Downtown Sedona

After we went to Slide Rock Park in Sedona, we hit downtown Sedona, which is a very quaint, "touristy" place with cute little shops up and down the main road. And to top it off, it rained...which is something us Arizonians don't see very often. We were very excited about it.
There were all these statues up and down mainstreet in Sedona. Great picture opportunity.

You can see the beautiful red rock mountains in the background. By this point, you can see that Collin was ready to go home.

Slide Rock Park, Sedona

One of the many great things about living in Phoenix, is that you can escape the heat and desert, by driving only 1 1/2 to 2 hours north, where there are beautiful mountains, pine trees, and it is about 20-30 degrees cooler on average. On Saturday we drove up to Sedona and went to Slide Rock State Park that has a creek that has natural waterfalls, and "slides" to play on. It was so fun, even thought the water was cold. And Sedona is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been too.
Emma and Julia played in the water the most, along with David, even though they were very cold. Collin would have nothing to do with the water. It was too cold for him and me (Heather). Lydia loved walking around in it, though that was hard to do because it was so slippery. David bit the dust and fell right on his back. :)
Me and Collin and Lydia. There were so many people there that day.
David cliff-jumped off of that red rock. Can you see him in the blue shirt? It was really high. I guess it was safe, because lots of people were doing it, though I'd never ever do that. David is fearless. I'd say he had the best time of all of us.

One of the many spectacular views of the red rock mountains in Sedona. (Julia and Collin in the background).

First Day of School

School started August 11 this year. Kinda early, but I'm not ashamed to say that I did the happy dance when my kids went to school. They were bored and fighting a lot by the end of the summer. Collin just started kindergarten. I am a little sad that my little boy is getting so big. But he was so excited to start school, and especially to ride the bus. But already (it's only been 5 days since school started) he's asked me "why do I have to go back and do all that hard work?" I knew that one was coming.
Beautiful Emma, now almost 10 (on Sept. 12) just started 4th grade.
Cutie little Julia just started 2nd grade, and will turn 8 in November.
And last but not least...Mr. Collin, a.k.a. Mufasa, a.k.a. Collermo, a.k.a. buddy, etc., etc...

Big kindergartener now!

So it's just me and Lydia at home, and things are very quiet at home. So nice.

Lydia doesn't have a security blanket, she has a security sock. She carries it around with her while she crawls, and sometimes carries it in her mouth like a puppy.

Lydia - An Angel In Our Midst

Here's some pics of Lydia this year. She just turned 2 on July 1st. Most of you know our little Lydia has "tetrasomy 18p". Because of that, she is developmentally delayed (she's more like a 1 year old). She started crawling in April, and still cannot walk by herself. She just got leg braces (shown in picture) that help support her legs and ankles. She cruises along the couch, and every other surface she can hold on to. She's very close to learning how to walk by herself. She also uses a reverse walker to help her walk.


We are very blessed that Arizona has wonderful resources for special needs children. Besides all the therapies she receives in our home, we are part of a group called "Raising Special Kids", and they had a huge picnic at this railroad park in Scottsdale for our entire family. They had bounce houses, pony rides, free food and ice cream, etc...It was a lot of fun, but very hot, even though it was in April. Becky and Taylor (David's brother) and their boys came with us.
A day at the park in January (I'm really backtracking now). I just thought these pics were too cute not to share. Lydia LOVES being outside. If the front or back door is open she speed-crawls to the door as fast as she can to get outside.

In January we took a weekend trip to Flagstaff (only 2 hours away) with David's sister Michelle and her family. We stayed in a condo, and enjoyed the snow for a change. We took the kids sledding, and sat in front of a warm fire. Lydia was all bundled up, and she never once complained.

Summer Fun

It's super hot here, so luckily we have a pool to swim in everyday. Collin, and his cousin Isaac are inseparable (though they fight like brothers sometimes too). They play together several times per week.

And we've discovered Lydia LOVES water! She gets so excited when we take her swimming. She kicks and splashes, and doesn't mind the water getting in her face.

We have been so blessed to have David's sister, two brothers, and their families, living within 20 minutes of us. Emma, Julia, Collin and Lydia each have a cousin their age. We had a "girls only" play day, and the girls swam for hours. (From left to right: Layken, Jaidyn, Haylee, Julia, Taylor and Emma).

Day at the Beach

While we were in California visiting Disneyland, we also went to the beach...I think this was Huntington Beach. It was cold and windy, but when we asked the kids what their favorite part of our trip to California was, they said it was going to the beach! The beach was better than Disneyland! We could have saved a lot of money had we known that before. :)

David and Emma exploring the beach for crabs, sea urchins, etc....There were crabs everywhere between and under the rocks. For any of you who know David well, he was in heaven (he loves creepy-crawly things).

Vacation to Disneyland

To all our family and friends reading this....we finally got "sucked" in to the blogging phenomenon. I swore I wasn't going to do it just because everyone else was doing it, but my sister-in-law, Melody, "forced" me to do it! :) Actually, I'm glad she "made" me, because I'm now really enjoying it, and I hope you all will as well. So I'll have to kind of backtrack, and update our pictures from earliest this year, to most recent. So first of all, in March we took our first official family vacation to Disneyland. All our other vacations have consisted of visiting family, or going somewhere with family (our parents)...but this was our first, "just us" family vacation. We got to spend an entire week at Disneyland in California. The kids thought they were in heaven! David and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as well, though after the 3rd day straight of going to Disneyland, the novelty of it began to wear off for us (though the kids were going strong). We rarely stood in line for more than 10 minutes, and were lucky enough to get "dream passes", which they were handing out to only a few people in the park. That enabled us to go in the "fast lane" on all the major rides. It was a week of fun, tons of rides, family bonding, churros, churros, and more churros. Collin was even brave enough (and tall enough) to ride the "tower of terror", which I highly recommend riding if you get the chance!