Kenzie Turns 6

The kids did swim team this year! Kenzie had the entire swim team sing to him! He felt very special!

May Staycation with Friends

School was out the end of May this year! So, on May 27th to kick off our summer we went with The Eberhards and the Stansfields to the Arizona Grand Resort! It has a water park too!

We just stayed for one night but it was jam packed with fun! We got to get some rest!

We rolled down giant golf course hills at night!

We ate dinner at Rustler's Roost which had a great view of Phoenix! I wish I could say the blurriness was due to privacy for the families but everyone just moves around too much! :)

We danced to a live country band!

We saw a real bull!

Alissa's favorite was going down the big slides with Karen, Kenzie loved the wave pool and lazy river and Taft liked rolling down the hills! There was a great nature path too that we used to walk to the restaurant! We only lost kids a few times and they loved getting to have a door in between our rooms! At breakfast we had six adults and ten children. Talk about being outnumbered. There is something absolutely wonderful about the laughter of lots of little children! The adults who stayed awake, stayed up laughing and playing games too! We are so blessed to have such good friends in our lives that feel like family!

Last Day of School

Sweet Alissa with Mrs. Powell her Second Grade teacher. Alissa amazes me constantly, she is so smart and such a good help to her teachers. They love her dearly every year and always say she is their favorite! She was very sad to leave Mrs. Powell this year. I am very proud of her for the wonderful young woman she is!

Kenzie's Kindergarten Graduation!

Kenzie with his teacher Mrs. Giffin

Getting sprinkled with the First Grade dust from the principal.

How does my hair look?

Baby Girl!

Kenzie's Kreation!

Kenzie is one inventive boy. He loves to build and design and create new things! This is his dinosaur from Oregano's and I think he did a great job! I am constantly in awe at his creativity!

Lap of Luxury

This little gal will never have to worry about not having attention. She gets it all the time! The kids even made her a personal swimming pool at the Clubhouse. They wanted to make sure she was having a good time!

Shhhh!

Snuggles are the best!

Can't Believe I am posting this!

Mother's Day 2011

Yup, I am crazy to post this, but I want it for memories. This is me, being woken up on Mother's Day and bombarded with lots of homemade gifts from the kids. I have to say that I am completely overwhelmed with emotion when I think about Mother's Day. I have been blessed beyond my greatest imagination of how wonderful being a mother could be. It is better then I ever imagined. It is sooo much work, and time, and love, and hardship, and joy, and pain, and happiness, and smiles and laughter. It makes me almost as happy as having a husband and it fulfills a part of me I always hoped and desired to fill. It is worth more than anything this world could ever offer me and always will be. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to bare and raise God's children. I am so truly blessed. They teach me everyday and help me to become a better person.

Taft

Taft just makes me smile! He is so sweet and fun to have around! The face he is making in the bottom picture is a face I make at him when he is sad and needs to smile. This particular swimming trip was at his friend Colin's birthday party! He loves to swim! (And wear everything of Alissa's, including goggles)

Fun Outdoors

We are so thankful to live by so many fun parks! I believe we have over ten within a few miles of us! The kids love to spend time playing tag and digging. This particular boat was left for us to play in! Emily sure loves Taft!

Birthday Pie!

Emily having her birthday pie! This high chair is my grandmothers, both me and my father used it as children! I also made my Great Grandma Flake's homemade banana cream pie recipe for dessert. It is so fun to enjoy things from our ancestors!

April 29, 2011 Emily Turns One!

Miss Emily aka buns turned 1! I truly am amazed at how fast times flies. My most recent child that Heavenly Father trusted us with is now already 1. She is growing so fast and I love to smile as I think of how much she reminds me of Alissa but with brown eyes.

Emily highlights:

-Loves to walk like she is jogging

-Is absolutely in love with her siblings, when they are not around she is always asking for the kids or guys.

-She is very smart and can already say lots of words!

-She still is not sleeping through the night.

-She loves ice!!!

-She likes to go on walks at night with her Mema and Kai Kai.

-She thinks she is as big as Alissa.

- She loves to fold arms for prayers and give lots of kisses.

-She loves to be outside!

-She is determined and knows what she wants!

I am so thankful to our Father in Heaven for blessing us with this adventurous fun loving little girl!

Backward on the Freeway

This picture is a bit hard to understand but I want it for my kids to remember. In May as we were driving on the US-60 Freeway to meet Aaron and Lizz who we had not seen in way to long, we were all stopped on the freeway. we sat there for way too long and realized that a diesel truck was leaking. It was pretty hard on the kids but they were patient. Then we noticed the cars behind us were backing up and turning around. The police literally blocked off the freeway from the other end and had us all drive the opposite way on the freeway. The kids thought this was super fun! Randomness.

Lots to Catch Up On!

There is definitely a lot to catch up on in the last three months so here we go!

Fishing

This is what we love to do for fun lately! The kids got fishing poles for Easter instead of candy! This particular afternoon we caught 9 fish total (or the same fish who just loved our hot dogs) Alissa, Kenzie and Taft all love practicing reeling in the the line over and over again! And Daddy loves fixing bobbers, poles, hot dogs and hooks the whole time!

