May started in Mesa, the 2nd week of our semester break dedicated to shadowing and figuring out where in the world we want to settle after school. Mesa is cousin heaven for the kids.
Luke figuring out how to Raspberry
Sloan spent a couple days shadowing in Mesa, which went fine, but his experience in Scottsdale left an impression. The practice is busy, and the dentist is needing to hire an assistant, so he's hoping there might still be opportunity there next May. Until then, he'll just keep in contact and keep his options open. I like Phoenix, I have happy memories of living there, and I would love living near Sloan's family. But my overall feeling toward Phoenix isn't as positive these days, probably having to do with my cousin Brittany's passing there in January. I wanted to live there to be close to her, so although there are plenty of reasons to go there, I also want to stay far away (for now).
back home for soccer
Very supportive parents & grandparents on our team. Fun to see them every Saturday.
But this was a special Saturday bc Sloan's parents were in town.
Making mother's day cards
shopping with loot
backyard fun
Reggie sleeping on our bike ride. Love the hand-holding
dad feeding luke
Ruthie's recipe for chocolate covered strawberries
Luke's hooked
my long lost love!
daily ritual: sloan comes home and he & the kids take their shirts off and play soccer in the back. teaching reggie how to flex those giant muscles
reggie practicing his swing
bath time
On our way to explore Nelson, 25 mins south-east of Vegas, a ghost town we've been hearing about... we were creeping each other out about ghosts and snakes, and then we actually hit a snake in the road! We all screamed and screamed! Then of course we stopped so Sloan and Ruthie could go see it up close. I stayed in the car!
here's charming Nelson
Every soccer season needs a rockin trophy party, this is Ruthie's 6th
Coaches Tyson & Matt
Ruthie's kindergarten class doing the "Bug Play"
her adorable teacher Mrs. Taylor
Singing or yawning?
She was a caterpillar turned monarch butterfly. I just thought she was nervous, but she was very sick that morning. Barely sang any of the songs, just stood there white as a ghost!
She was a good sport for pictures with her buddies Zoey and Marcella
Mrs. Taylor
and Ms. Gutierrez
but the second we got home she crashed
Reggie ended up with it too
then Luke
when you're all stuck inside, strange things start happening
you watch a lot of TV
and you get to know your toys a little better
thankfully I stayed healthy this time, and kept on track with my new, clean eating. I stuck with my sugar hiatus in May because it felt so good to be free from the cravings. Less highs & lows and emotional eating. I didn't lose much weight, but I noticed an increase in overall energy and mental clarity.
Speaking of mental clarity... Sloan & I had a moment of insanity when we decided to take our new (used) Volvo off-roading to find ourselves a camping spot along the river below the dam. It looked pretty easy to get to on google maps, but once we got half-way there, we realized it was probably too rugged a trail for us. But of course, we had to keep going... just one more hill, one more turn in the road. We found ourselves at the bottom of a steep, rocky, narrow mountain trail that we were unable to get back up. We tried for and hour or so, denting the muffler in the process, and finally turned to prayer for help. I had the impression to text a friend on Ruthie's soccer team and they happened to know a guy who knew the trail and could tow us out.
This helped us all calm down a little, so since it was almost dark, we set up our tent, made dinner, and put the kids to sleep. Then we got a text that the friend was leaving for the Grand Canyon in the morning and had to come get us right away (10pm). Right-O.
We quickly took the tent down and loaded the kids in the car and started the hour long process of getting towed back up the hill. Boy were we grateful for their help.
We learned our lesson that night: follow promptings!! We both had those moments, early on in the journey, that we felt we should camp somewhere more familiar. But we had to learn the hard way this time.
The next weekend Sloan started our massive re-tiling project
popping out tiles was probably the easiest part
even Ruthie could do it!
the boys weren't much help but they loved to watch
Sunday afternoon projects - Ruthie made a puzzle of our family
Memorial Day Slip N Slide / BBQ with the Trujillos and Dukes
Luke not so sure about the splash pad
Reggie's a pro
Luke learning to wrestle
Reggie not sure if he's allowed to fight back yet... in time Reg
the garden - growing!!
in heaven
He figured out how to get the water to shoot out by stepping on the side of the slip n slide. I love to see him tinker and figure things out. He's a boy all right.
One of a dozen trips to Floor & Decor, at least the kids liked going with me
Riley moved to town! She spent 3 days at our house while Tyler & Sara figured out a day care for her. She & Reggie were buds at first. Then the fighting began - bummer. They were so cute those first couple days.
Luke learns to stand at 7 1/2 months
(turn your volume down at the end, you don't want to hear his head thump)
the only problem with leaning how to stand is then you gotta learn how to sit back down
stuck!
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