Spring Break Retreat

We have had so much going on lately and a trip up to the cabin was just what we needed. The pictures really speak for themselves, but here are some of the highlights...
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Aaron, Christina, Camille and Diego came up with us Saturday afternoon. The rest of that day was filled with outdoor play, frisbee catch, football, driving the big wheel jeep and smores.

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Sunday we got up and went for a little walk to some ruins, went in to town to window shop, walked around town square and headed back to enjoy Aaron's famous Sonoran dogs (hot dogs wrapped in bacon, served with onions, tomatoes, salsa and mexican crema.) SO good. The rest of Sunday was filled with relaxing indoors and out.

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Monday we walked down to the creek. The kids had so much fun exploring and making "bark boats" and racing them down the stream. I have so many memories at this creek and am happy to add this one to my bank:)

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Monday afternoon the Avila's went home and Peter decided to dig a trail for the kids up to the fort. I played on this mountain when I was little and to see Peter building a trail to my old fort was a bit surreal.  

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And this morning when we woke up we looked out the front window and saw 15-20 deer walking right through the property! A great end to a great trip.
Driving home we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was. Cole's was driving the jeep. Samntha's were: doing crafts, playing the creek and bilding the fort with Peter. :)

Renaissance Festival

Peter thought it would be a good idea to try out the Renaissance Festival this year with the kiddos and I am so glad we did. They ahd SO much fun! What's not to love...people dressed up, princesses, queens,kings, knights, jousting, dragons, wands and swords, yummy snacks, a petting zoo, birds of prey show, fun music and just lots of good people watching.
It was a great day. Samantha got her hair braided-which we could not believe and Cole rode the butterfly carousel swing. It was so funny-everytime he went around he'd wave and yell, "Hi Mommy!"
Grandma and Grandpa came too. It was such a fun day.
We also spent a lot of time petting and learning about retired greyhounds. Adopting one is in our near future. They are so sweet and such great family dogs. Peter fell in love, I know, Peter!!! And he's a hard sell. they are THAT good!
As we were walking out Samantha said, "Mommy, that was WAY more fun than I thought it was going to be." LOL

 This honestly looked painful!

 Grandma and Samantha

 What's better than chocolate?

Chocolate with M&M's on top!

 Smore on a stick.

 Buds.

 Our little thrill seeker!

 Samantha's souvenir, a rose wand.

 Cole chose a sword of course!

This is when you KNOW he had a fun day!

Father Daughter Ball

Samantha's school had a father daughter ball this year. It was so sweet how excited Samantha got about it. She got all dressed up and more importantly, wanted me to curl her hair! This was a first. We'd never curled her hair before and she loved it. I was curling her hair for the rest of that week!
It's so fun having a daughter!
Highlights of the night as told by Peter and Samantha: dancing with daddy, dancing with friends and having dinner at school.

Pajama Day

Last week Cole had pajama day at preschool. The teachers announced that they would be having pajama day and Cole said he didn't want ot wear pajamas, which was fine.

Well, tyler-his BFF-went home and asked Mary which pajamas in his drawer matched Cole's pj's. When Mary informed him that they didn't have matching jammies he said, "Well, we should go buy some then." So they did. And Cole was SO excited.

This picture just cracks me up. And the fact that I couldn't get Cole to change all day. He kept saying, "Mo Mommy, it's pajama DAY!" Haha.

Pinetop Lakeside

I realize it has been QUITE a while since I've blogged. So, we'll start with a fun trip we took with our friends the Jacksons. My friend Mary's sister has a rental cabin in Pinetop Lakeside and was so generous to let us all go up for a long weekend to play in the snow. We were so happy to see that there was snow when we got there. The kids were so thrilled that they immediately started playing in the snow...I mean..while we were unloading the car they were making snowballs, angels and just having fun playing.
We took the kids to a huge sledding hill over by Sunrise ski resort. Peter and I were both totally shocked by Samantha's enthusiasm and love for sledding. We couldn't get her off the hill!!! It was freezing when we went. 32 degrees with 10-15 mile and hour winds. It was insane, but so fun. Cole was not convinced that he wanted to sled. I finally tricked him into it and while we were going down the hill he said, "This is fuuu-uuun!"
The last day we were at the cabin we woke up to a huge snowstorm and fresh snow on the ground. The kids had a great time playing in the new layer of white. They built some pretty impressive snowmen too!
We had such a nice time relaxing with great friends and making lasting family memories.

 Cole.Samantha.Tyler

 Getting Samantha in her "gear"!

 Snow Angels.

 Playing in the snow wears you out! Movie time.

 Samantha & Noah. They love each other.

 Soon he'll be too big for this! Sniff Sniff.

 Ty Guy.

 Snowball Baseball Game.

 Fresh snow...it was pretty deep!

 Some people stop to smell the roses,

he stops to taste the snow!

 Fresh layer of white. So pretty.

 Check out the snowmen!!!! Awesome.

 Mary & Meagan.

This is Samantha's snoegirl that she made all by herself!