Lake Pleasant

Boating at Lake Pleasant with
Dan and Jamie White

This week has been rough. We found out Clint's job is changing and will come with a pay decrease. All week we've been stressed trying to figure out how we were going to make it all work. So, it was a really nice break from worring to go out on Dan and Jamie's boat and not think about everything for a day.

The kids had an absolute blast. They loved every second of being on the boat. Pierce and Cole sat up front with Taylor and screamed and laughed as the wind and water hit them in the face. They swam and jumped off the back of the boat and had Clint throw them up in the air into the water.

Dan taught them both how to knee board and they were pretty proud of themselves. Cole thought she was pretty hot stuff out there. Pierce caught on quickly and was able to get on his knees and balance right away and rode a long way around the lake.

Cooper did great hanging out. He played and ate and slept. We decided to let him put his feet in the water but he was crying for more so we let him swim around and splash with all of us. He threw a big fit when he had to get out!

We ate lunch on the boat and fed the ducks who came right up to us and then went home sore and sunburned and took really long naps!

I think it's been at least 3 years since I've skied. It took a few tries to get the feel of it again. By the time I found my groove I was too tired to do anything more.

For Clint it's been 7 years since he's skied. I was really worried about his back but he did okay out there and had a good time.

Water Babies!

Summer is here in Arizona and it's hot!!! Here's how we've been keeping cool...

Jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler at Dan and Jamie's house

Eating otter pops with our friends Taylor and Parker

Going to the WaterPark with our friends

Pierce and Cole on the Rainbow Racers

Pierce won!!! But only because he's the only one who could push off by himself so he was first one down.

Swimming almost daily in our backyard pool

The Water Baby

My wannabe swimsuit model!



The first summer we moved to Phoenix we thought we might die from heat exhaustion! But someone told us no matter how hot it gets...you don't have to shovel or scrape it! How right they are. Now that we've been here almost four years we have become evidence of evolution and have learned to adapt to our surroundings. Now the heat doesn't really bother us as we go from one air conditioned place to the next. As a bonus there is so much fun stuff to do here. We live five minutes from Wet n Wild water park and have season passes. We bought movie theater passes and we go to a kids movie once a week. We have our pool which we use daily and we have some really fun friends to hang out with.

Pierce's Last Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe it's here--the last day of kindergarten. I swear we just started! I cried a little on the first day realizing how big he has gotten but I really got sad when I realized how fast the year went. Pierce has changed a lot this year. He lost 4 teeth, made a lot of friends, learned new stories and songs, learned to read and can write numbers 1-50(he might be able to do more I just haven't made him try), He can write sentences and full stories with first, then and last. He has learned to be polite and respectful and to listen when someone else is talking. I am very proud of how big he has gotten and how much he has learned. Here's a look back on the year.

His Very First Day in Ms. Karsten's Class

School Party--Fall Festival

Field Trip to the Wild Life World Zoo

Drawing of a Monster

Showing Norterra Canyon Pirate Pride

Science-Apple Tasting Day

Camping Trip

This past weekend we headed up to Pine, Arizona to go camping with a group of friends. We were a little nervous about going since Cooper was teething (all four incisors at once) and had double ear infections. But, he was a trooper and did really well considering everything. We had a beautiful spot in the trees and pretty much had the place to ourselves since the weather forecast called for 50-70mph wind gusts and no one else wanted to brave it. We got pretty lucky though and found a place to set up camp that was pretty protected from the wind and the wind stopped as soon as the sun went down so we were still able to have a fire and roast marshmallows for smores and stayed up late singing songs. Cole and Pierce had the best time rolling in the dirt (I'm sure that's what they did since they were pretty much black), running free through the woods playing hide and go seek with their friends Taylor and Kylie, riding on our friend's Ranger (okay us big girls liked it too until we ran over a 3ft long king snake) and catching wild animals. Our friend Steve caught a little lizard and Cole carried her everywhere. Her name is Lizzy and Cole really wanted to bring her home "since she needs a pet". Emphasis on the "needs". We had a really great time with our friends, but the real fun started on our way home when Cole says, "Mommy my tummy hurts" and before I could say too much more...up came breakfast all over everything! Luckily we were just about to pass the rest stop so we pulled over and asked for a garbage bag and stuffed everything into it. It took me 3 hours just to clean the car out. Not to mention all the laundry...

