More sledding fun

One morning I got a text from John asking if we wanted to go sledding after work.  I thought it sounded like fun until I walked out of work that night.  I called John and said, "are you sure, it is so cold"  His comment, "well it has to be cold to have snow and you have to have snow to sled.  Be a big girl"  He is so empathetic. :)   He was right though, once we bundled up and hiked back up the hug hill a couple of times we were hot.  Tim went with us but thought it best not to sled so he didn't hurt his shoulder. 

 

 

McKenzie is a pro.  She was the first one down the hill.

Carter loved going down with Johnny Johnny.

What a difference a year makes.  Last year Carter would not go down on the sled.  He just wanted to roll down the hill.  He had so much fun this year. 

School's out

Last Monday McKenzie didn't have school due to Presidents day.  We spent the day at home playing, going to the dentist followed by frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf.

getting X-rays

Yum - they love this place.

McKenzie's Valentine party

Three years ago, McKenzie came up with the idea of having a valentine party for our family and has started a new tradition.  Everyone thought it was a great idea and let her plan the entire evening.  She comes up with the dinner menu and coordinates who will bring what. She designs and distributes the invitations and this year she even made up a game for everyone to play.  As with any valentine party everyone decorated a box and brought valentines for the others at the party.  I have attached pictures of all the boxes to show off some of the talent.

 

John's plow truck, even the salt spreader on the back rotated.

my little house

Carter's robot

Dad's tent with chair and fire, all built to scale. 

McKenzie's basketball goal.

Henry's penguin

Shelly's frog

Mom's panda

I missed getting a picture of Grandma Lou's box but she had a really cute pink and white bucket, you can see on the far right. (We let Tim come too, even though he didn't make a box. He used a gift bag for his.) 

As soon as I got to Mom and Dad's for the party, Carter and Henry woke up from their naps and wanted their mommas.  What a great welcome home from my week away. 

These three have a good time playing together. 

Valley of the Sun

The following weekend after the guys went to Phoenix.  I flew to Phoenix for a week of training with work.

 

I always love being able to watch the sun rise from the air.

I arrived around noon on Sunday and was able to go to lunch with Bruce and Cathy.  After getting to eat lunch on the patio we went to Aunt Cheryl's to see her new house and then to Uncle Greg's and sat out by a little creek that ran through the back of his property.  It was so peaceful.  

 

While we were sitting by the creek 10 Javelina walked up to us.  That was the first time I had ever seen a Javelina.

I really enjoyed the week of warm weather. I got to wear shorts and flip flops all week while it was in the teens and twenty's back home.

This is not very clear, I took it while we were driving by, but it is the new State Farm offices scheduled to open later this year.  If you look close you will see all four buildings.  

 

I love palm trees.

Friday afternoon I had some free time before I flew out on Saturday morning.  Cathy and I went for a hike and it was absolutely breath taking.  Then Bruce, Cathy, Aunt Kathy and I went to dinner.

 

A park ranger pointed out these petroglyphs.  He guessed them to be between 800 & 1000 years old.

Cave Creek running right through the desert.

 

Very impressive saguaro cactus

 We got to cross Cave Creek twice on our hike.

 

Cactus in Cathy's court yard.

 

Zelda's visit

A couple weekends ago Tim and his brothers went to Phoenix for the weekend to visit some family.  Zelda, my sister in law, came to spend the weekend with us while they were away. 

While she was here we had a great time hanging out at home.  Carter loved playing on Aunt Zelda's Ipad

We also played several games over the weekend.

technology junkies.

 

On Saturday afternoon we went ice skating.  I was the only one who had been before and it had been over 20 years since I had been.  Needless to say it was slow going at first but we all made progress and even more important we had fun.

 

Carter's favorite part of the whole skating experience was when he could pass Zelda.  He would laugh and laugh when he was faster than she was.

 

Skating is hard work.  We had to take a few rest breaks. 

McKenzie was a natural.

 

After skating we went to Panera for a warm dinner.

 

 

Finally we got in some snow sledding before we went to pick Daddy up at the KC airport.