Then we took a drive through the Tucson Mountain Park and looked at all the saguaro cactus. We looked mostly for the odd shaped ones like this one. There were hundreds of them. It is illegal to cut down a saguaro. The tall ones in this photo are at least 60 years old.

Now they call it Tuscon Mountain. What they call mountains we would call hills. We will go ahead and let Tuscon call them mountains but we ex-utahans know the difference.

We wanted to see the Tuscon Mountains but we also wanted to see Old Tucson. We drove all the way out to no mans land to find it. Once we got there are read up on all it had we decided we didn't have enough time to see the whole thing. We would need a good half day or more to do everything that Old Tucson has to offer. So we took a photo out front and briefly visited the gift shop and left vowing to return again someday to get the full experience. We had made plans for lunch that couldn't be cancelled.

KON TIKI

Serves polynesian style food. If you love Tiki's this is the place for you.

If you like giant malnourished lizards

this is also the place for you. They have a komodo dragon that was looking very out of sorts when we visited. I was sure he was going to die right in front of the kids. They had him for a very long time so I have no idea what the problem was. He appeared to be molting, which I am aware isn't generally a lizard thing. Unfortunately for this lizard that seemed to be the case. His scales were missing in large amounts. He also moved painfully slow and for the last half of our visit didn't move at all. It reminded me of the sickly Phoenix in one of the Harry Potter movies. Unfortunately their would be no ash resurrection for this poor guy.

As far as I know he still lives to this day. He was having a rough week when we visited.

Oliver escaped from our corner for a bit. Paul was taking pictures of some of his favorite Tiki's.

Marissa picked this one as her favorite. I'm not sure how one goes about picking a favorite tiki. I don't have a favorite. Couldn't decide which scowling grrrr face I like the most.

I had this delicious teriyaki chicken sandwich. Paul insisted on taking a picture of my dribbling mess. I'm just lucky he didn't catch the drooling terriyaki face I had at one point. It was worth it, it was really good.

Have you noticed that Marissa never misses a chance to take a perfect picture. She is always ready. I can't seem to get into a rhythm with it.

Here are a couple of fan favorite Tiki's and then we are off. Back to home. It's a same day trip. So a quick stop at the gas station to pick up a redbox and we headed home. We had lots of fun escaping together for the day.

TUCSON
ARIZONA

ROADTRIP

SEPTERMBER 6, 2010

After a crazy year so far we decided to take a day trip to Tucson Arizona.

Here is a really blurry picture of our map.

INTERNATIONAL

WILDLIFE MUSEUM

We found ourselves at this museum. I had the kids sit on the curb while I got everything ready. Oliver wouldn't look at the camera, as usual.

Marissa is showing off her sucker for the picture. This made us think of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Andrew is so creative. He came up with this idea all by himself. Pretend he is being chased by a rhino. If I was photoshop capable I would put them in a africa backdrop.

You have to love when holding out the camera in front of you to get a picture turns out. Paul was busy paying for our admission when I took this picture. Super cute kids.

Oliver liked the Armadillo's. This was a great museum. Kid friendly. I didn't have to stress about them touching things that they shouldn't. Oliver loved slapping the Armadillo.

Andrew in trouble.

Marissa being very brave.

The kids really got a kick out of walking under the giraffe. They went back and forth many times.

Luke riding on a musk oz. Poor guy had no idea what we were doing with him. There was no stopping us either. He was just along for the ride.

Andrew and Marissa are stretching out their hands to help show how wide the horns are. Oliver refused to participate.

This is Olivers "Grrrrrr" face. Are you scared?

Andrew the Lion. To cute to be scary.

This is the end of our museum adventures. But the day has only just started. More to come.

Favorite Pictures From 8/12-9/3

Moms memorable Moments!!!

DIMPLES!!

I hope there is never any doubt that I LOVE my kids. I just think they are so wonderful. Luke is a super happy baby. It has made all the difference with this year being so frantic and crazy.

