Halloween Carnival

When I was a little girl, we all went to the Colvin's for a Halloween carnival the included fun games and treats with lots of friends and family. Ever since I became a mom I have wanted to carry on that tradition. Sadly I have not had a garage to host it in. I hope that changes some day :) I also feel so guilty at how little time we get to spend with our grandparents each year, I know how much they love seeing the little kiddos dressed up- and seriously can't wait to give them HUGE bags of candy without mom saying No! hahaha. Every year comes and goes and I always seem to have too many things going on to get it organized and tell myself NEXT year I'm not doing anything else until I have a Halloween carnival put together! Well this was finally the year! NOT because I finally got on the ball, but when I was talking to PJ about it one night at dance... She remembers the Colvin's too... she was all in! She said even if it was just our kids it would be fun! And so it started! Nana was nice enough to let us use her house this year. I sent out a group email to everyone I had emails for and asked anyone to pass it along so that the whole family could hopefully be there! We wanted to keep it simple and fun so we just had each family that came bring a snack food/treat, a game and a bag of candy as a prize for their games! It was A BLAST!!! I am So thankful for such an awesome family that really knows how to pull off a PARTY at the drop of a hat... must be GOOD genes!!

I didn't get to take any other "party pictures" because I was painting faces like a mad woman! LOL but it was a lot of fun and I hope it becomes a family tradition and just gets bigger and better every year!!

Finally Fall

A lot has changed in our lives since the end of summer! Daddy loves his new job and I do too!!!
I have wanted to home school Jarelyn since she was born and this year Jarelyn said she wanted to try it too! So I quit my job and started putting together our lesson plans!

I can not believe how much work it has been!! BUT the rewards have been TWICE as much!!! We are still finding our way of what works best for us, but have a routine that after a little tweaking seems to be working great.

Last week we went on a field trip to Apple Annie's in Wilcox to go on a hay ride and pick a pumpkin. We also got to go through the corn maze.

What a blessing it is to get to have cousins that live close to share some great fun with!!

We also hosted our annual Pumpkin Painting Party! Always a blast!






I am so blessed to have such a great family!!

Coming Back Home!

Jared{and myself} have Loved being part of the Empire family! As a matter of fact that was one of the big things that led us to our move to Texas when things slowed down here in our little mining town. Jared wanted to stay working with CAT machines and hoped that the knowledge he gained would help us return back to our home and family in AZ. And it did! In December of 2009 Jared was offered a spot back with Empire. We were so excited to be moving back home. The only problem is... that the position was in Morenci... a 3 hour round trip drive from our Home{on top of a 12 hr work day}for Jared everyday, some times 10 days in a row. After much thought and prayer, we decided the best thing for our family and for Jared was to leave Morenci. The hard thing was that meant also leaving Empire.
Jared accepted a job offer from FMI in Safford and left today for his new hire orientation. I am SO proud of what a hard worker he is! I know that the values that Empire has posted on nearly everything it touches- Jared has written on his heart! He does not bleed yellow{although I've wondered many times} However he is the kind of man that takes great pride in the work he does and the company he does it for. FMI will be blessed to have him.
Our family will be blessed to have him finally COMING BACK HOME!!

F I N A L L Y!!!

"I NEVER thought this day would come!"-Jarelyn After 7 years and a little persuasion from mommy Jarelyn had one of her "dreams come true!"
Unplanned on Thursday we took a little family trip to Safford{the big city} for a lunch date and to just window shop at some of our local shops. Ya we live here but its fun to go look in the small mom & pop shops that are sure to have found new treasures since the last time you were there PLUS it's right here!! One of Jarelyn's favorites is the feed stores... she loves to "just see" if they have any cute kittens to pet :) Although I don't really like cats in my house I do REALLY believe there is something magical to a little girl that has one to love and my heart melts every time we leave and she bravely tells us how cute the latest kittens were. Jared and I had recently spoke about the "kitten problem" but nothing had ever been said about when we might "fix" it! LOL
As we left the shop and drove off Jarelyn told her daddy that one in particular was so cute and she thought it really liked her. Jared said she could have a cat but it had to be a {PINK} one! "Dad that's just not right!"
We drove out to the local pound{a few miles out of town} Jarelyn asked where we were going and I asked where she wanted to go? "To get a cat..." knowing that for 7 years she'd been saying that to no avail. When we got out and went inside Jarelyn was excited to see more animals and didn't think much about it other than enjoying the time she had.
When I told her she could pick one out to take home she was SOOOO happy!

