White Water Fun!

Last years Christmas present from Nana and Papa Fife was season passes to the 3 amusement parks in Branson, MO (about 2 hrs away)...Silver Dollar City, White Water (water park), and Celebration City. This was definitely a much appreciated and well used gift! This weekend we went to White Water for the last time this summer as it will be closing on Monday. I finally remembered to take pictures! This kids absolutely love it here and we have so much fun. Ethan's favorites are the "crazy" river ( lazy river), wave pool, and all the big slides that you go down on with tubes! Avery loves the splash area, and the lazy river in her special float. I didn't get any pictures of the kids in the lazy river because someone threw up in it and they closed it down (yuck), luckily we weren't in it at the time, but we were in the splash area and apparantly the water filters through there because they kicked us out. We had a great day!

Ethan and Jesse coming out of Ethan's favorite slide.

Ethan and Avery in the splash area.

The best part of the day (lol). Asleep before we even left the parking lot.

I knew she was tired!

I tried to feed her lunch quick because I knew she was tired, but it is very uncharacteristic for her to fall asleep anywhere...even as a newborn she wouldn't have done this? Anyway, it was too cute to pass up a picture.

Just as I was thinking...

I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner Sunday night, Ethan and Avery had been chasing each other and playing really nice together. This doesn't happen but once a day. I could hear them from the play room giggling, and just as I was thinking that I love to hear them so happy, playing together, this is what I find....(watch the video).

I love how Avery is so happy with the mischief that brother helped her create that she doesn't even care when he drags her by the feet back to him, she usually screams at him whenever he does this. These are classic moments. I guess I'm glad that it wasn't something harder to clean up.

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Today is our 7th anniversary. So, I just wanted to take a moment to say how grateful I am for my wonderful husband! He is more than I could ever ask for. Thank you for providing for us and for working so hard. Thank you so much for all you do for us, and for being such a great dad! I Love You! I wanted to post a wedding picture, but this one goes back just as far. It's our engagement pic. This weekend we celebrated by leaving the kids home with Nana Fife, and we went and stayed overnight in Branson, MO. We left Friday afternoon, and that night we enjoyed a dinner and a show at the Dixie Stampede, where we were even asked to participate, and we won our team (The South) two "gold medals". It was fun. Then after that we headed over to Celebration City and went on a few roller coaster rides, and the indy cars. I got to sleep in (sort of, some kids were being really loud in the hallway at the hotel at 6 AM). Saturday morning we did a little shopping at the outlets, then we went to Silver Dollar City and rode all the big roller coasters that we never get to do because we always have the kiddos. We got tired of Silver Dollar City, and so we left and spent the rest of the day at White Water, where we rode all the rides that we never get to do when we have the kids. It was a fun-filled weekend, not to have to think of anyone but ourselves and just play!

Thanks Nana for taking such good care of the kids!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Today is Ethan's birthday! I can't believe my little boy is already 3! He has grown so much, not just physically this year but I can't believe how much he has matured from 2-3. He is so much fun, always playing games, and loves to make us laugh. He is so sweet, and always wants to make me happy! He loves to give me hugs and kisses, and I am sooooo grateful that he still loves to cuddle. He has been so excited for his birthday to come, ever since Papa Fife's birthday back in February, and everyone's birthday came first (except mine). He was so good, and so happy for everyone elses birthday, I am so happy we finally get to celebrate his. Tonight we will have our family celebration by taking him to his favorite place to eat, Chuck E Cheeses, then we will come home for Ethan's fav cake and ice cream (lemon cake with a lemon glaze), open presents, and talk to Nana and Papa Conn on the web cam. We have a fun filled night! Here are some pics from over the years! We love you Ethan, Happy Birthday!

Ethan has always loved screwdrivers (ie. "turners"). He loves to fix things. Approx. 18 mo. old

Ethan has always had a case of "crazy hair". It grows faster than anything I've every seen, and gets so long. This is typically what he has always looked like after sleep. Approx. 20 mo. old

He has always loved reading books. Approx. 24 mo. old

At his first Father's and Son's about 2 1/2 years old.

His most recent pic, at his B-Day party.

Ethan's Birhday Party

Ethan's Birthday Party

Last Wednesday we celebrated Ethan's 3rd birthday party at JUMP ZONE!!!! A place with a bunch of inflatable bounce houses, and slides. He had such a great time, as did his friends! Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with us! We celebrated a little early, his birthday is actually tomorrow, but that was when it worked the best for us. Here's a slideshow of pics from the fun party.

I Can Do It ALL Myself!!!!

