Thanks little Adee

Dear Adee,

All you needed was your own room!!! Who knew that was all that it took for you to sleep soundly during the night. If only I had known I would have put your two brothers and two sisters in the same room and would have given you your own! It has been three weeks since moving back and I have enjoyed a good nights rest every night. Lucky for you our new (old) house has 4 bedrooms and everybody shares but you. You continue to be an absolute joy, no wonder your middle name is Joyce, you make us all want to rejoice! You are such a bright little girl, rolling over early and crawling early, all that practice pays off :) Your hair is quite fun, short in the back with long bangs in the front. Your uncle Aaron has offered to cut it for you, but I want to see how it will unfold. You have two little bottom teeth that make you look so adorable when you smile, I can't help but smile when I pick you up. Your siblings and daddy love you so very much too.

Thanks again little one for letting your mama sleep.

Much Love,
Your mother.

My New, Same, Great Life

Well we tried to live in Benson, but it wasn't meant to be. So we are returning back to Tucson to our old home that we never sold. I like our home in Tucson, moving back especially because it wasn't really our choice has felt like stepping back in time, kinda like a lack of progression. We wanted a new life in Benson and it happened but it was only temporary. I watched this video and it changed my mind.

http://www.mormonmessages.org/


I will be grateful that I am living and I will count my blessings.

Top ten things I love about returning to Tucson

10. Wienerschnitzel is 200 yards away, DQ 10 minutes.
9. I can go to the grocery store without leaving the neighborhood.
8. Parks and Recreation (although with the budget cuts it is way smaller)
7. Target, Costco, the Dollar Tree
6. Our play room
5. Being able to bike to church again
4. Tank-less water heater, ahhh never ending hot showers.
3. A quick drive to the kids school.
2. Our neighborhood's Cathloic Church's noon day chimes, they always play a beautiful hymn.
1. Not having to drive 45 min. to visit family and friends, no more late night drives!

My blessings from Benson

10. A greater appreciation for the simple things in life, electricity, water, deep sinks.
9. The Benson Bobcat Rallies.
8. St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store, kids get a free book, I get great deals.
7. Hiking in Happy Valley.
6. The nighttime country sky.
5. The three traffic lights.
4. The "Land"
3. The altitude, a couple of snowfalls a winter, good storms in the summer.
2. The Gila Valley Temple opening.
1. The people.

Milk Product Mother of a Princess

When Benjamin's sister Amy lived with us we often did DQ runs. Unfortunately the kids caught on to what DQ stood for, ice cream. So we started speaking in code thus the name "milk product mother of a princess" = Dairy Queen. Man I love that place. If I could own three franchises it would be Dairy Queen, Arby's (lov'n that beef and Cheddar) and Eegees. Anyways I digress. This week in honor of DQ's 25th anniversary you can order one DQ blizzard and get the second one of equal value for 25 cents! My favorite in the past was a chocolate blizzard with brownie chunks mixed with marshmallow, every blizzard is made better with marshmallow. Yesterday Olivia ordered a "midnight truffle" whodalolly that might be my new favorite! So grab a friend and head to your nearest DQ (do grab a friend you don't want to be a pig and eat both of them even if it is cheap the calories on those suckers is outrageous!) Hmmm Enjoy :)

Gila Valley Temple

A new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints temple has been built in southern Arizona, we are so excited! Benjamin and I are ushers on May 5th and on May 7th we are tour guides. Touring is entirely free and a great way to learn about the purpose of our temples. Everyone is invited, so my friends of other faiths please come and see what we are so excited about!


Gila Valley Open House Info

Dear Adrianna,

I love you so much!! You are a fantastic baby, easy going and happy, very happy. In short you are a gem! I have one request, please start sleeping through the night. I have let go and decided not to try to stop you from sucking your fingers, so when you feel the need to be comforted in the wee hours of the night there is no need to wake me. Thank you little love.

With much Love,
Your Mom
00xx00XoXXx

Hug hug, kiss kiss, hug hug, big kiss, little hug, kiss kiss, little kiss.

Woohoo I'm 32!

My husband surprised me with a trip to Utah to celebrate my birthday with my twin. Luckily my birthday always falls during spring break, so the kids had the week off. Lindsey's kids didn't but we managed to play hard and even had them play hooky. We went to a Farm where they kids of course loved it.



















Parkin hanging upside down on the fence rail.



















Holman looking very Zen as he hangs.



















Simon looking all Simon cute.


















Our beautiful girls.




















We also went to the Sweets candy shop where we got to tour the factory and because it was our birthday we were allowed to choose anything that we wanted fromt the store, anything. There were some big ticket items in there to choose from, but in the end I chose dark chocolate covered raspberry sticks. Lindsey chose chocolate covered orange sticks. We also bought a boat load of salt water taffy, I loved the popcorn flavored the best.



Fun fact: They spend over $145,000 dollars in sugar ever two days, yikes! Now you can't say this blog doesn't teach you anything!

























I do not pull off the hair net very well I look like I am 400 pounds. I will have to scratch cafeteria worker of the list of future employment opportunities.


















This is a random picture of my little Dutch girl. Why do I do this??





















The trip was great the drive was long! We got to see Crystal's family and Benjamin was in heaven with her home made sugar cookies. Ryan got Lou and I manicures we chose black nail polish because we are very hip.

We even got to go to the Bountiful temple why were there, the Smiths live so close we didn't even come to one traffic light getting there.





The kids were so happy that for there spring break they got to dance in the falling snow, such Arizona kids.

Help Friends!

For those of you who do not have a Facebook account (and haven’t gotten this plea), I am asking for your help in filling out a survey about your relationship with your mother-in-law. If you don’t have a mother-in-law then you are off the hook :) My two sisters and I are writing a book on this important relationship and your responses which are entirely confidential will greatly improve our research! By participating, you agree to allow us to use your responses for data, and others may be included as a vignette, to illustrate points in the text. So please take time to fill out the survey and forward it on to your friends and relatives who have a mother-in-law!

Mother-in-Law Survey

As a side note, I have a fantastic mother-in-law and when I was telling her about this project we had a very interesting conversation about the mother-in-law / daughter-in-law relationship. I think this topic brings to light some very interesting interpersonal relationships :)

Thank you so much!