Tonto Natural Bridge

If you asked me to come up with a list of our family's favorite activities, hiking would definitely be at the top of the list. It gets tough in winter, since we have to drive a while to find somewhere warm enough to hike (plus Marnie still hates riding in the car), but on days when we do go, I always end up telling myself, "we should do this EVERY weekend!" 

Last weekend's hike took us a measly hour and a half from our house. Embarrassing as it is, we've driven within 10 miles of this place a million times, but we've never been able to stop there. 

We had the best time getting up close with this wonder of nature. 

Sweet Six

This year Britt's birthday celebration lasted twice as long as usual. His last day of the semester was Friday, so we made snake cookies to take to his class. After school I took him and his buddy Maxx (and Marnie) bowling, then we went out for ice cream. Friday night was the family party; complete with an ice cream cake, lots of adorably geeky presents, and fireworks.

Saturday morning (Britt's sixth birthday), we packed up and headed to Phoenix to finish our Christmas shopping and have some fun. We went to pet stores so Britt could get a closer look and decide exactly which kind of snake to ask Santa for, spent time with Jordan, Kait, Beck, and Abbi, and did some shopping. Britt's restaurant choice for his birthday dinner was Pei Wei. We decided it would be fun to take our dinner to Papago Park for a picnic. It worked out perfectly, because there was a pond full of ducks (that were almost as excited as Britt was that we had brought half a box of crackers), and it meant we were right next to the Phoenix Zoo. During our dinner, we surprised Britt and Marnie with Britt's last birthday present- tickets to go to Zoolights as soon as we were done eating. Britt couldn't have been more excited. Well... he may have been a little more excited when he realized that he had a wallet full of birthday money to spend on whatever he wanted from the zoo gift shop. He ended up with a rattlesnake that sprays water and a stuffed blue jay. :) 

We sure love our Britter Critter!

^Beck tried to eat my lens cover! And it was precious.  :)

They may not be all smiles in these next pictures, but trust me, we had fun.  :) 

End of the Year Answers

At least once a year, I like to fill out a list of "favorites" and random questions for Britt and Marnie. It's fun to look back at the things they were into at different ages, and how their tastes change. These are their answers, word for word.

Britt

favorite...

color:    green

food:    chicken

song:   Mah Na Mah Na (from The Muppets) or the meh-meh-meh song on the record with the people in the animal costumes {he means Midnight City, by M83} 

TV show:    Phineas & Ferb...or Wild Kratts

movie:    How to Train Your Dragon

snack:    popcorn

game:    Zelda, on the Wii

drink:    caramel milk

dessert:    popsicles

animal:    armadillo, bat, tiger, snake, cardinal, and...lion

restaurant:    Pei Wei

sport:    I can't say. I haven't tried them all yet.

holiday:    Halloween

day of the week:   Friday

toy:   my big Toothless

season:   Winter

book:   Dolphin Tale  {we've never read that book...}

Favorite thing to do:   It depends. In the daytime, my favorite thing is drawing, but at night I like to watch movies and snuggle with Dad.

I can't sleep without...  my armadillo

When I grow up, I want to be...   a zoologist

What makes me happiest is...   playing in white fluffy snow, pizza night, looking at nature, hiking with my family and discovering what things are in the wild

side note: I can. not. believe. that this boy will be 6 next week!

Marnie

favorite...
color:    yellow, and purple, and pink, and white

food:    macaroni and cheese
song:   If I Only Had a Brain...and Life's a Happy Song {from The Muppets}
TV show:   Team Umizoomi
movie:   The Wizard of Oz
snack:   goldfish and happy face fruit snacks and pretzels
game:   Zingo
drink:   hot cocoa
dessert:   popsicles
animal:   dolphins and sea horses
restaurant:   Pizza Hut  {we've been there once}
sport:   T-Ball
holiday:   Fourth of July
day of the week:   Friday {pretty sure she's just copying Britt on this one...}
toy:   princess little people
season:   sunshine {how cute is that?}
book:   Fancy Nancy or Junie B. Jones
Favorite thing to do:   read
I can't sleep without...   my fuzzy red blankie
When I grow up, I want to be...   a big girl wolf...or a daddy  {oookay...}
What makes me happiest is...  hugs, hot cocoa, food, when daddy dances with me, when puppy stands up like people do

{Those two -and their handsome daddy- are my favorite.}

:.`.:.`.:snow:.`.:.`.:

This past Thursday, the forecast predicted 1-2 inches of snow accumulation overnight. We were awakened around midnight by the sounds of branches breaking and falling all over town. Justin and I hardly slept that night, because the breaking branches were so loud. I got up to let the dog out (he was having trouble sleeping too) at 2:30am, and we had about 6 inches of wet, heavy snow. It fell straight down and piled up quickly. We were glad that the branches right outside our bedroom window held strong and didn't come crashing through in the middle of the night. I measured 13 inches of snow at 8:00 Friday morning, and later in the day my dad measured 18 inches at their house (1/4 mile away). Britt had his first no-school Snow Day, and loved every minute of it.

We took a little drive on Friday, and found lots of trees like this around town. Some crashing down on power lines, some pulverizing fences, and even some on cars and rooftops.

There were breathtakingly beautiful sights too...

My dad shoveled the driveway at my parents' house and piled the snow to make the Matterhorn 2.0 in their yard. It settled overnight, and in these pictures it's a few feet shorter than it originally was. It was still a BLAST though. :) My dad's goal this year was to get someone all the way across the yard, and he did it! Marnie slid from their driveway aaaaaallllll the way to the short brick wall at the end of their yard.

Best picture of the entire day...

i fall in love every.single.time

I know every mom feels this way, but sometimes when I look at my kids, it takes my breath away. When I was a goofy 16-year-old girl with a monumental crush on my Justin, I never had a clue how beautiful our children would be. They definitely got their fair share of good genetics. :)

Halloween 2011

My little ghouls. :)

Britt wanted to be a mad scientist this year, so I whipped up a little lab coat for him (don't tell, but the pattern I used is from a 1969 girls' dress pattern that my mom and I found in my Grandma's old boxes of patterns). We had so much fun putting his costume together. I wasn't originally going to add the wild eye brows, but when he tried on the entire costume I thought it was missing a certain flair, so we went for it. ;)

Marnie wanted to be Medusa, so we got a few creepy looking snakes and attached them to a play tiara with some fishing line. I spray painted the whole thing gold, and voila! My mom happened upon some sparkly blue/green fabric in a clearance bin, and it worked out perfectly for her dress. I tied a gold rope around the waist, and she wore her favorite pair of sandals. Cute, yet scary. Just like the real Medusa. :)

I was a zombie chef. Easy peasy. :)

It's fun having so many grandparents close to us. Trick or treat!

I think our favorite part of Halloween this year was that no one (NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US) was sick! That hasn't happened since 2007. Hooray! The spell is broken! :)