Valentine's Day Dinner

Heart-shaped homemade pizza.

The cute cooks!

Great husband.

Good times.

There was also a great FHE lesson, cookies and cards made by all. 

Thanks Stephanie and kids...as well as Grandma and Grandpa Watkins. 

Monday: Jake's Day off.

We had such a wonderful day this Monday. We haven't gone into town or done anything really since the kids were out of school. (Actually we did see the temple lights and go to Organ Stop Pizza and have Christmas... but who is counting right?) So since Jake had Monday off, we thought it would be fun to just get out of Maricopa and enjoy the nice day. So we went to GolfLand. The pictures are backwards again...but you get the idea. The kids did AWESOME and even Spencer enjoyed the round of minigolf. Dad got 4 holes in one and I got 3! Each one of the kids got one too. After that and archade/ticket time...we went to Freestone Park and let the kids ride their scooters and skateboards. In the end, we sledded down the hill on the longboards. It really was fun and reminded me of sledding as a child with my Uncle Roy and cousins. We ended the evening with time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There was playing in the leaves and of course AMAZING food. The perfect day! Why can't husbands just not work and we get to be together all the time?

Our favorite game was Deal or No Deal! All the kids one over 70 tickets...and I got one on my turn.

Merry Christmas to you!

Usually I take the time to organize my pics...but blogger really is a pain isn't it! I am over it today. So here they are, out of order. Christmas this year was simple and sweet. I would have loved to have been home in Idaho or even spent more time with the Watkin's side. However, that isn't what happened. So once again, we spent Christmas with our small sweet family. We didn't get much for our kids this year, so there wasn't a lot of stressing out or crazy last minute shopping. We spent a lot of time with our children and hopefully these memories will be as sweet for them as they have been for Jake and I.

Christmas night we enjoyed the sparklers that Santa brought in the stockings! It was lots of fun. Aubrey and Weston got their long awaited LONG BOARDS! Weston is loving his and Aubrey is tentatively trying to start to like hers...

Spencer got a set of new wheels himself and is loving them.

Weston was his usually energetic self this Christmas morning. What would we do without his "fainting from excitement" and long screams and runs around the house.

Before they opened their presents Christmas morning. These three boxes had all the Santa presents wrapped inside.

So here is Christmas eve. We did the nativity and food and singing all before 6pm and Jake and I were getting bored. The children were getting annoying (too excited and all.) So we decided to look at our list of all the things we planned to do before Christmas. One of them had been to sell Hot Chocolate on our street (our street is very highly Christmas lights adorned.) Anyhow, it was Christmas Eve and all so we new we didn't want to charge anything...but we could give out Free Hot Cocoa and do a good deed. Not many cars stopped...but those who did made our night. Plus the Bishop even stopped by and got some and the kids sang for him. It was great!

Here are pics of the Nativity. So cute. I love our Savior and I love the Christmas story. It really never gets old. It was wonderful to see Aubrey and Weston understanding it more and Spencer kissing the baby Jesus.

Our costumes were simple and lacking...but we felt the Christmas Spirit at our house this year...and I hope you all did too. Merry Christmas!

Crap! I thought that was the end.....still too lazy to move pictures. A few nights before Christmas we went with the Watkins to Organ Stop Pizza! It is this old wonderful place in Mesa! There is a huge organ and some organist plays Christmas songs while you eat. There are lights and full house every time we have gone. This is a Watkins' tradition that we haven't done for a couple of years.

So here we are.

Spencer and Max's first time. They loved it! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Watkins!!

Watkins' First Camping Trip!

So it really is a strange thing that we have never gone camping before. I was raised doing it all the time and Jake and I even went before we were married once....but here we are 9 nine years into marriage and we have NEVER gone! Weird! (that is what Aubrey would say for sure.) So, I think we just keep making excuses...mostly we don't want to drive far and AZ is too hot. So, last year Jake took Weston to a Father and Sons outing at a place called Oak Flat and it really isn't too far...so we were off. I picked up Aubrey around 2pm from school and we went and got Jake from work. I was stressed, cause I did the packing and I NEVER do the packing. (Jake is our packer.) Anyhow, it was a nice ride up and it went off without a hitch. (If you forget Spencer throwing up all over the bedding right around bedtime...I shudder when I think I cleaned all of that up with no water...) So I don't know what to say other than the kids were in absolute HEAVEN!! We had hot dogs and smores for dinner (I had a cooked apple....darn you sugar free goal!) The kids road bikes and hiked. Spencer grew up over night I tell you...and he held in there with the other kids. Here is Jake blowing up the air mattress. Even with it...I struggled in the sleep department...we all did. Hiking...the best part.

My two boys...I just started to cry just looking at this picture. I wish I could freeze time and just stop them from growing. They are so cute right now. I love seeing them wrestle and laugh together.

