My Kind of Treasure Hunt

I wanted to make things FUN for Tate today, so I decided to send him on a TREASURE HUNT to get his chores done. (He's really big into treasure hunts now- thanks to both grandparents). I kept it VERY SIMPLE for him, basically I gave him a slip of paper with a chore on it, then when he finished that chore, he would find another "clue" with a chore on it. He had such a good time & the house got clean! The final "TREASURE" was to go swimming which we do everyday, but since it was a "treasure" for him he was totally excited.
For lunch we went with my Mom to the superstition mall to get some "Panda Express". We ate lunch by the carousel and as he was eating, Tate was talking about going up the stairs so that he could ride the animal on the 2nd level of the new carousel. Since the carousel costs $3 now we weren't sure if we would have Tate ride, then he ate his fortune cookie and we read the fortune inside "Step by Step you will ascend the staircase to success". Tate smiled and pointed to the carousel stairs. Needless to say, he got to ride the carousel.

Fun Weekend

We woke up early Friday Morning and heading off to the zoo (that makes 3x this summer alone). Tate brought a friend with him, so he was pretty excited.

It was REALLY HOT, so they played at the splash pad and tree fort for probably 1 1/2 hours of the time.

We had quite an experience watching this BABOON. I wasn't going to put this on my blog, but since I've had several requests to post this picture I changed my mind...

You know how they have big glass windows at the baboon exhibit? Well when we walked up to see the baboons, we were the only ones there. Tate and his friend Annika crouched down to see this baboon who was only like 2 inches away from them on the other side of the glass. Anyhow, this baboon had somehow gotten a hold of a live bird. When we got there he already had the bird and he was just holding it (gently) in his hands. Then all of a sudden, we watched as he grabbed the bird by both wings. Then he reached up and yanked the birds foot off. Then he dropped the bird. The bird was squirming on the ground. After picking the bird back up, he began twisting the birds head around and around. The children at this point were in complete shock as they were watching the bird being torchered. Their jaws were both dropped. We were just about to leave when the baboon started plucking the birds feathers out one at a time... Finally when we left, Annika turned to me and said, "I don't like baboons".

Saturday night Bryan, Tate, and I went to the circus. We had a ton of fun. Thank-you Mom and Dad for the tickets!

We had to park very far away, so we were walking super fast trying to get there and Tate completely did a head dive onto the sidewalk-thus the HUGE bump on his head.

I'm On a Roll Today!

I had a lot of time today to scrap! Yeah.

Updated Page

Although I really liked this page before, something seemed not quite right (or finished) about it, so I made a few changes and additions. What do you think? Better?

That's another thing I love about DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING. If I make a mistake or simply don't like where I put something, it's extremely easy to fix. I'm totally known for changing things A LOT so this works great for me.

Newest Pages...

It seems like I haven't done scrapbooking in forever, and for me it's always harder when I'm out of practice. Anyhow, here are my most recent pages... Even though they took forever, I LIKE THEM so I'm happy.

The Story of Tate & His Sunflowers...

It all started with a small packet of SUNFLOWER SEEDS...

I gave the seeds to Tate one day out of sheer desperation to entertain him. I told him to go plant them anywhere in the garden, thinking that it might keep him busy for a few minutes yet not expecting them to grow. Since there really wasn't any room left in the garden, he planted them amongst the herbs. Sure enough after almost no time, Tate's sunflowers started to grow. After they grew a couple feet tall, I decided to pull out the herbs that were surrounding the sunflowers and replant them closer together in another location.
Every day it seems, the sunflowers would grow a few more inches until they were taller than Tate and even taller than the wall.
Then one day, Tate checked on his sunflowers (a daily ritual of course) and proudly announced that the flowers had bloomed. He was so excited that he could hardly contain himself.
Now they are HUGE and beautiful, and Tate is counting down the days till he can eat the seeds from them.
THE END.

A Schedule at Last...

