Ashtyn's many faces

I took Ashtyn's 4 month photos the other day.  Needless to say, I have a 4 month old that is REALLY happy and has a ton of different facial expressions.  It was hard for me to choose which ones to add to the blog - so I included all of them!!  I just love her to pieces!!!  She is so happy all the time (except during shots) and loves to sleep (good thing her momma does too).

I wish I had remembered to do this 3 months ago that way I could have those to compare to but I suppose better late then never.

Oh and what a better time to find your hands...during a photo shoot at 4 months!  I happened to mark when exactly she found her hands!!

Alpine - Luna

A few weeks ago we went to help out on a clean up in Alpine, AZ.  We didn't make it to the actual clean -- more or less to the after get together.  With 3 kids, it's kind of hard to be anywhere on time with potty and food breaks.  I didn't get any pictures of the beautiful cabin that we hung out at right as we got to Alpine, AZ but I have lots of photos of the property we stayed at.  The kids had a blast.  The guy's property that we stayed at, had all kinds of toys for the kids to play on.  He even had some old John Deere Tractors at we got some photos of the kids on.

The weather was beautiful up there.  Every year during the summer when we go to visit the northern (or east) part of AZ we wish we had a place up there to visit to get out of the heat more often.  One day we will have a nice place to call our cabin to visit often.  As I get older, the heat gets more and more brutal.

 She decided to take the Gator for a stroll on her own since big bro was riding the quad

Sweet Cakes

My friend Jaime invited us to an event she was hosting at.  The place is called Sweet Cakes located in Down Town Mesa!  I never go down to down town Mesa (unless for a photoshoot) and never heard of the place.  The kids enjoyed decorating the cookies!  Such a great idea for the kids during the summer!!

 I caught him sneaking candy...

 Daniel was putting some effort into his work

 Then of course she has to be ... well a goof ball

 Caleb got right to work and got his cookie decorated and couldn't wait to eat it!

 Then I found another kid sneaking candy...(Brooke)

And here is my lovely friend Jaime!  

The kids had a blast!!  I can't wait for the next event that we are invited to!

Dads Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated my dads 48th birthday!!  There was some fire works involved.  Nothing wrong with celebrating the 4th of July a little early - right?  Leave it to Jerod to have the fire works!  The kids always ask him if he has smoke bombs when he comes to get Caleb after work.  He stuck to his word and got the kids smoke bombs.

 My sister bought this from Costco for 25 bucks!!  The kids loved it!!  Steph first bought one for Caleb to try it out.  I warned her that there was going to be some fighting involved if we didn't get more for my two...so with Daniel's birthday being the end of Aug and the end of Summer, Steph decided to get Daniel his birthday gift a little early so that he could enjoy it all summer rather than at the end.  Then Jerod bought one for his parents house, so Brooke got to take it for a test drive before he took it to his parents.  I will have to buy one so that she has one too at my parents.

 Then of course we have to add Miss Ashtyn.  She sat on the side lines just chilling.  She sure didn't like getting sprayed by the kids when they were shooting eachother!

And what is 4th of July without sparklers!!  

BTW - that is chocolate all over Daniels face...

Father's Day 2013

I decided this last month or so that I am going to start taking pictures on holidays more.  It's really nice to have something to look back at from time to time or even for those uneventful times.  It's never something we ever want to look forward to or think about but it happens.  So, why not have something to look back all the time - time that you never get back.  

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day.  The kids and I got Chris a new cold air intake for his truck - something he has been wanting for his truck.  (He is super eager to do something to his truck - he pretty much has a full list of things)  After a few hours of him trying to figure out how to install it on his truck - he figured it out.  After he installed it and got things set, we took a trip to see how it changed his truck and so on.  Our trip to was to the fire station!!  Yes, my dad had to work on Father's Day.  It is something I have grown around - so fact that yes my dad is a firefighter but he doesn't always have holiday's off - in fact he has probably had about a handful of Christmas Day's off since being a firefighter (20+ years!)  So we decided to make it a memorable Father's Day for him.  Plus, I couldn't remember the last time we had visited him at the station.  Brooke couldn't even remember how the whole fire house (station) thing went.  She imaged it being like in the movies - when really it's not.  She actually asked where the fire dog was after we left...that was a whole other story.

 The kids were talking to one another on the radios - they just thought that was the coolest thing!!

The kids left with some good bags that the firefighters at the station packed them with.  I am yet to perfect my indoor photos - so the photos didn't really come out all too well.

Next trip was Chris's parents house to visit his dad for Father's Day.  It was an evening of swimming and hanging out by the pool.  The Arizona weather has been pretty nice in the evenings.  So far it hasn't been to muggy for us.  We can for sure feel the humidity but nothing too uncomfortable (yet).  

Papa with all four grandbabies.  We do not have many photos yet of Ashtyn but I promise you that we will soon!