AZ Proudfits

Halloween 2008

2008-11-04T10:01:00.001-08:00

Collin and his cousin Isaac (the skeleton), and his cousin Weston (in between as Diego), out trick or treating on Halloween night.
On Halloween night we had Becky and Taylor and their boys, and Mike and Mel and their kids come over for dinner, then we headed out for trick or treating in our neighborhood. Here's a cute pic of all the cousins. Emma is Wednesday Adams (in the middle), Julia is a corpse bride, and Collin is Mr. Incredible and Lydia is Snow White.

Halloween

2008-11-04T09:51:00.001-08:00

Lydia and her cousin Dagen, both as snow white. So cute!

Lydia got into a bag of candy that was in the car next to her. We looked back and she was covered in chocolate.
David and I went to a Halloween party at his brother Mike's house. It was for adults only. It was way fun, but we had no costumes to wear. So we found these old clown costumes of David's parents in the garage. We added some scary makeup, and "wa-la"...scary clowns! We looked creepy.

The kids went to a Halloween party at their friends house. Julia was the corpse bride, Collin decided to be Spiderman this time, and Emma decided to be a gypsy this time. Lydia wore no costume...mom was too lazy. She sure looked cute, though.

At this Halloween party that the kids went to, they asked David if he would dress up as a dead person and scare the kids in their haunted house. Needless to say, David had a blast doing it, and the kids were scared to death!

A few days before Halloween we took the kids to Becky and Taylor's ward "trunk or treat". We wanted them to dress up in easy costumes, since we'd be getting them all "decked out" on Halloween night with their actual costumes. So Emma chose to be a witch, Julia an Indian, Collin Mr. Incredible, and Lydia is Snow White.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-27T10:01:00.001-07:00

We took the kids to this huge pumpkin patch in Queen Creek, AZ called Shnepf Farms. We went on a hayride, and the kids got to ride on a small "roller coaster", and a few other rides. It was way too crowded, though. We had to stand in line the majority of the time. The kids had a blast at least!

Trip to San Antonio, TX

2008-10-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

The middle of October David and I took Lydia to San Antonio, TX for a week long study at the University of Texas Health Science Center. The Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society paid for our trip down there so Lydia could see LOTS of doctors and have losts of examinations and tests, so they can learn more about tetrasomy 18p, and how it affects her. It was a beneficial study, but a long week for her and for us. She had to have an MRI one day, and an endocrine study the next day, and both days they had to give her medicine to make her drowsy. This pic was taken after the endocrine study. She was soooo tired. She just

slept most of the day.

A few of the days we were able to sight-see. We went to the Riverwalk, downtown San Antonio, and saw the Alamo.

Lydia was so good on the plane. She got to have her own seat even! David's brother and sister in Phoenix took care of our other 3 kiddos while we were gone. Thank goodness for family!!!

Roadtrip Home From Las Vegas

2008-10-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

On our way home from Vegas we drove over the Hoover dam, which was really cool. We had to get out of our car and look over the side. It was huge!
David's brother Mike and his family were with us.
A great view of the dam.
We also passed through historic Kingman, AZ (route 66), and there was an old train that the kids got to explore.

Vegas!

2008-10-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Julia, me and Emma, riding a CRAZY spinning ride at Circus Circus.
Lydia and Aunt Becky, at Pump it Up in Vegas.
We went to Vegas for David's family's reunion. It was so fun to have all the cousins together. In front is Amanda (Jason's daughter), Emma, Taylor (Michelle's daughter), Skye (Kristin's daugher), and Nika (also Kristin's). What beautiful girls. They're enjoying a scrumptious lunch at Cafe Rio, one of our most favorite places to eat.
More girl cousins! Layken (Michelle's daughter), Jaidyn (Mike's daugher), Julia, Amanda (Jason's), and Haylee (Michelle's).
Collin and his Grandpa Doug Proudfit. What a beautiful boy that Collin is!

Trip to Las Vegas

2008-10-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in September we took a trip to Las Vegas for a Proudfit family reunion. On our drive there Lydia was being so silly...I thought this was a cute pic. She put her monkey on her head. Her monkey is her most favorite thing.
While in Vegas we visited Circus Circus, a casino that has an amusement park. They had some fun rides.
Isaac (Collin's cousin, best friend and partner in crime) and Collin.
Me and my sis-in-law, Becky, having a good time!
The girl on the far left I do not know....next to her, Jaidyn, Julia, Emma, Isaac and Collin (who really is having a good time.)

Little Lydi

2008-10-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Lydia is 26 months old here. She "cruises" all the furniture...she's determined to learn to walk all by herself. She's also acting like a typical 2-year old, yelling and arching her back when she's mad. She's quite a character.
Priceless!!! Her smile melts me completely!

Emma's 10th b-day party

2008-10-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

For Emma's 10th birthday, we threw her a huge party. She had 18 girls over (ok, that's huge for me). It was a lot of fun. They swam, painted each others faces with makeup, and had pizza, cake and ice cream. Good times.

Here's a group shot of all the girls at the party. It was CRAZY!
Julia and her cousin Layken at Emma's party...stuffing their faces with pizza.
Julia and Emma's cousin Jaidyn. What a cutie.

Downtown Sedona

2008-08-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-18T13:45:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-15T14:28:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

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!