Spring Busy

Our spring break was the week before Easter and it was anything but a break. Although, it was all wonderful!

The first few days we went to Phoenix and stayed with my parents. While there we went to a big Renaissance Festival held there every year. We ate, threw knives, road rides (all powered by hand), and saw some joisting.

On Monday we headed for Disneyland in California - about an 8 hour drive. We went with friends and had a great time. The weather was perfect. We spent one day at Knott's Berry Farm where they have many major roller coasters. And after each one, Noah would yell, "That... was ... awesome!" Dave and I just felt like we had been beat to a pulp, but we all enjoyed it. Noah was such a trooper at the Magic Kingdom because the family we went with has a tradition of getting pictures with as many characters as they can find - both of which Noah cannot stand (characters and pictures). He hung in there however. Here is is at a character dinner, where there are lots of characters in one place that come mess with you while you are eating.

We were back home for Good Friday services and Easter. Here is the only picture I took on Easter (and I call myself a scrapbooker!?) It was a quiet day - Dave's parents came over and you know the spread was good because I was cooking - hahaha! We had build-your-own-sandwiches and potato chips out on our back patio. We were all happy to be lounging outside. I was happy to not cook. Dave was happy we had his favorite food. Noah fell asleep at about 4pm - exhausted from the previous week - and we could not wake him. So Dave and I got to catch up on all the Young and Restless we had recorded while we were on vacation. All-in-all, it was a very good day.

Where did it go?

March came and went in the blink of an eye. Noah chose a mad science theme for his birthday this year and we had a wonderful time performing experiments, building jitterbugs and marshmallow towers, exploding soda, making ice cream and being crazy. Thanks goodness, once again, we had lots of people who really helped us pull it together - my mom, Dave's parents and some friends. Here we all are in our lab coats creating wonderful messes!

This is kind of a sad year for Monica. I think Noah has outgrown the over-the-top theme parties that we have been putting together. Because a few days before the party this year, he asked me, "Mom, will there be any time to just play?" To which I replied, "Of course not. We have 12 experiments to do and ice cream to make and badges and bags to decorate and games to play and..." I guess it's not all about me and what I want. Dave is very grateful that I have finally learned that lesson and he will no longer have to stay up at night cutting out green blobs or drawing heiroglyphics on rolls of paper or making paper mache dinosaur eggs. I will miss it very much, however.

Anybody have a birthday coming up?

Noah has really gotten interested in basketball lately, so we got him a basketball hoop so he can play at home.

We also went to dinner with Grammy and Pop at Flemings (per Noah's request). Flemings is a fancy steak and seafood restaurant where Noah loves their crab legs - he can taste the difference between Flemings and Red Lobster. He's a kid after Pop's heart - he has extravagent tastes!

She makes us laugh

I had to share these funny pictures of Diamond. She loves to watch tv with us. She does stuff every day to make us laugh (and make us crazy).

I miss the derby!

So We recently took Noah and his friend Jesus to the Monster Truck Jam at the Tucson Convention Center. They both thought it was awesome, but I really miss the demolition derby/truck shows in Logan. They are so much more exciting. Ten minutes (much less two hours!) of trucks with giant wheels squashing other trucks and cars goes a long way! And the noise and exhaust!! I never appreciated the open air setting of the Logan shows like I should have. I sure hope that our visit there this summer coincides with a demo derby - I think I'll be checking the dates now and plan our trip around it.

I also had the pleasure of taking two handsome dates to the Mother/son dance at school. Here are Noah and Jesus dressed in their finest.

Holidays, Birthdays and Anniversaries...Oh My!

I will be so glad when February and March are over, even though I am really enjoying myself. There is just too much celebrating going on...



First, on February 6th, Dave turned another year older. We didn't do much that day, but took a short trip on his behalf February 21-24. Belive it or not, the school kids get 2 days off for the rodeo in Tucson. So we took that opportunity to get out of dodge. My parents have this book called Weird Arizona that talks about sites that have strange or interesting things in this state and Dave's goal is to go to all the places in that book. We started at the Dreamy Draw Dam, which is touted in the book as being a "fake" dam built on top of a crashed UFO to cover it up. You cannot get close to it because of all the No Trespassing signs and there is no water behind it (but there is not really any water anywhere in south Arizona - even the rivers). Who knows - Dave and his conspiracy theories thought it was very cool.



Valentine's day was in the middle of all this somewhere - which I almost forgot. Dave, Noah and I had a very romantic spaghetti-from-a-jar dinner at our card table dining set.



Next came Charles and Barbara's anniversary - see earlier post.



