A little piece of Heaven...

This city has a large piece of my heart...I did a large part of finding myself, growing as an individual, finding the path that would take me where I am now...I miss this place so much and wish so deeply that I could live there, raise my children there, just breath the air....

So in lieu of not living there, my friend Jessamyn and I took a girls trip up, children free to play with our camera's, catch up on girl talk and just regain some mama strength that we desperately needed.

It was just wonderful to not change diapers, take several potty brakes, wipe faces, entertain little babes, and just look through the lens and dream about how I wish my life was taking place in Flagstaff and not the desert heat...

Being up there always give me a sense of peace, creativity and settles my soul...it was hard to get in the car and drive back down...I think that we would have stayed if not for babes waiting to see their mama's again...

Out of Africa

So I am a little late getting these pictures up...but my great friend Jessamyn and I packed up the kids and headed up to Camp Verde to the Out of Africa Wildlife Park last week. We were thinking that it was going to be a little cooler than it was, but still hot (and wouldn't you know that it cooled off and started raining as we were driving away). However, we had a great time. This park really allows you to get up close and personal with most of the animals...we got to feed the giraffe carrot sticks and pet the camel, who's name was appropriately Humphrey. Plus we saw lots of zebras and tigers, and the kids had such a good time experiencing all this greatness together.

This is a little zebra family, isn't this baby just too cute...

This is a sable, not really found in any other form of captivity cause they are just too aggressive, but beautiful animals...

***Warning for my mother...there is going to be a picture of a snake next, close your eyes if you don't want to see it...

And there is this bad boy, yes this Anaconda got to be loved on by the kids, they go to pet and touch him...good fun...

To end our day at the park we watched the tiger splash show with these amazing cats and their trainers just playing freely in the water and grass. The tigers would jump up in the air on their way to the water and pop balloons. So now Griffin wants me to blow up balloons all the time so he can be a tiger and pop them...Griffin was in this state of pure joy for most of this show and then all the kids started growling and walking around like they were tigers, too cute...

And this little one is sucking on a delicious ice cube, can you tell it is quenching her need for coolness...

We decided that we would go back up when it was cooler and take our hubbies along for extra hands...thanks Jess we had a great time :)

My little hero...

So yesterday I went to gym, like just about everyday and drop the kids off at the kid center and head off to my workout...I had done some lifting and was off to the treadmill...about two minutes into my run one of the girls from the kids area came and got me. She said that McKenna had been bit by another kid and she was crying...I asked if it was bad, the answer:yes, I asked if it broke the skin, thankfully she said no. So we made our way to where the kids were...


The first thing I see is Griffin standing next to one of the staff and I did a brief glance for Kenna unable to see her until I saw her feet behind Griffin. Griffin was standing in front of her and "guarding" her from other kids. When he saw me he started to walk towards me and I saw that he was holding Kenna's hand...we walked towards each other and Griffin's face turned red and his eyes filled with tears...he started to tell me that McKenna got bite by another little girl...He was so upset, I think more so than McKenna was. McKenna of course was still crying and I saw the damage that had been done to her cheek. I wanted to know who had bit her and it was another little girl a little smaller than her, so I wasn't upset about that.



Anyway, we left and Tim was working out too, so we went and found him and Griffin was telling us what happened. Griffin is extremely honest when it comes to things like this so here is the story...McKenna was playing with a little toy plane and the other little girl wanted it and McKenna was holding on to it, so the little girl bit her in the cheek and Griffin stopped her and told her "no, no". Then he hugged McKenna until I got there and he told us he made sure no one else would bite her. He told us several times last night that when he gets big he is going to be a police officer and put that little girl in timeout because we don't bite. I was so proud of him for taking care of his sister and protecting her until I got there. What a good big brother...



So here is the damage from last night, and she has a pretty sweet bruise of teeth marks on her face today, I am sure that it will be there for a few more days...

Camping Adventure

My sister moved back up to NAU this weekend, so in a desperate plee to get out of town and heat for a few days we tagged along and camped for the weekend 20 miles outside of Flag and drove in on Saturday to get Rachel all moved in. This was McKenna's first camping trip since she has been able to walk, I knew that she would get dirty, but she was only outside the truck for about 5 minutes before her face was covered in dirt as she was taste testing all the rocks to make sure they were good to play with...

We went exploring to collect treasures and found some beautiful things along the way...

Including Eeyore food...

After all that it does a body good to relax a bit...

What is camping trip without a fire...

The kids had so much fun and the bathtub needed a bath after we cleaned the kids...

Prepare for cuteness...

We went to a party last week for this handsome little guy...

And there was just too much cuteness not to snap a few shots...

And this beauty, is she just one of the most beautiful girls...

Happy Birthday buddy, hope you had a great day...