Flagstaff

The first week of August my parents have a timeshare in Flagstaff. So once again we escaped the heat and went up to enjoy the cool weather. It was definitely a time to relax and veg. We, me and my children and Aubs, went up Tuesday afternoon. I was exhausted so I took a nap right when I got there. Tuesday was school shopping day. I was totally frustrated because usually we score with lots of cute stuff way cheap, not this year. I was having a hard time trying to find Franklin dress code approved clothing. I finally decided it wasn't going to happen and so I ended up making some skirts up there. I also got to buy new tires because one of mine had a nail in it and the tread was gone. Not what I was wanting to do while on vacation. Marcus and his children came up Wednesday night and Brendon came up on Thursday with Reddin and Karen and their girls. So by that night everyone was there except Travis and his family, Megan and Adele, and Trevor. Swimming at the pool, one of our favorite things to do up there. They now have this kiddy pool which is wonderful, for those that aren't too sure of the water, AKA Abby and Liam.Sawyer, Payton, Neil, and Ruth playing with Marcus.

Another favorite of the children is goofy golfing, go Payton! Sawyer watching on and Ruth and Neil in the background.

The timeshare has a huge jacuzzi tub and the kids love to pile in it after swimming at the pool to warm up.

Abby shooting Uncle Marcus's pellet gun! The kids really enjoyed that, thanks Uncle Marcus!

The cousins playing T-Ball. Matthew was a spectator with Kayda, what a cutie! Doesn't he looked so thrilled to be there?

Surprise, surprise Abby wasn't into the game and kept running off. So, dad got to keep fetching her, she ended up having to come back early.

We also did a lot of this up there. We tried to relax and sleep whenever we could. My handsome men!

Abigail and I taking a nap at the pool.

Grandpa watching a movie with his grandkids.The gang before we all took off to go home!
It was a full house but a house of fun nonetheless!

Party Like It's 1999; Well 10 Years Later!

August 1st was my 10 year high school reunion! Crazy how fast time flies by. My friend Michelle was on the committee since she was in Student Council. As her friends we then became her committee and so we were in charge of the decorations. They turned out pretty good, despite all the stress over them. It was a pretty good time talking to people I haven't seen in a long time, some longer than others. I am just sad on all those that weren't able to make it, hopefully, next time. Here are some pictures from that night!

I forgot my camera so these are all the pictures I had access to. I wish I would have brought it and at least got a group picture or something, but life won't end because of it so I'm not going to stress.

This was the decorations for the stage.

This was a big sign that Michelle and Shalice made that was hanging in the back, it looked awesome.

These were the decorations I came up with. I was in charge of the top movies of 1999.

Neus Family Reunion

My mother-in-law thought it would be nice for the Neus Family to do a vacation together. So we did a staycation at a local resort the weekend of July 24th. We went to The Pointe at Squaw Peak. We went Friday night to Sunday morning. It was fun to go swimming and just get away from the house and veg at the pool all day long. Here are the only pictures I got: Camby, our cousin, and Sawyer waiting in line for the cannon ball contest.
Sawyer's turn, look at that awesome ball. If you ask me I think she won!

Camby and his try at the cannon ball contest.
I also got one candid shot of a few of us in the pool!

We went out to dinner at Aunt Chiladas on Saturday night with everyone. It has been a long time since we have done that and the family has multiplied quite a bit. I believe there was 26 of us! It was fun to be with everyone and enjoy one another's company. I know the kids had fun with their cousins. Thanks for the great idea Sue!

This was Sunday morning the girls got up real quietly and started watching TV. I woke up a bit later and found them sitting real close to the TV because it was turned down really low, as not to disturb us.

Sawyer and Ruth's Fort

Megan, my sister-in-law, was scheduled to have her baby Adele in the morning on July 22nd. The night before Ruth spent the night so they didn't have to worry about her the next day. We ate, played, watched a movie, made cards for Megan and Adele, and went to sleep. The next morning the girls decided to make a fort. They did a pretty good job, it was just really big and they didn't have enough blankets. Plus they were trying to keep the blankets together and they kept falling. I finally came and helped them make it a little sturdier. Too bad they didn't get to play long because soon it was time to welcome Adele into the family.

