German's Bug Party

German turned 3 years old last Friday and we celebrated with a bug party on Saturday. Thanks to all of German's friends (and their parents) for coming and celebrating with us! One of the great things about AZ is that we were able to have the party at the park and not in my living room! All of the bugs enjoyed bug games, playing on the park equipment, and eating "dirt!"

It's Official...

Probably the biggest news we have to announce is that of the future arrival of baby #3 sometime in early July!

Uncle Dennis and Aunt Annie Get Hitched

Our second week of vacation was spent in Kuna celebrating and preparing for Dennis and Annie's wedding. Everything went nicely at the wedding and reception. We look forward to having Dennis as a part of our family.

German really enjoyed playing with his cousins. He still talks about each of them and frequently tells me that Payton is a silly goose! If any of you cousins want to move to AZ we'll help convince your parents!

Christmas with the Clarks

We had a great Christmas week visiting our Clark family in Utah. We enjoyed a lot of snow and thus a lot of home time! (Side-note: Snow is great for Christmas, but I sure do love AZ. We're back to enjoying our time at the park!)

The boys sure do love all of the gifts they received and thanks go out to all our loved ones for a nice time.

Eli's First Birthday!

Eli turned the big one year old on the 13th, but we celebrated a little later while we were in Utah. We enjoyed a great evening of ice cream cake and playing with family!

Eli is such a joy to have in our family. He loves to laugh and have a good time. Some of Eli's favorite things to do are playing cars with his brother, taking rides in his wagon, and climbing on anything he can - oh, and his blanket and rubbing his hair! What a funny boy!

Fun at the Park

So I hate to rub things in, but on this one I have to. Can you beat playing at the park on a sunny afternoon in December? German loves all of his friends here in AZ and is so glad we've been able to meet them all. This afternoon he was playing by himself and imagined that he was having a party for all of his friends where they were eating gingerbreadmen cookies (thanks Treasure!)!

Annie's Bridal Shower

Congrats to Dennis and Annie!

The day after Thanksgiving, Eli and I flew to Boise and helped throw Annie a bridal shower. It was fun to see all the Hallberg Family and enjoy being a kid at home for a day. In case you're worried that German and Joshua got the short end of the stick, put your fears aside. They went out to breakfast, went to the zoo, built train tracks, and ate a lot of pumpkin pie!

Family Pictures

Here are the two best photos from our family photo shoot a couple of weeks ago. They might have turned out better had we actually had someone there taking the pictures, rather than the timer method, but oh well!

Happy Thanksgiving

We are so grateful for our good friends the Ys and the Ns. We sure enjoyed the laughs, relaxing, and of course the food! We sure missed our families and wished we could have joined in their celebrations. Joshua only mentioned about 20 times how he wished he were able to go to the turkey bowl in Boise.

What Else Have We Been Up To?

Blankie Boys
I swore that I would never let my children become accustomed to a particular blanket and boy have I failed. Even little Eli will crawl into his room, stand up at the crib, and yell until someone comes and gets his blanket for him. Then he snuggles up to it with the biggest smile on his face! By the way, we think Eli has two words: car and dog. We could be crazy of course!


Pop Goes the Weasel
This is German's interpretation of a jack-in-the-box. So, I've never raised another 2 year old, so maybe my perception is off, but German is the most imaginative kid ever. He is constantly coming up with stuff to create or making random connections. And he's officially begun the "why?" stage!


It's Still Warm
We're still hanging out at the park and having a good time (this was taken on Nov. 8th). AZ has some definite perks - it may not feel like fall, but at least we can still take the kids outside anytime we want!

Halloween Fun

We like to encourage a little sibling rivalry by dressing the boys in opposing costumes: German - a cowboy and Eli - an Indian. Aren't they so cute! We went to our ward's Halloween Carnival and it took German a little while to get into the games, but the enticement of candy did the trick! Notice in the collage how much he adores his friend Madison!

Where Have We Been???

