Romantic Weekend....:)

OK so for Andrew's birthday I got "us" a present - a night away at a nearby hotel/resort place. It has literally been years since we have been away without the kids for a night (I am thinking it might even be pre Amelia!!), so probably about time.......
So I arranged for someone (the very cute Brooke, who my girls were sooooo excited about) to come stay the night with the kids and picked Andrew up from work on Friday......
I have to say there is something weird about not being with your kids....I think we both commented on it for the first couple of hours when we were sitting by the pool without being splashed or running to take someone to the toilet or get them a drink, rescue them from drowning....or each other......life would definitely be boring without our beautiful kids:)

but by the time dinner rolled around and we got to eat in a really nice restaurant and not gulp down food, but have a nice relaxing conversation and really enjoy the food and experience, we were OK to have the night to ourselves:)

Glad to have Andrew's new toy (iPhone4) to capture the moments.....:)

 Fast forwarding to the next morning.....we went to check out and found that our lovely neighbor had paid for the room as a Thankyou for a referral we sent her (wow if we'd have known sooner we might have splurged on the $6 bottle of Fiji water!). Thanks Susan:)
We spent the next morning having a nice breakfast and then wandering around a few stores before finally making it home to four kids and a dog who all seemed excited to see us:) 
I would say a few things I learned from this weekend -
1. Andrew and I really do get along pretty well....still!
2. We love and miss our kids when we're without them (as much as they drive us crazy when we're with them!)
3. Hanging out together is rejuvenating and good for the soul:)
4. We really need to do this more often....
Love you Andrew

Funny things...

Amelia looked at me most seriously this morning and asked "How old is Daddy now?" I told her he's 38 now and with absolutely the most 'sincere-ness" (I know that's not a real word by the way) that only a 4 year old can have she said "Is he going to die soon?" I used the moment to teach a ten second lesson on eating healthy (..... cake isn't good for you???) and exercising (oh so that's why you exercise....) but it reminded me that we really are just kidding ourselves that being in our 30's is still young:)

Birthdays etc...

In the three months we have been here we have celebrated 7 birthdays, 2 ordinations and 2 wedding anniversaries between the two O'Hare families!!
Today it is Andrew's birthday.....38 which seemed so old when I was a kid but now seems like a spring chicken (which is actually a worrying sign that I myself am becoming an old person too!). The kids could not believe that he actually had to go to work on his birthday.....I think they (and we) are spoiled after having many years of Andrew working for himself!

As it is the summer holidays for us right now and my boys are in the 'routine' of not rousing themselves before say midday or so (yes Jordan was rudely awakened by me at 12ish today!) they came up with the grand idea of doing a birthday present giving last night.....they explained that Dad wouldn't have to wait all day for his presents that way......I'm not sure why they didn't think of - say - just waking up early??!

So we did presents last night and then when Andrew got home from work we did a little birthday party dinner and the by now infamous ice cream birthday cake with Aidan & Laura and co.....Laura reminded me of a great old english tradition of the "bumps" which I had totally forgotten about! We actually never got around to giving Andrew the bumps but all the kids had fun giving each other the bumps...I think we have started a new tradition (just not sure how I'll feel about that by the time January rolls around!)
Anyway, I hope Andrew had a great birthday! We love him:)

Swimming...

We have been worried about our only non-swimmer since buying our house with a non-fenced pool so she has been in swim lessons since mid April. It has been amazing to watch her progress in those two months. At first, she wouldn't even get in the water without a life jacket or someone holding onto her with both arms....she has been most nervous about her face getting wet at all - even a splash! One day a couple of weeks ago she 'decided' that she could swim and keep her head out of the water and lo and behold she did...and does it very well:) She has been getting better with small amounts of water splashing on her face but has adamantly refused in all lessons and no matter what bribery offered, to put her face in that water. But this weekend out of the blue she held her nose and went under and then kept doing it over and over and has once again 'decided' that she can swim underwater now (as long as one hand is plugging her nose!) so she does this graceful one armed swim underwater now and I couldn't be prouder of her. I know she has worked for this and had to overcome a big fear of the water and I know that it's just a matter of time before she lets go of that nose and swims with both arms, but I am proud of her pushing herself to do something hard and something that she was afraid of....once again I could learn a thing or two from my kids.....

Oh yeah and I just love to see how pleased she is with herself:)

Weekend

It's Father's Day...so in making some effort to make this a manly fun weekend for Andrew we went up to Mormon Lake (which does have a lake but is more of a rugged mountainy feeling, quad riding, gun shooting kind of place).
We went up with Aidan and his family and his newest toy (see the video!!) and stayed in a cabin together. In amongst all the fun we managed to get dustier and dirtier than I have ever been in a long time:) but I think everyone enjoyed it (including the dads!) so it was worth all the packing, dirt and laundry:)

Signature

Thanks to http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com - I am just figuring out how to get a personal signature and titles - hope you like:)

Susan Komen 3 Day for the Cure...

