Joy School Picture Day

This year, Joy School has been very very low key. In fact, it's been more like a play group. We just never got ourselves organized enough. But it has been perfect. Low stress. Which is just right for us this year.

I decided that when the kids came to my house on one of my weeks that I was going to take some class photos. Sadly we were missing one of our sweet girls. I'm gonna have to catch a shot of her on another day.

Our CRaZy group!


mini-e isn't really in joy school this year, but she sure loves to join us when it's at our house.


Mr. T and HY. These 2 are such good buddies. I'm glad they became good friends this year.


Miss K. She's such a delightful little girl. Mini-E thinks she's the greatest too!


Mr. T. I love those brown eyes!


And my own HY. It's hard to catch a photo of him but I guess since everyone else was doing it, he thought he'd cooperate too.

Any Town USA

IT's summer. Finally it has arrived. And with full heat. Well, kind of. We have a few scattered thunder showers here and there, but I think for the most part, the summer is here to stay. And a whopping 95 is about all the AZ girl can take these days. I know, I know--pretty lame. But I guess I've grown accustomed to these cool Utah summers. And to tell the truth, I don't feel bad about it at ALL.

We've been too busy to write about our comings and goings and in my book that's a good thing. Summer has kept us busy with the splash park, friends, picnics, parks, and cousins. Most of all, I love being busy.

Here's a shot I took of some kiddos at a girl's and kids bbq nite. It was too too fun. We roasted hot dogs and smores and just had a great time. With kids as silly as these, it's pretty near impossible to not have fun.


Maybe next time I should take a picture of the mammas.

A day of Sunshine

It's a miracle! Last Monday we had SUNSHINE. And so we headed up to Red Butte Gardens with our friends. This is my kind of fun. We saw the most beautiful flowers and nobody had to go to the hospital. Which equals success. When all was said and done, I realized that my fair skinned beauties need a bit of sunscreen, even when it's only 50 degrees out!






The "BIG" kids were such a big help keeping everyone together. What would we do with out them?




HY insisted on pushing Mini-E. After all he IS a BIG kid.



I'm not sure Mini-E left this position for the entire trip (except to eat lunch). I'm pretty sure her legs are painted on.



Ah yes, Julia Roberts joined us for the day. She was laying low with those purple sunglasses. Actually I believe she was patiently awaiting the blessing for lunch.



And of course, while the 2 mammas talked our kiddos played in a sand box. Here are some of the AWESOME results.




We had one dramatic time! and I say, let's do again next week. What fun. Too bad Spring Break can't come more often!

I love the shadows in this photo.

Daddy's Day by HY

Today we did something different for Joy School. We went to the big, huge farm! And our Daddys came too! We rode the tractors. I got to sit in the big green tractor and drive with Miss K & Miss T.




Miss A was too scared at first to get into the tractor. She wanted her daddy to hold her. But she got in the big rig later.



I got to sit in a huge truck too. It was soooo big, it had a bed in the back. I got to pull on the horn and it made a loud honk, it kind of scared me. Miss T sat in it too.



It was soooooo cold. We nearly froze to death. I was so happy to be there with my friends.


Thanks Bro. Church Farmer, I love being on your farm and riding the tractors. I hope I get to come back soon. You sure are nice and...tall.


Love, HY
Future Farmer

lunch, a lake, a wedding & no more golly woggles

This week has been crazy busy, but in a good way.

Here are a few highlights in no particular order:

Wednesday was too too fun with my girlfriends at lunch. A rarity that I always enjoy. Even if it isn't only once a year.

picture from Rachel

Still reading the Twilight Series. Finished book 2 on Friday and picked up Book 3 after our little canoe ride on the Day Break Lake. HY was in heaven. He loved reeling all that grass in!

Yesterday I got to shoot some pictures for my cousin's wedding. So much fun. It was truly a celebration!

A few more pictures here.

And the best highlight....HY & Mini-E are doing a bit better. Still a little sick, but not the total yuckies like we've had at the beginning of the week! Horray!

So much talent!!

Okay, is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen? My dear friend Raygon sewed it for me---well for Mini-E. That's right, she SEWED it! She just whipped it up like it was nothin'. Darn cute! I think she should start a little business, what do you think?

I love it!
Thanks a million Raygon.
I can't wait to see my little red head in this.
Check more of her creations here!

A-mAzing Mothers

Yesterday I was doing a bit of blog browsing. I was simply Amazed at some of the mothers that I know. They can do just about anything. So, here are just a couple that I know you'll want to check out:

Raygon defines re-design on a dime. Check it out here

And little Mara's mommy has turned this room into baby bliss. Head on over to see what these AmAzing Mothers have created!

As for me? Well, I think I've finally settled on the set up for my HOME project. Let me know what you think of this:

What you've all been waiting for:

I know that you have all been patiently waiting for the winners of the "Pay it Forward" Contest....And they are

(Drum roll please)........