Spring

Spring time is so lovely in Arizona. The weather is amazing and we try to spend every waking moment outside if possible. We are lucky to have a water way or small lake area by our home where we can go and relax and watch the water and look at the mountains. We love to play with the ducks and especially keep progress on the growth of all the new baby ducks! The kids are all growing so fast and I love seeing what great friends they are!

Ryan Turns 30

For Ryan's birthday this year I wanted to make it very special! He wanted to go away for his birthday with me, but due to Emily this was not quite possible yet. Thanks to a dear friend I got the idea to go for his 30th birthday celebration. Monday night I told Ryan we were going to go check out new video cameras for him. He has been wanting one for awhile so I thought I had the perfect excuse to whisk him away! We went to go get gas for the car and I told him it might be fun to do something a little different first. I asked him he wanted to go play laser tag and he was definitely on board but surprised that I wanted to go do something so "fun and active" (hee hee)

On our way to Laser Tag I was trying to hurry him up because I did not want to miss our first game. (I had reservations) When we got there we went inside and a few of our friends were there. Ryan said he thought we were just meeting a few couples. With in the next 15 minutes we had several of our favorite people ready to play three games of laser tag. I have to say it was quite out of the ordinary for a bunch of middle aged couples but we had a great time.

My favorite parts were watching some of us pair off with others to try to win or when Ryan rallied everyone together to try and beat all of the eight year olds we were up against. It was so much fun and everyone had a fun time! I was so excited to actually surprise Ryan because I am never good at keeping secrets. After we all went to Ryan's favorite yogurt shop Ocean Blue and had dessert! Ryan was truly surprised!!! I still can not believe I forgot to take pictures

Now, for the actual birthday!! Ryan went to work and (I will have to remember what happened at work before I can put it here)

Ryan had fun in the afternoon at a meeting with his friend Danny!

When Ryan came home the kids were absolutely ecstatic to see him! They planned a whole party for him. Including decorations! In Arizona there are three restaurants that give you $10 on your birthday and they are all fairly close together. So we ordered take out and drove around getting enough free food to feed our whole family dinner! We ended at a farm grill and the kids had all their presents and homemade banana cream pie ready for Daddy to share! Then, we came home and they had another party for him including his favorite Italian ice cream Spumoni! Ryan got lots of wonderful gifts! He got new running shoes, money and several gifts for the kids from the kids! He said this was his favorite birthday ever and I am so glad we could make it that for him!

Here are some of the gifts from the kids with the Spumoni!

I have to say most of all, I love that he wore this shirt today! I seriously feel like I am so blessed to have married such an Awesome man! He is soo good to me! Better then I ever truly imagined a man could love a woman, he loves me! I always feel so special from him and for that I am thankful! He is such a wonderful father and so involved in all the kids do! He takes the time to "date" them and get to know them and gives us almost all of his time! He sacrifices by giving up the "fun" single things to be grown up and work for the "responsible" things. I am so thankful for him and all the love and sacrifice he give to us and to our eternal family!! Happy 30th Birthday Ryan!

Easter Weekend!!

Wow!! What a busy weekend and week we have had. I think I need to write about it now before I forget everything.

Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt

On Thursdays we go to playgroup here at a local park in our community! My friend Karen loves to put parties together and put a little egg hunt together with all the kids! I took Alissa out of school early this day so she could come! I bet there were at least 30 kids there! We played all day and Taft was especially excited to have found the square Sponge Bob egg! My kids love Sponge Bob because I do not let them watch it. Emily had fun eating everything she could find off the ground too! The kids sure love all of their friends and especially Spinnaker Bay Park!!

Easter Pageant

On Thursday night we decided to go to Easter Pageant. We like to go on Thursday each year because the kids are out of school on Friday so staying up late isn't as big of deal. I was so excited this year because Alissa and Kenzie are now both old enough to sit and listen through the whole thing. They even asked questions and were even concerned about the "man" (actor playing Jesus) really getting nails put in his hands. It was so fun to watch their faces as they sincerely focused on the true Easter celebration! Taft and Emily did pretty well too! We were a few minutes late to the production due to an accident, but Ryan and his friend Steve had gone early to save seats! We had dinner as we watched the show! It was adorable to see the kids trying hard not to fall asleep on the way home. Note to self driving alone to the Easter Pageant with four kids and trying to hall them and all the stuff by yourself is not the best idea! All in all we had a great night and got to focus on our Savior and the sacrifices he has made for us!

Good Friday

It was nice to have a day to relax.....Garner style as our friends would say. We spent the morning relaxing. I did some shopping and the kids got to play around at the house! Ryan was home by 10:30am because he only had a half day!! Got to love half days when your day starts bright and early! When Ry got home he took Kenzie and Taft to a birthday party and I baked all day. We had some very special friends, Lindsay and Danny and their sweet kids come over for dinner. I was realizing this is the first time I have had dinner guests since we moved here that was not family. We always go to other people's houses so this was fun! I made coconut shrimp and chicken, fresh pineapple apricot salsa, spinach artichoke dip, twice baked potatoes, two cakes, veggies and prepped for the Easter crafts! Our friends came over at 6 and we had a wonderful time. Dinner went really well!! We made homemade birds nests out of chow mien noodles and chocolate and colored eggs!

