Saturday, March 21, 2009

spring break fun

We were able to go to Pinetop and spend about 5 days with Grandma and Grandpa Wessel and
Aunt Jenny and Aunt Kaitlin for spring break. An extra bonus were that Avery and Tierney
(cousins) were there also. We had such a great time. We enjoyed the cooler weather, played
a lot outside and in, and enjoyed being with each other! Here are a few things that we did
during our visit.
Isabel, Avery, Jacob, Sofia and Tierney cheesing it up for the camera!



Grandpa Wessel is awesome! He has DDR for us to play when we visit. Jacob and Sofia really
enjoyed playing...not to mention me, Grandma, and Aunt Kaitlin! good times!


We played lots of games with grandma. she is so much fun and has fun with her grandkids.


We spent quite a lot of time playing at Woodland Lake Park. The weather was perfect and the
kids seemed to have a great time swinging, climbing and playing on the toys.

Jacob


Sofia


Isabel (helping Avery) isn't she nice!


They sure were good about posing for me whenever Iasked! Here we are on the dock bothering
the fishermen!

Crossing the bridge as we walked around the lake. Where the kids are standing on the bridge,
we are about a half mile by trail to grandmas backyard. What a place to live!

On our walk around the lake.



Sofia and Tierney helping each other along!


Posing on the covered bridge as we continue our walk around the lake. We were all quite hungry when this picture was taken, not sure if all of us would make it back before we died of starvation!


Grandma had all sorts of crafts for the kids to do. They were able to make bead necklaces, little animal figure clips and beaded hot pad holders! They were quite in heaven! Thanks grandma!




We fed the ducks at the lake. Always a hit, although when we went on this day they weren't
seeming very hungry, must have been fed before we arrived.







We also hiked to walnut creek. The trail starts behind grandmas house. It was quite a hike
with all these kids. They did surprisingly well, although by the time we dragged home we
were all ready for naps!


stopping during the hike for a group photo! sofia, jacob, tierney, isabel, and avery


looking for crawdads, water bugs and frogs. didn't find any except tons of water bugs.




avery and sofia hiking out.


another stop at the top for ANOTHER group photo!


Jacob and Avery seem to be good buds. Here I found him holding her hand kind of pulling
her along. This was at the end of our hike, almost to grandmas house.


It was hard to pack up the car and return home to Mesa after all of our fun. I seem to miss the tall pines surrounding me wherever I go and the wind whistling through them! I think that I enjoyed the winter too much in Mesa because the thought of summer coming just makes me ill!I might need to make a return home to the mountains, just not sure how that would happen or when! Jenny, Kaitlin and I were also able to go on long bike rides which was fun. My mom and dad have some awesome bikes...sorry no pictures of us riding. Good times!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

orange blossoms

My kids and I went on a walk after church on Sunday. We just walked a few streets in our neighborhood. Every orange tree we passed was full of these yummy smelling blossoms! I love this smell. Anyone who lives here in the valley knows what I am talking about. They are so fragrant and seem to be everywhere! The flowers are piled up under trees, and the trees are full of little white flowers. The smell seems to be everywhere! MMMMMMMMMMM!Luckily for us, right now we live in a home that has three orange trees in the backyard, so I'm even more surrounded than I've ever been. I love the smell of these little flowers. It brings back memories of visiting my Grandma Wessel in Sun City. We would drive down from Pinetop to visit her many times. Three day weekends, summer visits, and valley shopping trips would bring us to her door. I don't have many memories. I just don't remember things like many people do, but I remember getting out of the car late at night and smelling this deliciously yummy fragrant smell! I remember how warm the air would seem, especially late and night and after driving down from the cold mountains. The drive would take about 4 hours. I remember that the longest and worst part of the drive was once we hit Apache Junction...it would always take one whole hour to drive across the valley to Sun City. It would take FOREVER! Grandma Wessel was the best grandma. She took such good care of us. Always had her fridge stocked with our favorite foods, her pantry had our favorite snacks and cereals. She had a few little glass bowls around her condo always full of candy. We would go mini golfing and swimming across the street at her rec center. She was super sweet and just wanted us girls to have fun and be happy. She passed away in 2005 at the age of 91. I sure miss her! My Grandpa Wessel passed away when I was too little to remember him, but my grandma was always there. Anyway, walking down the street on Sunday brought back all these great memories of grandma. I love these trees. These are pictures of the trees in my backyard. They don't seem to be doing so great, I don't think they have been taken care of too well, but do smell yummy!