Fun In The Sun

Where to begin. For such a short whirl wind of a weekend I sure have an over load of pictures! Hope you enjoy. It was so hard to leave it all behind. Arizona here we come!After driving all night long we finally made it to our GG's house! Then it was off to the Zoo!!GG had a whole day of fun all planned out for us. It started with a ride on the train.Ava hugging a little baby goat. Two of the cutest little monkeys you have ever seen.Bones and Petie. Lunch with the sharks at the fabulous Flamingo Lounge. The coolest restaurant ever!

Petting the sting rays.

You can't leave this Zoo without feeding the Lori Birds. So Fun!This bird loved Jeremy and wouldn't get off his back.

Another highlight. Feeding the beautiful giraffes.And to top it all off, The Log Ride! Luke and Ava's favorite. Yeah, that's GG in the back! She is so much fun!Thanks to Jeremy sitting in the front GG and I got SOAKED!Luke at Luke Air Force Base. So cool to watch the fighter jets roar right over our heads!While we were driving Luke told me he wanted to be a jet pilot when he grows up. I said, "Wow that would be really cool." Then Luke turned to Ava and said, "Ava what do you want to be when you grow up?...a cheerleader?...do you want to be a cheerleader Ava?" Ava, "Yeah." Luke, "OK, I'll be a pilot and you be a cheerleader." Easter came early for Luke and Ava. :) Thanks for all the goodies GG! Making fresh squeezed orange juice.How Luke watches cartoons at GGs. The next day we went to the beautiful Mesa Temple with Rice King. We also met up with our good friends the Richardsons, who had just flown in from Wyoming.

Beautiful flowers everywhere you looked.

Then we met up with Great Grandma Skjeveland and family for dinner. It was fun to get to see them all again. They are so sweet.
Rice King and Auntie Elizabeth teaching the kids how to play pool.Aves eating oranges with Great Aunt Karen.

We love GG! And her beautiful fun home. Especially the water fountain!

Aves making more orange juice with GG.Breakfast together before we had to head home.Our car hit the 100,000 mile mark on our drive back. Holy Smokes!Cozy in the back seat. Luke and Ava were such good kids and Thomi behaved pretty good too.;) Glad he rode down with us. We had such a fun time! Love you GG. Thanks again for everything. Can't wait to see you again in just one more month! By the way for those who haven't heard yet, Tater...Elder Scott :) will be coming back the 5th or 6th of MAY!!! Yay!!! We can't wait to have him home! He has been such a great missionary and example for us all. Love you Tater!!!!! Oh and a big thanks to Grandma Barker for taking care of our crazy dogs while we were gone.

Fred

Yup, this is Fred. This crazy furry beast is the newest addition to our family. He's an 11 month old English Sheepdog/Picardy Collie mix.

I'm not really sure what brought on this sudden need for another dog but here we are. Crazy...

yes definitely crazy! But how can you resist that face. He is a crack up! We drove up to Salt Lake to pick him up on Saturday. Ava just started laughing the minute she saw him. He loves the kids and the kids love him. He and our good old Duce hit it off pretty well. Not only was he free but he also came with his own rawhide bone (which Duce later ate) and pillow (which Duce later ripped to shreds). Poor Fred. It is definitely an adjustment for us all. Jeremy calls me a "worry wort" (sound familiar Mom ;)) I just worry that he's happy here. That Duce isn't jealous. That he will get along with other dogs. That the neighbors don't notice a little extra barking and the sad low howl coming from the garage at bedtime. Most especially I'm worried about leaving them this weekend. Aahhhhh. I am a worry wort. We'll see how it all goes down. Here's to the crazy life I make for myself.

My Secret Beauty

Last night our little family had the chance to go to the Draper Temple open house. It was beautiful! Especially at night, seeing how it glowed up on the hillside. As we walked out of the Celestial room it hit me how it probably wouldn't be until missions and weddings that we all would be together again in that special room. I tried really hard to burn into my memory their sweet little faces as they looked around, so that in 15 or so years from now I will be able to look back and remember that moment. It is amazing how being there together really did make all the stress of life fade away. The big picture is so easy to see when your mind is clear. I'm so thankful that our family can be together forever.

Oh and about "my secret beauty" as we drove home that night we sang "I Love to See The Temple". Both Ava and Luke can belt out every word to that song...well except for the very end when it says "this is my sacred duty". That gets replaced with "this is my secret beauty". They are so sweet. We love the Temple!

Ava wanted me to add in how fun riding on the bus was from the parking lot to the temple and how good the cookies were after. :)

Same Same

Ava is really into finding things that look alike. When she finds something that she thinks matches she says "Same, same!" It can be pretty entertaining to see the kinds of things she notices. Speaking of "same same" you would not believe the number of times people have told me how much Ava looks like Michelle from the show Full House. I couldn't seem to find the greatest pictures but they do look a little bit "same, same" to me. What do you think?

...and if she somehow ends up looking at all like them when she's older, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all! ;)

Oh yeah, I also get told occasionally that she has a Wallace smile! Now that one is a definite "same same"! :)

Has it really been that long???

Jeremy and I had our first date and that fabulous first kiss :) on Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!!! THIRTEEN YEEEARS? Could it really have been that long ago? After a lot of finger counting down the years and pulling out this sweet photo of us (I know, I know, we haven't changed a bit right! ha ha ha) we came to the conclution that, yes, it really was that long ago. Again I am amazed how time just keeps speeding up the older you get. This photo will be even funnier 13 year from now.
I love him!
I love him!
I love him!

Petie in Polk-a-dots

So I found this cute little dress for Ava and just had to snap a few shots of her. I guess just a few shots turned into a full blown photo shoot but we had fun. I can't help feeling like I need to to take more pictures (if that's even possible for me), she is growing up way to fast! I can't believe how independent she getting. It's so cute to watch little Luke try to teach her how to do things. The sweet little prayers, the songs, her finally going to sleep at night by herself, getting dressed on her own, and hooray, she's potty trained!!! There are times I just wish I could hold on to them like this forever. I love them to death!