Avery loves to wreak havoc! She is like that little tornado spoken about in the book "Love You Forever". She loves to pull all the books out of the bookshelf, she opens her dresser drawers and pulls all the clothes out, and if I happen to be folding laundry when she's around it mysteriously unfolds and gets strewn about the house. The other day I had pulled newly laundered clothes out of the dryer, and put them in the laundry basket where they should have waited to be folded, but Avery found them first and started unloading the basket for me. Pretty soon I looked over and she had managed to dress herself in a dress I had just washed. She actually got it over her head and was so proud of herself.

Tennis Tournament

Last weekend Jesse entered into a tennis tournament. Friday was just tennis and Saturday was golf and tennis. This was one of those tournaments that you pay to enter and the proceeds go to the orginization, in this case The Boys and Girls Club of Arkansas. Unilever is one of their sponsors, so they pay for their employees to participate in these tournaments. Jesse loves golf, and played tennis all through high school and at Ricks. He did very well. Saturday, the kids and I went to watch him play tennis for a while. Ethan really just wanted to play with Jesse, but was pretty good after I explained that he could only watched, he contentded himself with playing in the drinking fountain. Here are the best pics I could get.

Kermit!

We went to empty out the kids play pool and this cute little guy jumped out. He was really fast, and Ethan loved holding it and would scream and laugh whenever it jumped out of his hands. Ethan wanted to keep him but we told him that Kermit needed to go and find his family.

Wal-Mart ISD Annual Picnic

My dad works for the ISD department at Wal-Mart, it beats me what ISD actually stands for but it has to do with computers, and programming and stuff of that sort. Every year they have a huge picnic. This year it was catered by yummy Smokin' Joes Ribhouse. Everything is free which is great, and they have all the cotton candy, snowcones, funnel cakes, popcorn, candy apples etc... you want! We ended up getting snowcones, and cotton candy, it's too hot for anything else. It was a very HOT and HUMID 90+ degrees out so we didn't stay long, especially after Avery threw up due to the heat. Ethan had fun jumping in the bounce houses, playing at the baseball stand, and hitting golf balls onto a velcro board. We finally talked him out of leaving. Here are pics of Ethan and Avery enjoying cotton candy for the first time on the way home. Avery was so confused by the speed in which the cotton candy seemed to melt. I was laughing so hard watching her eat it, and then she would growl at me when she wanted more.

Splash Park

We are so used to having splash parks around every corner in AZ. But here in Arkansas we have ONE! It's about a 20 min drive, but it wasn't very crowded so it was nice. Every Thursday we rotate our play groups between the splash park and the community pools close to where we live. This week was the splash park. Avery didn't like it, and then she was knocked to the ground and had her face smashed on the pavement, then she really had a meltdown, poor girl! Ethan had a blast, and had a meltdown when it was time to go home. Anyway, here are pics of our fun day!

Ethan and his friend Ethan Hughes (ie. "The New Ethan"), sitting on one of the sprinklers.

Avery sporting her smashed face, she's a trooper!

Only If You Want To.....

Remember..............

Heres What you Do

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

How Many Shoes Should A One Year old Own?

The other day I just happened to notice how many pairs of shoes Avery (who has only been walking about a month) owns. I was laughing pretty hard, and Jesse was shocked when I told him just how many pairs she's got. I actually think she may own more than me! I love shoes, I just don't know how to shop for my own. I thought I would include a picture of my "little princess's" shoes. The picture doesn't do them justice, you can't see the colors well, but they are sooooooo fun!

Congrats Christy and Ben!

Not to take anything away from Christy's soon to come post, but I just wanted to send a little shout out to my big sis. She just brought a beautiful baby girl into the world! Welcome Brinley!!! We love you and can't wait to see you in person! Here's just one little pic!

Who knows how old? And she's already wearing a bow! That's worse than I was! She's gorgeous!

Beaver Lake Wakeboard Tournament

Saturday we had a fun day at the lake. Unilever is a sponser of the Beaver Lake Wakeboard Tournament. Jesse had to deliver the big blow up Axe Duck, and some Axe samples for the "Axe Angels" to hand out. We hung out for a while in the swimming area watching some of the intermediate guys board. Then we met up with one of Jesse's friends from work and hopped on his boat to watch the pros. It was a hot day for us, but it was fun. Ethan really wanted a turn "Surf" boarding. We will have to teach him soon. Jesse is determined to get him out there this year wakeboarding with him on his board. Avery finally likes the water. I was afraid she would get deathly ill, she kept sinking low in her float to drink the gross lake water. She's ok so far...

Jesse, Avery, and Ethan in the swimming zone.A wakeboarder going by, too bad our camera is so slow it didn't catch the rotation.

The kids and I in front of the HUGE Axe Duck.

P.S. I was just as surprised as you are that the mascot of the Axe products is a DUCK!

The Prophet Said To Plant A Garden...