Then Diamond's birthday. She turned one year old on February 17th. Her favorite things are eating, licking people's nostrils (especially Dave's), sucking on the inside crease of my elbow, biting at my toes when I'm walking around without shoes, playing with her cousin Beagle, and barking ferociously at any other animal (on tv, outside, in pictures, her own refection, etc.) She makes us laugh everyday - even when we are angry with her.



On February 23rd, my parents celbrated their wedding anniversary - 41 years. Dave and I took them to a place of their choosing in Phoenix, where we dined on steak and rattlesnake (does not taste like chicken). We went with my sister-in-law and her two girls (my brother was at a seminar in Vegas). It was a good evening.



A wonderful surprise occured last Sunday. There was one whole row at church filled with Loganites from Utah! We were able to get them all to come over for a meal and had a great time catching up. It is always so comforting to see dear friends from our old home. Here we are in the top picture - notice the weather and attire. Left to right - Front: John and Jean Stewart; Back: Mary and Norb Debyle, Ray and Betsy Franchina, Dave, Barbara Hedgepeth; Very Back: Charles Hedgepeth



So I am now gearing up for next month. March 1 and 2 are Tate and Heidi's birthdays, March 13 is Noah's birthday, then spring break and Easter. And lets' not forget about St. Patrick's day!


Happy holidays, birthday and anniversary to all!

50 years!

Happy 50th anniversary to Barbara and Charles Hedgepeth! Dave's parents have been married for 50 years today - what an amazing accomplishment. I found out that only 5% of married couples make it to their 50th anniversary. It's a long time to be together - especially for those two. They will be the first to admit that they are total opposites and it hasn't been all fun and roses. But we sure are overjoyed that they are together and thankful that we can benfit from their example.

We went out to dinner with some friends of theirs and had a very nice night. Noah was very excited to get all dressed up (he can't be my son) and he behaved like a perfect gentleman for the 2 1/2 hour meal where he had crab, lobster and steak. He said that all he was missing was the "little rose in his pocket." His is definitely Pop's little capitalist prodigy.

Noah has started taking archery lessons and really likes it. I think it would be so fun to learn myself. He has also begun a chess class with Dave along with the bowling he does with his dad. We are raising quite the little geek. Is it any surprise - look at his parents! It's a good thing he is progressing in his karate lessons.

New Year's Resolution

I made two new year's resolutions. First, to open all my mail the minute I receive it. So far, so good. Second, to maintain this blog.

So, here I go again. Finally, going to try to keep this site current. I have many excuses which I won't bore you with and I'm sure won't change in the future, but for now, I'm going to pretend that I will do it this time.

Thanksgiving was at our house this year which is very ironic since I don't cook. But everyone piched in and it all came together - I made green bean casserole, Dave's mom did ginzagrout, his dad brought ham, Heidi made rolls from scratch, my grandmother made homemade pumpkin pies, and my mom did stuffing, turkey, sweet potatoes, (does this seem a bit unfair?) waldorf salad, mashed potatoes, gravy,...

The turkey did not finish cooking until late that night and we had to eat on card tables because after almost a year, we are currently in a law suit over a dining table we ordered last March - it's a long story. However, the weather was gorgeous, so we spent a lot of the day playing outside and having a great time being together.

We had a spectacular Christmas! Dave, Noah and I spent a quiet Christmas eve and day just the three of us doing just what we felt like. Our dinner consisted of salad (me), Kraft mac-n-cheese (Noah), and artichoke dip (Dave). We went to church services, played our new Wii video games and packed for our trip to the White Mountains in Pinetop, Arizona.

We headed to a cabin there December 26 and stayed until New Year's Day. We met Dave's parents, my parents and my brother's family. It was perfect! It snowed, we went sledding, and skiing, played games, did puzzles, ate, sat around the fire and listened to christmas music for a week. Even the dog cousins had a great time playing together. And, at the end, it was so nice to come home to the warmer weather and the sunny days.

We have decided that it needs to be an annual tradition. Last year, things just did not feel like the holidays to me. I had such a hard time adjusting to an Arizona Christmas. I realized that I was trying to compare it to and make it be just like the holidays in Utah, and it was very disappointing. I decided that I needed to make a new kind of Christmas celebration with new traditions and memories. I absolutely loved our Utah Christmases, but things are just not the same here and I had to love something different. And I so do!

These are some picture highlights from the years end. 1: guys playing foosball on Thankgiving, 2: Sadie and Burnee in thier New Year's eve attire, 3: The gang all stuffing their faces (without turkey), 4: Grandma and the girls in the bouncy hut on Thanksgiving, 5: Grandma Great taking an afternoon snooze with Diamond, 6: the girls sledding at the cabin, 7: Noah on the slopes in Arizona (if you can belive it)!

Hope you all had a wonderful 2007 and, if not, here's to 2008!