{Camping}

We love camping {and by we, I mean everyone in the family but me...I simply tolerate it}. We took our annual camping trip to the San Diego {Laguna} Mountains.   The kids have so much fun and get dirtier than I thought was humanly possible.  The afternoons were a little warmer than we had hoped, but the nights were beautiful! The Dads got bored and decided we needed a zip-line and the kids thought that was pretty awesome.  Nothing like being filthy and one with nature!

 

  

{Can you see the dirt in the creases of those tiny little pudgy fingers??}

 

 

  

As much as I really HATE sleeping in a tent, the dirt, the bugs, the sunburns, the lack of flushing toilets, and so much more, we do have a good time.  The kids are in heaven {shoot...Dean's in heaven!} and that's good enough for me. So I smile and count down the minutes until I get a shower and then look forward to doing it again next year!

{On A Hike}

While in Bagdad, we took the kids on a "hike."  We were in search of old mines and gold {or at least sparkly rocks}.  We saw lots of pretty flowers and even a little wildlife. Plus being with cousins is always a good time. It is such a pretty area and it was nice to get out and not sweat to death!

 

 

{Wet Weekend}

At the end of January, we spent another {much needed} weekend in Phoenix with the Farar's.  This time for a baptism and baby blessing of D4's oldest and youngest.  We stayed at D2's house along with D6's family.  While we were there, it rained like crazy.  Something that rarely happens in our Arizona habitat. So, we did what any good parent would do. We sent the kids out to play in it! And they LOVED it!

The extra load of laundry we had to do was so worth it! Look at those happy faces!

 

Then the Dad's figured out the fun that could be had across the street at the park.  By the time they came back in, everyone was drenched and FREEZING!

 

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from after the baptism and blessing and all the DRY fun that was had with the rest of the cousins!

{Mini Haws Reunion}

In January we had a Mini Haws Reunion in Tucson.  It was the R Family's turn to host and they did a wonderful job!  We stayed at H&J's house {where most of the action was!} and spent the whole weekend playing and visiting with everyone.  The kids had a blast with the millions of cousins, Dean got plenty of game time in, and I enjoyed visiting with the girls.  We had a bonfire with s'mores Saturday, went to church on Sunday followed by games and dinner at Aunt T's house.  Then Monday we finished off the weekend at the park!

I couldn't believe that in our almost 10 years of marriage, this was our FIRST trip to Tucson to be with the family!  We are lucky to have such a huge family and even luckier to have most of them so close!  We just need to do a better job at getting together.  This time, it was good to be together for something happy, after the emotionally trying weeks we had prior and we look forward to the next Mini Reunion!

{Christmas Day}

The girls were so excited to wake up Christmas morning and see what Santa had brought them during the night. Mom and Dad just wanted to sleep!  However we got out of bed and headed to the living room!  The girls got lots of fun toys from Santa, Mom & Dad and other family members. 

After opening presents at home, we got ready for the day and headed back over to the Chadwicks.  We opened more presents and had a yummy breakfast and lunch.

We then headed over to Farar's when all the family started arriving.  Unfortunately I managed to take only 1 picture the whole time everyone was there and it didn't even turn out!  Apparently we were just having too much fun eating, playing games, having our gift exchange and just loving having everyone together!  It was a good, simple Christmas.  We enjoyed spending time with family and celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

{Christmas Eve}

We spent Christmas Eve with the Chadwicks, since the Farar families would not be arriving to Yuma until Christmas Day Afternoon.  Aunt Ashley wanted to do something special for the kids, so she setup a treasure hunt {talk about major Cool Aunt Points!}!  Each of the kids got a head lamp to help them on their hunt.  The final treasure was a fun present for each of them.  Definitely a favorite part of Christmas for the kids!

Instead of making gingerbread houses this year, we went simple and had the kids decorate sugar cookies.  It was a whole lot cheaper and quicker.  A few people weren't too happy about the change of "tradition" but it worked out.  The kids decorated their cookies then inhaled them {Especially Jason!}

Finally, we gathered around and talked about the true meaning of Christmas and shared the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.  Ryan and Lauren even took to the stage and sang their songs from their school Christmas programs.  It was totally impromptu, but I think it was the perfect ending to our Christmas Eve festivities.  Afterward, we headed home to bed so Santa Claus could stop by!

{Thanksgiving}

This year we had Thanksgiving at my brothers house.  Although we missed all the family we usually spend it with, it was nice to not have to travel as far and get to have a low key {read:less work} holiday!  The kids played and played and played!  They have a fun park that we walked to, Bailey LOVED the trampoline, the boys worked on a project, we ate too much, watched movies, played games, went shooting, and all around had a good time.

 

We tried to do a family picture before we started dinner.  Apparently there are two individuals in this family that have a hard time just smiling for the camera.  Can you tell which two it is?  Not a single shot had a decent picture of those two crazies! Gotta love 'em!

 

{Veteran's Day Parade}

 

 

 

 

The kids love going to the Veteran's Day parade and the parents don't mind since it is one of the few parades in town that the weather is actually bearable.  I think it's a great way to show our support to our local Veterans as well as teach our kids about patriotism.  We like to meet up with the Brown cousins and bring breakfast {donuts for the kids-burritos for the adults!} with hot chocolate {even though it wasn't cold this year!}.  The kids enjoy watching the floats, dancers, cars and of course catch the candy.  Me, I love the marching bands-I could listen to them all day! This year was fun to have D7's family join us, as well as Ryan and Lacie!

{Fall Break}

For fall break we went to a place that actually has FALL! {Still running the air conditioner here!}  We spent a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's helping them get their house ready for winter.  I pretty much chased kids while everyone else worked themselves to the bone outside.  When we weren't working, we spent time visiting and enjoying the cool weather.  We also went to a REAL pumpkin patch. I think it was pretty much the greatest thing ever! I told Dean we needed to just plant our entire backyard with pumpkins and gourds! The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins {my cousins' kids}.  It makes me happy to know that they have as much fun there as I did every summer.  I love the time we get to spend with family, especially if they have cooler weather!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

Our vacation ended with a visit at the Chadwick's.  We had a great time visiting and hanging out there.  Poor grandma got suckered into helping me make the girl's Halloween skirts.  We both survived and the skirts were perfect.  Sewing with her reminded me of the time spent in her sewing room when I was younger, making Barbie pillows and blankets out of her scraps!  I came home with a bag of her scraps to make a quilt! {I am super excited!} She even showed me a notebook of her earlier sewing projects. Now if I could only manage to be 1/100th as good at sewing as her!  She amazes me.