The Past Couple Months...

Well it's been a while so there's a nice combo of random events, but here's what we've been up to lately....

First, Annie had her first birthday in February! We were really sad we weren't able to be at her birthday party, but we did get to spend a day with her and the family a week later. Here's Annie opening her present- it was so fun watching her open it. She didn't seem to be interested at first, but then something caught her eye- food! :) We made sure to include a couple treats inside since food is Annie's favorite. It worked...she opened the gift on her own.


After she took out her little treat and had Emily open it for her, she started rummaging for the rest of the gift. Here's a super cute picture of her holding her cookie with one hand and cuddling her pink owl with the other.

But in the end, the food is the winner! :) We love Annie so much and it was fun to see everyone.
Happy Birthday, cute girl! :)


Well we can't ever bring a gift for just one of the kids, so James got a little present too. He seemed to love it....here he is rockin' it out on his harmonica. He would run in the living room and watch himself jammin' out and dancing in front of the TV- so cute! We love our little James too!

Another special birthday occurred in March- Jenna's sweet 16! We felt so lucky to be able to be part of her party. We came up and helped chaperone- my favorite part was when Jenna walked in (it was a surprised and she was really very surprised- it was great) and after seeing all her friends and getting all excited, she looked over and saw Mark..."Mark? What are you doing here?" It was definitely very funny! We love you, Jenna! Happy Birthday!

The other day Mark and I decided to go for a little adventure here close to our house. We went to Catalina State Park here in Oro Valley- about 5 minutes from our house. Mark took some pretty amazing pictures...here's a nice scenic one!

Oh, the desert...how I wish I could truly love you! :) Although, I must admit it has been the greenest so far the last couple weeks and it's nice. I just miss all the brilliant, bright greens, flowers, and most of all, the ocean. But I must say, I don't miss the cold. It's been warming up a bit lately and I love it!

We decided to go down a trail of ruins from a Native tribe. It wasn't the most impressive collection of ruins, but it was a nice walk and fun to read some of the history of the area. They had found things like an old community wall, homes, ball court, waste piles, pottery, etc.

On the path we walked by this huge cactus. We had to get a shot with Mark standing next to it so you could tell just how tall it really is. Aren't the mountains behind nice!?!

Stopping for a pose...

Another nice scenic shot- on the bottom of the picture you can see the remains of a once believed to be 5-foot tall wall that went along the perimeter of a Hohokam community.

Within the wall there were remains of old homes. Here I am in one- crazy to think families lived in such tiny spaces. So in the back of this home was a little extra square section blocked off. I was playing archeologist and decided it must have been the toilet area...


But then I read the sign and the real archeologists made much more sense of the area- a chimney. hehe...good thing I'm not an archeologist! :)

Right after reading one of the historical signs. It was interesting and fun to learn more about the area we live in.

On our way to the path we came across a little obstacle...water! What, water you say...in Arizona! Yes, that's right. We have had a lot of rain lately (well for Arizona, I call them Washington days), supposedly more than usual. So we put our shoes in hand and I hiked up my pants and away we went to the entrance of the path. It was so nice to walk in water though. There was even a section of sand- I became a little kid in a candy store, all giddy and stuff. Mark just laughed at me.


Anyways, that was a fun little recent adventure. Random picture...

Mark sporting his new glasses! Almost everyday Mark had a patient ask if he had seen Avatar yet and talked about the movie. He began to feel a little left out so we went and saw it. I usually get sick with 3-D movies and I'm definitely not a sci-fi/fantasy fan, so I wasn't so excited. But I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed the movie- and I didn't get too sick either (just a headache) so that was very nice!


Twins...
Valentine's day breakfast- heart-shaped pancakes, heart-shaped strawberries, and other goodies! Mark brought me home some flowers too- pink roses and lilies. My favorite. He truly is the BEST husband and truly makes me feel loved and special. I love you, Mark Brems! :)


That's all for now...we will try to be better at taking pics and posting news. :)