Girls' Vacation from the Heat

Traveling north to Gma & Gpa's House!

We made it!

The girls get excited to visit all the animals every time we venture over.  On this trip, Sailor helped grandma feed the pigs & moved chickens into a new pen.  We had to pick up each of the 100+ chickens and place them into a bin that we carried over to a new chicken coop (we do this when the chickens are old enough to be outside).  Sailor was hesitant at first, but eventually carried a chicken on her own!  Carrying one was just fine for her though. :)

On this trip we got to meet our new nephew/cousin Legend!  And isn't he a sweetheart! We were also forunate to be present for his baby blessing.  I am grateful we were able to make it to this event, because living so far away keeps us from these special occasions.

SIBLING HANGOUT

While my parents were busy one evening, my sister Macey and her husband Christian had us over to their place for dinner.  All of my siblings and their spouses were present (minus the college student, Madi :( ).  We enjoyed each others' company so much.  The fun included a game of soccer and man, was that fun.  We laughed the entire time.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Then came the 4th of July!

The 4th included the following:

picnic in the park

talent show entertainment

vendors

soccer fun

volleyball games

napping

visiting

Yahtzee

and evening fireworks!

The weather was perfect might I add.  I didn't realize how much I missed a good ole' picnic set on green, soft grass in the shade of a big, full tree- and then a breeze kicks in every once in a while............awww, refreshing!

The sisters, minus Madi.

The girls enjoyed playing with all my little cousins.  They ran around playing "Duck & Goose,"  combed each others hair (with plastic forks), kicked a soccer ball, & ran around until they dropped down onto blankets where they both napped for a couple hours. 

My favorite part were all the conversations. 

Christian & Mace!

As the evening was coming on and the light was fading, we had to clean up our area and get all the layers on that we could.  A surprise chilly breeze came through as we were preparing to watch fireworks.  Below are my grandparents who were able to make it home for the weekend!  They are currently serving a mission in Spokane where they are in charge of all the missionaries' vehicles. My grandmother does several other jobs organizing and reserving buildings for zone meetings, emails every family whose missionary is getting transferred, keeps records of the work that gets done in the field, etc.  My grandmother said, "this is the hardest job I've ever had to do."

My parent's with Sailor, who is "sleeping"

 

ROYLANCE REUNION

My Grandmother's side of the family was having a massive reunion.  We got there a bit late and there were tons of people.  I was able to visit with my good friend/cousin Brianne- it was great to see her and meet her new little man!  She, including a few others were the only people I recognized.

KORI's a BRIDE

So, a big reason we flew to WA in the first place was for my friend's wedding!  Meet Kori, my best friend from 2nd grade-Senior year.  Kori made a beautiful bride! It was so great to visit with all of my childhood friends, most of which were in attendance!  Shout out to Melissa, Morgan, Shay, Randy, AJ, & Tyson...it was so great to see you all. 

And Katelyn....where were you!? :(

On another topic, I got bangs!  First time since 3rd grade. :)  Thank you Anne!

ROASTING MALLOWS

A couple years ago, my siblings and I got this firepit for my dad for Christmas.  Since then we've used it everytime we come home.  There are not a whole lot of things better than a sit around a fire, visiting, roasting mallows, and munching on s'mores.  One of my favorite past times for sure.

We also threw the football around with my high school, football playing brothers.

 

THE BIG WHITE...VAN

So funny story...one day a random man came to the front door (which is odd on it owns because my parents live out in the middle of no where and we rarely get visitors), and he asked about my parent's big, white 15 passenger van sitting in the driveway.  He wanted to buy it!

This is funny because its a huge diesel that we've had for over 10 years, that has over 300, 000 miles on it.  In the last 5 years it's been in a few minor accidents so it's a little banged up, but still running like a champ.

Well, since it's about time that my parent's wanted to down size anyways, so my mom gave him a price and he said he'd come get it the following day.  

This was so out of no where so we cleaned it out quick and before giving it away I told everyone, we have to get a family picture with it first.

This van is apart of the family.

You have to understand, this van has taken us EVERYWHERE. And all of us have had to drive it in high school.  We all are VERY close to this beast.

As a joke, we went out and took a few pictures with it.  Payten, T, and I had the most fun.  We tried to make sentimental photos with our beloved van to illustrate how much we adore it and will miss her company.

