Pictures and our Trip to Alpine

So things are going really great for us and we are loving our new house. The kids are all great and we just signed Colton up for first grade today. Oh my goodness first grade!!! And he lost his other front tooth today so now he is missing all of his front teeth and looks so stinking cute!! I love having a six year old, he is smart and funny and he questions EVERYTHING! Sometimes that is frustrating especially when I just want to say “just because!” but as long as he is not doing it in a sassy way then I think it’s good because it helps me learn to explain things and not just be rushing around and also makes me think about stuff like how “how do people make electricity into light, and why there isn’t just a ‘love machine’ that people can put into prisons to make all the robbers feel love and be good people?” I am still working on answers for these so if you have and ideas I would appreciate it! Lol seriously though he is hilarious and I love him to pieces. I love that he still holds my hand and snuggles me on the couch and laughs at my jokes. He is a good boy who likes to help out and do things without being asked, like help bring in groceries and take the trash to the road, he is also my junior photographer and is always looking for things that I could take pictures of, he gets so excited now when he sees something that he thinks I would like. He is great and I am thankful for him.

Kaci is still my sweet little girl and she loves to snuggle, loves all things glittery, and especially loves baby Owen. She is only four years old on paper, but she thinks she is sooo much older. She is so fun and so smart and she is really funny to have around. She likes to dance, even if there isn’t any music on and she loves how long her hair is. She likes to lean back as far as she can to make her hair touch the backs of her knees and doesn’t like to leave it fixed all day because she likes it down. It is actually really long and pretty. When it is down straight it comes to the top of her pants. She loves to watch me do make up and wears her lipstick almost every day and really tries to talk me into letting her wear mascara too. It is fun to play dress up with her, but I don’t want her wearing it all the time. She made me laugh the other day because we were going on a walk and she was grumpy and whining and crying because she didn’t want to walk but there wasn’t enough room in the stroller for her. Anyway I was tired of her carrying on and finally said “what do you think all of the people think when they look out and see you crying and throwing a fit like this?” she was still mad and in her grumpy little voice with her little arms crossed she mumbled under her breath “they probably think: look at that girl, she’s awesome!” hahaha I lost it I was laughing so hard and then she started laughing and we ended up having a good walk and even saw gila monster! She is silly though. She is my little helper too and is so sweet and always willing to help out with Owen and he absolutely adores her as well. Such a fun girl

Preston is so much fun all of the time, he is full throttle every minute of the day and he is feisty! He is not afraid to stand his ground and he thinks he is the biggest kid in the house. A few examples of this: I took the kids to the splash pad in thatcher a few weeks ago and there was another little boy there probably about Preston’s age, but several inches taller, any way they had a disagreement about who should be pushing the water button and were standing there yelling at each other over it when the other kid took a swing at Preston and clobbered him pretty good. Preston ran crying to me and the other little boy’s dad felt really bad and apologized repeatedly and I thought that was the end of it. Well apparently Preston didn’t get the memo because as soon as he stopped crying he puffed up his chest and marched right back up to the other boy and got in his face and was yelling “Don’t hit me!!” and was about to start shoving when I intervened. We actually had to leave the splash pad because I wasn’t able to distract him and every time I put him down he would try to go get the other boy again. Another time we were playing in the pool and I was pretending to be a shark and get the kids and I would swim under the water next to them and ‘get them’. Colton and Kaci would scream and splash and try to get away. I tried to do this with Preston and as I got closer I realized that he wasn’t trying to get away so I thought maybe he didn’t understand the game. I lifted my head out of the water next to him and he promptly punched me in the face as hard as he could, then turned to Colton and Kaci and said “I got him, guys!” It surprised me more than anything and he was so proud of himself for getting the ‘shark’ and saving the other kids. We call him our little honey badger because for every ounce of fight in him there is just as much sweet snuggle baby. He loves to come snuggle me in bed for a little bit every morning and give me lip kisses (no other kind will do) at bed time. He is also talking pretty good and he like to say “goodnight mama, I luf you!” When we read stories at night he likes to sit on my lap and look at the pictures, this can get tricky when I am also trying to hold Owen, but we make it work!

Owen is six months old!! I cant believe it! He is so happy and sweet and is the easiest baby in the world. He is so patient with me because I have the older kids to look after and don’t always have time to respond to him right away. He is so smiley all of the time and any glance his direction is rewarded with the biggest grin and happy wiggles. He scoots around on the floor pretty good and has two teeth and likes to chew on everything, and they are sharp!! Luckily he hasn’t bitten my while nursing so hopefully he won’t. He is old enough to try other foods but I am still just nursing him completely because sometimes that is the only snuggle time that I get. He still has curly hair, but the longer it gets the less it seems to curl, I think he may be like Preston in that if I were to cut it it would lose its curl all the way. He makes me so happy and I am grateful I get to be his mom. There is just something about babies that they have the ability to make a person feel so special and completely loved because they hold nothing back, when they smile you can just feel the love shining from those little eyes. I love all of his squeaky noises and his happy wiggles. He is just so special and I must say he is very well loved and taken care of (sometimes too much) by his three older siblings.

