Frogs, Frogs and more Frogs

Date: July 30th

Yes it's still July 30th.

Yes it's the never ending action packed day!

Well since Anden's football practice got rained out

and we got home earlier than we expected,

we snagged Owen and headed back out to the wash to go frog hunting.

He also didn't believe us that those cow noises behind our house were frogs! lol

This was the only frog Owen held.

He was totally grossed out by these loud suckers too!

But I took a pic for his parents to prove he's not a wimp lol

Laiky was SO excited to get to come along too!

She was in bed last time and missed out on the excitement.

And go figure she immediately was holding and hugging and mauling a frog.

This kid is scared of nothing!!!

I drew the line however when she tried to kiss it!! uggggghhhh lol

Then Ryan called us down to the water's edge since he found a whole herd full of them!

Then we quickly noticed something was awry.

It's apparently frog mating season.

Uhhhh not what I had planned tonight to give my kids the animal sex ed talk!!! lol

Laiky kept laughing that they were all taking piggyback rides!

Yaaaaaa ummmm that's exactly what they're doing! lol

Ryan was literally peeling them apart from each other!! haha so gross

And only Anden goes thigh deep into that nasty muddy mirky rain water 

to find more frogs.

I guarantee those frogs thought he was a rare monster albino frog with his own long skinny frog legs!

Ryan eventually had to pull all the females out of the bucket because the males...

well let's just say they were NOT gentlemen!!! lol

Chivalry in the Amphibian Kingdom is long gone!

And more videos of our humping oh i mean jumping frogs adventure! ;)

While wandering around Ryan and Anden also stumbled upon a rare albino tarantula.

I thought they were teasing me because I kept saying

I was so scared of a tarantula crawling over my foot while I was out there!!

But oh no.

Apparently the world's only white tarantula lives right behind our back fence.

OK I'm ready to go home folks.

That's something I could have gone without ever knowing!!

I don't think I'll ever get used to creepy crawly desert animals! lol

1st Day of Tackle Football Practice

Date: July 30th

Today was the first official day of Anden's

tackle football practice!!

He was SO excited!!

Last week they had their conditioning camp

and now the regular season starts!

He's playing for the

Cave Creek Falcons

Well about 10 mins into practice the skies got very angry

It was SO windy that equipment, chairs, etc were blowing across the field.

I felt like I was going to blow away too!

I hurried and texted Ryan to see if the storm had hit Anthem yet.

He said it was pouring so hard the streets and backyard were flooded.

And right then the storm hit Cave Creek too!

We rushed to our cars as sideways sheets of rain poured out on us!

Needless to say the 5 minute wait it out turned into a formal cancellation of practice!

And then started the trek back home.

Cave Creek is even more rural than Anthem.

So the streets flood very easily.

And I happen to be driving the stick shift sporty ATS that day instead of my big bus.

We were sliding all over, getting covered in splashes from the bigger vehicles

and could hardly even see out the window.

I was clutching the steering wheel like it was back in the Idaho snowstorms days!

 

 

But of course Anden was able to make a movie to document it! lol

There were downed trees and street lights all along Carefree Highway.

The rain got so intense that I no longer felt safe driving that little car in it.

So we finally had to pull over and wait it out.

We conveniently picked Chili's restaurant

and turned football practice into a Mommy/Anden date night!!

There's always sunshine amongst the storms!

Such a fun little night with my boy.

BFF

Date: July 30th

Pretty much every day I find these two best buddies in the theater in this exact position.

Ahh such cute BFF's cuddled up together on the same chair.

Even though there are 8 comfy reclining chairs. lol

At least it's progress.

They use to actually sit in the same seat of the same chair.

I guess they needed some space from each other! lol

And yes I did sneak this picture and sent it to Owen's older sister! haha

Counting Down the Summer Days

Date: July 30th

It was a cloudy hangover day from the previous night's storm.

So that meant it was cooler outside

which means we could actually play outside without combusting into flames!

Then we tackled the much anticipated (and much dreaded for me) task

of school supply shopping!!

I literally try to pay off my kids each year to just let me go by myself.

But oh no.

They insist on coming along and picking out their own supplies.

Which means the littles are there too.

Which means it's 2 carts full of pure chaos!

But hey if it makes them happy to know they dug to the back of the shelves

 to find the perfect dang notebook,

then it's worth it! lol

And yes we did survive yet another year of school supply shopping!

And yes we seriously have to have two carts

so their precious supplies don't get intermixed.

And really to lock a little kid in each cart!

Who Wears The Pants in This House

Date: July 30th

I know you probably thought it was me that wears the pants in this house.

But nope.

It's not me.

It's these two munchkins! lol

Happy Anthemversary!

Date: July 29th

I threw us a surprise mini party to celebrate a major milestone.

This July is our

TEN YEAR ANTHEMVERSARY!!

Yes, you read that right!

How in the world has 10 years flown by since we moved here?!?!

I figured a decade was something worth celebrating.

So much has happened in 10 years!

I wanted to make sure we took time to reminisce and jot down our blessings!

We looked through this collage of pictures and I told stories about each one.

Anden and I have been here since the beginning!

Then Taylee joined the party 6 wks after we moved here!

Then we filled out our Top 10 Highlights of the 10 Years!

Yes Ryan is a punk that fake yawns right when I take the pic! lol

That's more like it! ;)

Eastlie really concentrated on her paper

So did Laiky!

She drew her whole family! :)

We each read our Top 10 lists.

Then it was dessert time...Rice Krispy Cake with 10 candles!

And yes we did sing "Happy Anthemversary to Us!"

I just love the home we've made, the community, the ward, the friends, the schools, the sports

and most importantly 

THIS FAMILY!!

Here's to another decade of memories!!