...yes, it was cheesy, but so funny.

So here's to "The Big White"

...we will miss you...

.......in the end, the man never came.

She is still parked in my parent's driveway...thanks heavens. :)

 MOVIE

On this particular trip, we were able to watch "Monster's University."  Holy cuteness- that movie was such a pleasant surprise!  We loved it and found ourselves laughing out loud a lot! 

This picture is us just heading out the door.

SAWYER TURNED 14

Before Sawyer got up, T & I threw together a little birthday fun for him.  We hurried around the house looking for whatever we could find to "surprise" him.  We strung toilet paper in his door frame (like I do on my kids' bdays) so he could "run" through it.  T thought it was so fun, but Sawyer....well....he's 14.  I know he appreciated it though. :)

CRAFTIN'

My mom was a Girl's Camp Stake Leader this year and was busy throwing together her last bit of material for the following week.  One day, she had to go in and work at the popcorn factory so I helped her make some "stick" horses that she needed for a skit.

How do you like?

We wanted to make them as cheap as possible, so $1 pool noodles helped us achieve that!

They ended up looking real cute and the girls continued to ride them each day.

LEAVING with TEARS

The day we had to pack and leave was so sad for Sailor.  As we were driving away from the house she balled and balled for half an hour yelling, "GO the other way; go back!  I don't want to leave!"  I was tearing up a little because for the first time, leaving a grandparent's house was very hard for her.

But, she did perk up when I said we had to meet Grandma at the popcorn factory.

Seryn ran around barefoot for 5 minutes, and this is what happened...

This is a mixture of popcorn, dirt, and grease!

AND A FEW PICTURES

And of course I was able to take a few pictures of my nephews and the kids. Here's just a few since this is already a ginormous post...

This is Kasen and Legend.

The Grandchildren.

And a sweet smile from Sailor.

We felt so blessed to have been able to make it to all the fun, family events.  Thanks Mom & dad/Grandma & Grandpa, for driving us, feeding us, and making sure we had a fun time!

Updates in the Pool

Sailor is a swimmer!  Beginning in June she really improved in her swimming abilities.  Chase has been so patient and great with her each time he takes her out.  The trick were the goggles.  Once we got her to wear those she felt much more comfortable because, well, now she can see where she is swimming to.  Here's one of the first days in June that she really got the hang of it:

Sailor's Swimmin' Skillz

As for Seryn, she is determined to do what her older sister is doing.  Over the last couple months Seryn doesn't like to keep her floaties on a whole lot.  She likes to be free of any floatation device so she can dunk her head under water and hold her breath.  She comes up out of the water, excited to see the approval from anyone who's around.  This is enjoyable but a little scary.  Sometimes I won't hear her for a second so I'll turn around and see her completely submerged under water, soon after she pops right up with a huge grin on her face.  The other day Sailor, Seryn, and a friend would go underwater the same time and wave to each other.  Seryn wont wear the goggles yet, but she will open her eyes and enjoys it just fine.

Nowadays we are out swimming just about every day and some days twice a day.  We are just starting to feel the sadness creeping in as we are nearing the end of our time here.........never again will we have a pool such as this one. 

We have made so many memories here!

Auntie Mace Comes to Arizona

Macey Blake is one of the kindest people I know. True, she is my sister which means I may be a little biased, but I think most people who know her would say that.  A couple weeks ago she flew down to spend 10 days with us here in the AZ heat-- this was a great time spent, indeed!

Macey has always been the responsible type.  She's honest, caring, sensitive, and going to be a great mother- so I learned-  because she is nearing the end of her college journey with a BA in Home and Family which happens to be one of the best degrees for preparing one to become a parent.  She was picking up on all my good parenting, and  not-so-good parenting techniques.

For an assignment she needed to observe my parenting skills as well as my children and their developmental states.  Through out the whole vacation anytime I knew I did something right and could redeem myself I'd shout to her, "Write that down-- give me another point!" Or, on the flip side, if I did something not approved by some genius psychologist in one of her books she'd say "Hmm....minus one point..." :) 

We had a great time and I'm so grateful for our relationship!  Love you, Mace!