Easter Saturday

Easter Saturday started early and wonderful! Alissa and I left the house at 5:30am to start the morning with Bountiful Baskets. I have started a site here in Val Vista Lakes and we are getting about 30 baskets each week!! It is a lot of fun and I love having the opportunity to serve the community!! This was Alissa's first time coming with me and she had so much fun helping sort and count things! I will definitely be bringing her with me again!

After that we rushed over to the Ward Pancake Breakfast and Egg Hunt. The kids love spending time with their friends and I really feel like we have a great "Ward Family!" We have made some truly great friends here and I would say they are our family too! The Easter Bunny made an appearance and when I tried to hand Emily off for a picture she screamed!

Next we jumped in the car and drove straight to Dobson Ranch to my Dad's house for Easter fun! They have a carnival and Egg Hunt here and the kids love all the free stuff! They have games, bounce houses, face painting, snow cones and popcorn for free. It is very safe and the kids have fun running from thing to thing. This was Emily's first Egg Hunt she participated in! They got healthy baskets from Grandpa John and Grandma Debbie and eggs with money too! We were so excited for all the healthy stuff! Ryan also got a very special birthday present from them! New Vibram shoes! He had put a hole in his last set of shoes so this was a favorite birthday present! He was soo excited!!! My grandparents also showed up to the Egg Hunt and we all sat at visited while the kids ran around!

After this we hopped in the car and drove quickly to Kenzie's baseball game! He had a few great hits and had fun at the first game of the season he attended! I love that there are no outs or strikes. It is very helpful in just teaching the kids the basics of the game without negativity! He loves baseball and I think we will keep him playing in the future!! He has several friends on the team too from out ward which is fun! While at the game Ryan, Alissa, Emily and Taft were doing tricks on the fences and running all around! I love how active my family is!

Next we went home for a bit to relax and Mema took Alissa Easter dress shopping! Alissa loves to have one on one time and found a beautiful dress!!! It is amazing how even one hour of just relaxing at home feels!

For the evening we spent time with the Garner side of the family! Ryan's grandparents live near by and have a potluck one a month with all of the family that lives here! There were about 10 kids and plenty of adults! Ryan has two Uncle's and one Aunt that came and they even had an Egg Hunt with real eggs! It was so fun to spend hours chatting with family and getting to know all the cousins better! We truly are blessed to have so much family around! Ryan has a first cousin Alissa's age and one Kenzie's age so it works out great! They love to play with cousin's! Ryan stayed at his grandparents a bit longer to get to visit!

I have to say my favorite part of the day is bedtime!!! The thing is that it is not because the kids go to bed. Every night Ryan spends at least a half hour extra reading to our children. It is their "daddy time" and I love to listen in! They all lay in bed as Daddy reads to them from the scriptures and teaches them the great lessons there. Then they read chapter books like Chronicles of Narnia or Peter Pan! I know that this time will always be special to them! I can not wait until Emily is a bit older and won't need her own bedtime routine and we can all participate in "Daddy time!" This is when Ryan really took time to teach them about Easter and the resurrection of our Savior!

Easter Sunday

This Easter we did a few things differently. We tried to focus less on Easter Bunny, the kids did get baskets though and had 33 eggs to find! Luckily we didn't have a lot of candy and the kids were so excited to each find a fishing pole! A few weeks ago our friends The Blake and Ami invited us to go fishing at the lake here! Ever since then, the kids have been saving for fishing poles. They were so happy to find they each got one! Emily was not very happy she could not get in the crinkly paper the kids were eating. She loved her big stuffed bunny!!

In the mid morning we were invited to go participate in egg racing at a local park with our friends! This will definitely be a new tradition! Each person decorated and named two eggs! We had a blast racing them down the hills and then playing Peter Cottontail! I am so thankful for good friends! The kids had soo much fun!! Most of the eggs lasted longer then I though until the cement racing!

We got ready for church and the kids loved their new clothes. Both of the boys got their own church suit!! And the girls looked like princesses! Alissa had the scripture today in Primary and spoke about the Resurrection! I am so thankful for all they are learning from church! They know the scriptures are true and have their own testimonies of Jesus Christ! It is so fun to see hoe much they truly listen when we think they do not.

After our busy weekend I sat and reflected....we are so truly blessed to have so much good in our life. I am thankful for opportunities to look back and see all that good. We are thankful for our family that surrounds us. We are thankful for good friends that influence us in so many aspects of our lives. We are so lucky to have the gospel of Jesus Christ to guide us right now at this time in the world where there is so much confusion out there. We know that families are the central purpose of God's plan and that we are blessed to have such a special one! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter remember our SAVIOR, for her truly is our Savior if we will come unto him! We love you all!