Okay, go count & see if you are one of the winners. Just kidding. I actually did count it out by hand about 3 times to insure perfection. And I think that you will all be pleased to hear that 3 DIFFERENT people won. But before I tell you their names I want to tell you why it's taken me so long to post this today. I was busy doing this:




Yes sir-ree...I chopped off my hair. It's different, but I think that I'm liking it. HY & Mini-E even noticed a difference. They are starting to warm up to me again. But, you all are the first to see it---besides my mother & sister. Even Farmboy has yet to see me. So, if you love it...tell me so , if you don't---then---that's okay too, but I'd rather not hear that you think it's hideous.

BACK to the Winners. First let me say, THANK YOU so so much to everyone who played & just had fun. I loved reading all of your comments (I read ever single one of the 146 comments).

Don't forget that if you didn't win, you can still play the game. Of course, the 3 winners are OBLIGATED to play the game. And "Pay it Forward"


The Winners are:

107 = LilyJackandPosmama said...
you should be at 100 posts now....

1 = Bethie said...
I want to play --- not to win but just becasue I want to be part of something:)

22= Crazymamaof6 said...
love it! but i am so tempted cuz i love to win things.

Just for the record...Onehm did have the most comments (32) followed by Crazy mamma (27)
I'm sending Onehm a little something just for being my greatest fan! Thanks so much for playing.

I'm definitely going to need your addresses Crazy Mamma & Bethie. Send it to my email please. junk4zoie@gmail.com

Congradulations! I'll be putting your fabulous prizes in the mail just as soon as I figure out what they are....hehehe.

Have a super weekend!

Blessing

One of the greatest blessings this year & EVERY year has been to have this girl in my life! She is my dearest of dear friends. My bestest of best confidants & my sweetest of sweet sisters. And I got to spend not only my birthday with her...but also Her birthday! What a treat. I'd say this year is starting off just right!

Happy Birthday to You!

A lota lota lota...

As you can see we are revamping the look of the blog. Starting off the new year with a different look. And, in honor of doing things differently, you are gonna need to start at the end of this post if you want to read the events in chronological order. If you don't care, start wherever you'd like.

HY loved jumping on Grandma & Grandpa's trampoline. If you look closely, you can see he's black from head to toe. This is the way all boys should look.

Church on Sunday is always a joy in AZ. We run into lots of friends from a different time in life. Here's Mini-E looking fabulous in the dress that Nonna bought her for Christmas. I love it!

Girls' Night out! Yea baby. Love these girls. Thanks so much for coming to see me. You make me feel like a million bucks. Friends like these make it very hard to live in another state. I wish I could see you more often. And Crazy Mamma.... You are a super Star! Crack me up. And that's hard to do. Thanks Tina for making this night possible.

A trip to the Zoo! Tina & her kids showed us the ropes at the Phx Zoo. HY was in little kid heaven. I need a Sweet G at my house. Thanks for letting us tag along.

Hiking "A" Mountain. As a kid, my dad would always take us to the "A" for a little hike. It's just perfect for an Arizona afternoon. Farmboy's family had never done this...so it was the start of a great tradition.

Self portrait...I took a piece of the "A" as a souvenir. Grandad will be so proud!

Grandma & Grandpa made life so much fun. Thanks for always being willing to watch the kids while we were off & about. Hope you love your Christmas present from HY & Mini-E.

The flight up. This is Mini-E's 1st plane ride ever. HY was showing her how it's done. I'm so glad that my kids are good on flights. HY zonked right after we took off & Mini-E loved the snacks & drink.

Grandma Suz was right there to pick us up. HY gave her a big squeeze.

Sunday Sum Up

Tis the season to be really really busy. Right? Well, if that's the way it's supposed to be then we are right on track. Here's what we've been doing this week:

Thursday:

A much needed lunch date with these beauties. So great to see these friends from College. You may recognize a few of these gorgeous girls. Rach, Lise,& Jax (I think we'll get her bloggin' before the year is out...that's next year of course).

Friday:

Fun at the Lodge in Midway. Uncle L the Great is up from AZ for Christmas. All of us piled in the 4 wheel drive vehicles & took a trip down a few snowy hills. Even Mini-E took a ride (with Farmboy). The cousins had a blast.

It's all fun & games until.... Poor HY.

Later that night we ate & ate...and then had a gift exchange. HY couldn't have been more pleased with his gift...

And I couldn't resist throwing in a little picture of Mini-E. She's nearly 11 months old. Pulling herself up & walking along the edges of everything. 2 teeth in front & one random tooth on the top left side. Thank goodness she's not walking yet.

So there you have it, that's why I haven't blogged in a while. This next week will probably be just as crazy.