August 1-3, 2017 Road Trip

I don't even know where to start.  This is going to be a hard post since Kev and I were gone 5 1/2 weeks and we saw so many great sights.  It all started with the fact that we were registered for a Pickleball Tournament in Coeur d'Alene Idaho.  Kevin Brooks parents live there so he talked Kev into doing the tournament with him and then Kev and I would play together as well.  So based on the fact that we were going there Kev got the map out and decided we would make a 6 week trip out of it and hit some National Parks and other sights we have wanted to see.   We were planning on camping alot of the trip and then would occasionally get a hotel room here and there.  And then when we got to Idaho we stayed with Kevin Brooks at his parents house.

Of course we started in Arizona....lol But our first camp was up near the north rim of the grand canyon which was on our way to our next stop, Utah and Zion National Park.  

Zion was amazing.  The huge rocks and colors were just gorgeous.  There are all kinds or trails around there to hike as well.  So we did do a few short trails to check out some other views as well, and there are so many more trails I'd like to go back and do someday.  It is a beautiful drive seeing the sights and then you catch a bus that takes you back farther into the park for more views. Cars are not allowed back on these roads so you have the chance to jump on or off throughout the ride to look around and explore or go out and hike some trails.  

 The clouds started moving in and wow, how cool they all looked over the massive rocks.  Once it started raining alot of waterfalls were happening all through the park off of different rocks.  

After Zion we went to Bryce Canyon.  The rock formations are really cool looking and such great color.  Both Kev and I liked Zion better but to see Bryce Canyon was awesome.  

July 4, 2017 Annabelle's first time in the Pool

Since it was 4th of July Sarah and Paul wanted to come over to swim and take Annabelle in the pool.  The main pool at the clubhouse was super busy so since Yvonne & Greg were gone we decided to go to their house and use their pool.  It was Annabelle's first time in the pool.  I wouldn't say she loved it, but she didn't hate it either.  She even had her red, white and blue suit on.  

July 3, 2017 Empty House Crawl

So many people leave for the summer around here and jokingly we would say we should go hang out at their house, or go use their pool.  So Kev and I decided to have a party about it.  We called it the Empty House Crawl.  I made a list of our friends that were gone and then the whole group of us set out to take pictures in their backyards.  It was a great night.  We all met at our house and started with my neighbors next door, Amy and Rod's house and then went from there.  We drove our golf carts all through the hood trying to race to the next house.  Then the next few days after the crawl I posted pictures, a few each day of all of us in each of their backyards.  It took a while for people to figure out what was going on but eventually they realized and would comment, hey that's my backyard or that's my house, too funny.  We ended the night with a pool party at Scott & Carolyn Smith's house.  

June 28, 2017 Annaliese's 1st Sleepover

We will pick the girls up every now and then and they spend the day with us and then we either take them home or Hunter and Jess will come pick them up.  But on this day Annaliese said she wanted to spend the night so we decided to give it a try to see how she would do.  It's been a struggle because none of the girls sleep in their own bed and we weren't gonna let her sleep with us so she had to commit to sleeping on her own.  We gave her the choice of where to sleep, either in Alicia's room or on the couch, she chose the couch.  She did great.  She did end up waking up a couple times that night and coming in our room, once to say she couldn't find the remote to turn the tv off, which Kev had already turned off.  So we think she may have been sleep walking.  And then the next time she said it was too dark, but I showed her we left the light on in the kitchen so it wasn't dark.  After that she was good to go, and that meant she would be able to spend the night again. 

We went out cruising the neighborhood in the golf cart since the sun was going down and it was cooling off.  All the girls love riding in the cart, and occasionally Kev lets them sit on his lap and drive. 

June 15-18, 2017 Ruidoso, New Mexico

Since it's too hot in the summer here, there are no pickleball tournaments pretty much after March in the Phoenix area.  There are some up in Prescott in the summer but other then that you have to go other places to find a tournament.  Kev was looking up some different ones and came across this one in New Mexico.  It really wasn't a very far drive so we decided to go.  We were going to camp for a few days on the way there and then the nights of the tournament we had a little cabin rented close to where the tournament was.  It was a fun time and got us out of the heat for a few days.  We found a great little place to camp and that always makes it easier. 

 As always we like to go out and look for elk.  Well instead of finding elk, we found this little black bear strolling through the forest and we followed him for a while and then he started climbing a tree.  It was just a cute little bear and thankfully was going away from our camp and not towards it. 

 For the first time ever, Kev played singles in a tournament.  He did great, but boy was he dying.  He would turn around during timeouts and in between games and say to me, "don't ever let me do this again."  It was pretty funny.   He actually did great.  He ended up playing this young kid that he lost to but then came back through the losers bracket to play the kid for the silver/gold match.  Well by then Kev had figured out more of how to play strategically and he ended up beating this kid.  He was shocked and never saw it coming.  So then when they were giving out the medals, the kid was nowhere to be found.  After Kev beat him, he took off. 

 Then Kev and I played mixed doubles together.  We had a long day and played quite a few games, I can't remember how many now, but we ended up winning Gold.  It was a fun day and a good tournament.  I think we would drive and do that one again some summer, just to get away. 

June 10, 2017 Cute Annabelle Pics

We were watching Annabelle for the day and I was just having fun snapping pic after pic of her.  I was having so much fun and she sure seemed to be hamming it up so I kept going.  She was starting to get a little personality then and she was about 2 months old.  

May 25, 2017 Annaliese's Pre-School Graduation

Can you say cute?  Cause it was so cute.  Annaliese's class did a little program with a few songs and then they also got some individual awards.  Her teacher did a great job putting the program together and through out the school year we could see how she was getting smarter and smarter with all her school work and learning to read.