Don't be Jealous, teeheehee

Because, yep, we've been there!The kiddos and I went to visit my mom and dad last week. The last time I was at my parents house was December of 2008...I wanted to take a little day trip over to good old Forks to see what we could see back then, but then we got snowed in for 2 weeks, and there was no way. Soooo, this week, the weather was fabulous, and mom was willing, so Mom, Grandma, Max, Ivy and I all jumped in the car to take a tour of the Twilight town. Here are a few pics of what we visited
At the Cullen's house, there's a white board on the front porch to tell the Twi-hards where the Cullens are for the day...Bella's Bday is coming up...so here's what it said.
We of course hit up the Forks Police Station to see if we could get a Policeman sticker out of them. We signed the guestbook, and asked a policeman if we could have a sticker, and he brought out a ton...So, Max got in his "Cheif Swan" role (very serious policeman as you can tell) for the rest of the day. We visited Forks HS...

The community center...
Got my pic with my fav, Alice...while wearing Carlisle's Lab coat...look at Bella's evil glare at me. grr.
This cracks me up...this is just the US map of vistors who have come to Forks...don't worry, there was also a world map that was just as filled with pins if not more!
Bella's House...
The Hospital where Carlisle works has this sign in the front...
We drove out to La Push and crossed the treaty line...I am Team Jacob, you know.
and played on First Beach!



Just a silly little day trip that I can check off my list of things I want to do...but it was fun to spend time with my mom and Gram. :) I guess you can really call me a Twi-hard now.

our FHE Treat!

Tonight we invited our friends from AZ that just moved into our ward (yippee!!) over for FHE.

We tried this yummy version of s'mores that I saw over at Sandy Toes and Popsicles for our treat, and wanted to make sure I spread the word. we LOVED it!

We roasted our marshmallows on the gas stove...stuffed 3 in a sugar cone and then dribbled it with chocolate and caramel syrup and sprinkled with sprinkles. SO CUTE! thanks for the idea, Jill!

Home Grown

We harvested our first cucumber from our Garbage Truck Open House Cuc plant! It grew so fast. One day we looked, and it was just a little 2 incher...2 days later, Max ran into the house with it with perfect proportions! He knows when to pick 'em! I have heard that the smaller they are the sweeter they are. So, we had a home-grown cuc at church this morning!

speaking of cucs, I got this email from my dad that makes me smile. I want to remember it, so here it is; short and sweet:

Mom sent cucumbers from the garden in my lunch. I just now pulled one out and had a fond memory of Max munching on one in Church at Brighton. Miss you

As always,

Dad

groupie squeal!

Here's a picture of Max way back in the day (check out his blonde curly hair) with Dustin Pedroia and Bret Bordes. Pedro and Jeff were teammates at ASU. These two were my personal fav's, other than Mr. Pants! Pedro was soooo amazing to watch!

Then later, we were visiting my sister Erin in Massachusetts and we were strolling around a sporting goods store and ran into this for the first time...I had an "I know him!" moment...so fun.

and now he's totally the big time, but totally not big-league-ing us. Pedro, thanks so much for signing a ball for Max...may seem silly to you, but that's so huge! He'll probably dress up like you and demand that I not call him Max anymore, but Pedro. Miggy may have just gotten demoted.

Thanks for getting that for us Daddy! you're the best!

Best Job Ever

Jeff sent me this picture from his phone yesterday. Are you kidding?

That's Fenway Park, mind you...right behind home plate. Are ya kiddin'?

Best Job Ever!

oh...and Pedro's signing a ball to Max...can't wait! (my favorite baseball player)

miss you, Jeffer, but I'm sure you're enjoying yourself. :)

Baseball fact...

'Mom, did you know that baseball players like to scratch their bums in the dirt?'

"They do, and it looks like this!" He jumps up and lands on his bum and says "SAFE!" , and then and only then will you have any idea what he's talking about.

I had to write that little Max quote down so I don't forget.

silly kid

a bicycle built for...4

To celebrate Max's fourth birthday, today we went down to the beach and rented a small car bike. So fun! I thought it was going to be harder than it was, but it was actually really fun! We totally want to do it again!

The kids were so good drinking their chocolate milk and snacking while Jeff and I pedaled down the boardwalk for an hour. We saw lots of doggies (Ivy's fav) and even saw a guy on a bike with a parrot on his shoulder...weird?

Steve and Becky...the next time you guys come, we're doing this again...they had an XL car bike...6 seats, and 6 people pedaling...hee hee. gear up, so fun!

I have a crush on...

...this FOUR year-old.

I can't believe that our little moo turned four today. I'm constantly amazed by him, and falling more and more in love with him everyday. He makes me laugh all the time and constantly keeps me on the go and entertained, not to mention Ivy. We are so blessed to have him in our family; I can't imagine what life would be like without his sweet little spirit. I love you sweet boy!

Aside from how stinkin' adorable I think he is, here are four of the thousand and one things I love about Max:

1. He loves to laugh and have fun, it's so easy to get him to laugh or smile because he just is always a happy little guy. If something upsets him, it only takes him a minute to get himself back on track and in a happy mood. His happy heart is a joy to have at home

2. He has a great imagination and recently, it's been getting bigger and bigger. He plays make-believe with his toys, he loves pretending to be different things, most recently, it has been Davy Crockett, Miguel Montero (Dbacks Catcher) or a Doggy. He takes it so seriously, and is so funny to watch or listen to what he thinks those people do.

