good times

Swimming at the clubhouse with Grandma Olsen and Kyleigh!

coloring easter eggs

Grandma Olsen and Kyleigh were house sitting for Sheila for a couple of weeks, so the kids got to spend some time with them. They spent this morning swimming for 3 hours and then came home to color Easter eggs. As you can see they all had a great time!

baseball

It is really fun to go to Garrett's baseball games and cheer him on. His team decided to call themselves the White Knights. It is such a great time to spend with the other families and friends. Grace and Jack have lots of fun playing with all the baseball siblings in the shade. I am sure by the last game we will all be cooking in the sun, but for now it is perfect!

gracie

the boys of summer

Just hanging out in the pool on a HOT afternoon!

1st day of school 2009

our christmas tree

Here is our glorious Christmas tree. Before we moved we had decided that we would just get a fake tree this year and from now on so we got rid of our tree stand. Well, here it is 10 days before Christmas and we went for a real tree after all. So, two tree sellers, and a tree stand later here is our tree.

I was actually quite surprised how not dry the selection of trees was considering we are in Arizona and most of these trees have been on the lot for several weeks already. The trees on the lots are kept in buckets of water and they are also sprayed down during the day to keep them wet.
Decorating the tree with 3 children is always an adventure, and just for future reference, glass balls break on laminate flooring. We only broke a couple, thank goodness because that is a big mess to clean up. I put up all the really heavy or nice ornaments and I just let the kids have at it. I am not going to rearrange the ornaments unless they fall off. There are some areas of ornament clumping, but that is just how it is going to be. After all, it will only be up a couple of weeks anyway.


I only put out some of the presents even though the kids have been looking at them for a week in our family room. I wanted to have at least some surprise on Christmas morning. I am hoping they will forget how much they have already seen. It is definitely different to have all the presents from grandparents around our tree. It will certainly be a different Christmas for everyone.


When you walk in the front door of our house the tree is straight ahead. On the right is our china cabinet and then the kitchen/dining room. On the left is the family room/TV setup and thru a doorway are the bedrooms. Eventually, I will get everything put away enough to take pictures of the whole house.

the boys

Just some random pictures of the boys in the back yard. They are collecting rocks, just what I need around the house.

These are my fruit trees-orange, tangerine, lemon, lime and grapefruit. That bush thing in the front has the most dangerous looking spikes on the leaves that you have ever seen. The kids have been spearing the grapefruits on them.

big news

So some of you have heard by now, we are going to be moving to Chandler, Arizona towards the end of this year. Richard will be going to school at the Golf Academy of America.

It is a 16 month program and at the end of it he will have a degreen in Golf Course Management. He will also be able to be a golf pro at a golf course.

We are very excited for the opportunities that this will bring for our family. Of course we are also nervous about moving to Arizona. I am probably more nervous than Richard, he can't wait!

The kids are excited, of course they really don't know what is going on other than the fact that we are moving once again. Hopefully once we are done with school we will be able to settle down and even buy a house of our own (Yeah!).

Richard has already moved to Arizona to work, he is living with his cousin Sheila while we are looking for a place to live. The kids and I have moved in with my parents and will be there until Thanksgiving. I will not be able to blog regularly for the next month, my computer is packed up and I don't know how to use my mom's laptop that well.

Once we are moved and get the computer/internet set up I will hopefully be able to post more regularly to keep everyone updated.

Wish us luck!