Here we go

WE are off in just a few short days to our new adventure farther north! Lots of boxes, packing tape, and ready for the UHaul. WE are going to miss this beautiful area, being close to our families, and our wonderful friends! Keep in touch everyone and I promise I will be a better blogger once life settles down and the kids are in school.

Family Pictures

Thanks to my wonderfully talented very dear friend whom I miss so much but am glad that we'll live much closer to... we have a new family picture complete with princess Kaymie!

The Latest

Sorry no pictures, even though I have a ton I could post and catch up on with our fun happenings this summer!
The latest for us... we will be moving in the middle of August! WE are really excited and sad at the same time. WE'll be a state away from the majority of our family, but feel this is the direction we need to go right now and it is amazing how things are just falling into place!
I apologize for the quick post but I am off to getting things done while the house is still asleep:)

Trip to Grandma's

The kids and I enjoyed our little gettaway to visit Grandma Susan. We enjoyed the daily swims in Grandma's pool. Porter even ventered enough as to go down the slide with arm floaties. Jarom got a taste of going underwater. Seth loved swimming when second cousin Jacob came over. We took a hike up to noon creek and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The boys loved catching bugs, looking at frogs, dipping their feet, and exploring all around. Kaymie enjoyed a little cat nap on mommy. The kids always look forward to going out to the cousins- playing on the trampoline, swingset, and hanging out with lots to explore. It was neat seeing my cousins house that they just finished building... very beautiful. I on the other hand had some good time visiting and catching up with my cousins and I also got to go out to lunch with some high school friends. We were glad Grandpa got home so we could see him for a little while before we left to visit all of my siblings and Dad and Lorie at Stacie's for a barbeque. IT was fun to see all the family!

I got a job

I will be working for in an outpatient facility here as a physical therapist assistant come July 6th! I am grateful I have a month or so to get life in order at home, get Kaymie to take a bottle better, and to have some of the summer with the kids. I am really excited to get to be in the field I love so much! I will be working 4 days a week in the mornings and only for 20 hours a week. I feel very blessed that I have my degree and that my career is in demand, espcially with the economy the way it is now. Bring on the new life, or at least I keep telling myself this.

Today

Today all started with a knock on the door, yes a knock at 6:45 am! Seth was watching the latest cartoon from the library and the rest of us were asleep in bed. Asleep in bed UNTIL the knock on the door. It was a neighbor boy. There are 4 neighbor boys on our culdesac which has really been a lot of fun for the boys since there is always someone to play with. A lot of fun until the 6:45 am knock on a Saturday morning.
It was a nice day overall, especially since Jeff didn't work and we stayed home. (that seems to be very unusual the two of them together)
We went to Seth's baseball game and were glad that my brother and Grandma Lorie could come cheer him on before heading up to my little sister's college graduation at NAU.
Hanging out as a family was so nice today. Eating lunch together. Running errands, making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, playing in the mud, working in the yard, planting tomatoes, eating homemade pizza, and then the Saturday night baths in preparation for 8:oo church. No meetings for Jeff tomorrow because of Mother's Day. What a great Mother's Day gift- Jeff is home to help gets the kids ready for church and home to help with lunch so I can have my Sunday nap!
Today was great!
How was your today?

Our newest addition

and no it is not another beautiful Shumway baby like you were thinking hahaha.
Lola is her name and she is a perfect dog for us! She is a 4 year old chocolate
lab who never barks, obeys very well, plays fetch, can shake, and take all the torture/love from 3 year old Jarom. She is potty trained so she comes in the house- sometimes :) The boys have absolutely adored her and every second they get to play with her. She is a little (well a lot) overweight since her previous owner never had time to exercise her and she snores (which doesn't matter since she sleeps outside, but she slept a lot yesterday when the boys were at school-- I guess she was exhausted from the boys playing with her... I don't think it will be long for her to loose weight with our kids around!)
Kaymie loves petting her and watching her! The first night Seth and Porter went right to bed, "You know why we are going to bed so good... because you got us a dog!" Jarom was afraid of dogs, but isn't of Lola. In the car yesterday he told me, " I hate dogs. I LOVE my Lola." So cute! Now they get to learn the responsibility of taking care of her!

Kaymie is 6 months

and a week, but I am a little late on the posting. She decided that once she turned 6 months that she would- sit up all by herself, get her first tooth, and army crawl! So in the last week she has hit too many milestones for me... I want her to stay my little baby and she is too eager to keep up with her brothers! She is definitely the princess in our house.

Easter Sunday

With 8:00 church I didn't get the best shots of how adorable the kids were in their Easter best attire, but I least I got some!

Easter Eggstravaganza

Yesterday between conference sessions I took the kids to the civic center for some Easter fun! We had a blast petting the animals in the petting zoo- bunnies, goats, chickens, a cow, a llama. Then we played some games- treasure hunt, cake walk, ring toss, etc. They also had a bounce house, Little Bo Beep with her sheep (guess she found them), a magician, sack races, and best of all an egg hunt (8000 eggs!). But you couldn't really call it a hunt, as the eggs were just covering the lawn, no need to search at all! The kids enjoyed opening their eggs and discovering their prizes and trinkets inside. Seth and Porter were fast to explain that the Easter Bunny wasn't the real one, but just one dressed up! Jarom loved it and even gave him (or is it a she?) a big hug.
On the way home it was a neat teaching moment of the real meaning of Easter and the part Christ plays in our lives. I love that conference is at Easter time and how close I feel to Him at this time of year!