California Adventure

We recently returned from a week at the beach house north of Ventura, California. This has been a fun tradition for our family over the past several years. Melanie and Clark were able to join us from Chicago (minus Rob, who we greatly missed) and Mike brought a friend, Melissa. We enjoyed swimming, kayaking, surfing, and day trips to Santa Barbara, downtown Ventura and Magic Mountain. Most of all, we enjoyed our time together and quiet moments to read and enjoy the beauties around us.

Pine Showers

We spent a couple of days up at the cabin in Pine. It rained every afternoon and left everything so fresh, green and cool--especially appreciated after the 110+ degree days down in the Valley. Leave it to desert dwellers from Arizona to get excited about pictures of kids in the rain. It's amazing that just a little over an hour away from our home in Mesa, we can watch the fireworks in 60 degree weather--bundled up against the cool, night air! Uncle Paul has been busy finishing a beautiful playhouse up in the trees for his grandchildren. It's a masterpiece--he is so talented.

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Since school has been out, we've experienced Girls' Camp, EFY, Gilbert Children's Theater Workshop, trips to the cabin, swimming in the pool, Camp Tatiyee, trips to Pinetop, a long boarding accident, scorpion hunts, volleyball tournaments, early morning weight training, visits with family and friends from out of town, Grandpa Ray's 90th birthday and lots of late nights. We are loving it!

Dance Recitals and Rocking Out at the Gym

As the end of the school year comes, so follows the parade of dance, piano and other recitals! Katie and Chloe were in different dance classes and performed a couple of cute numbers. Melanie, Rob and Clark are off to Chicago for the summer. We enjoyed having Mel and Clark stay with us about a week while Rob was in Chicago getting everything settled.







For Family Home Evening the other night, we took all the kids to the Phoenix Rock gym and Mike taught the girls how to climb the various walls. They've had us climbing the wall for years so it's only fair that they learn how, too. To our surprise, the girls were naturals and loved scampering to the top.

Easter/Spring Break

During Spring Break, we headed to the happiest place on Earth--(aka Disneyland) with our two youngest--and had a really nice time together. Christy spent the week down in Mexico with friends and Carly enjoyed helping her sister, Melanie, babysit Clark in Mesa. We were able to enjoy our Easter weekend together as a family--with Mike coming down from Provo earlier in the week.

Cruisin the Mexican Riv

After nearly 25 years of marriage, we ventured out on our first cruise--heading off to the "Mexican Riviera." We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were among the youngest couples on the cruise. Rob and Melanie watched the home front while we were gone and we admit, with some guilt, that we didn't worry about the kids once. It has taken about a week to get back into the routine of our pre-cruise lives--and will take even longer to work off the added poundage. Whose going to turn our bed down each evening?--and where are those doggone mints!

Apache Tears

On the last day of Christmas vacation, Dave, Katte and Chloe went on a hike in the Superior area to look for Apache tears. The legend--perhaps with a Weed twist--is that as the Apaches were driven from the Superstition Mountain range, the tears of the people fell to the ground and turned into black, obsidian-like rocks. It didn't take us long to hit a mother lode of Apache Tears and in a short time the girls had filled their bags.