FAMILY!

So, we have been in Arizona for almost 4 months now, and in our new house for about 6 weeks. We had Travis' parents come down for 5 days, and then my parents, my sister Melissa and her daughter Paloma, and my neice Sydney come down for 4 days! We had a BLAST!

We basically ate, shopped, swam, and ate some more. It was SOOOOO nice to see family again. We were used to being with family several times a week, so we were definately missing our fam.

We had our ward Trunk or Treat last week and that was really fun. The kids are enjoying school (yes, even Alex is starting to enjoy school here in AZ). We have a really fun neighborhood. They are always having block parties and getting together for one thing or another. The best part is the weather. It has been in the 70's and 80's for the last 2 weeks. Today it got into the 90's again and so I had to turn the air conditioner on again. It is really weird. I have pumpkins and geraniums on my front porch. This warm weather during winter is going to taking some getting used to.

Sydney and Alex on one of our many shopping trips.

Me and Melissa on, yet again, one of our many shopping trips.

Colton, Preston, and McKay on Colton's 4th Birthday.

Happy Birthday Colton!

Colt, Mook, Pres, Al, and Connor shopping with G & G Beardall

at the San Tan Mall.

The Beardall Boys! 3 Generations!

And yes, the boys are waiting outside while Mary and I are, you guessed it, shopping!

More pics to come soon! Toodles!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Well, it is the eve of the eve of the day we get to move into our new home. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. It has been quite the summer adventure. We left Mike and Shannon's house almost 2 weeks ago. From there we went to a time share condo in Scottsdale. It was beautiful and the kids loved going to the pool. We thought that we would be able to get into our house on Sept. 3rd, but no luck. So, from there we went to a hotel in Phoenix for a night where we waited for our other time share condo to open on Saturday. We have been in Phoenix for 5 days now. We had NO T.V. at Mike and Shannon's for 2 months and the kids have now overdosed on Disney Channel for the last 2 weeks. I think they are getting sick of it. We can only hope. They are excited to go to school next week. (So I am, but don't tell them that!) Just a short time and we will be home! There's no place like home.... there's no place like home! I can't wait Dorothy!

There is a dollar movie by the house we were staying at in Mesa. We would go there almost every weekend to get out of the heat. Afterwards, we would let the boys run and play at the fountains outside.

Our family got to go to our first NFL football game last Thursday night. I think Travis almost died and went to heaven. The only thing that would have made it better is if the Bronco's were playing. Cardinals won and Max Hall did amazing. We got to watch Max Hall and John Beck play. Connor LOVED it!
This is at a cute little train park in Scottsdale. We took the kids there on Saturday. We got to ride a little train around the park. It was really hot as usual though.

16 again!

So, I had quite the experience the other day. I went to get our car insurance changed from UT to AZ and the lady on the phone said that she couldn't help me because my driver's license was expired. "I'm on it!" I said. And so I took a little trip to the Arizona DMV to get a AZ driver's license. The cute little old lady with the gigantic purple bow told me that because my license was expired OVER A YEAR that I had to retake the tests. Yes, that is plural, tests! I had to take the written exam and the road test. Not to mention the eye exam. So, after 2 hours at the beloved DMV, doing a 3 point turn in my mini-van, and waiting in line with a bunch of 16 year olds, I am the proud owner of an Arizona Driver's License. And the best part is that is doesn't expire until 2039. Maybe by then I will have learned my lesson!

Camping in Payson

Last Friday, a few of the families in our ward invited us to go camping. They were so nice and brought us 2 foam pads to sleep on and 2 tents. We luckily had sleeping bags and blankets. Payson, AZ is so beautiful. It reminds me of Jackson Hole, WY. It was about 20 degrees cooler too! We had a blast and are so glad we went. We roasted hot dogs and ate smores in the rain. The kids were in heaven! About 1 hour into our trip, Colton crashed on a scooter and really scratched up his face and then Connor cut his finger pretty bad on his pocket knife. Not too bad for having 4 boys. Two of the four came home without a scratch!

The best part was that the next day we drove home, cleaned up our stuff, and jumped in the pool!

WE ARE HERE!

We are now down in Mesa Arizona. It has officially been 2 weeks now. It is hot, but it hasn't been that bad. I guess I had built it up in my mind to be so horrible, that it hasn't been as bad as I expected. The boys are all loving it and Alex is trying REALLY hard to love it. She misses her friends and family. We all do. But there are some great things about Arizona. Here are some of our adventures so far.

The drive down took about 10 hours. The kids did really good. When we drove into Mesa, Colton saw the palm trees and said, "Mom and dad, thank you for taking me to San Diego!" It took us about 5 days to get him to say that we live in Arizona instead of San Diego.

Here is the Glen Canyon Dam. We stopped and took pictures and all got a little woozie looking over the edge. It is a long way down! Anyway, we got here Sunday and our moving van didn't bring our stuff until Wednesday. So, we had a camp out on the floor for 3 nights.

Did I mention anything about an adventure?

McKay's 5th Birthday. He got a bike and since we didn't have furniture yet,

he got to ride his new bike all through the house.

Swimming in the pool!

This is at a mall by our house. We went to a dollar movie to get out of the heat!

Our neighbors gave us tickets to the Diamondbacks game. It was a blast! It was inside an air-conditioned building. Pretty cool! Excuse the pun :)

Connor and Alex on the way to the game.

Our little gang of D-back fans!

Inside Chase ball park.

Today we drove to the Mesa Temple after church.

It is a really beautiful temple!

We love the ward we are currently in. The people are all super nice. I went with about 10 of the girls in my ward to get a yogurt on Thursday night, and then Friday morning I went with some of the girls to a dollar movie with all of our kids.

Alex is already being fought over to babysit. She babysat for a really cute family in our ward and she went to the mall with a girl her age. Preston and I went to Pack Mtg. on Tuesday night. We have been pretty busy. House hunting is fun and also a little frustrating. Hopefully we will be in our own little abode soon.

More fun in Utah!

Our last night in Utah. We had a BBQ over at Trav's parents and then did fireworks.

One of the best nights ever! And we have all of you on video tape

dancing if we ever need to blackmail any of you!

Trav, Preston, Connor and I all woke up at 5:00 am to go see the balloon's with my parents. It was too windy and so we only got to see a couple of balloons actually launch. It was still fun. Thanks dad and mom!

Boating with the Beardall Clan at Jordanelle.

Owls game in Orem. Trav caught a foul ball and ended up almost seriously injuring himself and Colton in the process. He said it was all worth it though.

This is Connor's last baseball game. His team came in 4th place! They did awesome! Connor pitched again this year and did a great job! Thanks Uncle Rob for teaching him how to do the famous 'change up'!

Swimming at the Lindon Pool!

Our Last night on our deck! We were all crying right before this picture was taken.

The moving van! Thank you to all of guys who helped us shove every last one of our belonings onto that massive truck.

Uncle Russ tying Alex up to the chair.

The kids slept out of the deck in a tent for the last time. Colton stayed out there until Harry Potter was over and then he came and slept in his own bed.

Since my parents have moved back to Orem from Bear Lake, they have taken me and Melissa to lunch every other Friday. This was our last lunch date. We went to 'Spark' in Provo. It was very good. Alex got to come with us. I am going to miss Friday lunches:(

We went to the Orem Night Parade at Gma and Gpa Bellows house. This is one of our favorite things to do in the summer. We might have to plan our summer vacations so that we don't miss the Orem Night Parade!