We moved! We changed apartments and although our square footage stayed the exact same, our new home is quite the palace thanks to new and smaller furniture and a storage unit! Life is much better being on the bottom floor and enjoying hard wood floors.

Our Sports Guy - German

German loves to play sports either by himself with pretend equipment or more especially with his dad.

F.Y.I.

In case anyone is wondering about the future dwelling place of our family - I thought I might make an official announcement, though it be quite uneventful.

We decided that we should stay put in our current apartment complex for the next year and then evaluate what to do next, so no new house for now. The good news is that we're moving to a 1st floor apartment with hard wood floor in the dining area and new carpet everywhere else!

We were hoping that the random shopping cart would still be next to the dumpster - to be our main sourse of transporting our goods. Sadly, it is gone and now we are reduced to neighborhood wagons and strollers. Bring out your cameras this is sure to be a laugh!

Photos of the Week

"German Makes Honey-Popcorn"

German has become such a helper and good cook. Today, when I realized half way through cooking the noodles for mac and cheese that we'd run out of milk, German suggested apple juice or water (next time I think I'll try the juice!) It was also his idea to put honey in our popcorn.

This one I like to call: "Please Don't Tell the Landlord"

Our little Eli loves the dishwasher! Seriously, everytime I open the machine he is right there trying to climb aboard and pull out as much silverware as he can (don't worry, the knives are in the back where he can't reach!).

Tempe Towne Lake Waterpark

Last week we (a few friends and I) took our kids to the little community waterpark. German had a blast! He was running around and splashing everywhere. He really enjoyed playing with his buddies: Jayden, Dallin, Adam, and Emily. Eli preferred to be held by mom than to be splashed by the kids, but by the end he realized it was just like a huge bath, except better because he could crawl wherever he wanted to!

Call me "Domestic"

My neighbor, Marianne, kindly taught me how to can peaches this week! Things went pretty well - only a few didn't seal, but oh well! Now we can eat peaches like crazy. My kind husband also bought me a new shelving unit at IKEA this week and so I was able to organize our little laundry room and make space for our small food storage. We no longer have refried beans and tomato paste sprawled out on the ground!

Happy Birthday to Us!!!

As many of you already know, I really enjoy my birthday! My husband did a stellar job surprising me and spoiling me throughout the day, despite the multiple hints German fed me. It was one of my favorite birthdays ever! German even gave me the gift of time - he took a 4 hour nap that day.

Today is Joshua's birthday and we are doing exactly what he dreams of doing every Saturday: sleeping in, watching college football (his gift was cable hook-up for the weekend! - and hence I am blogging!), and going on a hot date later tonight. We both agree that we have enjoyed our birthdays a lot this year.

This is Joshua's Ice Cream Football - no cake, just pure ice cream!

A special thanks goes out to our parents for bringing us into the world and raising us the way you did. We appreciate all of your past and current support:)

It's Finally in the 90's!

Yes, you read correctly - we have been experiencing the cool and refreshing temperatures of the mid-90's. Life is good!

Aside from this piece of bliss, life is pretty much the same as always. We are still awaiting news on a couple of housing offers and are now entertaining the thought of renting a house. Whatever happens, we will be out of our apartment by Nov. 3rd (unless something out of my power occurs).

The boys continue to grow and change daily. German is such a communicator and very creative/imaginative boy. This picture is of him posing and trying to convince his dad to do the same.

Eli is our great experimenter! He wants to do anything and everything German does, including: eating anything except baby food, drinking from sippy cups, playing with all toys, and drawing with markers (as you can see in his photo).

Photos of the Week...

German's New Hat - This was the greatest $5 purchase I've ever made! German loves this hat. He wakes up in the morning and puts on his hat, he gets out of the tub and puts on his hat, he goes to bed and sadly lays his hat nearby, :( but then luckily it's there again when he wakes up!

Eli the Adventurer - Eli definitely likes to experiment with his physical capabilities. He is frequently found under this table, or standing at anything his level, and he has no fear participating in games with children much larger than he is!