Beautiful Sedona

Despite our crazy, busy Arizona trip schedule, the kids and I were able to get a way for a short visit to Sedona to see My brother, Mark & his girlfriend Erin, and my Parents, Paul & Kathy Reese.


As I mentioned before, my brother is a chef at The Barking Frog Grille, and The Cowboy Club. We had the pleasure of having dinner with Mark, Erin, her kids, & my parents in a private dining room at The Barking Frog.  It was amazing!! Appetizers included, cactus fries, vegetable quesadillas, pancetta, fresh mozarella cheese, blue corn chips with fresh salsa, guacamole & queso.  For dinner I had the most amazing carne asada--yum!  This was my dessert--Mark's fresh made Tres Leches Chocolate Cake. Kate grabbed my strawberry and took a bite before I could take my picture.  It was such a wonderful meal--the kind where you wish you'd never feel full because everything tasted so yummy and you didn't want to stop eating! :)

Kenzie was mesmerized by this beautiful tiled bench outside of the restaurant.  This is actually one of two--facing each other.  

My brother and his girlfriend live in one of the most beautiful places ever!  They live in Oak Creek Canyon, just minutes north of Slide Rock State Park in Sedona.  I was standing right by their front door when I took this picture.  They have an apple & pear tree orchard right in front of their house.  I told them that I couldn't live there, because I'd never get anything done!  You just want to sit and stare at the beauty around you.

Part of the orchard right off their front porch.

This was taken as I walked back up to their house from the creek.  So beautiful!!

Even though the water was freezing cold, the kids absolutely loved exploring in the creek. Next time we will bring water shoes to make it a little easier on the feet.

My brother Mark was a good sport to get in a little and help with Kenzie.  Here they were looking at the little minnows in the creek.

Kenzie needed to warm up a little.

On the way to the creek is a wonderful tree swing!  I wish we'd had more time to swing and explore.  We had such a great time and the kids talk about it at least once a day.  Kenzie has decided that she wants to move to "Arizonia" to live in Sedona with Uncle Mark. :)

My wonderful parents!  Thanks Mom & Dad for driving back & forth from Flagstaff to see us!  We love you and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thanks Mark & Erin for your hospitality and patience with our kids--especially as they kept your dogs and cat running the whole time we were there!  You guys are amazing!

Turning Pages

Life has a funny way of moving right along, whether you're ready for it or not.  


This year Kevin and Kelly both "graduated."  Kevin graduated from elementary school and Kelly graduated from middle school. 


We know our kids are growing and changing every day.  But there's something about these two graduations that really made me feel just how much all of my children have grown. We truly have turned a page and are beginning a new chapter in our lives. It's exciting and a little sad all at the same time.  


We are so proud of these two graduates! We are looking forward to the upcoming chapters and what they will add to the story.

Congratulations Kelly & Kevin!  We love you!

Capturing Kelly

Since this was Kelly's last year in Middle School her choir teacher asked for two pictures to use in a slide show presentation for their last concert. One picture was to be a baby picture and the other was to be a current picture.  Well, when Kelly knows she's getting her picture taken, she, like her dad, has a hard time giving a natural looking smile.  In an effort to make this easier for her I asked her to just talk to me; to tell me about whatever she wanted to. Then I would take as many pictures as I wanted and hopefully at some point I would be able to capture the real Kelly.  This was such a fun project and those of you who really know Kelly know that she can talk.....a lot!  Below are most of the pictures that I took.  Because I put them into collages some were cropped a little. I promise that I didn't take a bunch of pictures with the top of her head cut off. :)

After seeing most of these, she decided it was worth changing her clothes. Below are the two pictures that we submitted for the slide show.

This was when Kelly was 7 months old and life was much simpler.  I totally miss those days!

Here is our beautiful Kelly. She is getting so grown up! She is most definitely looking forward to High School next year. We are so proud of her and know that she will accomplish great things.

We love you Kelly!

Trek Success!

This was the first family to walk through. There are a couple of youth from our ward in this picture. Everyone else came through so quickly I didn't get a picture of Kelly pushing her handcart :(  It was amazing to see them walk by. Everyone was so happy and you could tell it was an amazing experience!

Other than getting a bad sunburn, Kelly had a life changing, incredible experience. She absolutely loved it!  We were so happy to see her.  It was overwhelming how many adult leaders made sure to tell us how wonderful she was. Her "Ma & Pa" told us how much they loved her and how mature and amazing she was. Her "Aunt", and three other adult leaders told us what an incredible young woman she was. Even now it brings tears to my eyes.

You can't really tell in this picture but Justin, Kelly & I are all crying. We are so proud of her and were so happy that she was safe, and had such a great time. She pretty much bore her testimony the whole way home.  This was truly one of those "pivotal moments" in her life.  Thank you to all of the family members that shared letters with her. She cherishes them.

She can't wait to go again. Maybe next time Justin & I will get to go.

Kelly in "Radium Girls"

Kelly's drama class recently performed in a UIL One Act Play Competition where they earned the Superior Ranking.  The play was "Radium Girls," a drama based on the true story of when Radium was discovered. It was used to make paint and then young girls would  paint watch faces to make them glow in the dark. Sadly they discovered that the Radium was poisonous and many of the girls died.  It was a pretty serious play, but I must say that they did a fantastic job.  

Kelly was in charge of sound for an additional play--A Comedy called, "Backstage Backstabbers."

Kelly as a reporter interviewing "Marie Curie," In which she told the press that Radium was a cure for cancer.  Boy was she wrong.

"Painting" a watch face. 

Reading headlines in a questioning way sort of "interrogating" the owner of the Radium Watch Company.  

