Easter

Our community has a darlin' little Easter egg hunt every year. Here we are posing with the Easter Bunny.


They had fun games for the kids. I wish I had gotten this on video, but see the boy to the left of Thais? Being much bigger than the other kids he got off to a mad start and was totally winning, but Thais started catching up and the boy tripped when he felt Thais behind him and Thais ended up winning the race. I was so proud :O)

Here she is with her winning Easter Basket as a prize

Later that day we had the Nelsons over and Jenn and I put on a feast!

Here is the kiddie table....

After dinner, we played Jordan's family traditional Easter egg roll.

Here are Thais and Skyler going head to head...

In the finals it was Jenn and Thais.

Jenn ended up taking the win! It was a blast :O)

While we were out there the sprinklers turned on and it turned into a big water fight for the kids.

Easter morning, the kids had fun looking for their Easter Baskets!

Here are their baskets this year.

Some eggs we painted. Thais LOVED this part of Easter!

We also did a lesson with Easter Eggs where I put 12 different items in plastic Easter Eggs that represent Jesus's resurection and the atonement. I think my kids are still at the age where the candy is the most exciting part, but I am excited to make Easter a really meaningful holiday for them!

T-ball

It is t-ball mania around here! This season we signed Thais up to do t-ball with several of the kids in the ward and it has been so much fun! I love this picture of Thais with her best buddy Tyler. Sometimes I can't believe that Thais is friends with the kid of my best friend from high-school! It has been so much fun having this time with the Nelsons...boy are we going to miss them!




Check out these cute Hatch ladies! Hannah is Thaisy's teammate. Go Dodgers!


Team stretching before the big game! I love how Skyler is participating..he can't wait for his turn to play sports!

I couldn't resist this picture of Chase- the Dodgers cutest fan!

Thaisy's friend Marin waiting in the dugout for her turn to bat!

Thais on first base! Love the pink helmet:O)

Just a little video of Thais up at bat..

The goal is not simply to go through motherhood. The goal is to GROW through motherhood!

As our small family approaches a big move to Utah next month, I have been thinking about the many things I am going to miss living here in the desert! One of the things I will miss the very most is the amazing group of moms we have here in Marana. As you might know, I was hooked up with an organization called The Power Of Moms, and for me this connection has been wonderfully life changing! I have discovered an entire network of women who are impressive and committed to motherhood in the most stimulating and thought provoking ways. It's the idea that motherhood isn't something women just endure daily in order to raise some kids; rather it is an exciting and ultra-challenging career in which our ability to be present, intentional, motivated and disciplined shape the lives of our children in such profound ways. I believe that motherhood can be the most powerful tool for good in order to combat a morally decaying society because we are the first voice in the ears of the rising generation. I wonder how many social programs could be eliminated if everyone had a mother loving them and leading through a positive, upstanding and deliberate example!

These ideas and convictions led me to start what The Power Of Moms call a "Learning Circle." It's basically a group of women who get together once a month and discuss an article based on Motherhood, and we talk about how to improve and incorporate some of these ideals into our daily mothering. For me this group has been almost like a support group because I've been able to share some of my deepest feelings about my role as a mother and I have been so uplifted and inspired as I listen to these women talk about how much they love their children and how hard they are working to be all that they can for them. I admire and love them all so much and it makes me sad to no longer be part of their lives on a monthly if not daily/weekly basis.

I wanted to post some older pictures from a workshop that Jamie, Jenn and I put on back in october. We all became trainers through The Power Of Moms and this was our first experience putting on an actual workshop all based around empowering moms! The workshop was a three part series POM's put together based on the Eyre book Three Steps To a Strong Family.
I got to present on how to establish a family legal system i.e. having each member of the family set up laws or rules and consequences in order to establish order in the home. I learned so much!



Jamie and Jenn were awesome presenters!

