10 Years!

10 years ago I married my Ben! We celebrated by going out to a fancy shmancy restaurant. And these roses are so pretty, I almost wish they weren't real, so they'd stay pretty on my table forever....


Seeing as we are 10 years in, I couldn't resist but go back through some old scanned photos of us...

Dating...


Engaged...


Married...


I actually don't have a whole lot of pictures of us during our dating/engaged time... probably because we got married 6 months after meeting. That was crazy! But I wouldn't have done anything different. I'm the luckiest girl! Happy 10th cutie Ben!

The Man of the House

My handsome Jake is THREE! :) Where did the time go? Let's reminisce on what Jake looked like when he first entered this world...


Such a little man. He did the arms behind the head thing on his own as a newborn, and he still does that today. Jake makes me so happy and every birthday I love to think of all the joy each of our kids brings to our family. Jake is smart, witty, hilarious, loving, energetic, and already a ladies man. haha. :)

I always ask the kids what kind of cake they'll want for their birthday - the girls have always responded with "chocolate", or "strawberry cake with pink frosting"... but Jake threw me for a loop when he requested "a train cake". ugh. well, alright. I found a cute idea online that looked doable. I love baking... but I have no cake decorating skills, so I was nervous to attempt it... and rightfully so, because it turned into a complete failure. My cake was crumbly and falling apart and my frosting wasn't thick enough. I was able to salvage the train cars - once I put all the candy on it, most of the imperfections were hidden - Ben saved the day and made an all new cake the next morning when he got home from his night shift (he somehow did that amidst watching all the kids while I was at my hair appointment... he deserves the awesome husband award!) and constructed a much more successful engine car. Jake loved it, but I never want to do that again...



Jake wanted hot dogs for dinner - he was VERY energetic during his birthday dinner - he was so excited at all the attention!






We saved his birthday outing till Saturday when Ben would be able to join us. We met some of Ben's family at the train park.









A few weeks ago Jake started plugging his ears when he gets nervous about noises (remember the pic from the water park, as he plugged his ears going down the slide?)... for some reason the train sounds were making him uneasy, so he plugged his ears the ENTIRE time we road the train.

Claire LOVED the train ride! And Grandma too :)



Some of the group rode the little steam engines also... the Ben's were looking pretty funny sitting on that tiny train ;)

Grandma and Grandpa got Jake a train conductor hat while we were there - Jake really likes it.. but he wouldn't let me get a picture of him wearing it, except for when he was wearing it backwards






Happy 3rd birthday Jake man!

Airplanes, Soccer, and Waterslides

Spring Break is almost over - bummer. It's been a fun week having my girls home to play. I took the kids to the Deer Valley Airport to watch the planes come and go (thanks Amanda for the great idea!). We took lunch and were highly entertained by all the fun airplanes and even a helicopter! I was surprised by how busy this little airport was - there were planes continually landing or taking off. The kids were in heaven.

All the kids were given little airplanes when we arrived - Claire really enjoyed hers






Thursday nights are now soccer nights - Claire and I watched Jake run and play - the girls were in other parts of the field on different teams - but we had to keep close tabs on Jake to keep him on task...



Sweetie Claire keeping me company on the sidelines
I was so proud of myself entertaining my children this entire week without spending a dime. And then... I bought water park passes. Well, so much for saving money. Pretty sure, though, this was the best idea I've ever had - haha - hard to resist a huge and awesome water park that's less than 10 minutes from the house. We went twice this week!

Becca had just hopped off the little purple water slide, and was so thrilled with herself. Don't you love that she's wearing goggles? haha - the girls have discovered that they love not getting water in their eyes.

Ben and Emma's triumphant arrival



Claire's been my little beach babe at the water park - she doesn't really get wet much... she's just there to look pretty :)

Ben and Emma again - Afterwards, Emma claimed it was a tie... you be the judge ;)

Emma and ME...


This one is short... I didn't mean to stop recording so soon... but Emma was so proud of herself for being brave enough to ride this one with daddy. :)





Jake likes these little blue slides, but won't do anything else (other than the wave pool) - and for some reason, he INSISTS on plugging his ears the whole time he slides

So, the water park will be our new home away from home for the summer - looking forward to many more visits!

A day of exploring...

I had a very full day with the kids today - I'm tuckered out. :) But still have enough energy to blog I guess. Jake and Claire are now in bed... and the girls are 'staying up late' playing Kinect as I type this.

This morning we drove to Sahuaro Ranch Park for a photo scavenger hunt. We took the kid camera and a notebook and tried to find something for each letter of the alphabet. Here is a collection of some of the photos the kids took (Emma, Becca, and Jake all took turns) with their kiddie camera...

grapefruit, doors, palm tree, light post, house, flower, kids, map, arch, birds, rooster











We picnicked, played on the playground, and then headed home

After naps and quiet time, we headed to the Cave Creek museum. It was quaint and cute, and the kids really loved it...







The cute old ladies running the place gave each of the kids a little activity book to work on - Becca enjoyed her dot to dot

hmmm... a bucket full of tootsie rolls?! don't mind if I do...

Our keen museum skills led us to find this very tiny button tucked at the bottom of this little exhibit. Emma pushed it and it made the rattlesnake (on the far right) rattle - this scared Jake- he kept his ears plugged for the next 5 minutes just in case someone decided to push it again

Outside of the museum, there was some great outdoor paths with a little cactus garden, historic bandstand, and mining equipment...














Ben's dad calls outings like this "Arizona adventures" - it's fun exploring some of our unique surroundings. :)