Ruth trying to keep the blanket on.The girls playing in their fort, I think they had a little too much going on. Oh well, at least they are using their brains and being creative.

Eagar

The next day after Aubs got home we went to Eagar. It was me and my children, my parents, and my sister Aubrey. We left Saturday morning because it was my mom's 40 year reunion up in Snowflake that day. We drove up ate and visited with my friend Carly for a bit. We walked around the craft and arts fair. We also had to do a drive by of my mom's old house. It looks nothing like the house I used to go to as a child. We were then off to Eagar to enjoy the beautiful weather. My mom and dad went back down for her reunion that night while we went to the park, ate, and watched movies. It was a relaxing trip to get out of the heat. It was also nice to spend time visiting with my sister. It rained and hailed on Sunday, it was almost cold. The girls also found a rabbit and the poor thing didn't know what hit him. They would not leave him alone, poor thing. For two days they kept catching him and holding him, and Peter Rabbit thought Mr. Macgregor was bad, he never met Animal Obsessed Sawyer and Crazy Abby!

Irma Evans is Home!

On July 17th my sweet sister Aubrey came home from her mission in Porto, Portugal. I missed her greatly and was so excited for this day to come! She looked great and for the first time in a long time her hair was longer than mine.

Her flight got in at 10:45 pm, not conducive to children. We put our children to bed at like 6:30 and they slept until about 9:00 and we woke them up and went to the airport in PJ's. It's a good thing we love Auntie Aubs. Here are they are waiting for Aubrey.

Waiting with our posters for Aunt Aubs to come home. I didn't recognize her walking down the ramp because her hair was blond and I was expecting it to be brown, oh well!

Here the group is welcoming Aubs home!

Babysitting Kellen

For the past few weeks I have been babysitting my friend Carly's little boy Kellen. I watch him while Brett, his dad, goes to school and Carly isn't yet off work. He is adorable and smiles when he sees me, love it. He is pretty easy to watch because he has a chill personality and is a cute little guy. Plus most of the time I watch him he is sleeping and it's only for 2 hours. I know tough job. The other day I had both him and Matthew lying on the ground for diaper changes. It was cute they kept grabbing each other's hands and they would look at each other every once in a while. Those were a bit hard to get on camera, I tried.I thought this one was funny because they both had their hands up in the air.
Here was a holding hands picture, so sweet. Even though Kellen's legs are tucked up Matthew is huge compared to him, I guess they are 4 1/2 months apart.

A Day Trip

To start off on Monday I went to Phoenix Children's to get Matthew's blood drawn. They poked him in both his hands, his foot, and his head. They only got half of what they needed. I was happy though because that was better than the previous times. I needed to go back and since Matthew has therapy on Tuesdays, Wednesday was the winner. That morning I dropped my girls off at my friend, Natalie's. I took Matty in and they got part out of his arm and the rest out of his head. So after 5 visits to the lab and 11 sticks mission complete. I am only going there for draws, they were wonderful. Not only is Matthew a bit of a hard draw but once they stick him his blood flows so slowly that it clots before they can get all that they need. Unfortunately this isn't the last of the blood work. Depending on what these tests say we may need more. Side note on Matthew, he is doing well and is improving slowly. Slowly being the operative word. I can't ask for more than that though. He is now batting things with his hands and he is better about grabbing things. I still don't think he's made the connection of, "I'm the one doing this!"

Anyway, on to my day trip. After Matthew was done we headed back to Natalie's and loaded up the cars and a group of us went to Michelle's cabin in Strawberry to surprise her for her birthday. It was so fun. We visited, played games, got pedicures, ate cake and ice cream, and did a music video. It was a fun and exhausting day! My girls did really well. Sawyer was off with Michelle's nephew all day long and Abby stayed in or around the house playing with others.

In the process of getting pedicures. And boy was I in need of one. I hadn't done a thing to my toenails in months. It was sick, thanks Nat.

Our cute toes after our pedicures.

Michelle's yummy Oreo ice cream cake.