Mexico

We just got back from a great vacation to Mexico with our friends Dan and Jamie White and no KIDS. We were in Riviera Maya, which is a half hour south of Cancun, while the kids spent the week in Idaho alternating between both sets of grandparents (you guys are the best!). We left Phoenix early Saturday morning and arrived at our resort around 3Pm. We stayed at the Grand Mayan, which was incredible! The grounds were amazing and so tropical. The pool was unbelievable--totally indescribable and we were right on a gorgeous beach. We ate at the resort at Havana Moon (a Cuban themed restaurant) that had beautiful ocean views. We sat there and enjoyed our meal with the windows open to the tropical breeze--Paradise! On Sunday we had a day of snorkeling planned with Mexico Blue Dream. We drove into Playa del Carmen (about a half hour from our resort) to meet our guide Pierre. He took us to 3 great sites. First was Yal-Ku lagoon. A beautiful bay where the underground river meets the ocean. The lagoon is surrounded by mangrove trees. We had to snorkel side by side because as you swim through the water the fresh and salt water mix and become cloudy. We were surrounded by tropical yellow, black and white striped fish. I had some great pics of Jamie in the middle of them, but they're gone (more on that in a minute). Then we went to a gorgeous white sandy beach called Akumal where we snorkeled with the sea turtles and sting rays. Awesome. Then we had a great lunch with lots of chips and homemade salsas at a roadside shack --really a shack with only 2 walls and a cement floor. Clint had shrimp (big mistake) and I ordered chicken since I figured it was the freshest thing what with all the chickens running around the restaurant (still can't believe I would eat somewhere like that--even more, I can't believe Jamie would eat somewhere like that). Afterward we headed to do a cavern snorkel. We went to a place called Dos Ojos. This was the highlight of Clint's trip. I was freezing cold even though the water is 75 degrees so I wore 2 wet suits. Our guide Pierre is into cave diving and he found some air pockets way far into the caverns so he took us back there. I was ready to have a panic attack as we wedged between stalagtites and our snorkels scraped the top of the cave. But we made it into a larger cavern full of stalagtites where we turned off our lights and as our eyes adjusted to the light you could see the most beautiful clear turquoise water. Then we went further back into what they called the bat cave. Again we turned off our lights to try to get them to fly around us but we couldn't be quiet long enough cuz we kept laughing. Nervous laughter. After the bats, Jamie and I decided to get out since we were freezing. So the boys decided to do some extreme snorkeling. They did a free dive under the rocks to another opening in the cave. They held their breath and dove down and came up into a 2 inch air space. Clint said he had enough room just to put his lips up and take a breath. Then they dove down again and made it to the other side. He said it was pretty intense--No thanks, not for me, glad I got out early. After our long day we stopped at a restaurant called La Pesca for dinner and left our backpacks in the trunk of the car. When we got back to our resort and went to get our stuff out, we realized our trunk had been broken into and our backpacks were gone. We lost about $2000 (our cameras and Jamie's wallet). So mad! Mostly at myself since Clint and I have traveled enough to know better than to leave anything in the car. So sad to loose my camera and our pictures from the day. We decided we better file a police report so we could make an insurance claim. Remember this is Mexico... nothing is fast. We were there until 2am while the officer did a little of our report and then checked his Facebook, and a little more report then some YouTube. Funny. On Monday we decided to try look for cameras. We headed to Walmart where Jamie picked out a camera only to find it wasn't in stock so she picked another and guess what-- they have nothing in stock, but she could buy the display with no box or instructions. After about 2 hours of trying to find a camera, Clint and I left and went back to the dive shop where Patrice the owner loaned us one of his cameras for the week. So nice. He saved our trip. Then we went back to Walmart to see if Jamie had made any progress (and to check if the camera guy was still alive after dealing with jamie!). The electronics manager had just found the box and the instructions when we walked away after 3 hours. In the US if you want a camera, you pick one out, pay and leave... 15minutes tops! The day got better though when we went to a little taqueria called El Fogon where Clint and Jamie found their love. Tacos El Pastor. Shaved pork on tortillas with pineapple, onions, cheese and hold the cilantro por favor. Yummy. We ended up eating there 4 times. They were 70 pesos each... so that's like 55 cents. That night we spent some time at our beautiful resort. On Tuesday we went to Chichen-Itza. We got there early to beat the tour buses. Our guide Reuben had a lot of interesting knowledge of the Mayan culture. This was our 2nd time to the ruins there and I was really disappointed that you can't climb to the top of the main temple anymore. But it was still amazing. That after noon we ate lunch and came out into a rainstorm but when I ducked into a doorway, I smelled leather. Upstairs was an amazing shoe store full of handmade sandals. I was in heaven! We bought 5 pairs and spent 800 pesos which is like $70. The lady told us it took 3 days to make them. My favorite pair we bought were Clint's sandals that had tires for the soles! We went to another cenote after that called Dzitknup. It was beautiful. Bright turquoise water with little black curious cave fish. We didn't get any great pics since it was so dark and our pics blurred. Our way home was nerve racking since we got caught in the craziest rainstorm. It was pouring--coming down so hard we couldn't even see. As if driving in Mexico isn't scary enough already. Wednesday was the best day. We had a professional photographer take pictures of the four of us on the beach. Jamie and I had a blast getting ready and then posing. The boys weren't so thrilled but the photos were beautiful of all of us. While we waited for the pictures to get done, we decided to get some sun tanning in. Then we headed south to Puerto Moralas and ate at a little restaurant called El Pirata. Here's where Dan and I found our food love. Tacos de pescado con ajo. Fish tacos with garlic. I don't know if I've ever had anything so good in my life. Fresh fish with garlic, lime and homemade pico de gallo. I could eat them everyday. Clint and Jamie weren't so lucky with their meals so after some shopping in the rain, (Clint bought a cowboy hat that makes him look like Kenny Chesney) we headed back to Playa del Carmen to El Fogon for some Tacos El Pastor for Jamie and Clint. On Thursday we went to Explore Park. We decided to do the zip lines first. 21 zip lines that have 4 water landings. It was a blast. Jamie screamed on every one and was told she was "muy dramatica" by one of the workers! The best part of the day was the amphibious vehicles which were similar to rangers. We did that twice. The first time I drove while Clint held on for dear life and the second time I rode with Jamie where I really held on for dear life! We had a great time driving through the caves and over the bridges. On our second run it was pouring rain so hard that we couldn't even see anything and we were sliding all over in the mud and the caves were filling up with water. We almost hit a tree when we slid around a corner. We had to throw it in reverse fast so our boys in the ranger behind us didn't see. Friday was our last day and we woke up to lots more rain. Everything we own is soaked! We took some last pictures of the resort and the beach and read books and played games. We headed to Puerto Morales one last time for fish tacos and then window shopped some more. Clint and I went back into Playa del Carmen since we were scheduled to do a night dive out on the reef but when we got there they cancelled it due to the rain storm. That was thebiggest bummer of the trip since we were both looking forward to that. That night we went back to Havana Moon at our resort for dinner and dancing. Despite the Mosquitos, Robbers, Crazy Drivers, Montezuma's Revenge, Topes (speed bumps) and the RAIN... we had a great vacation!

