Farewell to Arizona

Goodbye Arizona! The movers will be here tomorrow to start packing us up. We are so sad to be leaving so many wonderful people and places in Arizona yet excited for a new adventure. I think our missions brought out our sense of adventure and desire to see and experience new places. Arizona is our new home away from home. We have loved it and it has been a great place for our kids - Keaton and Andrew have made a lot of great friends that they hope to stay in touch with as well. After living here for over three and a half years we have so many fond memories and have enjoyed making new friends and exploring the great sites here. We will also miss the mild winters (but not the hot summer days). Who knows - maybe someday we'll be snow birds and live here in the winter... In the mean time please drop us a line or stop by if you're ever in the LA/San Diego area.

Happy Birthday Boys!

The boys were so excited to have a birthday party with some of their friends before leaving Arizona. It was organized chaos with nine kids in the same room but they all seemed to have a great time playing games at the park, eating pizza, eating cake and ice cream, opening presents and ending with a Wii Tournament.

Box Car Racer

The boys have had alot of fun playing with boxes. They have been pushing Matt all around the house. They even put a pillow and blanket in so he'd fit better and be more comfortable. He doesn't seem to mind and even enjoys it.

Camelback Mountain Hike

Chris, Keaton and Andrew hiked Camelback Mountain the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was a much harder hike than they anticipated. After parking about a mile outside the park they figured it was about a 5-mile hike and it felt like it was straight up. The hike starts with a long section of railroad tie stairs, then has 2 sections where you have to hold onto a handrail to get up and then the rest of the trail is basically large boulders that you have to hike through, over, and around. Keaton and Andrew did fine on the way up while their dad struggled but Keaton and Andrew had a harder time coming back down.

Andrew & Keaton ready to hike Camelback Mountain in the background.

Taking a quick break to let Dad catch up!

The first section requiring a handrail to climb up. Hold to the rod!!!!!


The second handrail section.

At the top...finally.

They made it!

Coming back down at sunset.

The Closest Thing We Have to a Tree House

Andrew and Keaton are going to miss sitting in the Palo Verde tree in our front yard. They really are little monkeys. They love to climb everything - trees, walls, whatever they can find. They even did homework while sitting in the tree once. It's funny because it is such a small tree but they love it.

Thanksgiving and "Bolt" in 3D

We spent Thanksgiving day at Chris' cousin Katie's home in Chandler, AZ. We had Thanksgiving with Katie and Randy 2 years ago and hadn't seen them since then. Heather (Katie's sister and Chris' cousin) and her husband Nate and their family came down from Utah for Thanksgiving as well. It was so much fun to see everybody again - it has been way too long. Wow, their kids are really growing up and are so cute. The boys weren't too sure if they would have fun with the younger kids but it turns out that they had such a fun time that they didn't want to leave after about seven hours of playing, eating and visiting. They played in the sandbox for hours, burying things (even some of the kids) and playing on the swingset.

The day after Thanksgiving we took the boys to see "Bolt" with their friend Nate. We had no idea it was going to be in 3D. We all wore these cool shades. This is a picture of Keaton, Nate, and Andrew after the movie. What a fun afternoon activity.

A Good Laugh!

This was the hardest we've heard Matt laugh. Keaton was jumping around and yelling Boo! It was the funniest thing. Matt just kept laughing and laughing. We caught Matt on tape after he'd been laughing for 5 minutes or more. We couldn't stop laughing along with him.

Fall Baseball League - The Copper Crushers

Keaton and Andrew have been playing their second season of kid-pitch baseball and have been lucky to get a great coach who has helped them learn the fundamentals pretty well. He holds the boys accountable but is very positive and has taught them a lot of good lessons about teamwork, attitude, and discipline.

Safe!!! Here are a couple of clips of Andrew stealing third base.

This is Keaton with a base hit...well, almost. We thought a tie goes to the runner but the ump called him out. Anyway, nice hit Keaton and nice RBI! He had two base hits tonight that we weren't able to catch on the camera but this was a good one too.

Here's our future slugger. Matt appears to be enjoying the game as he relaxes in Dad's chair.

Going to California

We're on our way to Murrieta, CA as Chris was given the opportunity to work on a larger, more challenging project for work and we felt like this was our next adventure in life. The boys seem pretty excited about being near the beach and theme parks. They are sad to leave behind so many friends, as are we. Arizona has been such a wonderful place to live aside from the hot summers. If you know anyone on their way to AZ who needs a house ours will be available for sale or rent. We are looking at moving at the end of December so the boys can finish the second quarter of school here. In the meantime Chris will be doing lots of traveling and we will be doing our best here at home. We hope we'll see lots more visitors. Feel free to stop by on your way to the beach or come and stay a while.

Here it is right above Temecula. It's a whole mile closer to Utah than our current home and an hour less on the road. Wow!

Andrew said he'll miss climbing the fence to Nate's yard (their friend next door) and going to Marley Park. Keaton said he'll also miss climbing the wall and our tree out front. He'll miss Arizona but is looking forward to being close to Disneyland.

