New backyard

This is our backyard before last week. Rocks from the patio to the back wall. Scenic, I know.


This is our yard after last week.
We have grass and it's green and we have bushes, they are small but they will grow and trees that will grow. Yay for us!

This is the lemon meringue pie that Doug and I made from the lemons someone handed out at work from off of their tree. We almost have it perfected.

Happy Birthday Doug

This was our little trip home from Utah. We went to see Doug's mom for Doug's big birthday. There are so many beautiful and different areas that I had to take some pictures. We had snow on the ground in Southern Utah and in Flagstaff but it was warm desert in between the cold. The bridge that we walked across is called Navajo Bridge which is accessed from Fredonia. This was a very fun but long drive. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOUG!

Princess Party

On Saturday Brinley attended her first Princess Party at the clubhouse. They suggested that we dress them up all fancy. Brinley chose her clothes and asked for makeup, earrings, tights and finger nail polish.

They had a grand entrance and rolled out the red carpet just for the 50 princesses.

All the tables were decorated with fancy tablecloths, bows, sparkles and of course a lot of pink.

They had them sit down and go over the manners of a Princess while letting them frost and decorate a cookie with some punch.

Princess Tiawna from the "Princess and the frog" was the special guest at the party. She read Princess stories to all the princesses. They had lots of activities like; place the kiss on the frog, decorate your own crown, hula hoops and face painting. Very fun day for all the little girls.

Camera Time

This would be the attire that was worn when Brinley went to the Kingdom of Kindness. They studied the letter "K" at school.
This would be the sleeping princess that kept telling me I could only hold her for a minute because she had to get back to her horse. I thought it was an imaginary horse until I laid her down on the couch and went to get the phone. This would be Brinley's horse that I found. It is tied up and waiting for her to get back. Poor lonesome horse.

I asked Lincoln to take a picture of the lake at the park across from our house.

Apparantly he felt that he also needed to be in the picture.
This is the lake from the rain, it's about 2-3 feet deep. Brinley wanted to put her swim suit on and head over.

This is Brinley in her brand new cowboy boots that she got for Christmas. She's running like she has the best idea ever.
This is Brinley after running in the water in her new boots and pants. Lincoln took the picture and I kind of think that her best idea ever came from her brother.

Someone snuck my camera and took these pictures!
Do you know who it was?

Flowers and stuff

These are some of the flowers that are blooming out in our front yard. They are super bright and pretty. It's so fun to see all the different kinds of flowers, bushes and trees that are around here.

This is after the first of a few rain storms that will be coming through this week. There are little ponds everywhere. I'm so glad that they planned well for the rain, no worries about flooding. This is a basketball park across from my house.
This is a very important picture. This has to do with the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Soooo true. This side is my backyard with all the rocks and the puney tree with no leaves. We hung a hummingbird feeder on the tree for color. Behind us is a beautiful yard with palm trees and flowering bushes, lots of green grass and of course a swimming pool. I could smell the pool smell when I walked out this morning to take pictures. I would take pictures of their yard from our balcony but there isn't anywhere to hide out there. I guess we can say that the upkeep is pretty simple. We will be getting a new yard in the next couple months and we will actually have some green grass. Yay!

Mesa Temple

Mesa Temple

Life Size Nativity Wisemen

kids sitting by an orange tree

kids posing by an orange tree on a large petrified log

Lemon tree

Very small grape size orange fruit tree (not sure what type of fruit)

Palm trees
Cactus garden

It was really fun and interesting to go see the lights at this temple. It was very crowded and there were lots of lights however, I haven't figured out how to take pictures of Christmas lights. I was amazed at all the fruit trees and really wanted to take some fruit off the trees but it just didn't seem right to steal from the temple. I did however get pictures of the fruit trees because coming from Utah, oranges and lemons come in a box or bag. To actually have them on a tree was crazy and the people walking past me as I was taking the pictures of the trees probably thought that I was a little crazy as well.

All I want for Christmas...

Lincoln lost his 4th front tooth this last week so we have been singing the famous two front teeth song to him all week. I keep offering him pretzels and he keeps reminding me that he can't bite them. hee, hee!

This is Brinley as a Starlette for her dance recital. She did really well. This picture is of her second dance. (her favorite) Her first dance she was a fairy and just as they started the music she decided that she needed to go potty (right then and there, front and center) I think she was nervous and couldn't hold back however only I noticed until she ran off the stage crying. We got things taken care of and she was able to do a wonderful dance to "dance with me Santa". What a memory and I need to keep in mind for the next recital that it doesn't matter how many times you ask if they need to go potty, you make them try. I have to say that Miss Katrina her dance teacher did an excellent job. They actually learned more in that short amount of time than most kids do in 2 years. What a great teacher!
This is our front room that has the tree in it. This would be the only place we decorated this year because there simply just isn't time. The picture is a little messed up because my disk apparantly went bad so I took the best of what I had and will invest in a new one this week.

This is what I have been working on for the past few days. We bought it in three small boxes with about 500 pieces and I managed to put it together in about 8 hours. I love it. I was able to set my computer up and feel like my world is back in working order.

I really think it has been fun out here. I have to laugh because when we go out shopping, we will see one guy with long pants and a sweater and walking with him will be a guy in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. We are still trying to figure out what we are supposed to be wearing to fit in.

The other funny thing that I really wanted a picture of is a couple days ago, the ice cream man came down our road with his cute music on, it was getting dark and as I watched him drive by the christmas lights were on all the houses as he drove down the road. That is something I haven't seen before. I wasn't able to get a picture because all I could do was watch him drive down the street.

Our house is starting to feel like a home and the neighborhood seems really nice as well as the ward. I have got to get out and steal an orange off of someones orange tree. That still amazes me that there are orange trees just on the side of the road. The palm trees are beautiful and the cactus plants are amazing. I will definitely get pictures of these things that probably everyone here in AZ thinks are just normal and put them on the blog.

For the record, anyone is welcome to come out and stay with us anytime they want. We are so lucky to live in a time where we can email, call, blog, chat, facebook and keep in touch with one another continuously. Thanks for being there for us and we will definitely miss not being there for Christmas.