Although it was a little hard being cast in small parts, Kelly had a great attitude and had a lot of fun!

Kelly's Photo Shoot

The weather here has been beautiful!  Unfortunately I've had a really hard time getting our kids to get outside.  I don't get it.  Anyway, Kelly asked if she could take some pictures and it worked like magic! Everyone was happy to be outside and had a good time taking and posing for pictures.  Here is the best of Kelly's pictures, (with a little creative editing on my part).

Below are some of my favorites.

All in all I think she did a great job and I love how they turned out. Plus, I loved that they finally went outside! :)

I just made it and/or Thanks Mom!

(Yes--she's wearing high heels.  She loves being almost as tall as Dad).

I ended up making Kelly's costume for her play.  I just couldn't bring myself to spend exorbitant amounts of money on a dress that was too grown up, hardly modest at all, with no guarantee that it would fit.  So, I bought the material on Friday after work.  I started cutting it out on Sat. afternoon and by Sunday evening here is the finished product.  (She had to turn it in on Monday). I'm relieved it's just a costume because it's not as exact as I would have liked.  

Evidence would suggest that I am a little tired and frazzled from a couple of late nights.  1). Unsecured hair blowing around. 2). Rumpled shirt and sweat pants. 3). What happened to my smile?  It's like only half of my mouth really felt like doing it. 4). Don't even tell me about the bags under my eyes.

Kelly does not wear heels at all.  These are the biggest pair that I have (size 10).  Notice her heel hanging off the back.  When did my little girl grow up so much?!!

(See what I mean about the hair and the half smile?  I seriously needed to go to bed. Kelly was livin' it up being taller than mom.)

All in all, it really wasn't a bad project.  It made me wish that I had more room and better tools.  I also wouldn't mind taking a class on altering patterns.  It took me over 3 hours just to trace and cut out this dress because I wanted to make sure it would fit.  I still don't think I altered the pattern a well as I could have--but I couldn't figure out how else to do it!  I should say that this is the pattern that I used.  However in the interest of time and money I did not do a tulle overlay or line the dress either.  I totally would have if it wasn't    "just a costume," but since it was I just skipped it.  I think the total cost on the dress was about $24, not including the pattern.  Not too bad!!  I got a smokin' deal on the fabric: 4 yards for $18.  Hurray!  That part made the whole thing a little easier.  Kelly's happy.  I'm totally relieved that it's done and it turned out well enough.  I'm excited to see her perform in it.  I am grateful to my mother for teaching me how to sew, as well as spending lots of hours and late nights making things for me so that I could be successful.  I love you mom!

Congratulations Kelly!

We are very excited to announce that Kelly has landed a role in her school's upcoming musical!!  There is a new drama teacher this year and for this production auditions were opened up to the whole campus.  Kelly will be playing the part of Mother Swan.  This is one of the larger roles so we are all very excited for her.  There was a total of 80 students who auditioned for a cast of around 44.  We are so proud of you Kelly!  If any of you reading this will be in the area Nov. 3-5 and would like tickets please let us know.

One Long Post

It's been a while....Here's a quick update.

First day of school.  I've always tried to take a picture the morning of the first day of school.  These were done with the help of a tripod and timer because Justin was out of town.  It was a busy morning!

Mom: Smile Kelly.  Kelly:  I am smiling!

Mom: Smile Kate.  Kate:  I am smiling!  (Seriously?!)

Finally!  And yes--we got a new couch, hurray!

A highlight during these past two weeks was the celebration of Kelly's birthday!  I think the last few birthdays we've always taken her picture and given her gifts in the morning.  She's a good sport to put up with having her picture taken first thing after crawling out of bed.

Kelly decided that she wanted to have ice cream sundaes instead of birthday cake.  (Hallelujah!!)  All I had to do was whip the cream and make some homemade hot fudge--so delicious.  One of these days I will post the recipe.  I think we had enough ice cream and toppings for about 20 people.  We didn't mind enjoying the left overs for the rest of the week.  (And yes, we got a new table too--double hurray!)

Once again, she felt like she was smiling in this picture.  *Sigh* Teenagers!  I just had to post this picture because I love this dress!  We found it the day before at a resale shop.  When she saw it on the hanger she was not interested, but she humored me by trying it on and immediately loved it.  Yeah!  I still know a few things!  We enjoyed a mother daughter shopping day to celebrate her special day.  We had a great time and I loved spoiling her for her birthday.  She really has taken on a lot of responsibility as the oldest in the family.  We truly appreciate all that she does to help keep things running smoothly and are so grateful that she is part of our family.  We love you Kelly!

The week before school started I was already at work and one day Justin had to go into the office.  Kate and Kenzie went to a friend's house so Kelly and Kevin had the house to themselves for the day.  To pass the time they decided to have a guinea pig photo shoot.  Pretty imaginative if you ask me!

Once again it's time to work on the brakes.  I know it seems like we just did this.  Oh well.  Justin and Kevin have found out that they really like working together on these projects.  Here Kevin is changing the rotors and the brake pads.  I'm so grateful to Justin for giving him this opportunity and being patient with him as they worked together. 

That's about it.  I hope the start of your school year goes well!

Something Fun

Ok, so I'm feeling completely guilty and ashamed after reading my last post which was dripping with PLOM disease, (Poor Little Old Me).  So here goes something fun.  While I was taking some pictures of Kate on her birthday.  I wanted to try getting some of her jumping.  It was so much fun that everyone wanted a turn.  They are not the best, but they make me smile when I see them, and I'm motivated to figure out the best camera settings to use so that the background is more blurry than the subject. 

Enjoy!