Ethan with his prized zucchini. (Sorry Nana, you may have to fight him for it)
Measured against a rolling pin, so you can get an idea of the size!


It's not technically our garden, but we do reap the benefits! Here is a pic of the massive zucchini we picked the other day! Ethan was so excited about it, he wanted to take a picture of it. He loves to go out and check the garden for new things to pick. So far we've had lots of cucumbers, strawberries, crook-neck squash, butternut squash, tomatoes, green onions, and basil. We also have two good size watermelons, Ethan is keeping a close eye on those.

What's summer without running through the sprinklers?

Ethan's new favorite thing to do is run through the sprinklers. It's great! He has such a blast. Since it hasn't rained here in almost 2 weeks we've had to water the plants and grass ourselves. I know...we must be experiencing a drought! HA HA, at least it gave Ethan something new to enjoy. Avery is undecided, she doesn't really cry when the water sprinkles her but she doesn't seem to happy that I make her get in.

Tag!!!

I've never done one of these tag things, but I guess I will take Jessica up on the offer!

ATTACHED OR SINGLE? Definitely attached, going on 7 blissful years!

BEST FRIEND? Jesse, and my mom.

CAKE OR PIE? Cake of course, but it has to be chocolate!

DAY OF CHOICE? I too must say...April 23rd because it's not too hot and it's not too cold. All you need is a light jacket!

ESSENTIAL ITEMS? Mascara, and a toothbrush.

FAVORITE COLORS? Blue and brown, although I also love green, and yellow.

GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Bears!!!

HOMETOWN? Phoenix, AZ

INDULGENCE? Chick-fil-A, chocolate

JANUARY OR JULY? July, I love summer!

KIDS? 2, Ethan (almost 3), Avery (1 year)

LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? Chocolate

MARRIAGE DATE? August 17,2008

NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? 3

ORANGES OR APPLES? Oranges

PHOBIAS OR FEARS? Both would have to do with losing my husband or kids. And to top it off watching it happen and not being able to do anything about it.

QUOTE: I want people to be afraid of how much they love me!

REASON TO SMILE: My kids, simple enough.

SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Superman

TAG 3 PEOPLE: Anybody who reads this.

UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: When I lived in my own house, I mopped my kitchen floors daily.

VEGETABLES? Pretty much anything! Except peas, I've never liked those.

WORST HABIT? I am a yeller! I have to really work on that, my kids hear it the most!

X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasound for sure, who would want an X-Ray?!

YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Pizza, Curry, Sushi, calamari,

ZODIAC SIGN? Virgo

Avery's 1 year pics

Party Party!!

Here are some pics and videos from our little B-Day celebration. We just invited our good friends the Messicks, and of course Nana and Papa Fife. Avery had a blast, and was such a happy girl. She loved it when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She didn't quite know what to do with a whole cake to herself, but she managed to make a pretty good mess. She loved getting a bath in the kitchen sink when it was all done. That was probably the highlight!

Happy 1st Birthday Avery

Today we will celebrate Avery's 1st Birthday! I can't believe how quickly this year flew by! I decided to do a little time line of pictures...Enjoy! I also put together a video...it's long, so sorry about that. I don't think many of you will last through the whole thing, but I had fun with it. Happy birthday baby girl!

Nauvoo Trip

Nauvoo Family Vacation

We spent the 4th of July in Nauvoo! It's only an 7-8 hour drive from where we are. We left on the 2nd, and went 1/2 way, and stayed the night in St. Louis, MO. St. Louis is so fun, I wish we had had more time to do more. We just went to the Zoo, which is hugh, and FREE! It was an amazing zoo. We saw a fun sea lion show that Ethan just loved, he loved "Benny", and I would never have remembered the sea lions name if not for Ethan. In Nauvoo, we had two days to see the sights. Ethan loved seeing the beautiful temple a few times a day, and we would sing "I love to see the temple" every time we drove past. It had been about 5 years since I had been there. And it was just as great as the first time, except I didn't get to have my wonderful husband with me. Jesse had to stay home because he is in a very tough statistics class right now. We sure missed him! The first day we did the horse and carriage ride and the "wagon" ride, I wouldn't recommend doing those back to back like we did, especially with an active 11 mo. old, but we made it fun. They were both very informational, and much better than walking and trying to figure out where you are. We heard a lot of interesting stories. Dad went over to the office of Land and Records and looked up some ancestors. They are so awesome to map out the properties that they had owned, and then we drove around and saw "about" where they had lived. Ethan loved hearing about how bricks are made, and actually was able to repeat it to me, I think he sat so still because of the donut in his hand. I wish I'd figured out that trick earlier. We also hopped on down to Carthage and visited the jail. Here are some pics of the trip. The spirit in Nauvoo is so strong, and it makes me really admire those early saints for all they had to endure.