Time for our yearly post!

I really should start a new blog since it's been so long since we posted anything! Life just suddenly got crazy. Especially since Cooper came to our family last July. He is such an angel baby. But three kids is insanity most of the time.

Clint is working for a start up company owning dental practices and is loving the challenge of it all.

Andrea is still doing dental hygiene 2 days a week in Scottsdale but her real job is at home running errands and chasing 3 kids around.

Pierce started kindergarten this year (we still can't believe it). He loves it. He is just learning how to read and it is so fun. He has two best friends Ben and a little girl named Tinley. My favorite story about them is that according to Pierce, Ben and Tinley are in love and are going to marry each other and they kiss at recess. Well a couple of weeks into school, Pierce came home and says I kissed Tinley 8 times! Three times on the lips and 5 times on the cheeks! So before I FREAKED OUT, I asked him where Ben was and he says, "Ben was at the dentist." Pierce is becoming such a big boy. He just learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He probably could have done it a long time ago, but I just couldn't take them off. So the other night he says, "Mommy will you take these off. I can do it by myself." And sure enough (while I held my breath) he took off without training wheels and hasn't looked back since.
He has also has lost 2 baby teeth (I see a lot of ortho in our future). Papa Johnson pulled out the first one and I got the second one. The morning after his first visit from the tooth fairy he tells us that he didn't see the fairy but he felt her wing tickle his shoulder while he was sleeping.

Cole just turned 4 years old and we took her to Disneyland for her birthday which was super fun! She is in love with all things Pink. Only pink toys, jammies, shirts, shoes... She is also the most stubborn/strong willed child. For example she was whining and I told her if she didnt' stop I would take her toy away and throw it into the garbage. She kept on going and so I took her toy. So she goes running to daddy and comes downstairs and says,"I told dad on you and you're in trouble! NaNuhNaNuhBooBoo!" and sticks her tongue out at me so I say, "We don't talk to mommy like that and you need to go to time out." And as usual she says, "NO". So I say "Cole 1...2...Okay that's 3," and I carry her to time out where she arches her back and inevitably hits her head on the wall. Then she yells, "You did that on Purpose! You hurt me on purpose!" We do this game at least once a day. I can't wait until this phase is over. But then every night I go to kiss her and tuck her in while she's sleeping and I can't believe the love I feel for this child who makes me want to rip my hair out! She is also really into music and dance and has taken a few ballet/tap classes and is so cute. She loves Taylor Swift and can sing 2 of her songs all the way through. She knows Love Story and You Belong To Me. It's pretty funny seeing her dancing and singing through the house.

Copper is almost 8 months and is a chubby dream baby. He is in the best stage. He has a sweet disposition. He will laugh at almost anything. He gives the best wet kisses. He has just learned to sit up and to army crawl. We have all tile floors and so he is my little Swiffer Sweeper. His brother and sister maul him and I think he'll be the toughest of the bunch!

So now we're caught up and I'm going to try to post more often.