Charlotte's visit...!

So happy my sister came to visit for a short week.  Wish she could have stayed waaaaay longer.  We went to the lake, a resort and spent much time swimming, shopping and suntanning.  She has lived in England for the past 4 years so she wanted to soak as much sun into her bones as humanly possible.

We went to the Point Hilton Squaw peak Resort in Scottsdale.  It was like a  breath of sunshine and peace.  Because we went midweek, there was nobody there, which makes it even more peaceful.

                                             Charlotte says she was sleeping in this picture...

 We ate at Ricos in Scottsdale on the patio.  This picture does NO justice to how fantastic the moon was that night.  Charlotte was sitting there right in front of it in the even 72 degree weather, 9pm.

They upgraded us to a bilevel casita for free!  It even had a kitchen, which we did not use...

                           
Have I posted enough pictures of me in a lazy tube yet?  Heres another one, just in case.

 Well, our day at the lake turned into a flop.  We were backing the boat into the water and Maysa had this look of pure joy on her face.  Alas... 15 minutes later we were backing it right back onto the trailer because the dang thing wouldn't start.  Maysa then had the look of pure dejection.  She was crushed!  I think we all were, including the twins, as it was going to be their very first boat ride!  So we made the most of it and hung out on the shore in the sand.  The girls took the tube out and pretended it was a boat for a while.  Charlotte tried desperately to soak up some rays, even though it was a cloudy-ish day.  The boys were having a great old time poking sticks in the sand and finding people's leftover garbage.  Everything was going great until Jayden brought Dan a large chunk of dog crap.  Which at that point, Dan had had enough and ordered its time to go!!  He was quite upset the boat didn't start so it wasn't the best of times for him that day.

THis is a picture of Charlotte and my dad in front of the London temple.  I never did get a chance to go to England and visit her there, but I sure wanted to.  I am grateful that she came to visit me in Arizona though and now that she is living back in Canada, I sure hope to see her waaaaaaay more!

Dan's birthday

Dan thinks he's 40.  He tells everyone he's 40.  I'm actually not even sure how old he is because he's got me so confused about it all.  He says 40 is when life really begins.  I haven't a clue in heck what that actually means, so don't ask...   Ok... but I'm pretty sure he's not 40 yet.  For his birthday he wanted black forest cake.  So I trifled black forest cake because A) I don't have time to make a real black forest cake.. and B) Trifle is easier and I think its better. 
 He loved it, to say the least.  That entire pot of cake you see right there was devoured by early the next morning.  The kids and I may have helped out with that... just a tad.  He wanted butterscoth, vanilla,  and chocolate pudding, lots of cherries and heath bar.  With LOADS of whip cream.  I think I'll be making this again sometime... You know... for his next 40th birthday.  :)

 Lucky us.. Dan's annual Frito Lay party at the Grand Resort happened to be on the same weekend as his birthday.  I LOVE the Grand Resort with a capital L.  It is so beautiful and fun and luxourius.  This is the last year we get to go because Dan resigned from Frito Lay right after.  Now that he owns two businesses he is leaving the trucking life behind for good.  And hopefully never turning back.

Love the scenery and greenery here.  What little Arizona has to offer, you can find most of it here.

I could float along a lazy river all the day long.  Sometimes a mother of 5 deserves to be slothful...!

I got Dan some housebuilding books for his gift because he is starting two huge projects in Queen Creek this month.  Wish him luck, because these will be his first new builds.  I'm excited about it, house flipping may be a thing of the past, we'll see!

Easter..

The Easter bunny still comes to our house every year.  I keep telling him not to, but somehow he shows up anyway.  This year he hid lots and lots of eggs all over the house.  The kids sure enjoyed looking and searching.  Its a month later and I am still finding eggs once and a while in little nooks and crannies.  The twins sure caught on fast to this finding candy business.  

Dan made a ride for the twins out of diaper boxes.You would think all the toddler cars and 4wheelers and tricycles and ride on toys lined up all over our living room would be sufficient...  Cheap thrills I suppose.

Spring Break- Emerald Cove

This year for spring break we went to Emerald Cove RV resort.  As usual.  We do love coming here.  Was it relaxing and peaceful......  Not quite, but the kids had a blast, they absolutely love coming here.

Jasper trying his hand at mini golf.  I think they got the swing of it after a while but eventually  they just started poking their sticks in the pond and then trying to get in the pond themselves, thats when I decided enough golf for the day...

Ah the beach... Need I say more.  

Jayden and Jasper really enjoyed the sand and getting as dirty as humanly possible.  At least this year they didnt eat the sand and rocks.  The water was simply too cold for them to venture out, but I know at least once, I think when we first arrived, (under Dan's watchful care) Jayden ran right into the water and tripped and landed face down.  It was a nice refreshing blow for him and he decided to stay clear away from the water from that point on.

 The pool was much warmer.  Night swimming was especially fun because the sun wasnt blaring on our heads and we didnt have to worry about sunscreen.  Dan has always claimed he is half fish.  So I guess that makes my kids quarter fish.  They all REALLY love to swim.  I am certain the twins will be swimming on their own in no time.

 Early morning beach, I guess they just couldn't get enough of it.  There is a serious problem with mussels on the Colorado river so the kids collect hundreds of mussel shells every time we come.

It was a fun trip.  They slept the whole way home.  The girls did not... :)  They wanted to go back as soon as we got home..