Lily's strings

I finally caved in.

After Lily begged me every day for weeks.

I don't know anything about string instruments.

She seems too little to start lessons, 1st grade!

We will see how this goes...

Hooray, a Vernon-Violin-er.

Good Friends

Written on our entry sign below:

☀Welcome to AZ Paul & Jessica☀

Many moons ago we were in Vet School in Colorado for 4 years. We had the closest friends there that we cherish. We hadn't seen Paul and Jessica in 14 years, but they came from Logan, Utah to Arizona over Spring Break!! So the Statens came up from Tucson and the Hunts came over from Mesa for a... 

This is how the reunion went: Right when Paul & Jessica walked in the door we mixed all the Hunt, Vernon and Staten children around (there are 15 kids between us)... and they had to go through them and guess which were Hunt, Staten or Vernon kids... ha ha.

Four Veterinarians below.

It did not feel like 14 years had passed. 

We all laughed and had fun, just like old times.

Such great people. So good, so humble. 

I wish we could still all be neighbors. 

But this reunion was also very tender. We sat around that table and talked about really serious things. Paul was diagnosed with a rare cancer a few years ago. They went through a scary difficult year of surgery, chemo & radiation, during which time his chances of surviving were very small. The good news is at this time he has no sign of cancer. We all had been praying for them. It was miraculous for him to have beat the odds, and we are so happy for their family. 

However if it comes back, he has already had a lifetime of radiation, and there is nothing more they can do. He really said to us, 

"So we just are thankful for the years that we have together". 

We sat around once again remembering how fragile life is. 

I am so thankful Bruce and I were surrounded by such great people those early years in our marriage. Our dearest friends were couples who truly love God, their families, and work hard. What a wonderful foundation that was for our life.

ZOO Break

Sometimes its really nice to hang out with just our family. The week before Spring Break, Sophie's preschool did a field trip to the zoo. I felt a little bad, but we skipped it. I thought to myself, we have not gone to the zoo as a family in years... so if I am going there, I would rather go with ALL of my kiddos.

So, Tuesday of Spring Break

we took all our kids to the... 

We spent 5 hours there.

Everyone loved the hands-on "Sting Ray" exhibit. Though Emma, Lily and Sophie were all too chicken to touch them. Not Dallin. We had to keep showing him the sign that said NOT to grab their tails.

FAMILY CAROUSEL RIDE

The kids rode the carousel while we sat at our shady table and ate the yummy picnic lunch we brought. Hooray for homemade lunches with circus cookies!

Emma took the smoochie picture.

After the 3 older girls posed like flamingos above,

↑I looked over and Sophie was posing like one too. ↑

CAMEL RIDE

for Lily & Logan

ZIP LINE

for Emma & Dallin

They updated the farm since we were there last!

Normally I hate the petting zoo, but now its cute. 

Especially milking the cow....

I wonder where Sophie (above) 

learned her smile from (below)...

Hooray for a 30 minute train ride! (above)

We figured out that we have never gone to the zoo with just our family.

It was a great day. I was asking everyone their memories from the zoo... Lily said the zebra's, Sophie said the sting rays.... and 
Bruce said, "that is was expensive".
ha ha.

Back to school

Spring break is over. 

So sad. :(

Arizona weather is so fickle. On saturday to start the week, it was 57 degrees out... and the saturday to end it was over 90. We started off snow skiing, and ended up swimming like it was summer.

Twas a nice week. This is what we did:

Went up north to the snow.

Went as a family to the zoo.

Laid around and did nothing.

Went to Mesquite Groves Aquatic center to swim, twice.

Had company in town, friends from Vet School... 

{AKA Trailer Park Reunion}

and Friday we....

 Painted our entertainment center that we've had 14 years... blue!

And painted stripes in our basement!! {the cream is masking tape)

The Snow

Sunday-Monday of SPRING BREAK:

 {Renting Me Skiiiiiis!}

This week we went up to Sunrise with the Jones'

(Jeni B. Jones, D-money, Bobbo & Mace-the-Ace)

What fun!! Last year I went skiing for the first time in like 18 years... but I think I am going to have to go every year now. Cuz it's just a fun way to enjoy the beautiful mountains.... and some time with my older kids.

 This year I brought Dallin....

I was so thankful for my cousin Dylan (above) who stayed with Dallin for a loooong first run, teaching him how to do it.

The Gang.

WARNING:

**Lots of way cute pictures of MACY 

in this post**

A boy in our ward, Gavin, found Dallin right before lunch, and asked him if he wanted to do a run together. Then stayed with him the rest of the day showing him some moves. 

 **BIG NEWS**

As of this trip look what Ashlin AND Macy were FINALLY able to do...

 ...get off the lift on their boards without falling!

(This is really tricky; they're feeling like pros now)

 Dallin was really frustrated his first run of the day. Because he skateboards so much, he was really expecting snowboarding to be easy-squeezy to learn. But he fell a bunch at first. Then he did the bunny hill multiple times by himself... and really figured it out quickly!! I spent most the day skiing with Dallin, while he boarded. It was so so fun to watch his progress. He could go as fast as me by the end of the day... which makes him faster than Ashlin after 1 trip. He loved it. (made up for him being really grumpy after his first run... ha ha) Ashlin improved a lot also. She looked SO much better than last year.
Hooray for my kids new skills!

← Robert was my Super-Hero! He took off his board, and ran in to the forest in the knee deep snow to retrieve my glove (That I had dropped while riding on the ski lift. Which I literally had told Ashlin and Dallin 20 minutes earlier to be careful NOT to do, since the gloves cost $40 a pair)

Aaaaand Ashlin sums up how we felt at the end of the day:

 Oh man, above are my very... happy.... feet.... after finally being able to take my boots off. I decided not to post the picture of my gigantic blister.

 Such a fun trip with my Aunt Jeni and cousins. We laughed so hard on the car ride. I love being close to my extended family.