She is a Calico and looks like Camouflage{hmmmm think she was trying to get her Dad on board?!?!}so...Jarelyn named her Cami {feminine for CAMO!!}
We stopped and got all the goodies a new kitten would need and headed home!

Everyone seems to think Cami is a great fit! Welcome to our Crazy family Cami! Thanks for bringing a little magic to my little girl! And thank you Daddy for finally giving in!

God Bless America!

Happy Independence Day!!
I LOVE the 4th of July! I think I could decorate my home for this holiday as much as Christmas!! I love RED WHITE and BLUE! Love what those colors stand for and LOVE my FREEDOM! This year was so fun. Jared had to work but got off early. We dont ever go to the county show... it's just all the way on the other side of town and I would rather not spend 2hrs in traffic for 15 minutes of fireworks! {pittyful I know I should be more supportive}
HOWEVER... on the North side we do our own thing! Our cousins host a pot luck BBQ and let off a nice show right in our backyard... I say family, friends, food, and NO traffic is hard to beat for a good party!!

Happy Fathers Day

Jarelyn is SO blessed to have such a great daddy! She waited ALL month watching the CubHouse calendar so she could go and make her dad a special craft for father's day! Since he leaves at 4am she gave it to him the night before.

What better gift for the Dad that has "it ALL"...

30 TONS OF DIRT!!

Jared had just finished working 21 days straight(16hr days) and was determined to get Jarelyn's play yard moved and give her a sandbox. He also leveled the rest of the backyard and it looks so nice!!
Did I mention he did it ALL with a SHOVEL and a WHEELBARROW!!!
{and a little help}

Happy 7th Birthday Jarelyn!

It doesn't seem possible that we just celebrated my baby's 7th Birthday! Jarelyn is such a sweet young lady and I'm so proud of the good choices and example she is to me and everyone!

True to tradition we had her birthday dinner at El Charro with Noni, Pa, and Nana! It was Yummy as always! Jarelyn even branched out from her norm and tried something new!


I love birthdays! I love celebrating the people I love! Every year my friends and family tease me about how much I "enjoy" them! I cant help it, when Jarelyn picks a theme my imagination runs wild!! This years theme: Tangled!! We love the new Disney Princess and have watched it more times then I could recall and still laugh just as hard!
The first thing we had to start with were the invitations!

Next the party favors!

loading the goodies in bags that looked like lanterns!

Super fun Pascal party blowers that we made!

Finally had to add some goodies for our "thugs and ruffian" guest!

Then we moved on to GAMES!



I know I would've saved a lot of time just buying a pinata... but Jarelyn learned a new art, and it was one of the things Rapunzel did to pass her time in the tower!


"Pin the tongue on Pascal!"

We love the part that Pascal wakes up Flynn after being knocked out with a frying pan, by sticking his tongue in his ear.. thus the game and the party blowers!
Now on to Decorations!!





What would a party be without FOOD?!!
We wanted to go with the theme from when they were in the town square and had baguettes and cheese. For the main course we served angle "hair" pasta with "braided" bread-sticks!


the frying pans were fun servers too!
The CAKE!! I knew the cake Had to have a tower, but with everything else I wasnt sure how much time I would have the day of the party to put it together and was afraid that anything I used to "build" the tower would crumble over-night. After a successful practice run on her birthday I found that ice cream cones would hold up nicely and made for a cute simple tower with a little frosting and sprinkles!


I added some cute jello boats from the scene where Flynn and Rapunzel go to watch the lanterns! Jarelyn Loved them!!

The day of the party we braided Jarelyn's hair and put flowers in it.


I love having a picture of everyone that comes to our parties so we can look back through our scrapbooks and see all our friends! Some of our friends have been EVERY year!



We ended the party by writing our "dreams" on little cards and attaching them to Lanterns {gold balloons} to release into the sky!




I hope ALL their dreams come true!
This was by far one of my FAVORITE birthday parties yet! I hope Jarelyn remembers it for years to come and all the people that love her and helped to celebrate her special day!
See y'all again next year!!