Then we have Oliver that I am pretty sure has never had a dull moment so far in his life. Here he is after a bath, stealing a drink from Mom's soda. Standing on the stool while doing so, for reasons unknown.

Then we have Andrew that is not a little boy at all anymore. I am in awe of how grown up he is. He is such a

thoughtful and good kid. I hope this never changes.

Ohhhhh!!!! The standard baby falling asleep in the highchair pose. For some reason this just never gets old.

Oliver has discovered super heroes. He loves Superman and Batman. Batman slightly more though.

BOYS, BOYS, BOYS!!! Our house is full of crazy, wild, over-active boys and we have TONS of fun, as you can see.

Andrew's Baptism 8-21-2010

Andrew's Baptism
August 21, 2010

I cannot believe that my first born is 8 already. Time is flying by. I am so proud of him. Andrew is such a great brother and a sweet boy. I hope that never changes.









Look at this Fabulous Family!! Oh wait. Did you notice that something was missing or more appropriately someone?











Oh yes, here he is. Oliver is funny about pictures and absolutely refused to sit in our family picture.










We had so much family come out which was amazing. We feel so loved. Having just moved to another state we were so sad for Andrew that he wouldn't be able to share this moment with his extended family. We were so surprised and grateful to the Georgeson family who spent most of their weekend in the car from New Mexico to Arizona. Grandma and Grandpa Tabor for flying in from Idaho and Grandpa Iba who fly in from Utah.









Luke LOVES his cousin Emma. She held him and played with him. He has never had more snuggles in one day then when Emma came to play.













We celebrated after with lunch. We had a house full of family and felt so blessed. It was great to have a house full of those I absolutely love the most in all the world. It was a busy crazy week to get ready as we were still unpacking and worth every second to share this moment.

Happy 8th Birthday Andrew!!

August 11, 2010

I can't believe its Andrew's birthday already. This year has been flying by. I also can't believe he is 8 years old. They just grow up to fast.

I made a cake for him. I made this up off the top of my head so lets pretend its perfect. Andrew loved it so that's all that matters.

Cake Yum!!

Luke has no idea what is going on. Just hanging out in his chair, waiting for us to get on with it.

The cake was delicious.

Andrew and Marissa are so cute.

Oliver LOVED the cake. He was in such a goofy mood. He was clowning around the whole night.

We followed cake with root beer floats. Just to top off the sugar rush. Apparently we didn't take any pictures of his presents but there were plenty of those. I love nights like these. We just hung out as a family enjoyed each other. Celebrated Andrew's birthday and just had fun together.

Happy Birthday Andrew. We LOVE you!!

Aug 1-8, 2010

Cute kid pictures of the week.

Luke fell asleep snuggling with his Mom. Look at how cute he is.

Happy Luke.

Oliver takes the goofiest pictures. I should be thankful he has stopped turning away from the camera or covering his face.

Now he pinches his cheek or points at his eye.

He has also decided he is to big for naps. So he won't go down for one. Instead he will randomly collapse into a sleep coma. This time on my bed.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Luke. Look at those big blue eyes. I can't believe how big he is getting. Standing up already. He's only 9 months old.

Marissa, hanging out in her swimsuit, eating pizza backwards in her chair. My legs are tingling just thinking about the circulation being cutoff. She's always changing it up.

August 2nd, I took the kids to the bus and without warning just as the bus pulls up Marissa starts sobbing. Through her incoherent sobs I gather she has decided she doesn't want to go to school. She was fine all morning so I told her that I would pick her up half day and she agreed that that would be okay and went off to school.

I rushed around getting all my shopping done so I could pick her up before lunch. Dragged both boys into the school to sign her out with groceries melting in the hot sun in the car. Tried as best as I could to keep the boys from being to loud while I waited for her to come out. She finally rounds the corner sobbing. We sit down while I try to find out what is wrong. Only to be told that she has changed her mind and really REALLY doesn't want to go home early. Uhhhhh, girls. I told her it was too late and made her come home. Maybe once she realizes that she isn't missing anything at home she will choose to stay in school from now on.