We're Alive!!!!

I had a friend call and check up on me today because she hadn't seen me in a while and wondered if I had fallen off the face of the earth. So much has happened since July when I posted last, but I'll just fill in the major blanks and not bore you will itty bitty details-You're welcome!

Robby:

-Loves to make the kids laugh. He is so good at changing their moods from grumpy to happy!

-Been up on the roof trying to fix our swamp cooler so that we can turn the air off and save some money.

-Was released from Elder's Quorum Secretary and hasn't received a new calling yet.

-Stays busy with our computer company, and loves to solve odd problems.

Kim:

-Was called in September to be the Young Women's Secretary.

-Found out we were pregnant September 19, but we had a miscarriage on October 12 when I was 7 1/2 weeks along.

-Drove for the first time to drop-off and pick up at the airport this week! Ahhhhhh that Scary!!!

-Made a "Wheel of Intouch" game for our networking group and got to be Vanna Kim!

-Finished all the gifts for the little cousins and friends for Christmas EARLY! Now to start on everyone else's gifts!

Emily:

-Loves preschool. She had a hard time being dropped off in the beginning, but now she goes in without a problem. Thank you Dairy Queen kid sized cones for being a great reward incentive!

-Loves cutting everything with scissors! She cuts so well at preschool on the lines! But right now she's grounded from scissors because she cut her hair again on the right side.

-Is going to be a cowgirl for Halloween and is counting the days.

-Starting to recognize words and might soon start reading!

-Has great hearing-when it's in her favor. She has a great memory and can repeat pretty much everything you tell her, especially if I'm trying to get out of something. We went to Mother Nature's Farm and she told my mom 'The kids cost $7 and the adults cost $3." She said it in her most adult voice with attitude! It made everyone smile! Her hearing goes out the window if you tell her to clean, get jammies on, or do something she's not hip on doing!

Nathan:

-Turned 2 on October 12. We had a construction themed party for him.

-Loves vehicles, mostly trucks (he calls the rucks)

-Loves to play outside with Emily. If we can't find Nathan, we just look outside and there he is covered in dirt!

-Going to be a cowboy for Halloween and got boots for his birthday. He calls them oots and shows everyone that will pay attention!

-Will walk up to anyone, win them over with his cuteness, and get them to do things for him. For example, we were at a park and he walked up to another mom he didn't know, and took her by the hand and took her over to the toy he wanted to play on and pointed that he wanted to be picked up. She did just want he wanted, all while a friend and I were laughing that the lady fell for his big blue eyes!

Our family is doing well and we have received so much love and support recently. We are so grateful for everyone that has thought of us and taken time out of their busy schedules to check on us and let us know they're thinking of us. That means so much to us-Thank you!

Stapley Pool

July 16th we were invited to a customer appreciate party by JB Water. They fed us subs and rented out the Stapley pool for us! I definitely feel appreciated! They are a great company who takes care of our water distiller.

Our whole family was able to go, and we all got in the water but mom. But that turned out well, because our thin-blooded little man got out to sit with Nana after only 30 minutes in the water. It was 115 degrees that day, probably 100 degrees that night, and he was COLD! Very silly boy!

Cabin Trip July 2009

We were able to take our friends the Richardsons up to the cabin the 10-12 of July. We had tons of fun with great friends!

I drove our van with Jennifer and the kids up Friday morning. I did so well, not speeding, watching blind spots, cautious of other drivers. I even had water squirted on my leg and feet when Emily's sippy cup of water that had pressurized on the trip up squirted on my foot as I was driving. All was great until I got into Prescott Valley. The speed limit changed from 65 to 55 and then there were the cameras a few seconds later! I was slowing down, but I was going about 67, and I got flashed by the speeding camera. As of yet, I haven't received a ticket, but I know its coming soon. :( The bummer part is I was going with traffic, so either they catch all of us, or none of us, right? We shall see.

Friday we played around the cabin, set stuff up, started the Clam Chowder/Potato Soup, and played with crafts.

The Robs arrived at 9:30 that night, and we sent the kids off to bed. Emily was so tired after playing all day with her friends that she had a fitful night and didn't calm down and really sleep until 2:30. So I was up really late that Friday night. Poor girl, me and Emily.

Saturday we set off for an adventure. We played in the park, walked in the dry creek bed and went looking for pinecones. Then we saw a flyer for Mary Poppins at the Fire House in Groom Creek. I knew the general area of the Fire House, but not the exact location. So on with the adventure! We ended up not finding it, but we decided to go "off roading" and cut through the "wilderness" back to the cabin. It took longer than we expected, and Robby ended up carrying Nathan on his shoulders most of the way, but we had a great time looking at nature up close. That night the Richardsons watched our kids for us so that we could take a walk for a little date. It was wonderful. We walked up Old Miner's road and found the old mine up there. Robby didn't have his flash light, so he was sad he couldn't explore. We saw a deer on the road walking up, and she was beautiful. I was sad because the kids couldn't see it. But the time alone was great, and we were able to enjoy nature at the same time!

Sunday we packed up in the morning and then set off for another adventure. We decided to take the kids up to the mine, and this time Robby remembered his flashlight. He walked in to explore and said the opening goes in about 100 ft. At the very end there was a mail box that had Geo Cash stuff inside, so he put our last name and the date, and that was exciting for Robby to play the "I was here" game. We got lucky and saw a deer on our walk up this time with everyone, and she just stared at us, but then again she was across the creek on the other side far away! In the afternoon it started raining, and so we sent the kids outside to play while we finished getting things cleaned up. I love the smell of rain in the mountains! There is nothing like it. Plus it dropped the temperature by at least 10 degrees, and brought a great breeze into the cabin!

The trip home was great, no incidents! Both kids fell asleep on the way, then slept all night long! We can't wait to go up again in a few weeks with some more friends!

Still here...

Yes, I'm still here. I have so many things to post about, so now I'm just trying to figure out what to do first! But I hope to post tonight all that's been happening her at the Sandling homestead!

To hold you over until then, here is a picture of the family at Stapley pool the other night. I like this picture because everyone is smiling, and you can't see my pastie white body! (as Robby calls it-LOL)

Funny

I saw this on a friends blog and laughed my head off (yes, I'm tired!) I had to stay up long enough to say I was STILL on my computer on 7-8-09 at 10:11:12!

Free Book

I found a site today that offers a FREE 5 x 5 inch hardcover book. http://www.memoryescape.com/. The offer is good until July 19, 2009, so get to it! The promo code is ONPFREEFIVE. Yes, they are small, but they are great for gifts, or just having as a brag book to carry around! I got mine today, and decided to put the pictures that I created for the book here on the blog.

For the 4th we went to a 4th of july breakfast that our ward had. Yummy pancakes, eggs and sausage. Then we vegged all day until 4 when we got ready to go over to Living Word Bible Church. They had an indoor bbq and then fireworks were at 9 that night. They are a client of ours, so we went to make sure all their computer stuff ran without a glitch, but we really just ending up talking and hanging out with the people there! We had lots of fun and the kids loved being so close to the fireworks when they went off. Emily got a little bored with them, and asked for the noise to be turned off. Silly girl, that's not something that's in my power! Nathan just stared at them with wonder. We couldn't figure out if he was amazed by the show, or completely exhausted and trying to fall out of his chair!

Contest Winner

I entered the layout I posted in my last post on http://grahamlikethecracker.blogspot.com/. Jen had a contest to win a coupon for a free kit of hers in her store. Well, I won! So I was able to choose one of her fabulous kits! It took me forever to decide because I love all of her work, and couldn't decide because I wanted them all!