Simple Joys...

Jordan loves to do everything himself...and he is pretty dang good at it :-)!
 I love when I catch him on his toilet reading to himself..
"Henry is a happy hippo, who hates to whine or fuss...:-)"

I delivered some Mary Kay this morning and had some time to kill before it was time to take Calvin to school.  We stopped by the park by Gilbert Greens and had some fun!  We had to leave early because Jordan stepped on something and cut his foot open :-(.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE our new house!  One of my FAVORITE things to do is just go out in the backyard and watch/listen to my boys!  They crack me up!  They get along so well and I love seeing them take care of each other...they are both very protective of each other :-).  Motherhood is WONDERFUL!!

The missionaries came over for Elder Erickson's (his companion was Elder Coulston) 18 month mark...he wanted to burn a pair of pants, and against my advice, he also burnt a bunch of  Journals.  Mid Summer fire in phoenix :-)...lol...we had fun!

Camp Out!  I love that these boys love to be together!  We had fun...I always start out on the floor with them...
but they move around so much I usually end up in my bed :-).

A favorite bathtub activity :-)...Ho Ho Ho

This was all Jordan's idea...He would not let me feed her.  He was so sweet and gentle with her.
A lady in our ward the other day told me that he came up to her daughter and gently held her little face in his hands and was speaking so sweetly and gently to her...it melted her heart.  What a sweet boy Jordan!!

Too Cute...Feeding ducks at Freestone Park...I just love his little feet!

Freestone Park

Calvin loved feeding the ducks right out of his hand!  

Freestone Park is one our FAVORITE spots!

Of all the places to sit on the couch, they usually choose to sit cuddled up together.  As irritated as Jordan looks in this picture, he really loves Calvin's love :-).
I am so thankful they are such good buddies!

Random "don't want to forget's"

I saw this and didn't want to buy it haha, but liked it :-) 

These were our favorite picks from the Library this time!  Both Calvin and Jordan could recite all the books ...obviously Calvin a little better than Jordan, but Jordan could recite the Cookie Dough one really well :-)!

I took Calvin on a special date on Tuesday August 19th (not really for any reason).  I told him we could go anywhere he wanted (and gave him a few suggestions).  He didn't like any of my suggestions...he wanted to go to WalMart and play in the game area.  He was having fun but I wanted to make it more memorable so I told him we were going on a treasure hunt.  We would go in an isle, I told him to close his eyes while I went to take a picture of something, then he had to find it.  Then I would close my eyes while he took pictures of things for me to find.  It ended up being a lot of fun! 

:-) While taking pictures at WalMart Calvin snapped some pics of his cute little feet...I thought it was too cute too!

Calvin's 5th Birthday Weekend

Calvin's birthday was on Thursday. We had a party that day, then took off for Lakeside on Friday as soon as he was done with school!

My mom had the house all decorated!  Looked awesome!!  She had Cupcakes, Candy prizes, a big bucket of gifts, and a fun game for Calvin.  (after helping some lady clean up her house all day long...she is amazing!!)

The boys played "pin" the cupcake in "Calvin's" hands :-).
Calvin won!

This isn't the greatest picture but it shows how awesome Grandma Barber is playing
with the boys in the McDonalds Playland!

Holding Grandma and Grandpas chicken :-)

The boys had some friends over...they put Jordan on the air mattress then would jump off the couch, launching Jordan into the air for the other boys to catch him in the air.  They were having a blast.  They took the air mattress out on the trampoline too and were launching each other out there (Calvin took part out there more).

        On Saturday we went to Timmy and Davey's soccer game.  It was fun cheering them on!  

        After that we went kayaking!  I didn't even bring my camera...we were busy having fun!  My mom took Calvin out on the lake...he wanted to swim though so they went back to the dock and swam with Grandpa. Jordan and I went all the way across the lake...he ended up falling asleep.  

It was SOOOO fun!   I LOVE nature...I feel so happy and at peace outside!  Thank you for a great birthday weekend!

        

Nothing is as constant as change

We got homework from Dr. Broadbent to do something you THOROUGHLY enjoy for 20 minutes every day (it CANT be something that needs to be done.  The goal is to be able to become your own best friend...find true happiness within yourself.) One thing I have really enjoyed is going up on the rooftop watching the sunset, looking at the clouds, or the stars! Here is the view from our rooftop!

