Labor Day Camp out



A few weekends ago we went camping with Anthon's family up at Green's Peak. It was a great trip- 1st camping tip EVER that I wasn't miserable the entire time- just for one night ;)! It didn't rain on us and the weather was perfect. Roman loved riding quads so much when we went to Mexico, we decided we would see if we could find one his size, that way he would have his own for this trip. I received an unexpected check from Chase about a week before we left & we found an AWESOME deal on a little 50cc (even better, it has a throttle limiter & a key fob kill switch, so we can control how fast he goes & shut it down if he gets too crazy/ goes too far). Roman LOVES it, to say the least!!

He rode it every chance he got, which was 99% of the time! He was in heaven!

Sterling thought he was pretty cool when he got to sit on one!

He was happy just to be outside- eating sticks, throwing dirt, etc.

Anthon's brother, Gerald, brought his horse up. The boys weren't sure if they liked riding it... I guess thy prefer riding the machines!

  Hanging around the campfire is always one of my favorite parts of camping!

I LOVED that Roman wanted to snuggle with me by the fire!

 Night time sucked. It usually does when camping- that's why I don't like camping! Give me all the time outdoors, riding quads, etc. but at night I want to A) shower, B) sleep in a bed that is comfortable/ won't deflate, & C) be warm. The 1st night we FROZE! We ended up cramming all 4 of us onto a queen size air mattress, which proceeded to deflate, so we were in a V position & still freezing. Roman & Sterling were fine & must have been warm because they slept like hibernating bears. Anthon & me... not a wink.

The 2nd day was Sunday & we didn't do much of anything. We have a firm, no riding policy on Sunday's so we went on a nature walk, played a game or 2, & just enjoyed time with family. My mom, brother & his family came up that afternoon to hang out & have dinner with us, which was a lot of fun. But I'm lame & didn't get any pictures! The 2nd night was MUCH better because we got to use power from someones generator to run our little space heater. But, once I was warm I realized how horribly uncomfortable our bed was. Once again, didn't sleep. BUT at least I was warm!

The 3rd day, & last day, we spent a good majority of the day cleaning up & taking down camp. But we did ride for a little bit too!

 Roman wants to be just like his daddy!

 I LOVE his helmet head/ hair!

 Sterling crashed during the clean up, & stayed asleep until after we left.

I'm bummed I didn't get a shot with all 4 of us, but oh well. We also didn't get to go see our tree this year- why? I have no idea! It's not like we had a lot of things compromising our time, we just didn't get the chance to get over to it. Oh well, there's always next year :)

Mud Run

Anthon's brother, Gerald, put on a mud run this past Saturday & asked if I could take pictures for the website. I was reluctant to go, with it being the 1st week of school, but decided to go ahead & take the weekend off from studying. The trip started out pretty rough- Anthon's other brother, Brandon's, clutch burned out on his truck between here & Payson so we loaded 10 people into our 7 passenger van, drove to Payson, & waited for Anthon's dad to come tow the truck the rest of the way up the mountain. We went to bed LATE that night & had to be at the mud run site by 6:30AM. I spent a majority of the day on a 4 wheeler chasing after participants & snapping pictures (I took over 1,000)! Even the young men from our ward came up & did it, so that was fun! By the end of the day my kids were beyond grouchy, I was sunburned, and we were all ready for a nice, warm shower! BUT I did get some pretty good shots! I feel weird posting pictures on my personal blog of people I don't know, so I'll post some of Anthon's family that did the run.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Jason- totally knows how to work an awesome shot!

I love the way his body looks in this one!!

Allison- she is amazing! So athletic!

My muddy man. Love his sweet smile!

Like I said before, I took over 1,000 pictures so there's no way I can post all of the ones I love on here! But, it was a fun experience non-the-less!

1st day of school

Roman started preschool this week & LOVED it! I can't believe he's old enough & it makes me sad to think that my time home with him is rapidly coming to a close, but I'm happy at the same time for him to be so excited about learning & becoming more independent!

He's going to preschool at a lady's house, named Arlene Lunt, on Thursday's & Friday's. I've heard wonderful things about her early readers program & she does a gospel based preschool where everyday they have prayer, say the pledge of allegiance, learn about heroes in the scriptures, learn the importance of being kind to everyone, and other great things like that, along with the "regular" preschool stuff! I'm so excited for Roman and the things he'll get to learn/do this school year!

Here he is all ready to go on his first day! He loves getting to wear a backpack :)

 I got to stay on his first day & do a parent/ teacher orientation, which was nice for Roman to be able to get used to his class while I was there if he needed me. There's a good mix of boys & girls & there happens to be another little boy named Roman in his class... funny, huh?!? Maybe this will help him learn his 1st & last names together ;). He seemed to get a long really well with all the other kids, & is the biggest kid in his class, despite being one of the youngest!

