezer dedicated to ice cream... it was awesome. 

We are excited to have a new baby girl cousin coming in July!  We had a fiesta to celebrate.

The day before we left we celebrated baby Noah's 1st birthday with a Noah's Arc birthday party.  It was a fun last party before heading back to NE.  

I love this photo for so many reasons.  Emmie's frown, Kate holding Peter in a head lock, Elsa picking her nose... there is just too much goodness. 

 

By the end of the trip I looked like this monkey... passed out from fun! Thanks to everyone for the memories!  We had a blast!

 

Happy Mother's Day

I know I am a day late but this made me laugh.

Happy Mother's day to our moms!

ARIZONA week 2

 I ran Pat's Run on Saturday and the 4 little cousins signed up for the kids run.  I now know that Emmie is not a runner and does not enjoy the heat.  After about 50 feet of the kids run she just sat on the pavement.  I couldn't let the others go so I put her on my back and we ran the race.

Later that day was Henry's Dr. Seuss 1st birthday party.  It was adorable.  Henry even let everyone eat his cake!  By the end all the kids were soaking wet and had to go home in their undies.  The best part of the party was trying to keep Pete from drinking the water out of the bird bath (which happened a few times).

 

One of Emmie's favorite thing to do is have a sleepover with her cousins.  They were making shrinky dinks. 

Emmie and I also stopped over for lunch at Jenna and Cora's school.  It is amazing how the cafeteria smells exactly the same as it did when I went to school.  

 Slip n Slide!

Splash pad!

Lunch with Grandpa. Henry seems to be the new favorite with the cousins.  He is pretty good about being man handled by these guys. 

Swimming in Aunt Rachael's pool.  Despite it being 100 degrees out, the pool was still freezing!  Pete thought it was funny to throw all the toys down at the deep end so I would have to slowly scoot myself deeper and deeper to get them. 

ARIZONA week 1

The kids and I just got back from a wonderful trip to Arizona.  Carianne (my sister), Rusty, Lorinda (Brenden's sister) and Matthew all went on a cruise together so my parents had little Kate.  It was super fun.  Emmie was in heaven. Carianne had a present for Kate every day they were gone.  Once we arrived she included my kids in the fun as well.  They LOVED it.  I have to say though, I did not appreciate the recorder day. 

We tried to do fun things with the kids every morning.  We decided to make ice cream in a plastic bag.  You know, where you put half and half in a bag in a bag with salt and ice?  Well, it turned out pretty good.  Better than the picture below.  It really is ice cream and not cottage cheese. 

Can you guess who this is? This is Emmie's portrait of Grandma Jody and Grandpa Randy.  I liked the glasses. 

One morning my mom gave the girls fake hello kitty nails.  Emmie's lasted about 2 minutes but Kate kept hers on all morning.  We even went to play with more cousins and she walked around very carefully. 

 Pete got a much needed hair cut by Grandma Jody. 

 Kate and Emmie wanted to be brides.  Too bad we only had red tulle. 

We went out to visit Grandma and Grandpa B.  I love that the kids can run around just like we did when we were kids.  

Jenna and Cora had a carnival at their school that we were able to go to.  There were tons of jump houses.  My kids were in heaven.  I was not.  Do you know what it is like keeping track of 3 kids in a crowd?  Especially Peter?  Grandpa Pete and I lost him at one point.  After a mini panic attack we found him... exactly where we left him!

Grandma Clawson

We just left my grandma Clawson's house in Safford. I love that my kids get the same opportunity I did to play in the play room, play at the park or run around just getting as dirty as possible. Pete resembled pig pen and even got a hole in his jeans. I also love that my grandma's house hasn't changed...ever. So this is where you come in all you Clawsons! I went around and took a few pictures. Can you name where all these pictures came from?