Fun in Phoenix…well, for some of us

Laun has been working away on a literature review of his research to submit to some board. It is due soon, so he had to stay at my parents & work on it, while the rest of us headed out & about.

 

The kids & I went with my mom to the Children’s Science Museum & meet up with Lucy, Janae & her kids. I don’t think I got one picture of Clayton today. He was all over the place, but at least he had fun.

They have a huge area you can walk around in. This picture of Porter & Marlee in the bathtub with wings cracks me up. I love how the random people in the back are smiling.

 

Marlee had fun walking around up high.

 

Grandma Turley & Marlee

 

Marlee liked this little area.

 

This is one of our favorite parts of the museum, the sea of swim noodles.

 

Marlee loved: “washing” dishes,

 

buying groceries,

 

painting the rocket ship,

 

playing with the sand,

 

riding bikes,

 

and serving ice cream.

After the museum we all went out for Mexican food at this little place nearby. The food was so good. I loved their tortillas, so I got a bag to take back to Laun & my dad. We had a fun day with our Grandmas.

Trying out the new hoop…

Christmas Day 2011

We had church this morning (just Sacrament meeting), so we had to wake up the kids in time to do stockings, Santa presents & breakfast all before church started.

We do the line up & have the kids walk in order by age- youngest to oldest into the living room. I love how sleepy the boys are & how excited Marlee is.

 

Three in a row-

 

Marlee is a little distracted by the stockings to pay attention to the camera.

 

Tearing into the stockings.

 

Love Marlee’s bedhead.

 

These Lindt chocolate teddy bears are so cute & tasty. 

 

Porter was happy to find flarp in his stocking.

 

Marlee’s present from Santa- a collection of 7 princess Barbie's. She was so happy & grateful. She kept saying thank you. I think she likes this Santa guy.

 

She didn’t waste anytime, she is so excited to have Barbie's of her own.

 

The boys were happy to find that Santa brought them a basketball hoop- it will go perfect with the basketballs they got in their stockings:)

 

Breakfast is homemade coffee cake- same recipe my Grandma Turley & mom use.

 

Clayton is having lots of sugar for breakfast- coffee cake & pez candy. 

 

After church the kids opened gifts from each other, relatives & us (Laun & I).

 

Clayton is such a great big brother- here he is putting on Marlee’s new necklace for her.

 

The kids got me a kitchen gadget.

 

Marlee in her new dress ups & bling.

 

Laun & I haven’t gotten Christmas gifts for each other for awhile. With our student budget, we just focus on the kiddos. Plus, we celebrate our anniversary in only 5 days, so we do something for that.

We had lots of good things to eat for lunch & dinner- cheeses, crackers, bread, meats, berries, pears, pineapple & of course some Martinelli’s. We also had some of the great cookies our neighbors the Petersons always make us.

 

The cheese selection: my favorites were the Mango Fire Cheddar, Double Smoked Cheddar & the Truffle.

 

We also had a smoked turkey (Dr. Collier gets them for the grad students) & a ham- so good!

 

Turkey leg anyone?