Here he is on day 2... No looking back! He's a pro now!

 Someone else is starting school this week, & that someone is ME... well, & Anthon too :)! Tomorrow will be my 1st official day as a nursing student! I was SUPER anxious/ nervous after I bought all my books, and really started to question my abilities- wondering if I could actually do this...

Seriously, this picture doesn't even do them justice!! They're big, they're heavy, & there are a LOT of them!

But... Anthon & I went to the temple last night and afterwards I felt completely confident, energized, & excited, like "I got this!" I love the scripture Romans 8:31 "... If God be for us, who can be against us?" and I know He's "for me"! He will support me through these next 2 years- especially when I'm not confident, energized or excited anymore, He'll be there for me!

I'm following my dream, & finally, actually feel like I'm progressing toward my goal!
It feels so good :)

Last Trip of the Summer

The day after we got back from our trip to Show Low we took off to Rocky Point for one last summer thrill. This time my mom, brother Peter, his wife Kelly, their 3 girls-  Ellie, Avery, & Livvi, & Kelly's mom all came too. We stayed in a lovely condo that had a wrap around balcony with fabulous views!! It was a FAST trip but still a lot of fun!

Monday: Day 1

 We spent the morning driving down there & once we got there we went straight to the market. I was in charge of dinner the 1st night & I wanted to make fresh flounder & shrimp (which turned out great, by the way! Here are the recipes I used FLOUNDER - SHRIMP). After shopping & lunch we went to the condo & unloaded everything, then headed to the beach to play for a bit before dinner. I could kick myself for not taking more pictures!!! But I guess I was having too much fun playing!

 After dinner, we bathed the kids... They had some fun with the jets & bubbles!

Sterling LOVES Livvi!! Every time he sees her he hugs & kisses on her a TON.
So much that we call her his Lovie

Day 2

This was our only full day at the beach & boy did we make the most of it!! Again, I wish I would've taken more pictures, but I was in the water the entire time!!

My mom & baby Livvi

Kelly & me- <3 her="her" td="td">

The water was PERFECT!! Crystal clear, calm, & cool. Sooo pretty! Kelly's mom brought snorkeling stuff & we spent most of the day checking out the animals at the bottom of the ocean- so fun!! We saw sting rays, huge crabs, tons of colorful fish, & even this little guy!

Peter found him & brought him up to shore in a bucket so the kids could see him. They loved it! Ellie named him Wilbert Gilbert- or something like that :). They watched him for a while in the bucket & then released him back into the ocean.

We went for a ride on the banana boat, too. Roman didn't have as much fun as I thought h would & Ellie was pretty much terrified the whole time. Anthon had a blast trying to fall off, but not fall off if that makes any sense.

 After we went in for lunch, we decided to go into town & check out the rest of the shops at the market. We didn't stay long because it was hot & VERY humid! We left the market & drove over to another beach (in front of Manny's if you know Rocky Point) & snorkeled there for a bit. There was a TON of reef right off the shore & lots of snails/ hermit crabs & some pretty fish, but nothing like what was at the reef back at the condo. We decided to head back & managed to get a cool treat on the way.

The boys were happy with their Thrifty ice cream

These were Anthon's & my official favorite treat of the trip- Piña Colada with fresh pineapple! Oh, SOoooo yummy!

 We headed back down to the beach to get in some more sand, sun, & snorkeling before we had to pack up & head back to reality in the morning.

Sterling cheesing it really hard

Roman & Ellie building sand castles

Sterling tried to steal this ball from a group that was playing just down the beach from us... kinda funny that it's as big as he is!

 We went back down to the beach this morning for a couple hours, but the water was more rough & not nearly as nice as it was yesterday, so we just packed up & headed home. It was the perfect end of summer getaway that we'll have to do again... only next time stay for longer!!

Pioneer Day

We made a last minute decision to head home for the weekend. Anthon's mom had a stroke a couple weeks ago & we've been really wanting to go see her (she' doing really well, by the way! No permanent damage or anything so we're really grateful!), so Friday morning we woke up, realized that Anthon had the weekend off, & decided to go to Show Low! It as fun to surprise his family & we had a lot of fun visiting with everyone!

Once we got up there, we realized it was the weekend of the Pioneer Day celebrations, so there was a lot of fun things to do! We spent all day Saturday down in Snowflake- watching the parade, having a family BBQ at Gerald's new house, & going to the rodeo. I love small town celebrations!

The boys watching the parade... they seem thrilled, don't they!

