Not much

      Not a lot of photo evidence of our weeks activities but we’ve/I’ve had a great week. These movie passes are the BOMB!!! And what’s even more BOMBITY is the movie “The Greatest Showman”! I’m begging you, go see this movie if you haven’t already!!!(MOTHER) We’ve now seen it twice, I can’t stop listening to the sound track and I literally start crying every time I hear the song, “This is Me”, like full on bawling if I don’t get control of myself! This is a movie I could watch daily! I can’t tell you how much I love it!!!!

This is our movie history so far with our movie passes, which we've only had for a week. My goal is to fill the screen with just "The Greatest Showman".

     And I finally got this on 'film'. Our neighbor, Cole, walks home with McClane nearly every day and it just makes my heart so happy. He's so sweet with him!

Neighbors, but really best buddies.

    So there's our week in a couple photos. And yes, I'm going to see "The Greatest Showman" again in just a few hours but this time I'm taking Mark, against his will I might add, and if he doesn't love it I just might disown him. Ha Ha (But seriously, I will!)

Brock’s 10!

    He's officially in the double digits! Childhood really is too short! Brock had a great day celebrating his birthday. He got to have lunch at Panda Express and do a little birthday shopping. He opted for this giant vanilla cake from Costco, which I wasn't sad about. We celebrated a day early since it was a holiday, so no school or work, which made it an even better day.

He wanted his own xBox controller and also found a cool game for the xBox. And he got the sweatshirt he's wearing and shorts to match.

On to the cake and ice cream.

      I also did a little shopping at the dollar store so I could decorate this darling 'blanket' ladder that my sweet friend, Roiann made for me. I'm excited to have this to decorate for all the holidays!

     And then this happened! Kayli and Tanner decided they needed a dog in their life and for some reason that time is now and that means I get to be 'Grandma' to a dog that will soon be a mini-horse. They definitely don't have room in their apartment for this puppy, at least not in the long run, so while they work I get to take care of 'little' Belle. I tried to persuade them to wait but they had their hearts set on this puppy so here we are. Puppies are such a trick!! They look so cute but then the reality hits and you're cleaning up poop and pee all over the house and yard and they're chewing on everything, including you, and suddenly they're not so 'cute'! So far it hasn't been too bad because Kayli really does take her a majority of the time. Thankfully our dog likes her ok and she's pretty sweet despite her puppy madness.

Belle is 8 weeks old and is a pure Bernese mountain dog and will grow to be anywhere from 70 to 110 lbs. 

     This was Brock's actual birthday so Grandma and Grandpa's birthday card and cash came right on time and he was thrilled! He says, "Thank You!!"

And here's daddy Tanner picking up his little girl for the first time.

    So that's the week's events and excitement. We're also seeing snow, finally! Lets hope we get enough in the next month or two to get us the water supply we need for the spring and summer!

Simple fun

     My movie-going life has permanently been altered!! Who knew seeing a movie could be this awesome!? These reclining chairs are FANTASTIC!! I'll never be satisfied with anything less ever again. What's even better? I found out about MoviePass. We can get a pass to see any movie at almost any theater every day of the year for only $89! Needless to say, mine and Greg's movie passes are on their way and we have every intention of getting our money's worth out of them. The movie we're seeing in this photo is "Pitch Perfect 3", which was laugh out loud funny and I loved the music. The next movie I really hope to see is "The Greatest Showman" but it's a bit too popular at the moment and finding two chairs together is near impossible, especially on a weekend night.

All movies everywhere need chairs like these! And these chair did not cost extra!

     Brock had his first basketball game of the season, as did Carter, but I only got a photo of Brock.

     Charlie is always looking for photo opportunities, as is Smalls.

These two always make it into our bed, just a bit spoiled!

This is a photo of Carter and his buddy Cole doing their monthly priesthood duties.

     Mark's had to visit the doctors recently, he's convinced he's got ADHD, and while there they always check his height and, crazy enough, the doctor told us he's STILL GROWING! Of course that makes him super happy. On the ADHD front, I'm not convinced he's got it but the doctor's been very helpful and has given Mark the chance to try some different medication options and we're going to see if they help.

6'5"+

    And this little princess was very fashion forward yesterday so of course we had to take a photo. We sure do love hand-me-downs from cousins!

      So that's our week. Not as photo crazy or adventurous as the last couple of weeks but the simple fun is what we do best!

The rest of the ‘story’

     The rest of our Arizona adventure was fun and we enjoyed more lovely weather. If the Phoenix area wasn't so massive and congested I'd consider moving there but 4 million people is about 4 million people too many!

Cousin fun! Charlie couldn't get enough of her cousins. She wanted to stay at least 10 more days!

Brock's mildly embarrassed that I captured this moment in a photo but how cute is this!?

Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple, very pretty!

Lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant! Eating outside in December, unheard of!

Proof that Isaac drove in Arizona. (It was a little scary!)

Ringing in the New Year! (New York time.)

Last day for fun in the sun with the cousins.

And Greg finally got his wish and we got to pick our own oranges and grapefruit. $7 for a 5-gallon bucketful, pretty great deal and very yummy oranges!

All the kids loved this activity. It was a great way to spend our first day of 2018.

We had a division at lunch, the Panda Express eaters at one table and McD eaters at the other. Is that fast food discrimination?

Went to a cool 'park' with lots of trails and this fun play area.

It's the Usery Mountain Regional Park in Maricopa County. Lots of cool cactus.

Heading home we stopped and took a gander at the Glenn Canyon Dam near Page Arizona. Pretty impressive.

    Coming home was bitter sweet. We had so much fun in Arizona and couldn't have been happier with the weather and spending time with family but it was also nice to be home in our own beds. The kids were excited to get back to school and see their friends and with the mild winter we're experiencing they've actually been able to play outside a little bit more then usual. 

      Charlie really has some sleep issues. She's up multiple times in the night and then needs a nap in the afternoon. It's a vicious cycle that I hope she grows out of soon.

      I also treated myself to new bedding to start our New Year. So far I love it and it's always fun to have a little change.

       Basketball season is upon us and I've got two boys playing this year, Carter and Brock. Our first games are tomorrow and both boys are excited. January's not my favorite time of the year but this mild weather is making it a little more bearable but I do hope we get some snow soon so my husband isn't overly stressed with water shortage this coming spring and summer. Pray for snow!