I've been feeling absolutely CRAZY lately, (dirty house, lots of guilt, no time to blog). It finally occured to me that I've been lacking a consistant schedule in my life. So yesterday morning (EARLY) before Tate woke up, I wrote out a basic daily schedule to follow. Life is already getting easier for me, our house is VERY CLEAN, I've had lots of time for Bryan & Tate so no more guilt there, meals are getting cooked, and it feels as though I'm putting in less time!!! It's really making a difference in my day and instead of dreading waking up, I'm actually excited! So here it is... OUR SCHEDULE:

6 AM - (Mom) Wakeup & Exercise

6:30 AM - (Mom) Scripture Study & Journal Writing

(I've decided that I really need to have my own personal time in the morning)

7 AM - Wakeup Tate & Eat Breakfast

7:30 AM - Great New Days for Tate which include:

(Morning Prayer, Make Bed, Potty, Family Prayer, Breakfast, Water, Brush Teeth, Read some Scripture Power Stories & Start a Load of Laundry). We use Tate's magnetic chore chart that I made for him, and I usually do it right along with him. Also, he marks them off when he's done with them. When we do laundry Tate always helps me by sorting the darks and lights and by taking the lint out of the dryer :) I also like to turn on some HAPPY music while we do chores in the morning.

8 AM - Empty Dishwasher (Tate's chore is to empty the silverware), Breakfast Dishes, Wipe down Kitchen, Take Garbage Out, Open Blinds in Family Room, etc.

8:30 AM - Playtime (M/W/F)-Walk around neighborhood, Park, Teaching Moments, or just playing with Toys. Possible Friend over?

Errands or Grocery Shopping (T/R) -If we are going to go on some sort of outing, then I prefer the mornings when it's still somewhat bearable outside

9:30 AM - Weekly Zone Chore (I love doing FLYLADY and it's great to focus in on a particular room the entire week). I always get Tate involved in whatever I'm cleaning.

10 AM - Morning Snack and Dinner Prep (If there is any... preparation that is.)
Do I have any baking that needs to get done? I always keep my freezer stocked with whole wheat bread & chocolate chip cookies

11 AM - Playtime (Swimming & Shower Afterward)

12 Noon - Lunch Preparation, Eating, and Cleanup Kitchen

1 PM - Story Time (My goal for the summer is to start teaching Tate his letters so that he can learn to read)

1:30 PM - Quiet Time (Movie, Quiet Toys, or Nap)

3 PM - Snack Time and Dinner Preparation

3:30 PM - Craft/Music/Play Time

4 PM - Fold Laundry, Finish Dinner and Outdoor time for Tate if possible (If it's too hot, than more play time indoors) This seems to be the hardest time of the day for me because Tate is completely tired yet wanting to play with me and I'm still busy in the kitchen with dinner. I'm still trying to come up with some possible changes here. Is he too old for banging on pots & pans? Maybe I should just get him more involved in helping with dinner.

5:30 PM - Dinner Time, Cleanup Kitchen, & Start Dishwasher

6:15 PM - Family Time

6:45 PM - Family Scripture Study and Prayers

7 PM - Nightly Routine for Tate (Pajamas, Brush Teeth, Water, Potty, Story Time, Sing Song, Nightly Prayer)

7:30 PM - Bedtime for Tate & Free Time for Mom & Dad (Projects around the house, Dates, Movie, Blogging, etc.)

10 PM - Bedtime for Mom & Dad

Super-Manning Reunion...

We had a great time at our reunion in Strawberry this last weekend! We went to Tonto Natural Bridge.

Rode Horses

Rode Big Quads & Little Toy Quads

(Actually I didn't ride because after Bryan & I wrecked one a couple years ago I've been terrified of quads ever since-I'll have to share that story some time)

Went to the CRAWDAD HOLE and had much success.

Even Tate caught a little baby crawdad of which he held in his hand for a very very long time.

We boiled the crawdads & would you believe that I ate them and they were actually really good. We also did a ton of other fun things not pictured including canning MORE pickles, geocaching, having a family baseball game, going on another treasure hunt, visiting the oldest standing schoolhouse in AZ, and we even had a talent show/karaoke night. Bryan surprised me by singing "Forever & Ever Amen".

