September 2015

Joe & Bev (AKA: Papa Joe & Nana) visited us in Arizona for a Labor Day camping trip.  We took them to Whitehorse Lake and had a fun time kayaking, making smores, and sleeping in tents.  Back in the city, we all went to see Wicked at the Gamage Theatre.

Matt and I accepted a leadership position with our church, SBC (Scottsdale Bible Church), with the children's ministry.  We'll be running the Missions & Me program - geared toward providing opportunities for families to serve together in our community and abroad.  Our first introduction was this month.

Now that it's fall, horse lessons and flag football have started up again.  The kids are happy to get back into these activities.

We played our first game of Monopoly this month - with each person playing their positions independently.  We played for several nights keeping the game going at the kitchen table.  For a game lover like me - this was so fun!!



Jodie had another college friend, Hilary, come into town with her family.  Jodie and the kids met them for a few hours at the Desert Ridge Marriott for some swimming and chatting.  This was the third college friend Jodie got to see this year.  Wow.

August 2015

Wow, what a month! Our family trip to South Dakota and Nebraska began in July and ended on August 5th.  We met Joe & Bev (Jodie's parents) and Sarah (Jodie's neice) in SD.  Our many adventures include: Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, The Badlands, and Pine Ridge Reservation.  In NE we attended the 50th Anniversary Neihardt Day, honoring John G. Neihardt, Poet Laureate Emeritus of Nebraska.  Jodie's sisters, Rhonda & Tonya, surprised everyone to attend this special occasion.



Standing on the arm of Crazy Horse Memorial

Mount Rushmore

John G. Neihardt's home/study

 

We celebrated Micah's birthday, as a family, surprising him with T.G.I. Friday's seats at the Diamondbacks game for Randy Johnson's number retirement celebration.  Baxter came up to say hi!

Our annual week in Flagstaff with Aunt Alice and Uncle Charlie was the second week of August.  It was perfect timing because Micah wanted an America Ninja Warrior birthday party.  We hosted it at Flagstaff Extreme and the boys had a blast!

We had lots of mini golf games, movies, cookouts, swimming, and great memories!! Thanks Alice & Charlie.  :)

Matt started a "push-up contest" with the kids.  Through the month they were to 'prepare'.  The kids were to combine their number of push-ups to Matt's.  The winner/s would get ice cream.  On the night of their competition Matt did 50, Micah did 30, and Lilly did 80 (she just stopped because she could).  It was crazy funny!!

Sometime in this month Micah had a growth spurt and is now taller than me (Jodie).



July 2015

We stayed close to home for 4th of July, spending it with friends, swimming, eating, and watching awesome fireworks!
The kids and I have started our "summer pool table tournament" - Micah's making some pretty good shots.
Our friends, the Eager family, from LaPaz, Mexico began their furlough and came over for hanging out, slip n' slip, World Cup, and pizza.

Riches & Eagers

We had a mini golf play date with Jodie's college friend, Amy E., and daughter, at Castles and Coasters.  Then we tried a glow-in-the-dark mini golf with other friends.
Ready, aim, fire - we went out to the backyard for a family water balloon fight!

Matt accepted a new position within Honeywell, this month, as a Principle Project Engineer.  So after 19 years in Manufacturing, he moved over into engineering.   He is helping teams estimate the cost of new projects and products, working to make the estimates more accurate and less costly.   The job change also allowed him to work from the Deer Valley plant, which is only 5 miles from the house – a much easier commute.

June 2015

Summer fun begins!

We'll be watching our neighbor's baby, Dagley, for the summer.  Dagley is 4 months old and we are super excited.  He goes everywhere with us!  We're signed up for the Harkins Summer Movie Fun with some friends and also VBS at North Bible Church.  We were invited to partner with the missions class and share about our ministry of CARECANS.  We collected supplies to fill 300 tennis ball containers for the homeless.

Micah and Lilly both participated in camps this month.  Lilly went to Under The Son, where she does horse lessons for a 3-day camp.  She didn't mind the early mornings to be able to spend 3 hours with the horses.  Micah tried tennis for the first time.  He did this with his friend, Brady (and his sisters).  They were both during the same week.

In addition to the amazing fun days playing with friends ... (see below) Micah participated in the All-Stars for baseball (runner-up for Championship), and he had a great time dissecting a palo verde beetle (that thing was huge!).



May 2015

We traveled to Florida for the exciting family gathering to attend Christopher's high school graduation (Jodie's nephew).  He'll be attending the University of Florida - go Gators!  While in Florida we had a wonderful afternoon visiting with Jodie's Aunt Vivian and her babies - Skyler Jo and Savannah Belle.
Micah had his piano recital, playing Arabesque - Burgmuller and The Blessing Story - Laura Story.
Lilly was so excited to be promoted to the Pre-Team in gymnastics that she pulled out her "phone" to call everyone.  (Yes, it's a rock.)
Jodie had a great time visiting with her college friend, Erin H., and her boys while they were visiting her brother in Scottsdale.

April 2015

Matt and I celebrated our 15th anniversary with a hike up Tom's Thumb.  It was a beautiful day and my first time to hike that trail.  We had a great time attending the Diamondbacks' Opening Game with the Taggarts and Cooks.

We celebrated Sammy's 16th birthday.  She had some of her doggie friends over (yes, they also wore party hats!) - Bella and Maggie.
We attended our first Christian concert as a family - Phillips, Craig, and Dean with opening act David Britton (a dear friend of ours).  It was an awesome evening!
Lilly participated in the Devo Jungle Showcase for gymnastics.

Sweet Sixteen for Sammy!

March 2015

Matt had some great opportunities for one-on-one with the kids this month.  He took Lilly to the Father/Daughter Sock Hop at church.  They had a blast dancing the night away!  With Micah, they invited some father/son friends to join them for the Tales From The Dugout event.  They heard several celebrities tell about living out their faith while playing professional baseball.

Jodie donated 10" to Locks of Love in support of her friend, Erin.  In her zeal to eliminate chemicals from the house, she made her first batches of laundry and dishwasher detergents.

The kids enjoy creating board game competitions for their Beanie Boos and Micah's baseball season began.