Hanging out after the dance add-on game. I love Michelle's family. They are crazy and are willing to do anything. The party group, it was fun to drive up for the day and just again relax and have a good time. Me, Michelle, her son Michael, Bobbi, Stephanie, her baby Nevaeh, Becky, and Natalie.

Wicked

July 7th I took Sawyer to see Wicked. It was so fun! I just love that Musical. This is the 3rd time I have seen it and it is still just as good as the first time. This was Sawyer's first time. I have been looking forward to the time that I could take her. I got really good seats because of her. We went out to eat at Matta's and then we drove with some friends of ours, The Jones', thanks for driving. Our seats were on the 5th row and it was amazing. I had good seats when I went and saw it in LA, but these were even better. I am glad I was able to spend the time with Sawyer on a mom and Sawyer date. She had a really good time and on the way home asked if we could go see it again. I told her unfortunately no. Tickets are kind of expensive and we already saw it. She said can't we just use our tickets again and come back? Boy do I wish we could, but sadly no we can't. We'll have to wait and see it again some other time. It was fun spending time with Sawyer watching an awesome musical.

Sawyer in front of the stage where we sat, unfortunately it is dark.Some nice people took a picture of Sawyer and I by our seats, it was hard to get the front of the stage.
Out front, Sawyer and I with our Playbill. What a fun night!

Fourth of July

We went up to Eagar Thursday night, July 2nd. We got there late and went to bed. We got up and just hung around Friday, ran errands, and the girls played. Brendon had taken Abby to the skate park and she got wet so he took off her pants. She ran around most of the day in a shirt and panties. We lost track of her and couldn't find her. I figured she had run across the street to the park. Sure enough she was running around the skate park in her shirt and panties. That night we were trying to roast marshmallows and Abby had just a shirt on because we were going to get in the bath. All of a sudden she spreads her legs and just pees. I think she had been doing that all day because she went through like 5 pair of underwear. I think it felt like her swim suit and so she went like she does while swimming. So fun that girl. Saturday morning we woke up and went to breakfast at the park. The firemen cook breakfast, it was yummy we had pancakes, sausage, and OJ. Here are the girls at the park. I thought I got a picture of Abby on the merry-go-round, her favorite thing but I didn't, oh well. My sweet Sawyer
Abs and Sawyer on the wall. This was one of Abby's favorite things.
She loved walking along the wall. Then we went to the parade. Here is Matthew and Me at the parade. Doesn't he look thrilled?

The girls waiting for the parade and candy.

Matthew in his 4th of July outfit.

Don't you just love the bum?
The girls got shirts from Grandma Evans and Grandma Neus. The red ones were from Grandma Evans and these blue ones were from Grandma Neus. We changed half way through the day.

Abby actually had another one but it was white, not gonna put that on the dirt magnet.
That night we went to the airport to watch fireworks. Here we are eating goodies while we wait.
It was pretty chilly up there. It was so nice though to have to wear pants and jackets. I love the cool weather. We had a great time and enjoyed getting away. It was my first vacation since before Matthew was born. It was a well needed break.

Girls Night Out

I guess I'm on the update every month plan? I always get caught up and think I will keep up with it, then life happens, oh well! At the end of June I did a girls night with all my girlfriends. It was so fun! I live for these nights once a month, and this month I definitely needed it. It had been a particularly bad day. I got the orders for Matthew's blood work for his genetic testing. I thought I would go to therapy and then go get it done since we were going to be leaving later that week. I went and it took forever and by the time they knew what they were doing they stuck him twice, dug around, and no blood. They told me to come back so I went back later that day to a different location. Again two sticks, and digging and they got a tiny bit of blood, not enough to use. So it turned out to be a hard day so I was in need of a break. I went back Wednesday morning and they stuck him once and nothing. I then went to Phoenix Children's Hospital and they said they could but they had to do it M,W,F before 10 AM. So, I'd have to come back next week. So much for getting it done before I left. Anyway, on to my girls night. We had it at my friend Natalie's house. She taught us how to make these cute flowers to be used to accessorize as we feel.Here we are showing off our creations, everyone did an awesome job and we had fun hanging out together!