OK so any of you that don't know - I am planning on doing the Susan Komen 3 Day walk right here in Arizona in November (that would be 60 SIXTY miles in 3 days....). Anyone who knows me well, don't be too shocked....I know that working out is never top of my list (I'd rather eat less!) - the best I have ever done is when we Shellie and me used to go to the gym together and we kept at it for a long time - I think they dropped our favorite classes and so we kinda dropped off the bandwagon (ok so I did - I think Shellie found her bandwagon again!!).....I just find exercise a little boring and need someone or something to give me some motivation.....so I now have my motivation:)
In the last few years I have had two very dear friends experience Breast Cancer -

Audrey, who is one of my most favorite people in the world, and

Patricia, one of the most genuine, lovely and pure people you could ever wish to have as a friend. I really got to know both of these amazing women only after they had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, but both opened their hearts to me and allowed me to help in small ways - I went wig shopping, sat through chemo treatments, had manicures/pedicures together, doctors appointments, visited in the hospital and at home and throughout it all, watched both women show unbelievable courage as they endured tremendous amounts of pain and suffering. I celebrated with Audrey as she triumphed over her cancer and felt the unbelievable ache of loss as cancer took the life of my dear friend Patricia. As anyone who has had to watch someone they love suffer must know, if there would have been anything I could have done to help, I would have gladly done it, a thousand times over. So I see this as my chance to do something, to help someone someday, that they might not have to suffer.I have to raise A LOT of money, so please use the link below to donate - THANK YOU:)
www.the3day.org

Movies...

So maybe it is just me, but I really find this kinda weird....
We took all the kids to see Karate Kid on Saturday

....opening weekend and all and the boys had endured all three "old (really old) versions" of Karate Kid in intense anticipation for the movie coming out.....so we are all sitting watching the movie - I have to be honest it is pretty slow starting and feels like a LONG movie (I think with a 4 year old climbing all over you, any movie would feel long!) anyway, towards the end of the movie (which is pretty good) is the competition and seriously...I joke not...every time that little Dre would get a point or something dramatic (not to spoil the story line here) it seemed like everyone in the cinema would start clapping and cheering and wolf whistling.....
So yeah, back to my I find this kinda weird....really, I find it kinda weird. Do people not realise it's just a movie??

Job Chart

So with 11 1/2 weeks of summer I found the perfect thing to get my kids motivated to help out around the house - www.myjobchart.com I can assign jobs to each kid individually and then give reward options....we have things like a iTunes app, new book, movie ticket, outfit for American Girl Doll (obviously that's for the girls!), go out for ice cream etc etc....It has been really motivating for the kids and best part is I don't have to constantly ask and remind as they actually want to try and save their money. I have actually been asked to add more chores to their lists so they can save up quicker:) Oh actually, I lied....the BEST part is it's totally FREE:)

Out West...

Not so impressive that the last 18 months of my life has come down to just two blog entries huh? I think I need to make an un-new year's resolution to do better than that......however in my defense (which I'll admit probably isn't that airtight) I'll give you a run down of my life since January and maybe I won't be that bad after all.....
So we had decided not to sell our house after all, but to live happily in Georgia for the rest of our lives, because, well, we just LOVE Georgia and we have the most AMAZING friends there (you know who you are!) and the kids were happily in school and doing well, our ward was absolutely FABULOUS and well, we were content, very content......but you know when you get too comfortable and things are a little too easy that someone tends to have other plans....
So first of all we get a knock on the door....this is AFTER we have taken the house off the market....and a gentleman makes an offer on our house.....we actually said no as we weren't wanting to move anymore......but a number of weeks later, one of Andrew's favorite clients offered him a full time position out in Arizona - and well it was a great opportunity - so we called up the said gentleman and asked if he was still interested - and lo and behold he was (funny how that works!) so we flew out to AZ for a day, picked out a house and by March 17th we had sold our house in GA, bought a house in AZ and were flying west with the family.....

So kinda crazy few months, going through the mortgage process (which is a nightmare when you're self employed), selling by owner (which is a little more work) and buying a house long distance (try answering questions for mortgage/insurance about a house you have been in for maybe an hour!), not to mention packing up, shipping cars, travelling, unpacking, enrolling kids in new schools, figuring out new IEP's, finding out one of your kids needs glasses, finding new doctors/dentists...not to mention just finding your way to the grocery store:)

We also had my youngest sister Amy and her gorgeous boy Darius come and stay for a month, still more unpacking, Andrew had to wind up his business and start his new job (which he did last week), one of Andrew's buddy's came out and helped us put in a new tile backsplash in the kitchen, Amelia just about learned how to swim (she is still determined to keep her face OUT of the water!), we visited Sedona, the Grand Canyon and Coronado Beach, Daniel went away to Scout camp (and a few other overnight camps in between).....about a zillion family birthdays (ok not quite a zillion but let's just say April is a BUSY month in both sides of the family), had ward conference, stake conference and general conference within 4 weeks of each other, went to a new temple open house and dedication, met some new friends and neighbors (who are also pretty awesome!) and one of my favorite nephews got married in Australia.....and I still feel like I am forgetting a few things:)