Goodbye Summer!

The summer came to an end last week with school starting for both Jamie and myself.  Last weekend we went on a family staycation and stayed at The Westin in Scottsdale.  This place is perfect for families!  They have an amazing swimming pool with a lazy river and a water slide.  They also had a splash pad and the resort offered several activities throughout the day for the kids to participate in. Jamie was able to get a special tour of the hotel's kitchen and bake chocolate chip cookies with the chef! They also had an area to play with remote control cars and trucks....this was Jamie's and Jeremy's favorite place to go.  Jordan and I enjoyed the swimming pool and walking around on the property.  It was a wonderful way to spend time together without any outside distractions before the busy school year began.  We look forward to doing this again next summer!

The kids discussing their plans for the weekend.  They decided swimming, swimming and more swimming!

Daddy's Girl!

Jamie is five years old and this is the FIRST time he has ever made Smores.  We are not a camping family at all so I thought it was very appropriate our son was experiencing this at The Westin Resort vs. at a camp fire. 

He was worried about his marshmallow getting too hot.

First bite.....

First bite...I love how she's looking over at big brother to see what he thinks about it.

No thanks....he just took the chocolate piece out and ate that.  He thought the smores were "to messy, mamma."

Pillow fight time!!!!!!!!

I'm going to get you daddy!

This is his expression after I asked him if he had fun baking chocolate chip cookies.  Btw...this is his all time favorite dessert. 

Ready to swim.!  Both of their favorite activities.

Lazy river time. 

Mr. Cool with his remote control truck.

Jordan preferred to shoot some hoops while the boys played with the cars.

My babies!!!

Daddy's boy!

The kids special treat each night.

Mommy and Daddy's special treat each night. :)

The family......

We were outside on the patio, listening to music and the kids were telling eachother stories.  So cute.

Playing in the pool with the kiddos.

The hotel was very big so Jamie loved being our tour guide each night to our room.  Here he is directing us.

Jamie giving me the thumbs up sign for a great weekend.....Jordan is trying to figure out which finger to put up. LOL!

Museum Trip

Our summer was filled with playdates, swimming lessons, building forts in the house and swimming at Poppi's and Nani's.  It was a great summer!  We took one last adventure last week with our good friends, The Picchi Family, to the AZ Natural History Museum.  We have been to other museum's in the area but this the first time we went to this one and it was awesome!  They had a huge dinosaur area and lots of hands on activities.  It was 115 degrees outside so it was a great way to stay cool and have some fun.

The boys ready for an adventure!

Look at me, mom!  He's hanging onto a dinosaur bone.

They were listening to the employee tell them about the different dinosaur teeth.

Jordan was unsure at first but once I picked her up she was ready to touch the tooth.

Jordan's favorite exhibit....the pretty purple crystals!

The clan....the next exhibit was making dinosaur noises and Jamie was pretty unsure about it.  This is why he wasn't smiling at the camera in this picture.

Yep....still not sure about it.  

They had a great hands on activity room and Jordan and Giada both loved coloring and making pictures.

The boys enjoyed fishing for different types of dinosaurs.

Giada....a very good artist!

Look at us, mom!

Boys being silly boys!

Mining for gold!

Leaving with their loot.  The boys picked dinosaurs and the girls picked gems (colored rocks).

Girls Weekend!!!!!

Over the years I have been blessed to always have a group of friends around me.  I've realized some of these friendships were just for certain reasons and seasons of my life and they have now ended.  With these ending, new friends have come into my life and I definitely feel these groups of ladies will not be for a season or a period of my life but for a lifetime. Between the six of us we have 12 kids, one is pregnant and a few more hope to have more little ones in the next few years. Some of us are working moms, some stay at home, some are in school, some of us are crafty, some of us are health nuts, and some of us are still chasing our goals.  The beauty of this group of ladies is that we are all supportive of one another, we are all so different but can relate to one another on many levels and we all love our husbands!  :)

We decided to have an annual getaway to The Sanctuary Resort in Scottsdale,  For some of us this was the first time we have ever left our children for the night!  We spent two nights and three days at the resort and had a fabulous time!  We ate delicious food, had some yummy drinks, laughed a lot, relaxed, and came back home to our families rejuvenated and refreshed.  In fact most of the husbands supported the idea of us doing this twice a year since we all came back so refreshed. :)  Anyway, I love this ladies and look forward to many, many, more getaways in the future!

Jackie, Kathryn and I

Jackie, Kathryn, Jody and I - ready for a night out

Jenni's Surprise Baby Shower

Monica and I

The whole group 

7am and ready to go workout!

Ahhh - spa treatment time! 

The view!

Visiting Quinton

Shortly after the Fourth of July holiday I flew over to San Diego to visit my nephew Quinton and spend time with Jason and Katie.  Jeremy and Poppi worked it out with their schedules to watch the kiddos while I was away. :)  I had such a wonderful time!  It was strange at first to not have the kids with me but I quickly adjusted to it and enjoyed relaxing, cuddling with Baby Q and talking with Jay and Katie.  We had fun shopping, eating at some great restaurants and swimming in Jay and Katie's swimming pool.  I look forward to going over next summer again by myself to have some more quality time with some of my favorite people.

Pure joy! I love holding him!

The happy family!  Jay and Katie are such good parents and enjoy every min. with this little guy.

Two mommies - it was fun to share parenting experiences with Katie.  She is a natural when it comes to motherhood.

Bath time!  He is so darn cute!

Happy boy!