Dear Lily,

I love you--you are the best.

In other news, Lily sucks at soccer.

This is how she spent her soccer season (*season was cut short due to parents unwillingness to give up sleeping in to watch child stand on a field and cry).

It should be recorded that Owen was a referee for the league and he did not stand on the field and cry.

Weekend in Sedona

Sedona is like no other place, two hours from Phoenix too! Last weekend Chad and I went up leaving the kids in grandma's care we knew they'd have just about as much fun as we would. We did a ropes course that is not for the faint of heart. Picture the tallest tree you can, now put a platform around it and there you go. It was pretty sweet. It was fun most of the course, only at one point was I like 'whoa--I'm uncomfortable!' So I clamped my clips on and zip-lined down and carried on with the course. One of the obstacles was a skateboard, suspended between two trees and you had to balance as you skated between them--pretty fun.

Chad and I both love to hike and be outside, we did West fork trail, Chicken little trail and Hi-line trail. The colors were just starting to change so that made it even better. Of course we ate at the Wildflower as Sedona has squat in the way of good food. Good times!

Pat pat pat

Need some reassurance? Because that is something that is totally up this dudes ally. Picture this, you see baby standing on the ground--he sees you. He throws (literally he does this) his hands open wide majestically, cocks his head to the side and runs at you with open arms. Once he reaches you he gives you the hug of a boy who is just giving it all away. It's great. Couldn't be better, but wait--you give him a casual pat. He in turns pats you over and over again. This happens forty eight times per day. It's seriously the best.

A gem of a moment

Right?! I mean coloring and coloring in the nude is just tops. Working on him coloring on paper and leaving the walls along. Half the time he finds a writing implement he can manage the impulse; the other half it's like: color color color color color color color, all I do is color color color and I am an artist and this house is my canvas!

100 year rain in Phoenix!

So over the past month we've had two separate days of '100 year' rainfall--shattering all records of time and eternity for the Phoenix valley.  We had five different roof leaks which was fantastic. Then a few friends and I took our boards and kiddos to the park where they paddle boarded and had an awesome time.

Jack went all around with the kids and was a pro by the time we left. I brought our skim board and the boys worked on their technique; they still suck.

This is not a test.

But if it were, rest assured that she would cheat. She was so proud, thinking that she had solved the problem of the ages: homework.  Thursday she bopped in fresh from the 106 degree heat with a permanent grin. 

"Mom!!! I have finished ALL of my homework!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also made a new best friend. She's very good at math."

I love that she has no idea how to cover-up. She was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that I guessed that her new best friend (a fifth grader) had done her homework for her.

She was crushed that she had to erase all of her "new best friend's" hard word and redo it all herself. Tough luck. Got ya!