swimming

Tonight all my sisters and our families, my parents and Grandpa Mecham went to the Johnston’s for dinner and swimming. Laun got back from Indiana yesterday and heads out again on Monday for Saudi:( I’m just glad to see him before he heads off again.

The diving board got plenty of use tonight…

The pool was full of cute little kiddos.

Kenley, Me, Benson and Rachel

I sure love Kenley Pearl

Mom and Dad are so cute.

The best part of summer is swimming and cold treats. After dinner we had snow cones with ice cream.

cute little grandpa

Today we went with my mom to Grandpa Mecham’s house to help him can some applesauce. 

hot day

Tucson is hot and Phoenix is hotter. Raggles got some relief from the heat by sitting under the lemon tree my mom was watering…cute dog.

Oh no…she spotted me.

I don’t know why we like this goofy looking dog so much. We gave her a haircut before we came since it is so hot.

The kids doing dishes- Clayton and Porter will be doing a lot of dishes while we are here and that always makes Marlee want to jump in and “help”.

We went swimming at the Layton’s house tonight. Laura and Justin just moved to Phoenix, so perfect timing for us being in town. I’m pretty happy to see Kenley Pearl more often.

Kenley and my Mom

Laura and Marlee

 

The boys are loving this. They aren’t doing swim team this summer since we are out of town, so they were glad to get some swimming in.

 

Today Laun flew to Indiana for the conference and then went to Edward’s for lunch…this is one of the places that has been on the Man vs Food show.

He said the sandwich was okay, but the root beer was really good.

I sure miss my Laun and it hasn’t even been a whole day yet!

temple

Today we went to the Mesa temple with my parents. Our kids stayed at my moms with a babysitter, which they were excited about since they hardly ever get a babysitter.

Check out Laun and I with our double chins going on…

We stopped at Big Bass Bro Shop on the way back to pick up the kids fried alligator, which was a huge hit.

traveling this summer- starting out on the 4th of July

We headed to Phoenix and we will be gone from our house till the beginning of August! Laun has a conference in Indiana for 5 days, comes back for 3 days and then heads to Saudi Arabia for almost 3 weeks! The kids and I don’t really feel like kicking it at home all month by ourselves, so we are going to be bugging family in Phoenix and Show Low to keep us entertained. It is going to be a long month without my Laun:(

We didn’t do anything that exciting for the 4th of July tonight, but we still had a good time.

We made carne asadas and got flan. I think we got enough kinds of flan…

Then we went on my parent’s roof and watched some different fire work shows in the distant. The kids were pretty happy to be on the roof. Marlee on the roof makes me nervous, she isn’t the best listener and is super independent, so I felt like Laun or I had to be at her side at all times.

Growing up I used to watch fireworks from my Grandma Turley’s roof with my cousins. This will be a great memory for the kiddos.

cute little creatures…

The other day I took all 3 kids to get their yearly exams at the doctor…I shove them all into one day to get it over with:) Anyways, the doctor office has plenty of desert landscaping surrounding it and the boys caught these cute horny toads. I actually think horny toads are some of the cutest creatures and my boys are fond of them, too.

We took them to Phoenix and the boys gave them to Tyler who has a petting zoo.

happy fourth!

Breakfast was red, white and blue (berries and yogurt) with muffins. Then we are going to pack up for our summer travels.

that’s right…

I am expecting. Hall baby #5 should arrive around March 2nd. Our family is so excited. Marlee was super ecstatic about this news, but she did tell me that if it’s a boy she won’t be happy-no pressure. The boys are very happy, too. Now for the sickness to kick in…blah.

homemade jerky

Laun bought another treasure from the auction. It is this massive oven thing that sits on our back porch. It should work great for making jerky, cooking meats or dehydrating produce.

Laun was excited to try it out and last night he made some jerky.

Marlee likes to help in the kitchen.

The finished product.