4th of July...In September

Remember yesterday when I said I had a plan for catching up? Well it's not a fancy plan, it just involves daily posts until I catch up. And as I only have so many interesting things that happen in my life I ought to be up to speed in no time.

Our ward had a 4th of July breakfast and bike parade. It was low key and the food was good. The kids did have a wonderful time riding there bikes around with friends. It was July in AZ so we didn't last long but it was fun while it lasted.

Samantha was the only one with a remotely decorated bike.

Yes, Tommy has a pink bike. That's what happens when you get girl hand-me-downs. He'll just have to live with it.

And Eliza was just in it for the food.

7 Years (and 2 1/2 months)

Wow.....can we just pretend that I didn't take a 3 month hiatus from writing on my blog? It's not that I didn't think about it. It's just that whenever I did then the thought kind of stressed me out. I had a very real and serious case of bloggers block. But I took some pills (M&M's) and now I'm over it. I just feel so sorry for my sad little sidebar which will be completely devoid of anything for July and August.

So I have some things I really want to showcase that are months old. I have some plans for catching up. I'd love comments if my cyberbuddies are still out there. Otherwise, I guess I will just do it for posterity's sake :).

2 and 1/2 months ago Tom and I celebrated 7 years together. We still love each other lots and to prove it we went on a hot air balloon ride. Actually that was kind of non-sequiter but it sounded like fun so that's why we did it. It was awesome!

We got the tickets through groupon and that made it even feasible. Then we had to be there at 5 stinkin' AM!! I had my wonderful friend Amy watch the kids (we put them to bed at her house the night before). It was very desert-y. I think it would have been cooler if we had done it over another state, but hey-I took what I could get.

Us on the balloon. I hadn't really envisioned anything in particular (okay, I envisioned it being like the movie UP) but I certainly didn't expect to be standing up and herded in like cattle with 15 other people. Less romantic than anticipated but still fun.

Out of order picture-right before they blew up the balloon.

I'm not sure what I was thinking-maybe about 7 wonderful years of marriage? More likely whether breakfast would be good. You can see that the landscape wasn't that varied.

I included the above picture to show the other hot air balloons that were up and about at the time. It's the dot in the center.

Our balloon

I thought this was cool.

We did see wildlife of the desert variety. The above is a coyote. We also saw burros and owls. The coyotes were funny because they were smart enough to recognize the white vans and that they came bearing food. So they circled us during our breakfast and as we drove away they dug into the leftover the tour guides left for them.

Our breakfast was divine so that made me happy. We were home by 9:30. I loved the experience without necessarily feeling like I have to do it again. I was glad to share it with my sweet husband Tom.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel-let down your long hair

We already have a fairly entrenched summer entertainment schedule. Monday: Gymnastics for Samantha and Tommy. Tuesday: Movie Morning, Friday: Splash park play date.

We decided to mix it up and add something else. Thursdays the library offers different shows and programs. This past Thursday they had the Great Arizona Puppet Theater performing Rapunzel. We have seen them in the past performing Cinderella so I was excited to go.

It starts at 10:00 but I knew you had to be there at 9:00 and then wait in line for an hour to be seated. Kind of a cruel way to start off a performance that kids should be quiet for-but oh well-it was actually fine.

The two oldest loved it. Eliza and I hung out in the back. I was glad we got to do something out of the ordinary.

Waterfall Trail

Two Saturday's ago it was actually a nice day (only got in the 80's). We got kind of crazy and decided to go on a hike as a family. The closest and easiest is the waterfall trail in the White Tank Mountains. I have been when there is actually a waterfall, though not this time. There was stagnant, disease-breeding water at the bottom but alas....no waterfall. It was an easy hike, only 1.8 miles round trip and paved at least half the way (and thus we could use the stroller). The kids enjoyed themselves. Ruffie enjoyed herself more.

Rocking Robin

I am way, way behind on posts. We've been doing a lot of stuff, but I'm not too terribly busy. I just wanted to post things chronologically and I could not figure out (even Tom couldn't do it) how to post Samantha's dance videos. We've done it before so I don't know what the problem is. Though he thinks it might be that they're cracking down on copyrighted music in video and there is the song "Rocking Robin" in the video. Just a theory, it may be that we lost all of our compute knowledge overnight. Sorry no video.

Anyway.

The first week of June was Samantha's 4th dance recital. She has gotten so much better in a year and knew most of the steps really well. I love to watch my little cutie dance and enjoy herself.

Something about this costume was really a hit with Samantha. You should have seen the way she pranced around the house in it. I think it was the feathers/sequins combo.

Daddy and Daughter. They did the dance again this time-so cute. Urgh-stupid videos.

Samantha got to take the class with one of her close friends, Emma. That made it extra special.

An Announcement I've been waiting a long time to make

No, not that kind of announcement. For now, this is more exciting: Sold!

After waiting for two long years, crying countless number of times, praying, fasting, worrying, agonizing, and then learning to not worry and agonize our house in Virginia is under contract! We will keep our fingers crossed until July 15th (closing date) and then we are DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We found out in Hawaii (as if the vacation needed to get any better) and I initially sobbed. I don't know why, but then I promptly forgot about it at all. I've had a hard time even remembering to tell people about it. I think I've gotten so good at putting it out of my mind I just kept ignoring it-even when the news was good! Obviously in this market it is selling below what we still owe on it, but we have the money in savings to make up the difference and won't be doing a short sale. We feel very happy, blessed, and mostly relieved!

Our closing date in Virginia when it officially became ours....little did we know.

Ohana Means Family

Day 6: Sunday! We went to the ward in Kailua (there are actually three of them) and I really liked it. I got kissed on the cheek 4 different times, so that was different. They sang Aloha 'oe to a family leaving after the Sacrament. I absolutely love that song, so I was happy to hear it done. AND we got Lei's in Relief Society for being visitors. I think these are all traditions that we should adopt on the mainland.
We just hung out most of the day on Sunday. But there was a few (hundred) pictures taken. Some were more successful than others. That's what the picture of us at the top of the blog came from.

I know she's mine, but is she cute or what?!?

The cousins were so cute and had so much fun together. I was worried about Samantha's withdrawal upon coming home.

And now the pictures. Lots of pictures. Here's my cute kiddos

This is really the shot we should use for Christmas cards, it's much more authentic :)

But here is the best of the 600+ taken (no joke-we have burst on our camera so the Aunts just kept taking 3 shots for second)

Jeanette and Emma

Sarah, Paul and Nolan

Maria and Jon with Rachel, Joshua, Matthew, Kate

Mom and Dad

And the most important (lol) Us!

This is a progression story: Eliza has completely had it with pictures

So she's going to do something about it

Bye Eliza!

And the aftermath of the pictures-this is us choosing which we like the best

Day 7: Haunama Bay! This tied or maybe slightly surpassed kayaking. I got to go snorkeling in Haunama Bay and it was the most gorgeous, surreal experience. I was literally close enough to touch the most gorgeous fish. It's really like you look into another world with the coral/rocks and all the different kinds of fish. Tom saw a turtle, not me, but I just had the best time. No pictures, because I don't have an underwater camera :)

Family Home Evening.

With the treat of course!

This is a good picture to end pictures with because I haven't mentioned our favorite Hawaiian pastime-eating!

Days 8 and 9: We got to go to the beach and in the pool one last time but it was time to pack up and go. Our flight left on Tuesday at 9:30 PM. That was rough, I've never done a red-eye. The kids actually slept as well as can be expected-me, not so much. But after 7 1/2 hours excluding layover time we were home! We had quite truly the time of our lives. There are no words except maybe: awesome, wonderful, fun, gorgeous, amazing.