FIRST SNOW

The weather man said it might snow, everyone was hopeful, that first snow is always SO exciting!  So the boys did their snow dance, this is a ritual they have been doing for a couple of years which includes getting a bowl of ice, flushing the ice down the toilet, and dancing around, basically praying that snow would come....good job guys, it worked:)

The beautiful view from our kitchen

Just enough snow

Jake and Brig love to go bare foot across the snow

Mission accomplished

AN 8 YEAR OLDS TEETH

I love an eight year old smile, all those crazy teeth and they are still carefree enough not to be self conscious so they just smile away.

I took Brig to the Orthodontist today and his mouth was anything but normal, two extra teeth.  But the kicker was that one of those teeth was a small pointed tooth growing in between his two front teeth.  You can see it in the xray.  Brig thought it was "AWESOME"  and asked if he could keep it.  I just thought of the oral surgeons bill.



Its great to be 8!



OCTOBER 31st

Brig and The Queen of Hearts

A Cauldron of CANDY

Max, Jake, Anders, and Brendan

Mt Vernon was CRAZY

PAC MAN PUMPKIN

BRIG got 8 pounds of candy!!!

Max, Chick Magnet, Thing One, Phinn



TR3 DUATHLON

My good friend Megan told me all about this great race, right in my back yard, mostly biking, really encouraging me to do it and when I asked her if she was going to race she said NO! HAHA Well she put the bug in my ear and I couldnt stop thinking about it.  I was sure I wouldnt do it but I kept getting ready "just in case".  Saturday all my boys left at 6AM to go hunting and I thought "I'm running that race today."  I showed up and I must say the other racers matching outfits, totally in shape bodies, and air of professionalism were a bit intimidating. I had visions of me, coming in an hour after the last place finisher.  But once the air horn went off there was no turning back and I started to run. It was a 2.5 mile run, 11 mile bike ride, 1.5 mile run.  The goal was to finish and I DID.  My first race, and I must say it was AWESOME! Maybe I'll do it again:)

Before the race - still smiling

Finishing 15 miles

                                                                                

The course - the blue is the bike trail

                                                                              



Finished 3rd in my age group

Best Day at the ZOO

The Zookeeper let us go into the enclosure

 This tortoise loved Brig, and it was fast! It tried to climb right up his chest and at 70 lbs Brig got a bit nervous.  When it was straddling his leg Brig looked at me and said, "A little help here...!" He could not get it off :)  (I took a few pics... then I helped)

The same extra cool zookeeper asked the boys if they wanted to see a snake.
Did he even need to ask?

The boys were too little to hold it, I kindof wished I was to  little too.

Of all the animals at the zoo, Brig insisted on taking this shot.  We see coyotes almost daily in our backyard
What about a picture of the Tiger?

I don't know how we hooked up with the coolest Zookeeper in Prescott, but it was one of our best visits to date!  I only wished we had more time!

FALL BREAK

You can tell the boys are SUPER excited...( this is 1/2 hour into our trip)

BRIG, PORTER, and FRIENDS

But once we got on the boat...they livened up

JONATHAN and COLDEN getting warm

We camped for 3 nights at Lake Pleasant, the weather was beautiful, the friends were fun, and the wildlife was a little strange (we were woken up by a heard of wild, braying donkeys at 3 am, woken up the next night by two skunks, partying it up right next to our tent, this included odd sounds and terrible scents!

CHELSEA could not be shaken

JAKE made it look easy

JAKE jumped off the ramp

MAX popped up his first try

Even JAY still had the moves

 Max and Jake had fun flipping and pushing each other off the dock.  I must say here that I totally got up on the wake board, I know there are no photos to prove it...but it happened!  All in all it was  a great little trip and after our fun at the lake I headed down to Mesa to visit Chelsea and the rest of the Tipton Crew.  The kids enjoyed cousins and finally got to go to Jump Street.

Extra Curricular Activities

So lately I've been thinking about how much time I spend going to "Extra Curricular Activities"...

with 5 kiddos, most of whom do more than one extra activity, I am constantly going in a million directions! (Don't let this post fool you.....I love it!)

Jake runs cross country, I have traveled to Cottonwood, Sedona, Clarkdale, and Camp Verde to watch him run. Go Jake!

Jonathan finishing up his eagle scout! He collected money and toy donations for the outpatient cancer clinic at Phoenix Childrens Hospital. This pic is some of the toys he will deliver.

Jake played with a local band at a block party here in Prescott. He had a couple of awesome solos and he really rocked it!

Chelsea was Belle at the Best of Arizona festival, she made the paper and did a Belle show where she sang several songs from Beauty and the Beast. She looked beautiful and lots of little girls were so excited to meet Belle:)












Max joined the swim team for the high school this year. It's been so fun to watch his meets, he is a really good swimmer.























I didn't get pictures of Brig doing his activities, he goes to piano on tuesdays and he just started scouts which he LOVES.


On top of this, Chelsea is cooking at culinary school and I have traveled to Scottsdale to eat her delicious creations. The culinary school runs a restaurant. Yum!


Max also goes to drum lessons, and has been drumming for about a year, I'll have to get a pic of him jamming out.

Beach



Our Beachy Family





JONATHAN





CHELSEA - A beautiful mermaid



Brig and Jay playing paddleball

JAKE and ROCXY



MAX



BRIG, JADEN, MALLOY, MCKAY, & NIXIE

                                           Newport Beach! Newport Beach! Newport Beach!

That's all I have to say, but I will add; cousins, friends and family, all the junk food, sun, sand, doughnuts, cookouts, the daily sand hole, boogie boarding, games, wall to wall bodies, did I say sand?, movies, sun burns, sea shells, scooters, souveniers, more sand, and lots and lots of fun.

SPRING BREAK

What to do on Spring Break? This is always a question weighing on my mind. We have done many things from camping, theme parks and snow boarding to staying home. And the kids always have a great time no matter what we decide to do, so why do I worry about it?

This March we headed up to Utah for a week of snow boarding and hanging out with uncles, aunts, and cousins. (Grandma even flew up from Texas). First we went to Josh and Alyshas house and had a great time as usual. We sat around the fire pit roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and made some pretty gourmet carmel apples. Then it was over to Heidis apartment where we met up with Uncle Todd and Grandma. The kids hit the slopes for two days and had fun hanging out with their cousins. Utah is so beautiful any time of year, so I always enjoy the visit:)