Knoll Lake

Poor Aydon was down for a good week and a half after his surgery.  He didn't want to do anything but lay down.  We just can't handle sitting around during the summer though.  We decided we would go for a ride in the woods that we he could still lay down in the backseat if he wanted to but the rest of us were able to get out of the house.  

I wanted to go somewhere new so we headed towards Payson and decided to try Knoll Lake.  We had our sandwiches overlooking the rim & headed on our way.  

 I thought Knoll Lake was great because there was no hiking involved and it really was beautiful.

 Zack Attack somehow escaped all the pictures???

 Preston & I have this "first down" joke and that's what he was doing.  :)  Cracks me up everytime I look at it and glad that I got this so years down the road I can look back and laugh some more.  :)

10 year getaway

Who would have guessed that some innocent flirting way back in Mr. Henling's class at 15 years old would turn into this?

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary.  It's one I've been looking forward to for YEARS!  Only because I have been pregnant or nursing for the majority of that time and felt like we would finally be able to get away for this one.  We asked my mom to take a couple of days off and planned to get away.  Well of course in our life, you make a plan and something ALWAYS happens.  

Aydon had his tonsils & adnoid out on Wednesday.  Since Preston just went through this surgery a couple of years ago we knew that the first couple of days aren't that bad.  We asked him if he cared if we went on a date and he stayed with Granny.  He was ok with it so we decided to see how he felt the day after his surgery before we left.  After picking the other 3 up after Aydon's surgery we realized Drew was running a fever.  Give me a break...it's summer, I thought the 4 months of illness in our house was finally over-boy was I wrong!  After Drew woke up shaking with his 102 fever we were sure our chances of getting our much needed break was out the window.  He woke up the next morning happy as could be and no more fever.  Zack then woke up with a fever & tummy ache.  We gave him medicine & asked if he felt ok to stay with Granny while we went away.  He LOVES sleepovers at Granny's so we packed a bag and headed out.  As soon as we got to my mom's to drop them off Zack started complaining again of a tummy ache & was warm.  I gave him more medicine & mom promised she would call if any of them got to bad and we would come home.  

We started out with lunch in Flagstaff at LaFonda's, our favorite lunch place.  I texted my mom to see how the kids were and she responded with this picture so I assumed things were well and we decided to go have some fun.

Neither of us had ever driven on 89A or checked out Slide Rock so we thought we'd take the scenic route on our way to check out Sedona.  We fell in love with that place instantly.  I told Preston to stop and let me grab my camera out of the trunk and since we were stopped we walked down to check out Oak Creek. Beautiful!  

I told Preston this place reminded me a lot of Zion National Park where we went a couple of years ago that we all loved.

We had planned to go watch an adult movie in the theatre, something that is NEVER an option it seems.  We went to Sedona & watched Snow White & the Huntsman.  We then drove around Sedona and ended up on Red Rock Loop I think it was and got a great view of the rocks and some pretty homes.  It was so stinking hot so we didn't dare attempt hiking the rocks like we had wanted to do.  We wanted to get a couple's massage as well but it was getting late and we both really just wanted to go back to Oak Creek Canyon.  

We stopped just after the bridge and hiked down to the water.  Of course, we can't be around water without going for a swim so we took a quick dip.  :)  By this time, the sun was setting and most of the people had left.  We basically had it to ourselves and loved it.  We can't wait to take the boys there! 

I had looked for rooms in Sedona before we left and never having been through Oak Creek Canyon sure wish I would've reserved a little cabin there.  We decided to just head home instead of getting a room in Flagstaff since Sedona didn't really appeal to us.

 The next morning we decided to canoe the creek, just the two of us, for the first time.  We were able to do some hiking & swimming much further back like we have wanted.  We ran into some rock climbers and found a fun hobby we'd like to try when the boys are older.  We went to lunch before picking the boys up.  It was only 28 hours away but it was perfect & all we really needed.  I miss my boys way too much when I'm away.  I realize that these years with them go so quickly and we got a much needed little get away.  Our 10 year Hawaii vacation will come later than we had hoped it would but I bet it will be a much better get away as a family rather than us missing our children for a week!

Lil D'backs

This year our little league participated in a new fundraiser.  The kids were all given a free ticket to a Diamondbacks game and the other tickets that family purchased a certain amount went back to the league.  We loved this idea & had a blast.  

Here are the same statues that were up last year and I would have loved to get another one of me & the boys in front of Mickey but with my war wounds I decided not to.  

Preston & the boys got to parade on the field and me the younger 2 got to watch & take pictures.  