Smores! Spencer once again...just doing everything we did.

My lover! I am so glad he made us do this...I wanted to back out at the end...but it was worth it!

Cheesy grin...breakfast was eggs and pop tarts.

Aubrey Jean turns seven!!

You might need to click on this picture to read it...but it is so cute! Little Aubrey, well, should I say medium sized Aubrey now... wrote us this note and woke us up bright and early on her birthday. However, because she went downstairs and got the paper in our computer room...she also saw her unwrapped birthday present...(we found this out at breakfast.) Anyhow, the day started off good. Daddy made her the breakfast of champions, exactly what Aubrey ordered: bacon, and hash browns with sausage and orange juice. After breakfast Aubrey got her surprise Littlest pet shop toy...then not quite a surprise bike. HOWEVER! the bike was too big and Aubrey decided she didn't want it. So we returned the bike by 9am and were off for the rest of the day. Aubrey had chosen previously that we were going to "As You Wish." We have been there once before on a mother daughter date and she loved it. So us GIRLS got to go paint a beautiful pottery plate. It really was fun! Then we all went to Sam's club for a cheap lunch and hoping to find a toy to replace the bicycle mishap. We thought we would get her a shuffle ipod because she loves music. But after realizing that she can't really chose what song to listen to, I knew she would be disappointed. Speaking of disappointed....that is how Jake and I were feeling. It was only noon and things weren't quite going as planned. I really was worried we wouldn't find anything of worth for Aubrey on our budget...
Anyway,we decided to go and let Spencer nap at Grandma and Grandpa Watkins' house while Jake took the other two in search of something for Aubrey! Well, thanks to some great CLEARANCE she found the perfect gifts for herself. Aubrey loves to plan her own parties...so she didn't mind a bit. She got an electric keyboard/piano! I can hear her playing now. She also got a Junie b. Jones book and a few other small things. All of which cost the same as the bike. The day ended perfectly with Pei Wei and time to set up the keyboard and play as a family!

Taking cupcakes and visiting Aubrey's school!Reading Junie B. Jones book!

3 day weekend!

We just had such a fun weekend. Of course I didn't get a lot of pictures but fun non the less...

On Friday I picked Jake up from work and we went to the mall and let the kids play. Spencer was feeling much better (recent phnemoia) and just loves playing on those little kiddo playgrounds. I could watch him for hours play. I got my favorite Gyro (which I still cannot pronounce,) then later we went to our favorite little yogurt shop in Gilbert. It is called Ocean Blue and I love the "tart" flavor.

Heart Shaped Pizza for Valentine's Day!

So then on Sat. we decided not to do anything for us on Valentines, but to make it more special for our kids. We had yummy whole wheat blender pancakes with homemade buttermilk syrup for breakfast. We played Wii and just spent the morning riding bikes and being together. That afternoon we got to go see a dear friend get baptized and hang with friends. Later that night (after some meltdowns by our kids ) we decided to go to Pei Wei and take the kids. We told Aubrey and Weston that they were "on a date" with us and to be on their best "date" behavior. Weston and Dad opened our doors and we ate politely. Aubrey was so cute, she really got into it...As Dad was getting our door she says, "these guys are both so cute, I don't know which one I will choose?!" Ha ha, I told her that Dad was my date and that you can't really chose on dates which one you are with.

Kids on our "Date."

Anyway, Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Watkins after church for a lovely Valentine/Uncle Chris's Birthday dinner. As always, it was great to see the Watkins family and all their little cousins as well. I must be obsessed with food, but I just would like to add the Hawaiian Haystacks were wonderful as well as Marie Calendar's Pies.

So then today: Another family day together. We had decided ahead of time that we wanted it to be a fun day, not where we spent money or just sat around watching TV or something. We ended up going to our local Pacana Park with some friends and playing Tennis. We packed a fun picnic lunch and played a couple of tennis matches (something we haven't done in years!) The kids were good sports and we ended up playing kickball and touch football with them later. It really has been such a great 3 day weekend. I wish we had these more often. Jake is an amazing father and has really made such an effort to be with and enjoy our kids! We are very blessed to have wonderful family and friends who make our life that much sweeter. Yeah for kids that weren't sick this week and beautiful weather. This totally is seeming like a brag kind of post, but I just wanted to be grateful for the good times and remember that even with all the work involved...life really is fun!

Tracy, Ella and Alyssa Badger!

Those who hate brag posts...well...Last week Spencer was sick and miserable, and he still doesn't sleep through the night. Does that make this less annoying??? Ha ha

SWIM TIME.

This is one thing I love about AZ! We can swim in May and it is great. Here are some pictures of a recent party for our cousin Cicily!!! Love you girl!