It was so cool to see all of the moms taking notes and interacting as we would during an important business meeting. Motherhood doesn't come with an instruction manual so I am thrilled to get all of the training I can get!

Here we are at Chili's after our first night of the workshop.

Group picture at the end of the workshop.

I am sure going to miss these girls!

Thaisy's Birthday Continued....

Since we did Thaisy's friend party a few days before her actual birthday she got another whole day of celebrating. I didn't get a picture of this, but we have a tradition in our family where the kids wake up to balloons in their bedroom. This year we tied balloons on the end of her bed (and Skyler happily popped them all before I got a picture). Thais also got to pick her favorite breakfast and dinner. Here is a picture with her chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancake..Yum!



Thais had Joy School on her birthday so here is a picture of her before school. Yes...those are sparkles on her eyes. We let her go glam on her big day!
I got to surprise Thais and her Joy School class with donuts and a birthday balloon!
We took a lot of video this year so I am missing pictures, but for dinner Thais wished for Hot dogs (easy enough for mom!) Jordan treated us all to "Chicago Dogs" and we had Henry Weinharts Root beer and Jordan's family's famous money cake. The pictures below are of Thais opening her gift from Mom, Dad and Skylee boy.





Needless to say riding bikes is our new passion around here! My favorite (to be read sarcastically) is when they wake up at 6:00am, helmets on, begging us to take them outside for a
bike ride!





Thais and her twin, (as they like to claim) Ella!



Thais and Skylee boy hitting the pavement!


Thaisy Bug I can't believe you are five! It makes me cry to think of you starting school and no longer only being part of my world. You are sure loved kiddo!

Thaisy's Chuck E Cheese Party!

For Thaisy's 5th birthday we thought we would have a friend party this year! Thais was so excited, she counted down on her calender for two weeks and every night we had to tell her how many sleeps until her party. Finally the big day arrived and here she is all dressed up for her big day!








It was so much fun for Thais to have all of her AZ friends at her party! I wanted to get pictures of all them before we move!






This girl felt pretty darn special I tell ya!



Thais was thrilled to say the least with all of her birthday gifts.






Here are the treat bags she handed out. We had fun making them together!





I will do another post later of our family party. The good times just kept on coming for this little 5 year old!

A Little Perspective

I love manger scenes! My mom bought this African nativity from a charity organization a few years back, to give to Jordan because of his love for the many countries in Africa. It has become our favorite Christmas decoration to unwrap each year and I look forward to having this on display in my home. I love its simplicity. I think it is truly fitting to have had humble hands create the humble and sacred surroundings of the Saviors birth. The holidays are such a fun time of celebration, but with all of that celebrating it's pretty easy to get distracted. I find myself getting sooo caught up in the extras of Christmas - like should I buy Thais a Baby Alive doll or Target's American Girl knock off, or what am I going to wear to the annual Christmas party and what treats should I make the neighbors? It is just so darn easy to lose sight about what Christmas is really all about. But then I walk by this little manger scene and remember it's all about this picture right here- a lowly manger where a chosen daughter of God gave birth to a baby that would save us all. I am so grateful for this time to celebrate the birth of the Savior! I love him. I have felt the atonement work in my life and for that fact alone I have so many reasons to bask in the true meaning of Christmas...

Merry CHRISTmas from the desertmonsons :)

A new nickname and December happenings

Jordan and I played paper-rock-scissors this year to see if we would get a real tree
or a fake tree. I lost-which means we should have had a fake tree
but boy was I happy when Jordan surprised me with this baby! It smells so darn good!

Thais was a big helper decorating the tree

Here's the finished product..

Skyler rockin' his Christmas sweater

Our friends Brian and Janette invited us over to make these

darlin' ginger bread houses.

The candy cane heart was all Thaisy's idea.

Meet: The Rhino. This nickname got started because one of Skyler's favorite pass times is to run full force and charge into us with all his strength . We are convinced he will be our future football star and we are just his practice targets.

But man we sure love this boy!