Bryan & Tate ended up going home Saturday night, and I stayed until Sunday afternoon until Joseph & Christina dropped me off at girls camp at Camp Lomia.
I SURVIVED girls camp & now I'm officially home again home again! Yeah...

Dare, Proof, & a Marshmallow

I dared Tate to swim around the perimeter of the pool, and he did it for a GIANT marshmallow! He's getting really good if I do say so myself.

New Underwater Camera

My sister & her husband Joseph just moved here from Utah, and they came over tonight for a swim party. As you can see, we had LOTS OF FUN trying out Bryan's new camera. I'm excited to see how it will do during the day. The pics turned out fine at night, but I think that with more light during the day they will even be better. It's really cool to be able to document our underwater fun now! Another thing that I love about the camera is that it is shockproof. For some reason I break cameras extremely easily and now if I drop this one it won't break!!!

52 Blessings-Week 9

My blessing this week is the Mountain that I see every day of my life. The Superstition Mtn. is especially meaningful to me because of our first baby "Hannah" that was stillborn. She was cremated and her ashes are sprinkled on this mountain. Every day I look up at "my mountain" and think about her and the time that I felt her moving within me. It is sad to think that I will never get to hold her, but I feel comforted knowing that H.F. has a plan for each of us, and it wasn't her time to live. I'm so grateful that I was given a son soon after our loss with Hannah. Tate means the world to me, and I don't know what I'd do without him. But, I'm also thankful for the hard experiences that I've gone through because they've strengthened me and blessed me to become the person that I am today!

Sorry this is kind of deep but sometimes it feels really good to talk about it :)

Cucumbers to Pickles & Peaches to Fruit Rollups

Oh how I LOVE the simple life of making my own REAL FOOD! Yesterday was quite the day... My Mom & I made a gazillion pickles out of fresh cucumbers.

As soon as we finished up, my Aunt called and asked if we wanted some peaches off of her trees.
Tate had a grand time picking his "VERY OWN" peaches for fruit rollups.
The fruit rollups finished drying this morning, and they taste superb!

Newspaper Fire

Out where we live, we get random newspapers delivered to our house probably twice a week. Tate REALLY looks forward to "Newspaper Day", and not for the reason you would think. If you ask him what a newspaper is for he'll tell you, "It's for a fire!" So even during the hot summer nights, Tate always tries to convince us that we need to have a fire... As you can see, he gets his way every now and again.

For Sale...

Well, it's official, we're moving as soon as we can sell our house. Wish us luck, it's a crazy market out there!

Phoenix Zoo-Twice in 1 Week

Last Thursday we went with my Mom to the zoo. It was a ton of fun, and you know how Grandma's are... They love to spoil there grand kids by giving them just about everything they want-carousel ride, popcorn, etc. We beat the heat and mainly stayed in the shade as we visited the snakes, frogs, and other reptile exhibits. We also took Tate over to the children's play area of which he loved. Before we left, he was asking me if we could sell our house and move to the tree fort. This morning my friend Faith called me up and asked if we wanted to go to the zoo with her. I gladly accepted because for me it's hard to get bored of going to the zoo. We had so much fun this time as well, and it seemed like a totally different experience for Tate as we focused in on the petting zoo area.
We went a little later in the day and stayed a little longer this time so it was pretty hot. Luckily I remembered to bring Tate's swimming suit so he soaked himself playing at the splash pad first and then let the sun dry himself as we went to the petting zoo.
He absolutely loved this swing and also this cactus slide.

Yay for the Phoenix Zoo!

Tate is a Flirt

Our friends just emailed us these pictures that they took of Tate and his NEWEST GIRLFRIEND (Emily) at a ward ice cream social a couple weeks ago. I was really surprised because I was there & I totally didn't even see these two dancing. Anyways, Tate is the biggest flirt I know-always telling the girls that they are pretty, giving away tons of kisses, and he usually asks them if they are "fun girls". He seems to like the outgoing (not shy) type with lots of personality. He doesn't care if they are old or young and he doesn't care what they look like because he knows that ALL GIRLS are pretty princesses. So to all you girls out there...you better watch out!