Here's what we did:

She flew in late Friday night which was two days before my birthday so Saturday we went to our local rec center so we could climb the rock wall.  Unfortunately, once we got there Chase and Macey decided not to go so it was just me and then Sailor tried.  Sailor liked it the first time, and then the second time got spooked and wouldn't go any higher than a foot off the ground.  As for me, I had never gone before so this was fun but I couldn't believe how hard it was on the forearms.  I could only go once and then died about halfway up the second time....my arms completely gave out.

After that, we all went out to our pool where there was a hoppin' party with a DJ, food, and drinks.  Macey and I somehow stayed long enough to eat lunch and then grabbed some grub for dinner on the way out.

Sunday was  awesome!  After a great day at church Macey and I made up an ice cream cake made from all my favorites.  CAUTION: you will either throw up or foam out the mouth when you hear what that cake was made out of-

The bottom was a big chocolate chip cookie

next, a layer of vanilla ice cream

then, a layer of oreos with  fudge and whip cream.

NEXT,

a layer of cookie dough ice cream with a layer of reeses..

...wait we aren't done. 

THEN, a layer of cookies and cream ice cream,

decorated with chopped up chocolate chip cookie and whipped cream.

....don't judge...

...it was delicious!!!

But, before we cut into that bad boy I sat down in front of my cake to have the "Birthday Song" sung to me when Chase and our good friend Nate come walking in with cello and guitar in hand.  They played their own rendition of the "Birthday Song" for me.  I just laughed and loved it, and then for a moment I thought I was going to cry because it was so sweet.

What a man I got.  :) 

The guys performance of the "Birthday Song"

Chase has become very proficient in cookie dough making. He believes that you shouldn't have to measure anything, so he doesn't.  Before, I would have to remind him that it turns out best to measure the ingredients, because there have been times it hasn't been successful. But, let it be written that Chase can now do this flawlessly and the last few times it has been made, it has been the best cookie dough I've tasted.  He will even threw peanut butter in it for me.
This is a batch he so graciously made for me on my birthday.

 

For the rest of the week we indulged in swimming, shoe hunting trips (Macey needed a couple pairs of shoes for a couple weddings she will be in this summer), testing out new recipes, eating out, a day at Wet N' Wild, several episodes of "Ugly Betty," a viewing of "Man of Steel," and some more swimming!

Macey offered to watch the girls for us so Chase and I could go out on a date.  We love opportunities like this to simply go out to the pool without the kids.  We went out for a nice night swim.  Thanks, Macey!

 

 Beignets.  They were surprising awesome.

 Spaghetti Dish off Pinterest.

I didn't get any pictures, but we all drove to Mesa one day to meet up with our cousin Jessica and her family.  My aunt Andrea, who lives in WA near our parents, was in Mesa for a vacation as well so she met up with us too.  "Cheesecake Factory" was our choice and like always it was a great time with delicious food.  Chase, the girls, and I are really going to miss Jessica, Brock, and the girls.  The girls enjoy every minute they are with them.

During this week, we got to experience what it's like to have a pet.  

As we were walking out to the pool one day we saw a tiny little lizard scurry along the bottom of our door.  I thought we could catch it so I grabbed a jar and with some teamwork we got it!  The girls fell in love with their pet so much that Sailor wanted to name him...

Meet "Monkey."

 After keeping him in the jar for a few hours Sailor was really concerned about him being left in there.  She would say, "Mom, but he needs to be outside?"

I knew we would let him go before it got dark so we just planned on showing dad and then we would release him in the wild....and that's just what we did.  

Don't worry, he wasn't suffering that day.  I was on a roll and caught him a living fly for a meal. :)

While Macey was in town we were able to drop the kids off at a friends' house so she and I could go to Wet N' Wild for a morning.  It was so fun to run around catching rides down the slides or lounge out in the lazy river.  Thanks, Erin for watching the girlies.

We were also able to drop the girls off while we ran around looking for shoes....

Thanks, Alyssa!

And then, Chase stayed home with the girls one night so we could catch the movie "Man of Steel" since Macey hadn't seen it yet.  We went to the "Studio Movie Grill" and enjoyed ordering and sharing grub as we enjoyed the show.  Thanks, Chase.

When it was time for Macey to leave us it was ok with the girls, because we got to go along with her!
Besides leaving daddy behind, the girls and I were excited to fly back to WA to spend a couple weeks there!