3. He loves to say "Mom, tell me about..." He's constantly yearning to learn more things about EVERYTHING. Sometimes I don't know anything about what he wants to know, but when I have some fun fact to tell him, he eats it up and never forgets it. So fun!

4. He loves to sing and dance. He loves to have dance parties in the living room to Lady Gaga, Hannah Montana and the Chipmunks songs. I always hear him singing in the car along with the CDs we play, and I can sometimes hear him singing primary songs when he's in his room playing. My very favorite thing is when I'm putting Ivy down for a nap, and Max doesn't have to go to sleep with her. He'll be playing in the other room, and when he hears me start to sing to her, he always runs in and sings I am a Child of God, or I love to See the Temple with me.

Happy Birthday to my favorite boy in the whole world!

You make me happy!

Masters of Swing

Max has been the master of our little swing in the back since we got it...He loves to swing in our backyard...excuse me, that's davy-davy-crockett-king-of-the-wild-frontier. Sometimes I'll put Ivy on with him and pretty much hold her on while Max swings...not my favorite activity, but like I said, sometimes. Anyways, our little Ives has this little bit of feist in her (i have no idea where that comes from!?!) and when she gets an idea, she'll screech like a pteranodon until she gets her way. She stinkin' wants to swing like davy-davy-crockett!

and at 16 months, so she does...laughing all the way, ha ha ha. Cracks me up how her hair is blowing in the breeze. She LOVES it!

pardon the nakey, that's how we roll at the end of the day!

Old Cars in AZ

Oh...we also saw a ton of these awesome old cars...

Little boy heaven alert every Saturday at the McDonalds off of Indian Bend and the 101...It's supposed to start at 2..but in the summer, the old guys can't stand the heat, so they only come out at 5 or 6. I'm anxious to go again around Thanksgiving...Grandma was full of fun ideas for us!

A Week or Two in Pictures

Here's what my camera caught in AZ...

We went to the cutest museum in Tempe! One day we'll be able to read more than one of the plaques that explained the history of Tempe, but we were too busy farming, throwing footballs in the mini Frank Kush field (the ASU football stadium), reading cute books about cowboys and cactus, riding police motorcycles and talking on the walkie-talkie (max kept saying "in n out" instead of "over and out"..so cute). Anyway, it was such a cute, totally uncrowded museum...I loved it. If you live near Tempe, go check it out, it's right next to the library!

Ivy did awesome in swimming lessons...here she is floating on her back all by herself!

Max was so great at sitting and not complaining that he couldn't get in the water. He was the cutest little cheerleader from the side!

Grandma made cookies for the firemen in Tempe...and brought us to the station. Umm, we've been to fire stations before, but this visit was top-notch...seriously. She musta put something in those cookies, but we got the best tour EVER...not joking.

The Firemen took anything and everything out of the truck, we touched the jaws of life, the axe, the poker thing that they stick through the ceiling...they told us about why their boots are in their pants like this...put on all their gear,

They let Max push the buttons to raise the garage door, let us try on their hats, took us up to show us where the beds were, showed us where the watch TV, took us into the weight room...answered ANY question we had,

yep, we slid down the stinkin' fire pole...sooo fun! not just me,

Ivy too! Holy cow, we love the Tempe Firemen!! Great idea, Grandma, to take us there. Max was busy playing fireman for days after. We also went to a restaurant in Gilbert called Firehouse Subs...yes, that did wonders for Max's pretend play...if you live near, go!!! so fun! The kids even got free fire-hats at the restuarant! We didn't take any pictures at the restaurant, but thanks to Becky and the girls for our special treat! It was PERFECT!

Anyways, we saw numbers like this: (very top center number is the temperature...feels like hot breath)

we partied with Grandpa in his coveted throne

Grandma gave the best chitchen tubbies in the whole world!

We got to play with my long-lost friend Brooke and her kids...we had sooo much fun with them, it had been waaay too long! I hate that, come over here, Brooke! Here's Max, Gracie and Parker...we couldn't get a good picture of all 5 of the kids.

and Max couldn't get enough of Grandma's pink beetle-bug car...in his fire hat.

Thanks for letting us come and stay with you for so long Grandma and Grandpa..as always, we had the best time!

love you!

Go Fish

I'm totally slacking in downloading our pictures...but my cousin just sent me these, and I thought they were so cute!

We got to have dinner with two of my cousins last week! Cody and Michele and their 2 cute kiddos, and my other cousin Jesse who happens to be living here for the summer working. We had such a fun time with them, had a great dinner and Jesse and his friend took the boys fishing. So fun! Callie, Bryce, Max and Ivy
Max was obsessed with the fish food...and making a parking lot with them.
They actually caught a fish, and the two little boys got to touch it... so cool, watch them unhook and it and throw it back.

Yummy Ives

Bryce, Max, My cousin Cody, My cousin Jesse and Jesse's roommate Chris

I can't remember the last time I saw Jesse, so it was really fun to get to see him and spend a little time with the fam!

thanks for a yummy dinner!!!

take me out to the ballgame

thanks for the tickets to the Dbacks game, daddy! We wished you were there!

Ivy takes over

Well, Max had 2 swimming lessons and then broke his arm. (and we can't get the cast wet). So, Ivy took over for him. Today was her 3rd lesson ever, and look how awesome she's doing! We came to AZ to take lessons from this amazing lady!

Real Men Wear...

...Pink!

As I'm sure you all guessed, this was Max's cast choice, and there was no swaying him.

I secretly love it!