Tammy Quigley let me borrow "As a Man Thinketh"...an EXCELLENT book!  This was one part I really liked and thought worthy of putting here to always remember.

This month I started babysitting Bastian and Brianna Almazabas.  Carol got a job with the Mesa school district so it has been a blessing to us both!  It is definitely an adjustment for everyone, but a great learning and growing opportunity! They are sweet children!

One of our favorite things to do (of course...it's Arizona)!  I love capturing their sweet and simple joys!

I got to go to the temple.  I saw a bunny on my way out :-)....cute.

We had the Nicoll's and the missionaries over for dinner.  The Nicolls are a wonderful little family in our ward!

My boys LOVE to read!  We got some great books at the library!  Calvin is even starting to read on his own.  It is so fun to hear them both recite books from memory too...they seem to feel so awesome :-)...and they are lol.

Calvin wanted to go to the play area at Walmart with his birthday money from Grandpa Sanders.

Lyle fixed our washer and dryer so now our old matching set is back!  YAY!!!  Thank you handy man!

We had a huge hail/wind storm and our lemon tree fell over :-(

Calvin's 5th Birthday

   Today our sweet Calvin turned 5!!!  It was a wonderful day!  He picked out his favorite cereal (Apple Jacks...even though I really don't think they are his favorite, he saw them at the store and decided they were his favorite even though we never get them :-))...and ate it for breakfast this morning (I got up before 5 in hopes I could have my scripture study and workout done before he got up, but he decided to get up at 5:30...not cool).
     Bastian and Brianna came at 8 and brought their tablet so Calvin REALLY wanted to play on that all morning.  He picked out some chips to share with his class for his birthday treat.  His teacher said he had a great day at school!
     After school we had a treasure hunt that led to a GIANT lollipop (Calvin has wanted one ever since seeing the one in the treasure box at Bounce-U at Nyah's 5th birthday party :-).
    Dylan and Wyatt Hinton, Bastian and Brianna, and Jaime all came over for a birthday party!  We played the dice game (where they roll and if they got a 5 they took a layer of wrapping of a prize and whoever got the last layer kept the prize), the musical candy game (where there is candy in the middle of the table and they walk around it while the music plays and try to grab a candy when the music stops...like musical chairs).  The kids just wanted to eat the candy :-)...so it didn't last long.
     Then the highlight of his day, the PINATA!  We got a Minion (from Despicable Me) and Calvin and Jordan helped me stuff it the other day.
SIDE NOTE: It was so cute...Jordan was so scared the minion was going to eat all the candy :-).  After he was all filled up the boys asked me to "make [the minion] talk to them"...so I did...he was like their little friend!  They loved him (Jordan did not like the thought of hurting him to get the candy out...but when it came time, he was totally fine).
 The kids had a blast with it :-)!  We had pumpkin pie and ice cream.  Calvin got $10 from the Almazabas, a Fire Truck from the Hinton's, and a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble from Jaime and his family...SOOO nice!!! Grandpa Sanders sent him $5 (which he took to the Walmart play center and played games and got candy)...Grandma and Grandpa Fort said they ordered him a year subscription to a kids magazine, and we are going up to my Mom's this weekend to celebrate with them :-).
   Lots of people called him today and made him feel very special!  Our bishop even called him!...I was amazed!  I have never experienced that before...above and beyond :-)!!
    Calvin REALLY wanted Panda for dinner so we went there after the party.

    He sure was a happy boy at the end of the day!

Here is their minion friend :-)

Sweet Calvin is so good at sharing!
  He even let Jordan have the very first lick!

Happiness

I am surrounded constantly by reminders of God's love and tender mercies in my life!  What a year of abundance this has been!

Our new home has been a great source of joy and comfort for our family!  It has brought many opportunities to work, serve, and grow closer as a family!  My heart is full of gratitude...thus shall my thanks be thanks in deed!

First Day of School

Calvin started Kindergarten at EDUPrize this year!  His teacher is Lisa Dotson.  I chose that school because school is only in session 2 1/2 hours...even then, we miss our Calvin while he is there!  He has done great so far! Today he came home telling me a story they learned:
Every person has an invisible bucket.  When we do nice things, we are filling others buckets.  When we don't do nice things we are a bucket dipper.  He focused a lot today on filling our buckets.  What a thoughtful kind hearted boy!