DJ drew this orca whale today and wanted to put it on the blog. He is good at drawing and has a great imagination. We just had a good weekend watching General Conference and listening to the words of the Prophet.

Brandon has really decided he is independent these last few weeks. The other day I came in and found him with this...

I don't know if you can tell what it is, but it is a no bake cookie smothered in butter. He ate the whole thing and loved every bite. I was surprised because he usually doesn't like butter on anything.

We have been into making shakes the last few weeks. We have done it so much that Brandon can make one all by himself. So if we say we are not going to have a shake right now, he takes care of it himself.

Teaching Anna the recipe

He makes a mean shake if I say so myself. Watch out Jamba Juice! Brandon also started school this week at Miss Renay's down the street from us. He is loving it! He goes right in without a second thought and has a big smile on his face when he comes out. That is a big improvement from last year. About a week before school started he decided he should start working on his name. That was a big surprise to me too. He has never shown any interest whenever I have tried this with him before. He was so proud of himself when he filled in all the dotted lines. I was too! He is my left handed boy and it is a little trickier.

  first day of school

Brandon and DJ are also in a Lets Play Music class together. I don't have any pictures, but they are loving it and learning a lot.

We have had a some other surprises these last few weeks too. One surprise is that I got called to be the Primary President. I thought I was safe because I was new in the ward and I had just been called to be the primary chorister about 2 months ago. Well, so much for that. I am excited to serve the children in the ward. We really have a great primary.

Another surprise.This one really took us  by surprise... We are expecting another little one! We were told after Anna to not have any more. That was the plan although it was very painful to think that we would never have another one. We had considered adoption. Every time I prayed about it I felt like there was one more child. I just felt peaceful that this one would come in its own time and in its own way. I didn't know that I would ever be pregnant again. So we always made great efforts to make sure I wouldn't get pregnant, but apparently it was time for this one to come and this is the way this one was suppose to come. We are excited and pray that everything will go well with the pregnancy and c-section. So in the beginning of March we will add a cute baby to our family!

My DJ is in kindergarten this year. He was so excited to go. We got to meet his teacher Mrs. Jankunas yesterday. He got dressed in his new school clothes and he was so excited. He repeated his teachers name no less than 30 times to make sure he could remember it. It is kind of a different name. She seems like a neat teacher. I asked DJ if he liked her and he said, "She seems really excited for me!" So I am glad he feels happy with here. Here is a picture before we went to meet the teacher.

Today we got ready extra early and then sat around waiting for it to be time. Except Brandon was having problems getting ready. We took a couple of pictures with his back pack on and went to the car to go to school. We drove up to his school and I said, "Where is your backpack?" He said,  "I didn't bring it. Do I need it for school?"  Apparently we haven't explained everything to him yet. So luckily Danny came with me and he raced home and got the backpack while I dropped DJ off at his class, and then went back in and gave him his back pack. I can't wait to see how he does today. It is an exciting day!

My Brandon boy is 4. He is such a fun little boy. We had a great time celebrating with him. Ususally he is quite grumpy on his birthday, but this birthday he changed. He was so happy and excited all day. Danny made him breakfast and DJ colored this sign. Then we went swimming in the morning. The water was nice and cold. Danny took Brandon out for lunch. Then he took a nice nap. We had the Grandma and Grandpa King and Sheri and Carlie over for dinner and cake and ice cream. 5:30 couldn't come fast enough. Brandon was anxiously waiting to open his presents. He has been so happy with his birthday presents. Anna doesn't understand why he doesn't want to share them yet. Here are a few pictures from the day.

A birthday nap

Brandon's cake by request.

The party guests

Such a fun birthday! We love you brandon!

This month flew right by. I can't believe it is over. We did some fun things this month. We started the month at the cabin for the 4th of July. It was such a nice time. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of that stay.

We had a fun family dance and did sparklers that night. On Saturday morning we went fishing at Fred's lake. The kids were thrilled with the results. Each of them caught at least one fish. DJ caught 1 catfish and 1 rainbow trout. Anna caught a rainbow trout and Brandon got a rainbow trout too! Then we got to eat them for dinner that night. The kids were not thrilled. DJ liked the fish though. It was fun. We had a great weekend of games and fun. 

After staying at the cabin for a couple weeks the kids and I came back home. We decided to visit the Childrens Museum with Sarah and Lori's families. Here are some pictures of the fun there.

Dj could have played there the whole day. It was fun for all ages, but I would say 5-8 year olds would probalby appreciate it the most. We were glad we went.

After a while we decided it was time to get back to the cabin. It was so nice. It was cool and rained almost every afternoon. The kids had a lot of fun in the rain and mud. Danny came up and played with us the last couple days. We went crawdad fishing with him and all the other cousins. We caught 66 crawdads in an hour. It was a lot of fun. The kids were thrilled. The secret is licorice for bait. Here are the few picutures I took. I didn't realize I had brought my camara until the last couple days.What a fun moth of July!

I am so sad i didn't get before and after pictures of our home, but I do have the after pictures and I thought I would put a few of them up on the blog. We are starting to feel settled here. This is a great home.

Enjoy the pictures.

