Family Photos

We took a picture with all of Brenden's family one evening.  It was blazing hot and we thought it would be a good idea to take a picture facing the sun. Bad idea.  I am sorry to my family.  I just had to post this.  It is way too funny. 

Here's a real one.  Much better, right? 

Arizona Post #4

Emmie got to spend a lot of time with her cousins.  My sister, Carianne somehow talked her husband, Rusty into hosing a sleepover.  The girls had a blast.  They made fruit pizza, watched movies, and caused all sorts of trouble I am sure!  I love this picture of Emmie.  She was very excited. 

 

I want to know who invited Brenden!

 

This might be my favorite picture of Jenna, Emmie, and Cora.  I can only imagine what they are laughing about.  Emmie is so lucky to have such good cousins.

I'm getting toward the end of my pictures.  These next two are of my brother Gregg.   Let's just say he is a good sport. 

We had such a great time.  Thank you to all our family!  I want you all to know you are welcome to visit Kearney anytime!  I know you all want to...

Arizona Post #3

Happy Birthday Emmie!  We had a pink flamingo pool party for Emmie's 4th birthday.  We were so pleased that so many of our family members could make it.  Brenden's parents and grandma were down from Bellingham, WA along with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins from town. As I look at this collage, I notice there aren't pictures of Lorinda and Matthew.  I promise they were there.

My sister and I made these flamingo cake pops after about 4 trips to Michaels for supplies.  They do not look as good as the tutorial and looked more like vultures.  It just wasn't meant to be for these pink beauties.  On the way over they melted and all their heads fell off.  That's ok- they tasted great.

Thank you to all who came.  We appreciate your love and generosity!  Emmie is already talking about next year so get ready!

Arizona post #2

Happy Anniversary!  We spent our anniversary in AZ on June 11th (also Emmie's birthday).  My parents were kind enough to watch the kids while Brenden and I took off on a little day trip to Sedona and Flagstaff.  It was so fun to do what we wanted when we wanted.  There was nothing planned around naps or feeding children.  

We went hiking at Grasshopper point in Oak Creek Canyon, tried to catch some crawdads (crazy), and cliff jumed (double crazy).

Later in the day we drove through the canyon up to Flagstaff where Brenden let me walk around the NAU campus and tell him all sorts of memories.  We ate at Crytal Creek Sandwiches (get the veggie- it is amazing), walked around downtown, drove up the mountain for a quick hike and got burgers for dinner.  It was a relaxing day.  Happy 8 years B!

Arizona Post #1

We have been in Arizona for the past 4 weeks.  It was amazing.  I know what you are thinking... it is 150 degrees in AZ, why would you go there?  Well, we had a family reunion and decided to drive down.  If we were going to drive the 20 hours then we were going to make it worth our while!

 Many fun things were done.  We had a planning party where we took a calendar and planned something fun to do almost every night. Here are some of the favorites:

Swimming lessons.  I can say that Pete will be an excellent swimmer.  He can go underwater, blow bubbles, and jump in without help.  Emmie passed her class!  She is well on her way to swimming on her own.  Her cousin Kate was also in her class.  I feel sorry for their teacher... maybe that's why she passed!

Many afternoons were spent at the splash pad.  Life saver.

We went to see Little Red Riding Hood at the Arizona Puppet Theater.  The kids really liked it.  Emmie thought the puppets were real people and spent the whole show on the Grandma's laps instead of sitting up front with her cousins.  The building was in a beautiful old neighborhood in Phoenix.  You don't see neighborhoods like this very often- it's worth the trip.

 We attended the "free" night at the Phoenix children's museum along with every other kid in the valley.  It was packed!  We lost Pete just after this picture was taken.  I found him about 50 feet away in a pool noodle forest.  The security guard said to my mom, you'd better watch him- someone will take that one.  Yikes.  If I wasn't scared enough!  I would also like to mention we had 2 adults per child which obviously wasn't enough.

Craft night with my favorite ladies.  These are my sisters, cousins, aunts, grandmas and moms.  It was really fun.   I love spending time with these ladies. We made these cute necklaces. I look forward to seeing them every time I come to town. 

Many afternoons were also spent in this kiddie pool.  I love how the water comes out of the hose warm.  Not too refreshing but I love it. Pete was always so excited to get in we would just strip him down and let him go.  It must have been hard holding up that extra 15 pounds of diaper water weight!

