Hay Ride Time. . .mmmmm Sorta

The congregation in Mt. Pleasant invited us to their annual hayride hosted by a great family.  Apparently they do it every year and brothers and sisters from all over come for a hayride, great food, associationg, and a big bonfire.  J.'s buddy was here for the weekend so he tagged along as well.  And of course, the car ride was crazy as ever.

All the teenager-ish girls sat waiting and played the ever fun game of "truth" and "would you rather".  Yes, just truth, they took out the dare because they decided it was more fun just to make people tell the truth about weird and random things.  Silly girls.



And the boys do what boys do best and played football.

I know, tiny little specks that you can't really see, but a girl can only carry so many lenses at once!

The girls were super excited to see each other again.  And there was an awesome tire swing.

At one point the girls stole the camera so it is pretty funny going through them all and seeing the silly faces and poses and seeing random people pop up on my screen and I have no idea who they are.  It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of new brothers and sisters from all over the area.  But as for actually riding on hay - nope.  There were a LOT of people there and they hayrides were going in shifts, by the time it was our turn, we decided we wanted to stay next to the big warm fire instead.  But there really was a tractor pulling a wagon full of hay bales, I swear!  Maybe next year. . .

And lastly, we had a very cute little backyard visitor Monday evening.

She was so cute, not very skittish though.  We banged on the window a little and she didn't budge, but I took the picture through the window anyway because I didn't want to open the door and scare her off.

That is all the newsworthy items from these parts.  Saturday we have a work day at the Kingdom Hall and I am assigned to working in the flower beds again.  So now I will be pulling out the flowers I planted in the spring.  And our family is taking over one of the flower beds so I have to plan what we want it to look like in the spring so I can get some bulbs planted soon.  I will post pics for you all next week.

Love you much and we are sending virtual hugs and kisses to you all.  If you want to feel the real thing turn to the person to your right or left and hug away.  Unless of course it is a stranger. . .then that would just be awkward!

Home from Arizona

We survived sunny Arizona!  It was so nice to see all of our friends and family and friends that we have known long enough to be considered family.  We arrived Saturday around noon after stopping in Albuquerque and catching some much needed Z's.  It also insured that we arrived looking and smelling fresh!  Much better impression to those that haven't seen you for months.

We grabbed some lunch and then headed to my niece's graduation party.  Very fun.  My sis was hard at work making cotton candy for everyone.

I think all the kids were in a sugar comatose state by the time we left the party.  Besides the cotton candy they had a candy table set up with all sorts of sweets in different little jars.  Very cute.  They also had Eegee's (yum! yum!) and a snow cone machine.  She also had a blow up obstacle course which I think the adults had more fun on than any of the kids.

Sunday and Monday were relax days spent with family.  The kids all went swimming in Uncle Reuben's pool.  Monday friends from all over came to visit.  So nice to see them all, kids that are growing like weeds and meeting new little faces.



This little guy is so cute and such a pefect blend of his parents.

Tuesday we visited more family and then headed up to my big sis's house.  They took us kayaking down the Salt River.  We had so much fun and the weather cooperated somewhat.  It wasn't too unbearable hot and we got too see so much wildlife.  We saw more Blue Heron Cranes than we have ever seen and we also got to see wild horses.  That was the highlight of the trip.  Hopefully my brother-in-law will send me some pictures.  They have a waterproof camera and he was snapping pics for us.

Me and the hubby after kayaking.  We went to this fabulous pizza place on the way back home called "Barro's".  Very yummy pizza.

The cousins.  Proud of themselves for making it down the river.  Z. rode in a kayak with his cousin.  J. powered his own kayak and had fun going through the rapids with his dad.  And, for those of you in the know of A.'s perils with canoes and kayaks you will be proud of her.  She powered her own kayak and at the end decided she loved it.

Me and my gorgeous big sis.  Thanks for making our trip so much fun.  We love you so much and miss you more than you know.

Friday we headed back to Tucson to see more friends we missed the first go round.  Then we hit the big highway.  Sad for those that we missed seeing AGAIN!  Ugh so sorry, I promise we will be back.



So that is our trip in a nutshell.  And now we are back home in our green, green home and busy again.  Garden updates coming soon.  Everything is growing like mad.  And I am happy to say the cages I built around the plants the deer seem to like the most worked well because they are all still alive and growing.

Love you all!

Felt Flower Frenzy

This weekend we tried a new craft.  We went over to a sisters house and we all tried out making felted flowers.  So. Much. Fun!  And, surprise, surprise, A. said she finally found a craft that she WANTS to do.  You do not even understand how much I hope this works out.  This girl NEEDS something to do in her spare time.  And we have tried many, many different crafts.  Drawing, quilling, jewelry making, sewing, pastels, etc., etc., etc.  Hopefully she loves this one.

We scoured the internet and found a plethera of tutorials.  We loved Mrs. Priss' tutorials the best and she is hilarious.  So without further ado, here are our flowers:

A's flowers:

Rachel's Flowers:

and mine:

Rach had this genious idea of creating a "pocket" in the back so you can use one clip with multiple flowers.  Genious!

There they are in all their glory.  Lots of fun to make.  And the pink and cream flower designs may be coming to a tutorial near you soon.