Weldon and I are doing great and loving life. Weldon still works nights and averages 70+ hours a week so he stays busy that way. This past weekend he had a three day weekend so we rented a cabin in alpine and went there for a few days. Weldon wanted to invite everyone and have almost like a mini reunion, but I am sorry because I told him that this was his first time off in a year and a half and by golly I wanted some time just for us! (sorry every one, I am sure it would have been a blast if you were all there too!) It was so great to get away and I think that the white mountains are some of the most beautiful places on earth. Poor Weldon woke up the first morning we were there with a nasty head cold. He was so bummed, he hasn’t been sick in a year and a half and then on the days we are on vacation he gets sick. Pretty ironic. He was such a trooper though and powered through it with out complaining and was so good. We had so much fun, we went fishing for about fifteen minutes, in which Preston managed to throw  a good number of our floats into Luna lake because they floated so well and he thought that was just awesome. Lol oh well the kids didn’t have much patience for fishing anyway. We loved having a cabin, it made camping so much more comfortable and fun, especially with little kids, it was right in the tree line next to a big meadow and in the mornings the elk were in the meadow and they were fun to watch. I could totally be a morning person if I lived there!! The mornings were beautiful and so peaceful. The cabin had a tv with cable and dvds, and we even found and XBOX, but it was so nice because we were having so much fun outside that they never got used, and it has been great because since coming home the kids have been more interested in playing then watching tv and it has been great. While we were driving there I asked the kids if they all had their boots and not just flip flops and Preston heard this and he says “Daddy’s boots, Mamas boots, Colton’s boots, Kaci’s boots, Preston’s TENNIS SHOES?!” he felt totally cheated so on the way home we stopped at CAL Ranch and got him some boots, he was so excited and he wore them the whole trip home and wanted to wear them to bed.

(Also a ton of other pictures, some are out of order because I am posting this way after it happened and am pulling pictures from my phone as well as my camera)

 at the gila box

 playing in the sand

 First smiles

 At the caboose where they got their faces painted

 climbing trees at the blackberry patch where Grandma and Grandpa Shurtz used to bring me when I was a little girl.

 being tarzan

 Kaci loves to wear my lipstick any chance she gets

 One night Preston flat refused to go to sleep so he and I stayed up and watched a show with popcorn and ice cream. He felt pretty special

 I made some playdough that didn't turn out right at all, but the kids enjoyed playing with it anyway

 Snow on Mt Graham in late April

 Kaci didn't want to change when we said we were going to chase the snow, I think she takes after me with her love of flip flops and cute but none practical coats

 Colton is also in flipflops, can you tell we are Arizona people?

 found Preston bound and determined to have some watermelon

 playing in the canal

 Kaci wanting to pull her tooth so she can get money from the tooth fairy too

 Papa and Owen

 Goofy Captain Colton

 Finally lost the tooth, only four years old and basically yanked her own tooth out for five bucks. haha determined little thing!!

 Owen loves his bumbo because he likes being able to look around and watch every one

 Colton keeping Owen happy during tummy time

 These kids like sleeping together better than in their own beds. I don't care as long as they sleep!

 Cuties!! Kaci sure loves her Daddy

 We saw this mountain goat on the way back from visiting Daddy at work. It was on the side of the road and wasn't afraid of us at all

 Happy little thing

 Cute kids on a big rock behind our adorable new house

 Getting ready to go swimming at the neighborhood pool

 We swim and Owen hangs out in the stroller and watches us. He doesn't like the pool so I usually give him a sucker and he hangs out in the shade while we play

 So many lost teeth

 First day of first grade

 Owen learned that if he makes this face at us we will do it back and that he can play with us, he is so funny

 Picture with Grandpa Jim at Mayberry family reunion

 it was too quiet in the house so I went and found all of the kids eating snacks and hiding in the pantry, Owen felt so included!!

 Happiest little boy ever!!

 Kaci reads to Owen and it is so sweet

 Colton got new glasses and let the other kids wear his old ones

 When Owen kisses Weldon he gives him very slobbery kisses and sucks on his bottom lip. haha

 Owen eating 'real' food

 Owen isn't supposed to be on the bed so he doesn't fall off and hurt himself but Kaci and Preston were his partners in crime and helped him up and he was so excited about it

 frosting cookies

 my Kaci girl and me

 Owen didn't like that I was doing laundry and kept getting in the basket until I would pick him up and give him some loves

 fun Daddy

 Fishing at Cluffs pond

 We went to Mollgollen ghost town in NM and explored it. people must have been smaller back then because the mine shafts and the doors to the houses were tiny

 After the ghost town we went to the fish hatchery in Glenwood, always a fun place to explore

 Picking spring flowers, I love flowers!!

 best buds

 Owen loves being wrapped up in his sleeping blanket

 Playing at Bonita creek with Monie and Papa

 Picking Mulberries at Grandma and Grandpas house

 Preston missed it because he was asleep in the car

 Owen sure loves Preston

 Went to Rex Allen park in Willcox on our way to the Chiracauhuas

 So many cool rock formations

 Original ranch house

 yummy toes

 We saw so many deer

 Pics of the kids in a wheat field

 Alpine, my most favorite place in the whole world!!

 Happy to hang out on shore

 Elk in the pastures in the morning

Colton picked me a bunch of flowers, he is so sweet!

There were so many beautiful flowers and I loved seeing them and taking pictures of them, on one of the many flower stops I was telling the kids “aren’t we so grateful that we can see all of these beautiful flowers?” to which they responded “yes, mom but we just wish YOU couldn’t see them so we didn’t always have to stop and take their pictures!” lol

It was a great trip though and a really nice break for us.