Clawson Family Reunion

My brother Gregg made the graphic above.  Thanks Gregg! To explain, my Grandmother's name is Olive and my grandpa's name was CB.  Do you get it?  

We just got back from a fantastic Clawson family reunion.  It was held at my grandma's house/land in Safford, AZ.  It was great to visit with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We have a fantastic family. 

My sister did a great job telling about it on her blog.  Instead of doing my own, I will just re-post her post.  She does a better job than me anyway. 

Read about it HERE.

Preschool graduation

Emmie graduated from her first year of preschool.  I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear.  It was really cute. Emmie did not sing any of the songs but she did stay on her "spot" for which I was grateful.

This is Emmie's teacher Ms. Jody which she called Mister Jody ALL YEAR.  She was wonderful and although the picture doesn't show it, Emmie loved her. 

 

 This is Emmie's best buddy Kate.  They love each other most days.  Here they are showing off their awesome diplomas.  

This is a video from the program.  Just so you know, this song will get stuck in your head... maybe for days. 

 

ZOO

We drove over to Lincoln last week with our fun neighbors, Danell, Eric and Ruby, to go to the zoo.  The kids loved it! I love the Lincoln zoo because it is small, shaded, and you can get through in about an hour.  Perfect for little ones.Our good friends Brad and Emily met us there.  A good time was had. 

I need to mention that both of my kids pet the python. There was no fear.  They must have inherited Brenden's love of all things creepy and crawly.  I was far far away from that snake!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to our moms! We asked Emmie the following questions about her grandmas.  The words in caps/bold are her answers. 

Grandma Jody:

My Grandma is 14 years old.

My grandma weighs SMALL pounds.

My grandma’s favorite color is BLUE.

My grandma’s favorite food is MAC AND CHEESE.

My grandma always says, “GO TO BED”.

My grandma’s job is to PLAY THE PIANO.

My grandma laughs when I’M BEING SILLY.

If my grandma had the time she would love to PLAY GAMES.

My grandma and I like to BAKE COOKIES.

My grandma really loves EMMIE.

I love my grandma because SUPER LIKE TO PLAY WITH HER ON THE SWINGS.

Grandma Linda:

 

My grandma is 15 years old.

My grandma weighs 14 pounds.

My grandma’s favorite color is PINK.

My grandma’s favorite food is MAC AND CHEESE.

My grandma always says, “Bye Bye”.

My grandma’s job is to SING SONGS.

My grandma laughs when I’M BEING WIGGLY.

If my grandma had the time she would love to SNEAK.

My grandma and I like to PLAY OUTSIDE.

My grandma really loves EMMIE.

I love my grandma because SHE’S SO GIGGLY.

We thought it was pretty funny... who knew you each liked Mac and cheese so much!?

Happy Mother's Day!  We love you both!

Kansas City

Emmie and I (along with our friends Leah and Kate) had the opportunity to travel to Kansas City for a girls weekend.  The purpose of our trip was to attend the Kansas City LDS Temple open house.  I was able to attend quite a few growing up and I couldn't pass up the opportunity with Emmie.  Kansas City is about a 5 hour drive--- not too far for an almost 4 year old.

Our first stop was Union Station.  We thought the girls might like to see the trains.  The building is beautiful!  We didn't stay too long because I parked illegally and I knew Brenden would flip if I got a parking ticket.

Next stop was the Kansas City Crown Center. If you have kids, you need to go here.  There are tons of things to do like a playground, aquarium, huge crayola store, and a kids theater.  We saw James and the Giant Peach.  It was adorable.  The kids get to sit on the floor and the plays are only about an hour.  Perfect. 

 

The highlight of our trip was the Kansas City LDS Temple open house.  For  two weeks prior to the temple's dedication anyone can tour it.  It was really special to be able to walk through with Emmie.  She thought it was beautiful and especially liked the Angel Jaroni (Moroni) on the top. 

Of course there was a stop to the Plaza. I couldn't resist the H&M or the cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory which I inhaled in about a minute. This place is pretty ritzy which is why Emmie is demonstrating such restraint.

Overall it was a great trip.  I am really glad we went.  The only downside was the missed highway I was supposed to take on the way home making our trip home an hour longer... Oops.