Summer stuff part 2

My birthday was pretty low key this year, but super fun.  I had been waiting for the re-release of Nintendo Entertainment System's Classic Edition.  30 old school games like all the Mario Bros., Bubble Bobble, Ninja Gaiden, Punch Out, Gradius and more!  I think I played a total of 5 hours the day I got it.  Happy Birthday to me!  Then my brother and his family were in Phoenix for the weekend so I went down with my Dad and celebrated with them and my Sister and Brother-in-law and my Mom.  We got my brother the same gaming system for his birthday too!  John and my boys stayed behind but prepared a nice breakfast for dinner for me.  I drove back up with my sister-in-law and my nephews who stayed with us for the night.  I always love it when my boys get time to spend with their cousins.  Lots of boys here!  I wish these get togethers could happen a little more frequently.  

 

 

EZ lost another tooth!  I think that's number 4.  Totally cute Kindergarten smile, at least that's what everyone was saying.  Also, check out John mowing our lawn.  First time we've had a lawn of our own to take care of.  It's nice having my parents house as a way of adjusting to taking care of a home.  Also, look at those clouds!

 

EZ started Kindergarten!  He rides the bus to and from school and he loves it!  It was a little hard at first, apparently it was quite loud.  But he made friends and he enjoys it now.  Here's Bruce getting in on the fun of getting your picture taken.  Also I don't know why, but I always take a second day of school picture too.  So, the other outfit is his second day. 

John started working as a nurse at a care facility and we sure miss him when he's gone.  Especially after so many weeks of being home.  It took a long time for his nursing license to get transferred and approved and sent out in Arizona.  We had a lot of down time for a while.  But, we kept ourselves pretty entertained.  Here is Bruce with his toy he refers to as: Captain American Flag.  He's so cute!

 John's birthday was pretty low key too.  Maybe that's how it goes the older you get.  But we surprised him with some fun cards, balloons, and gifts!  We also went out to eat!

Here are the boys still enjoying the summer.  It stayed warm for a long time.  I always thought this area was a lot like Utah, just not as much snow.  But we had beautiful days clear into November.  Still not really any snow.. but back to August! 

 
Actually September.  Over Labor Day weekend my other brother and his family came for a visit.  We go to the very small parade and just hang out.  Again, I love it when my kids get time with their cousins.  I never really had that in my childhood and to this day can't even name all my cousins.  So, I appreciate these moments and always want them to occur more often.  These girls are adorable!  In the last one, she found a frog and was just so excited.  She may have squeezed him to death with all the excitement!  Ha ha!

 

After another long waiting process, John was finally able to take his Nurse Practitioner test and he passed!  I busted out the poster from his Graduation and put it up for him to come home to.  When you've got a cool poster, you use it as often as you can!  He was basically jumping for joy.  After nearly 3 years of hard hard HARD work, it paid off!  He just amazes me sometimes. 

This picture of Bruce is precious!  Sometimes he just wants to be big and be a helper.  Here he is doing his part to bring in the groceries.  It's actually impressive how strong he is! 

We signed EZ up for soccer!  He lost interest the longer it went on.  He's not an aggressive kid and doesn't do super great in large groups.  He's the kid that will get out of the way or stand back and let the others take action.  It was a good learning experience for him though.  He had fun and learned some team building skills.  Not sure we'll do it next year... but probably.  There isn't much to do so we gotta take opportunities when they come.  We did run into some old friends and made new ones at the games so it was well worth it!  Don't you love the thumbs down picture?  

Thanks for reading!  I hope to stay more up to date because my memory is fresher and I can explain better what was going on and how we felt about it.  But something is better than nothing right?  At least this is for me and that's all I really care about! Ha!

Summer stuff part 1

I've fallen behind and I'm not sure why.  I don't ever feel like I do much, but I never have time for stuff!  Let me rephrase that;  I spend so much time taking care of my kids and family that I put off doing my own personal things of interests and desires.  So here I am wrapping up summer stuff when it's nearly Christmas.  We are still adjusting to life here in AZ but some things are going really well.  There are several other boys EZ's age that live on our street.  One day after I walked him to the neighbors for some fun, I turned around to find Bruce feeling left out and finding his own way over.  He was bare foot in the house and knew he couldn't walk on the rocks without shoes.  So, he found his Dad's flip flops and attempted to join us because he felt left out.  It was too cute!  I'm just grateful he didn't make it that far (because it was difficult to walk in flip flops that are much too big for you) and that I noticed him before he walked into the street!

They opened a splash pad nearby so we checked it out.  It's pretty good, maybe too much sand.. but so nice to cool off on hot days!

 So, about a month after we moved, we took a trip back to Utah to visit!  Mostly because John had a sister visiting that he really wanted to see, who he hadn't seen in about 6 years.  So, we still didn't have jobs or anything keeping us put so we went back!  Here's some pics of us at the Aquarium. 

 

 

 

Notice Bruce with Bruce?  It was nice to go back for a visit, in some ways it felt like we hadn't even left!  Mostly because we had only been gone for 4 weeks! 

So I am loving the skies out here in AZ.  Maybe it's not having a wall of mountains that block the sky out here so I can see it more.  The clouds often look like the Toy Story clouds and so many colors in pretty patterns.  Every day I feel like Brendan Fraiser in Blast from the Past, "The Sky!"  Here's some cute EZ pics on the trampoline.  The kids are out there jumping several times a day.  It was too fun seeing the different poses captured when he jumped.  We had a good laugh!

We did the 4th of July up right.  Or, the way they do it in small farm country.  We went to the local rodeo.  It's like the biggest thing they do here every year.  It was super fun and the kids enjoyed it too. I can't imagine going every year though...  it sorta feels like to me that you go to one, you go to them all.  How many times must we watch people falling off bucking bulls or rounding up sheep or running the horses around barrels??  It was fun no doubt, but I think I'm good for another 20 years or so... haha! 

 

They do some good fireworks at the rodeo but of coarse we have to do sparklers and glow sticks at home.

We got a dog!  We adopted this male Australian cattle dog aka red healer from the Humane Society.  He's about 3 years old and just a sweetie.  He was already trained and still has never had one accident in the house.  He's smart and kind.  He let's the boys do pretty much anything to him and he just takes it, or sometimes growls/grumbles at them.  He's great and we love the addition to the family!  Oh, and his name is, Max.

We have to get creative when driving in the car.  There isn't much to keep your eyes entertained out the window..

 

 EZ found this old phone my parents have and he took it in the car to play with.  It's a legit phone.  I remember using it once or twice as a kid.  The sucker is heavy!  Oh and it's a rotary phone. 
There is one bowling alley and it's about 45 minutes away but we went and checked it out one night.  Always fun!  I wish we weren't so far away... we've only gone the one time. 

 EZ found some cool sunglasses and felt a pose was necessary.  He's really into posing for pictures lately, which means Bruce is too.

 

EZ took swim lessons for the 3rd time and loved it!  We try to hit the summer water fun as much as we can.  It's always better with friends too!

 

 24th of July parade!  It was pretty big.  Of coarse there were tractors after tractors but this was a new site for me.  On two legs?  With people sitting in the scoop part?  We learned that apparently that's a common thing here.  The kids are always just interested in the candy, which they should be!

 

 

 This shirt made me smile, always something we see a lot more of... I think it says, "this pony don't buck for FREE"

 

I don't remember what they ate exactly but most likely a sucker or Popsicle.  Okay that's good for today.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish up the rest of summer sooner than later, hopefully still this year!