I haven't written about this, but I didn't want to forget this experience we had. Four months ago we had a sad thing happen in Utah. Our Bishop lost two of his granddaughters to because of a pesticide that was put near their home. It leaked out a poisonous phosphine gas and these girls got sick from it and died. We were and still are so hurt and sad for this family. We wanted to do something for them. DJ had a good idea to do a bake sale. So, we put fliers up to everyone in our ward boundaries. Then we started to bake.  We baked bread, cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, more bread, more cookies. Other people volunteered to bring more baked goods as well. I thought we were well prepared. The Bake Sale was from 2-6.  We had a steady line the whole time. By 3:30, I started thinking we might not have enough. Thanks to Steve and Krista who stopped by to buy things, and instead started baking more cookies for me. By 5 I was down to just a few things and taking orders for me to bake after the sale was over. It was a wonderful experience. People were so giving and kind. We had a lot of donations on top of the things they bought. In the end we made over $700. We felt so happy we could help this family out by giving them something, but also being able to provide an opportunity for other people that wanted to do something for this family a chance to give. I was completely overwhelmed by the love people had. Here are some pictures from this experience.

  Here is DJ's sign he decorated for the door.

DJ was very good at collecting money from everyone. We filled up 2 of these jars!

This is the sweet Mom we gave the "Bake sel" money to. She was so sweet and filled with the spirit. I know she still cries most days for the loss of her 2 sweet girls.

Here is a link to their story.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700009002/Toone-family-cherishes-memories-of-their-young-daughters.html 

This made me want to be a better mom and cherish the short time I have with my children. You never know what the 

Lord's plan is, and each day is a gift.

I am so proud of DJ for thinking of helping others. We learned a lot from this experience. 

We have now been in AZ about 4 weeks. We have been so happy here with family. The kids have adjusted quite well. In fact, Brandon declared proudly to my Mom on the 3rd day here, "I'm and Arizona Boy!" The kids have loved our pool. We go swimming at least 2 times a day. We have been able to spend a lot of time with my Grandparents (Papa and Mama) too. There are a few things we will miss about Utah though. We miss the our back yard and front yard. Here is a picture of the kids in front of our Utah house the day we moved out.

We don't miss this though

This was snow at the end of April. They got more like this in Ut at the end of May this year! 

We went to a few more places we loved before we left UT and DJ finished a great Soccer season. Here  are some random pictures of things we did in Utah the month before we left.

The Wood Park in Pleasant Grove.

Lots of COLD soccer games. DJ was really getting the hang of Soccer at the end.

One of favorite places in Utah. Kangaroo ZOO!

The Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

These are a few thing we loved to do in Utah. A few more things I miss are the view of Mt Timpanogas from my back window,the big kitchen, the fun playset in our backyard, and all the wonderful people we me there. Utah was very good to us. We have a lot of good memories there. 

1. Went to College in Utah

2. Dated and got engaged to Danny in Utah

3. Danny and I Graduated with a Bachelors in Utah

5. Bought our first house in Utah

6. Danny's first 2 real jobs in Utah

7. Got my Masters Degree in Utah

So as you can see in 10 years of living in Utah, I feel like I have accomplished a lot and changed a lot.

We love being here in AZ though. As Brandon says, "I'm an Arizona Boy!" Arizona still feels like home even after all of these years away, But Utah will always be a special place for us too!

Anna is growing up quickly. She recently had her 2nd birthday. She talks very well. She can say anything she wants too and most the time we understand everything she is saying. She loves her brothers and can keep up with everything they do. She wants to be with them all of the time. She loves her baby dolls and carries them all around the house. She really loves Dora the Explorer. She has a cute Dora the Explorer bed she has been sleeping in since January

Anna also loves a great reaction. She loves to bother Brandon because she always gets a very dramatic reaction. She was so excited for her birthday. She kept telling everyone "my birthday is coming up!" One time she said that to Danny and the boys and they all got excited and cheered. She clasped her hands together and said, "I am so excited!" We went to the Aquarium here in Sandy for her birthday. It was a lot of fun. Then we went down to Provo for cupcakes with Tim and Audrey, and Steve and Krista. Here are some pictures of her day.

We sure love our litte Anna Girl. Happy Birthday!

Earlier this month we took a somewhat surprise trip to Arizona. We were able to drive in and surprise Danny's brother Spencer who was just about to open his Mission call. He was called to Thailand!!! We all had made a guess and DJ guessed Thailand. Woohoo! Brandon guessed Disneyland (or maybe Bug land in California Adventures Park), and when we asked Anna where she thought Spencer would go she said Milk. You can decide where you thing that may be. Anyways, we were so happy we were able to be there for that exciting moment. I love this picture with everyones faces as he reads Thailand.

Danny went back to Utah after a couple days, but the kids and I stayed for just over 2 weeks. It was perfect. My sister Sarah had her baby girl Rachelle while we were down there. I got to hold her and love her a little bit at the hospital. The kids got to see her when she was just under 2 weeks old. Brandon and Anna wanted to hold her.She is such a sweet baby!

Mostly we just played outside all day everyday and we got to see a lot of family! Here are some random things that we did.

The boys and Anna got to plant a few Cacti with Grandpa King in the Cactus garden at Park of Canals. They worked hard.

We did a lot of this...

I love this one. Please do not bother Lacy. She is busy reading a book:)

 The boys got to help Papa Dad turn his garden too. They had a great time!

We loved being there so much we are moving down there at the beginning of May!!!