Phineas and Ferb! LIVE!

On the Disney channel, there is a show called Phineas and Ferb. The kids love it, and let's be honest...it's one of Chris' favorite shows too. Disney productions put on a live show and brought it to Phoenix and we were lucky enough to go with our Partridge fam. The kids had a blast and it was a great show!

Cute family waiting for the show to begin.

Girls with a cast member

Tada! Fun show!

After the show as we were walking to the cars, the kids noticed the huge basketball by the arena. Here's their best attempt at "picking it up" minus Katelyn who is doing a dance pose next to it.

And a trip to downtown would not be complete without a stop at Hard Rock Cafe. Yum!

Happy 8th Birthday to Katelyn!

My sweet, wonderful Katelyn is 8! I can't believe it. She was so excited to get to her birthday. She called it her "golden birthday" because her birthday is the same date as her age. Plus she got lucky that our ward's scheduled day for baptisms was the 8th. So we had quite the long, happy, exciting day!

It started off with our birthday tradition of breakfast in bed...often times with donuts.

Good morning!

We are so grateful for so much family support on this special day for Katelyn. She is so excited to get baptized and be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She has been looking forward to this day for a long time. As a parent, it is an amazing experience watching your child dressed in white and committing to try to make correct choices and be like Christ.

I love my family!

This is the entire group of family who were able to attend the baptism.

The service was wonderful, simple, and perfect. We are grateful to Aunt Kristin who played the piano, Aunt Amy who gave a great talk on baptism (including the messy peanut butter analogy we will never forget) and Grandma Chesnik for saying the closing prayer. And I feel so blessed to have a worthy husband who honors his Priesthood and was able to baptize and confirm Katelyn.

It was such a great day, but it didn't end there! Of course we still had to party! Katelyn chose a luau style party and it was amazing. Amy made her famous Kalua Pork that was the hit of the party. And a HUGE thank you to all who helped with the food and decorating! I was able to enjoy the day instead of stress over all of the things that needed to get done!

Here's what the decorated kitchen looked like. Luau anyone?!

Thanks to Amy and Cheryl for their cute decorations and the right eye to put it all together!

Birthday girl about to open presents!

Present time!

Putting a candle in a sugar cookie to sing Happy Birthday is a lot harder than it looks.  I think we cracked the cookie but it stayed up for the song!

For dessert we had white sugar cookies with white frosting to celebrate the day. My dad, who started out as a baker in his profession, piped "Happy Birthday Katelyn" on her special cookie in orange because that was her favorite color of the day. We also enjoyed chocolate macadamia nuts, our favorite Hawaiian treat. Happy Birthday Katelyn! We love you!

Play Ball!

Chris took the kids to Diamondback games this year.

Monday was Katelyn's turn:

That's a happy face! So fun to have a special daddy-daughter date .

Tuesday Megan and Adam had their turn. Chris' Dad's office was welcoming a new doc and invited family to come along for the celebration. Katelyn wasn't able to come this night because of dance, that's why she got her own special night. Not sure how much Megan and Adam watched or enjoyed the game, but they had a fun time being there!

Hello Megan! Welcome to the game!

Megan in the "All-you-can-eat Suite"

Megan and Adam enjoying the suite.

Megan and cousin Bryson

Happy boys!

Discovering Payson, AZ

For Labor Day weekend this year, we decided to take our little family to Payson, AZ to get away but not have to go too far. Payson is a little less than 2 hours away and about 10 degrees cooler. A welcome feeling this time of year! We enjoyed exploring the small town, staying in a hotel for 2 nights, and going to the Tonto Natural Bridge. There was a small hike down to the bottom of the bridge. The kids did a great job and loved it! It's amazing rock that has been cut out and formed into a bridge by water. It was really nice to get out of town and focus on our family for a couple of days. Who knew the small town of Payson could be so much fun?!

Here's some pictures of our weekend:

We found a duck pond after dinner to work out some energy.

At the trail head, ready to hike!

Cutest kids ever!

Megan with the bridge behind her

Fun family pic with the bridge in the background

This is from inside, underneath the bridge. This time of year the water is just a trickle from the top. 

Small, mighty, and strong!

This is a picture of the bridge from the hiking trail on your way down.

For "quiet time" after our morning hike, we found a lake to go dip out feet in.

Enjoying park fun after a fun, full day!

Bike Rodeo Winner

This year for our annual Bike Safety Rodeo, the kids were asked to create an ad to display around the school. They were given specific instructions and words that needed to appear within the ad. Those ads were judged and Katelyn took an honorable mention! She was so excited! Our whole family went to the school to participate in the rodeo. Everyone's favorite was the obstacle course. It was a fun morning!

Katelyn's ad is the pink one in the background. We used magazines and cut out letters to make the words of the ad.

Megan loves her purple helmet!

It's that time of year again...

It's that time of year again. That time when here in Mesa, AZ it's still REALLY HOT and we should be spending every day in the pool. Somehow, Mesa Public Schools think they need to start the first day of school in 115 degree heat. They think it's time to try to get those kids brains moving when all the kids really want is cold water and a pool. Really. Why is the first day of school August 10th? We don't understand. But it's also that time of year when the mommies around here are ready for a schedule, we are ready for some time to get some tasks done during the day. And so it begins. The First Day of School! I actually love the first day of school. It's exciting. This year we have 2 going to school all day. All day! And I'm left at home with one little Adam who is content with playing trains all day long. I have so many plans!

Katelyn is a 2nd grader with Mrs. Trujillo as a teacher.

Megan is a Kindergartner with Mrs. Burton as a teacher.

Aunt Kaley, with a little pixie dust help from grandma and grandpa, placed good luck notes on the side walk for the kids on the way to school (you can see a few of them in Katelyn's picture). They loved the notes! What a great way to start the day!

One last good-by on the basketball court. Sorry about the squinty eyes. The sun is really bright on this super hot day!

Chris' 32nd Birthday

Let the celebrating continue! We have now come to Chris' birthday! With crazy family things happening in our lives, Chris' birthday was REALLY low key. I didn't even make a birthday cake. I just piled Oreos up and pretended I made a cake. See, really low key. Also, so low key, we didn't even celebrate on his birthday. August 3rd was a Wednesday, which means Chris had YM's mutual night to go to, so we waited until the 5th.

Presents! It looks like a "work polo shirt" year along with a couple DVDs from the siblings.

My mom and dad came into town to help me, and so we enjoyed homemade ice cream with the underwhelming Oreo "cake". Everything is better with homemade ice cream.

"Traditional" blowing out the candles picture. Obviously it's a little over exaggerated in this picture. :)

Happy Birthday, Chris!