Funny story...as they were waiting to do their parade the younger 2 & I went to our seats.  We were in row 31.  I sat in seat 11, Drew was messing around in seat 10 and an A's player hit a fly ball that landed on our bench in seat 9.  I saw it coming and instead of pulling Drew out of harms way, I got super nervous and backed away.  I decided right then I should probably take some time off from softball until my nerves settle down.  

The boys loving the popcorn.

Drew loving the helmet the popcorn came in after they ate it all.

Fun time, Fun game, Swimming, Madagascar 3 was a super fun weekend!

My first fracture

Well, I can no longer say I haven't broken any bones.  I was playing co-ed softball & was being the cut-off person in the outfield and lost the ball in the setting sun.  I got popped right on my cheek bone.  It hurt bad & it swelled up immediately.  My biggest complaint was my jaw & my teeth hurt.  My brother picked me up and took me to the ER.  I had my first CT Scan and they said I had several small fractures on my cheek bone.  I followed up with the ENT the next day and he said everything looked great and the fracture would heal in a week so besides looking like an abused housewife I was set to go.  I had no pain after the first night until I tried eating really chewy food on Saturday.  That gave me a headache and my teeth still hurt but they said that would take the longest to heal.

This was taken probably an hour and a half after it happened.  When the boys saw me Zack asked what I had in my mouth.  

 This was the next morning.  Super swollen, could hardly open my mouth.

This was the first day the swelling had really gone down and the bruising was already turning green.  It goes all the down my neck.  

Preston was at work when it happened and I didn't want him to freak out so I didn't tell him anything.  I just picked him up at work to take me the ENT.  He was quite shocked.  He and the boys for days would just look at me & say how ugly it looked.  We had to go to Phoenix over the weekend and my face was so swollen it hurt to wear sunglasses but I tried to when I was walking around.  People that noticed would look at me, then Preston.  :)  I told him he better be nice to me or I was going to whisper to someone, "Please help me!"  lol!  And yes, it hurt to smile or laugh so he did everything he could to make me smile.  

iPhone fun

I had told John how Zack wanted to have a pizza party for his birthday so he bought a bunch of pizzas one evening & we had a blast with his iPhone afterwards.  Zack had been playing with his new DSi that has a camera and can distort people so after seeing all the silly things he could do John had to give it a try on his phone.

 I love this family picture of us just lounging around.

 I crossed my eyes & stuck my tongue out so with the distortion on I look crazy!

Drew has some crazy hair in the morning because it's so fine.  This was the morning of Zack's party & I hadn't bothered combing it so John had a blast messing with him & using his "caption this".

  

 Drew learned how to stick his tongue out this day.  It was so funny watching him watch others & try to copy it.  

LOVE this picture!  Ty & John and their facial expression crack me up!

Streamers & Balloons

Zack has been so excited for his birthday.  He has been asking for the last 2 months when his birthday was.  When I would ask him what he wanted for his birthday his answer was always, "streamers & balloons".  We woke up the morning of his party and decorated our back patio with streamers & balloons.  He slept in until 9 so by the time he woke up we were all done and he was pretty excited.  

Zack wanted a birthday party at our local pizza place where they have video games because he has started to like playing video games but he is too young to pay to play the games so I convinced him to have another swimming party.  Since we don't ever have the boys friends over to play we made it a party where they could all invite some kids their ages. 

 The boys love the game where you get little cars and use the party blowers to race them so we did a couple of races of that game.  Loved watching the little kids play that one.  

Even Drew grabbed a car and a blower, but he didn't get very far.

 Tatum, Aydon & Zack having fun with the blowers.

 Our big 4 year old!

 It was a really hot day with amazingly no wind (at least during the party) so it was perfect!

 Granny & Grandpa DeSpain stopped by right as Zack was ready to do the birthday song and ice cream so I was able to get a couple of pictures.  We planned the party after Preston got in last trip thinking he would be home, have time for a nap & then go back to work but as always the railroad will ruin any ideas you have if you plan something.  He got called to work before the party started so he grilled our hot dogs, got ready for work and left.  :(

He had said he wanted a cars cake and he's already had one so I just cheated made it easier on myself and used some of his toys for toppers & he was happy as ever with it. 

 His friends got him so many fun gifts.  He opened all of them and hasn't stopped playing with them.  

I was reluctant to do it, mostly because of his age but we got him a DS of his own for his birthday.  He had started playing his brothers when they were in school and now that they are home and play more he really wants to play theirs and it's hard to share, especially since the games are too hard for him.  We bought him a Sesame Street & Diego game so he should be able to play and have fun!