Family Visit

since i moved 3 hours north of my entire family and J's parents, i've been lonely. i miss them. so my little sister (next in line, there are 5 of us, yes all girls, and no - not poor dad. we adore him) and her family came up to give me a weekend dose of family. it was great...

Austin and my Pixie
only i can call her Pixie
it's our special thing

my sister and Pixie's adorable twin Carebear
another nickname
but everyone calls her Carebear

Madison and Pixie
these 2 are super close
Madison mothers Pixie
Pixie loves it

my kids
their twins
and my brother in law

the girls
i hope even with the move these 3 stay close friends
nothing is better then family

A-1 Mountain Road

Our Saturday adventure was on Sunday this week. Sunday morning Madison decided she wanted to go for a drive to see if she could spot some deer. Unfortunately it was already 8am, and I've heard it best to go out before sunrise. But we thought why not, it was a good day to get out as a family.

A-1 Mountain Road
a forest road not far from where we live
we have to come back here - it's so beautiful

we pulled off the road and went exploring
so fun
such a change from summer days back in phoenix

I absolutely love wild purple flowers

we all climbed around on these rock piles for a while
don't worry J stayed close to Madison
she was never in any danger

these two are so close
they are almost always holding hands
J is her protector
Madison brings out the fun kid in him

J helping Madison down from one of the rock piles
i like how he lets her be brave - but is always there to catch her

the kids

Me and Madison
thank you Austin for taking a few pictures

another thing I love about forest roads
bumpy dirt road + no traffic = kids in back
(J is very careful, they are safe. I promise)

me and Madison
taking fun pics together

2nd stop further down the road
deep in the forest
we saw deer here - in the distance
Madison decided we were going to follow them
so we hiked up the mountain

about half way up we had to take a quick break

finally at the top
"top of the world"
we could see our whole little town

and back down
this was the fun part

my typical picture of J and Madison
they alway joke that I am taking pictures of their bottoms
actually i just love seeing them holding hands
i love Madison's choice of shoes - rain boots

J and Madison jumping down the mountain
they were having so much fun

Austin - thankfully he lets me sneek in a few pictures of him

these 2 are so done having their pictures taken
I promised them that they would be thankful for all the pictures someday

rained out

Sunday we had plans to take the family out to one of the lakes
plans changed when the dark clouds rolled in
and the rain started
then it was pouring and really cold
(a nice change for the family visiting from the valley - it was over 110 down there)
the forest road to the lake would be a muddy flooded mess that we didn't want to risk it

so we hung out at the house
the crazies took a long walk in the rain :)
the rest of us sat outside enjoying the weather (under cover), and waited for them (and our kids) to come back

we made chicken spaghetti
the boys played lots of video game
the little girls did crafts (painted Halloween crafts, scrapbooked, made pretty barrettes)

it was a fun day,
even if we didn't to go the lake

and as usual
lots of pictures

Madison was so happy to have Kailey
to climb and explore in the front yard

Me and my Pixie (Kailey)

Madison and Kailey let us take a lot of pictures
well, Madison told me that she only likes
Aunt Alicia taking her picture
so Alicia took a lot of Madison's pictures

my crazy sisters out in the rain
looking for worms
gross

Angie playing in the rain

Angie's shoes
Madison turns her feet in just like this

the munchkins painting

Austin playing video games
he did take a flash light walk with he aunts and uncle today
it was nice he got outside and away from the computer for a bit

Oh, and after the little ones went to bed, we kicked the boys off the xbox so the adults could play Scene It. So all in all it was a really good day.

sister visit

Two of my sisters and their families came to visit. 3 more adults and 4 more kids in our little 3 bedroom townhouse. It was tight, and so much fun. I love hanging out with my sisters, brother-in-law, and their kids. I can't wait to have them, or any of our family back. Hoping in a couple weeks family will come for our county fair.

And what is a blog post without a few pictures.

the first day we went for a walk
explored the neighborhood
and showed off our much cooler weather

Austin and Luke

family picture
missing Zachary - he was back at the house playing video games
man, i love these kids
i miss living closer, hopefully we have many many more visits

these two loved climbing and jumping
not as much as they loved video games
but they had fun being outside

The rest of day one was visiting, eating, and just hanging out.

saturday adventures - forest road 125 and lake mary

angie thanks for teaching me to braid
i still need a lot of practice
but she looked really cute for our outing today

Madison and Austin
getting ready to go...
and the loving start

view from the truck
i wonder if i will ever get over how beautiful it is here
i really hope not

forest road 125
this was the road to a small lake we wanted to see
we never made it
the adults misread the sign
we thought the lake was 2 miles down this road
it was actually 9 - we didn't go that far



on the way back we put the kids in the back of the truck
lesson one - bring jackets, it was pretty cold
from the back of the truck Austin saw a small pond
so we stopped to play
lesson two - no flip flops on saturday adventures



J and Madison
these two are as close as any father daughter pair could be
she always wants to hold his hand
he, of course, never minds

found: new plant
austin called them cat-tails
(from plants vs zombies)
she loved how soft they were

i know i don't get as many pictures of Austin
he is a little faster them me
and likes to hide from my camera
but sometimes he lets takes his picture
i'm glad when he does

my shadow -
i was thinking this was going to be my only proof      I was there...

Madison and Austin playing in the cat-tails

Madison found this fallen tree
and HAD to climb it

she did really good
J was there, just in case
but she is getting so brave

J and Madison exploring

Madison and Austin climbing

Me and J
Austin asked if he could take our picture
i think i will have him do this more often

i love her smile
she is giving me a flower she picked

the flower
in Madison's hand

the misread sign
we found it on the way back
9 miles, not 2

on the side of the road:
lots and lots of cows

Lake Mary
Austin taking a video of me taking his picture :)

J and Madison getting close enough for Madison to      feel the water
suprise :) it was cold

Madison and Austin

Madison throwing rocks in the lake
I'm sure the guys fishing across the lake loved us
(she only threw a couple)

Austin on our way back to the truck

when we got home Madison just couldn't wait
she HAD to help J open one of his father's day presents

helping turned into taking over and opening the      present for him
he doesn't mind at all
they spent the next hour building this star wars spaceship
Madison picked out for him