retail therapy and guys night out.

friday, october 22, 2010.

today i shopped 'til i dropped hurt all over. i hit ulta, michael's, famous footware, last chance, stopped for lunch at pick up stix, spirit halloween store, marshall's, target, the dollar store, the 99 cent store, then back to the halloween store! phew. so glad the boys were with my parents...i was able to purchase everything we needed for our halloween costumes!!! i made a stop off at home to take joshua and t.j. to the light rail. they were meeting up with two of joshua other friends to head to a pre season suns game. chuckie and shannon couldn't go, so they gave their tickets to us. we couldn't find another couple that could get a sitter, so joshua got to have a guys night out and i got to do some more retail therapy. when i got home, joshua enlisted t.j's help to take his welded art projects over to john and michelle's. they were going to take some of his work along to a show they were in. not sure if it's the right market, but we are excited to see how it goes.

our last day in yarnell:joshua's welding project, yarnell park, and a lizard habitat.

tuesday, august 3, 2010.

today is the last day of our incredible vacation. we are bummed to have to return to life as normal, but feel so fortunate to have been able to escape the heat for as long as we have! we pray God's blessings on all who made this vacation possible!!! i just cleaned all day, trying to erase any evidence that we had been at the cabin. i way underestimated the time it would take, but it looked a lot better when we left than it did before i started cleaning, though i could never do as good a job as my ma;) i managed to sweep up all kind of rocks and dirt the boys tracked in, cleaned all the fingerprints and sticky stuff off the stainless appliances, and washed away all evidence of toddler inaccuracies in the bathroom. sorry i couldn't finish the upstairs though maaa...!

joshua spent most of his time outside finishing the contraption he's welding for my poppy. it's two removable shelves to display huge redwood slabs that my poppy wants to sell.

it's a good practice piece. joshua is constantly improving!

then joshua took the boys to the park for a little while, to get them out of my hair, so i could mop without them crossing the floor every 5 minutes:)

he got such cute pics of the boys! i was impressed.

love it.

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climbing.

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ah oh. i now this face. poor joshua. hahaha.

abe's excited. looks like levi's crashing.

digging.

levi blowing spit bubbles.

levi in better spirits.

such muddy shoes!!!

tall grasses.

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levi must have taken this of pops.

thirsty.

cool rock house.

shark rock.

levi made a little habitat for a lizard he caught!

the gave him sand and rocks and a stick. he tried to feed him leaves.

our little lizard pet. we had to let him got before we left though. levi was so upset:(

*the boys and i left the cabin at 11:58 pm. joshua didn't leave until 12:30am! luckily we were able to get a hold of stacy so she could turn our air down for us!!! the house was perfect when we got home. thanks stac.

creepy crawly, joshua's welding, and more yukon rides.

monday, august 2, 2010.

this big guys was creeping really slowly through the cabin. luckily joshua was there to capture him. he let him go outside though!!! hope he doesn't find his way back into the house. he looked prehistoric.

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joshua grinding down a weld. he's making a contraption that hooks onto the side of my pops trailer to display redwood he has for sale.

no flash. sparks flying.

the boys wearing ear protection so they can watch.

watching.

i love how ear protection pushes abraham's chubby check together!

yukon dashboard. star setting. this is the feature i wish i discovered when we were playing with sparklers in illinois. i wanted to try a "picasso's bull" type photo. or see if we could spell our names. oh well, now i know for next year!

yukon passengers.

yukon drivers. we saw deer grazing in a field, but it was too dark to get a picture:(

our last full day in illinois. part one: morning metal.

monday, july 23, 2010. joshua was gone all morning at the farm doing his "favorite thing", WELDING goodies for the fam.

WOW. we couldn't believe it. joshua made a BACKHOE out of random scraps of metal for uncle ralphf!

aunt mic and her new wall hanging. it's like the one joshua made for joey, but with a twist. pics below will show the difference.

uncle ralphy coming to see his gift. everyone was so impressed with joshua's newest creation!

levi checking it out. the seat moves from front to back too.

aunt mic's wall hanging looks awesome against the bricks.

here's the twist. this one is more three dimensional.

so when the porch light shines on it, it casts cool shadows.

this is the cross joshua made for aunt mic and uncle ralph when they came to visit us in arizona in march. it also looks fab on their yellowish brick.