Arizona Living

We went to Mother Nature's Farm one day with Aubrey, Olivia and Lucy.

Gavin loved this little house.

Gavin and Olivia did not like the cotton candy.

But they loved the animals.

They also loved the In-n-Out burger milkshakes afterward!

Gavin loves his cousin, Lucy. Whenever he sees her he says, "baby" or "hi, lulu." He loves to hold her and he puts his arms out for her.

When we first go to Arizona, Gavin and Olivia had to learn to play together. Gavin mostly would scream and cry, but Olivia would hit and scratch. Now they both hit and push and they both scream and fake cry. It is exhausting some days--but most days they get along pretty well.

The red on his face is from her scratching him--I wish you could see it better. He has several scratches on his face, but the most noticeable one is right above his eye. We went to a store a couple days after this and a woman asked if we had a cat. Nope--just a cousin.

Olivia and Gavin loved sitting in the bin. They had to take turns, though, because they weren't nice to each other when they were both in it. This is one of Gavin's "cheese smiles".

This comes from the fact that Gavin loves Lucy so much--he wanted to sit by her.

Gavin was so tired, he just wanted someone to lay on so that he could sleep. This is Dustyn, Natalie's then fiance and now husband.

The whole family came for Thanksgiving and Natalie and Dustyn's wedding, but we were so busy that I didn't get many pictures. Here's what I did get.

Gavin and Oliver in matching jammies

Drew and Ann

The wedding

When my mom, dad, Gavin and I drove to Show Low for the wedding reception there, we were greeted by this beautifully decorated house.  It was some kind of business, but we don't remember what.  The pictures don't do it justice, but they still bring joy to my heart.

Video of Gavin's cheese smile.

Random Things

Gavin discovered the joy of raspberries.

Gavin and I went with my sister, Cherisse, to her wrist surgery. We waited in the waiting room a long time...so Gavin made himself comfortable.

Cherisse thought it looked like fun, so she joined him.

Before leaving Salt Lake, we wanted to take a trip out to Antelope Island so that Ben could say he had been to the Great Salt Lake. Gavin enjoyed playing in the dirt, as usual.

Ben wanted to at least stick his foot in, but when he got to the water's edge there were A TON of bugs, so he decided against it.

Gavin had so much fun that he fell asleep on the way home.

This is Gavin wearing a shirt that Ben wore when he was a little boy.

Gavin loves TV and his favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba. Here he is yelling at the TV--I don't really know why.

Here he is dancing.

We had to put most of our belongings in storage, so the last few nights in our apartment we slept on an air mattress. This is Gavin watching TV while laying in our bed.

Gavin loves to give "cheese smiles" but we had a hard time capturing them on camera.

As most of you know, Ben is currently living with my brother and his family in Seattle, WA. Gavin and I are living in Phoenix, AZ with my parents. We parted on October 1, but thankfully we have been able to be together on Halloween and Thanksgiving. The last couple days we spent in Utah were long and tiring. We moved all our belongings to a storage unit, cleaned our whole apartment and we had to say goodbye. Apparently Gavin was completely exhausted because when we arrived at my parent's house, he fell asleep on the floor. I changed his diaper there and then he never got up.

Ben still hasn't found a job, but we continue to feel the Spirit giving us strength and encouragement. We know he will find a job soon, but we know it is on the Lord's timetable, so we don't know exactly what "soon" means. We will be together for three weeks starting next Wednesday and we will be figuring out how we can all be together again. We are continually grateful for your prayers and support!

Lake Blanche

Before we left Salt Lake, we wanted to hike up to Lake Blanche.  We were told that the hike wasn't that hard, so we started out Labor Day morning up the mountain.  After two hours of steady climbing, we were running low on water.  We began questioning whether or not we should keep going.  We asked someone how close we were and they told us we were half way.  Well, that settled it, we took a short break and then headed back down the mountain. 

Gavin enjoyed throwing rocks and eating dirt during our break.

Gavin fell asleep on the way down the mountain--He was totally out.

Ben was determined to get to lake Blanche, especially after we discovered that we were like 1/2 mile from the lake when we quit.  So, the following Saturday we tried again.

Someone really likes BBQ

Gavin loved the mountain dirt! 

The hike was long and it was hard and that last 1/2 mile almost killed me and I wasn't even carrying Gavin.  But the view was amazing and it was all worth it!

As we were eating our lunch, three moose came to the water.  The baby stayed close to his mom, while the dad took a break.

Enjoying lunch by the lake.