One of my favorite floats

All of us at the rodeo!
It sprinkled for a while at the beginning, but we never got soaked & it kept the dust down, so it wasn't too bad!

Roman loving watching the "Tao-boys"

Getting in trouble from the sheriff for hanging out by the railing.
The sheriff asked him to go back to his seat & Roman just shook his head "No" then turned around & continued watching the rodeo...
He's definitely a Perkins boy- Uh oh!!

Then today Anthon's sister, Shannon, had her newest baby, Colter, blessed at church & then fed us all a yummy lunch afterward. It was a pretty fast trip, but we enjoyed every minute of it- the cool weather, fun activities, watching the kids play with cousins, visiting & laughing with the fam- it was just a GREAT weekend!

Tomorrow we're taking off for another quick trip to Rocky Point! Gotta get one more family vacation in before school starts!!

Brothers

I have had so much fun staying home with these 2 little boys!! I'm starting to see similarities between them & it's so much fun to me! What do you think... Do they look like brothers??

 Wanna know what they've been up to lately??

Here's a glimpse of what Roman's been doing...

Throwing "dirt" & hitting our back door on "accident"....
hmmm, not sure I'm buying that story.
Pretty sure he's going to be working hard to earn the $300 to replace it, though

Being Spiderman- you know, saving Sterling & me from "da bad mens" & such

Oh, & climbing on the ceiling
while singing the Spiderman theme song, of course.

 & here's some of the things Sterling has been up to:

Getting adventurous at the mall play land

Cheesing it up!
We'll tell him to say "cheese" & he does the biggest, cheesiest smile- it's hilarious because he will literally shake sometimes when he's "cheesing" really hard!

Loving on his daddy!
He ADORES Anthon. I've accepted the fact that I'll forever be his 2nd favorite- & I only get that position because Roman's not big enough to get him out of his crib, yet.

 It's been so nice to be able to play with them every day & have them help me clean everyday! When I was working, it seems like I' was just going through the motions, trying to get everything done that I needed to before I'd have to leave for work. Now I feel like I get to enjoy my time with them so much more- I don't feel rushed & I've actually been a lot more organized than I thought I would be once I wasn't on a set schedule (& my house has actually been clean- GO me!). I am SO loving my time at home!

Happy 4th!!

The 4th of July this year had unusually lovely weather. It rained on & off all morning and the remainder of the afternoon/ evening was only in the 80ºs. We went to Superstition Farm in the morning- the boys loved it! They got to pet/ feed farm animals, play on tractors, go for a hayride on a tour of the dairy, and make their own ice cream sundae.

Roman was so happy he got to hold a chicken!

& he loved feeding the animals.
Sterling helped feed the goats & would giggle so hard when the goats tongue touched his fingers to take the food!

All my handsome guys playing on the tractor

On the hayride- Sterling's checking out all the cows. I was only checking out Anthon ;)

 After the farm, we came home & put the boys down for a nap so they would be happy staying up for fireworks. We went to a high school close to our house with some friends from our ward that evening and had a lot of fun! They had games/ bounce houses for the kids, live music, free watermelon, & a really great fireworks show.

Here's me & Roman waiting in line for one of the bouncy obstacle courses.

Roman coming out of the course.

Just playing with the boys waiting for the show to start,

He LOVED seeing fireworks for the 1st time!

 We had a really nice Independence day- the weather totally made it awesome!! It's so much easier to enjoy the festivities if you're not suffocating in 110º+ weather! I felt so much gratitude listening to the Star Spangled Banner before the show- for my country, my family, our health, the gospel, & just the happiness I feel every day! Ours is a life truly blessed!

Last Day

After 9 & 1/2 years, today is my last day working at Chase Bank!! It was a bitter sweet kinda day. I definitely won't miss all the annoying things customers do (like snapping their IDs on the counter, asking "are you open" when I JUST greeted them, or responding with "I just wanna make a deposit" when I ask them how they're doing), but I will miss the people I worked with! I had a lot of good friends at my branch & will miss being able to associate with them every day!

Anthon took me & the boys out to dinner at PF Changs tonight to celebrate. Both our boys fell asleep on the drive there and stayed asleep for most of the meal- talk about awesome!! Anthon & I had a great date, without having to pay for a sitter :)

I'm kinda nervous, but SO excited for this next chapter of my l life! I know nursing school is going to be difficult and my entire life routine is going to get shook up, but I like to think I'm up for the challenge! School doesn't start until August 20th so I have a month & a half to stay home & play with the boys this summer- I'm REALLY excited for all the fun we'll have!!

PS- Sterling walked on his own for the first time today!! He would take about 4-5 steps back & forth between me & Anthon... He would get SO excited & you could just see on his face how proud of himself he was :)