From Google maps it looks like Disneyland is about 55 miles away, Legoland is about 44 miles away, and Sea World is about 65 miles away. We went house hunting last week and have talked to friends in the area and it seems like a nice place to live.

Happy Halloween!

Matt made such a cute little skeleton. He wasn't too sure about all of the pictures. We were trying to catch him smiling. No such luck!

Did you see a ghost?


Hey everybody. Just hangin' out waitin' for ghosts and goblins to come to the door.


Our three sons. Keaton and Andrew have chosen a costume and stuck with it for a couple of years at a time. They wanted to be Jedis for 2 years and now baseball players for 2 years. Maybe they'll want to do something entirely crazy and unique next year - or maybe not. The boys went to a fun Halloween party this year with a bunch of friends from the ward and then out with Dad for lots of treats.

Making the Grade

First quarter grades are in. These pictures are from the awards assembly the school had this week honoring fourth and fifth grade students for their achievements.

Andrew and Abby made the honor roll. Way to go guys!

Keaton was awarded the Principal's honor roll and was selected as the student of character from his class. His teacher said that he is kind to everyone and is always on task. Great job!

Fall Soccer Season

Fall soccer league is coming to a close. The boys only have one more game.

Here is a short video clip of Keaton playing goalie where he blocks a shot and then boots it down the field.

This is a picture of Andrew playing goalie in the second half, kicking a goalie kick. We have a video of Andrew but the file is too big to upload to the blog.

They have had a fun season. They had 3 friends from our ward on their team - Kaden, Jared, and Nate. Their team was one of the younger teams but they played very well. Tuesday nights were very busy for the boys who have Cub Scouts from 6-7pm and soccer practice from 7:30-8:30pm. They also just started fall baseball but have had to miss Tuesday practices for obvious reasons. After their last soccer game this Saturday our lives will get a little simpler.

We also found out how hard it is to get a good video clip of them playing soccer with our new camera. We are going to try to get some better clips this Saturday.

Pinnacle Peak

Chris took the boys on a 3.5 mile hike up Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale during Fall Break. They had so much fun. They are planning the next hike up Camelback Mountain. Then on to Havasupai Falls - well, maybe not. They enjoy hiking and exploring. It's getting cooler here and is perfect weather to enjoy being outside.

With water and snacks we're ready to go. Matt and I stayed home since the trail is not stroller friendly. (Actually, we ran errands and got groceries, etc.)

The only shade to be found on this hike!

Dirt, rocks, sagebrush and cacti, oh my.

We're definitely in the desert.

Boating on Lynx Lake (Part 2 of the Camping Trip)

On the way home from camping Chris took the boys boating, partially to fulfill some of their cub scout requirements but mostly as an excuse to have some fun. They went out on a row boat and a paddle boat that afternoon. The boys learned how to row and can now row frontwards and backwards and turn. They thought the paddle boat was a lot more work but really enjoyed rowing.

Andrew and Keaton getting geared up.

Andrew rowing.

Keaton rowing.

Lynx Lake north dock

Chris, Andrew, and Keaton getting set to take off on the paddle boat.

Camping near Lynx Lake

Chris took Keaton and Andrew camping last weekend with a couple of families from our ward. I stayed home with Matt, who had just been circumcized earlier in the week. We thought it wouldn't be that fun to take Matt camping anyway where he is still so small and we would be without the comforts of home. Chris and the boys love camping and had a lot of fun.

They shot blow dart guns, made a fun tree swing, played ladder ball, played by the river and caught a frog, climbed on the rocks around camp, rode a 4 wheeler, saw a skunk, and had fun being dirty, smelly boys. One of the boys who came along fell on one of the rocks and broke his arm the last day. We didn't know until we saw him in church on Sunday with a cast on.

Andrew and the blow dart gun

Keaton with a blow dart gun and playing ladder ball

Keaton on the swing

And Andrew too...

But the funnest part was:

Of course, playing with friends.

Growing like crazy!

March 2008Matt was born five weeks premature. He weighed 4lb-10 oz. He was the smallest of our three boys. He stayed in the hospital an extra day to make sure he could keep his body temperature up on his own.

April 2008

He gained weight rapidly and started to fill out nicely.

May 2008

Looking pretty serious.

June 2008

Matt on his blessing day.

June 2008

Showing lots of personality and some curiosity.

July 2008

Sitting up in his Bumbo chair with his brothers.


August 2008

Trying to sit up on his own.

September 2008We just started him on baby cereal. He is not too sure if he likes it...

He's getting so big.

Our little Matthew.

Matt is now 16 pounds and continues to grow quickly. He is so much fun. He is laughing and trying to talk. He has a bottom tooth breaking through so he drools a lot and tries to chew on everything. He is a pretty even-tempered little guy and is such a blessing in our lives. Keaton and Andrew are good big brothers. They always want to hold, hug, and kiss him.