Date!

Yay for the Lantings taking the kids to give us some time off! We spent our time on a little hike/picnic in Kelly Canyon- it was SOOO refreshing to not only be alone with my best friend, but also to see so much green (Not that you can see much of it in the pictures...but there were ferns and oaks and wildflowers along with all the ponderosas...)!

On our way home we saw a beautiful sunburst coming through the mountains and later in the evening (after we were home) we were blessed with a downpour for a couple minutes. Looking forward to some more green!

Twin Mix-up

Story: This morning Christian got up with a crying baby. He pulled her out of Tirzah's bed, but lo and behold, it was Berea. My first thought upon hearing this was that maybe Peter got up in the night with them (we don't hear them very well these days with the fan on in our room) and mixed them up. But no, that wouldn't work- he could only get one at a time, and he wouldn't put one back in a bed where there was already a baby...And then I remembered...last night the girls had a really hard time going to sleep- they had cried for an hour almost before we decided to get them up, turn out the lights and try to calm them down. Well, Christian got "Berea" and I got "Tirzah" from their dark room and off we went to the dark living room. Well, I got "Tirzah" calmed down a little and put her back in bed where she started crying again. Repeat scenario with "Berea". Well, eventually they did fall asleep and proceeded to sleep all night. I KNEW I put the babies back in the beds they came from, so it had to have been Christian, who put them both down in the first place. He was recounting to me that he put Berea down first last night because Tirzah was following him down the hall, as it is always Tirzah who follows him. But I distinctly remembered that it was Berea following him, and therein lay the problem. :) And of course that's why the babies were crying so much- they weren't in their own beds with their own stuffed animals! And of course that happened to be the ONE night that we didn't have any lights on when we got them out of bed (we normally at least have one on). Well, lesson #467 on twins learned. :)

Oh-So-Kissable

Drool and all, who can resist?

Wupatki

Anne got to go out of town for a friend's birthday party, so we decided to take advantage of the free national parks weekend and take a quick trip to Wupatki Nat'l Monument, which is about a half hour drive from our house. (In case you're wondering, the next dates that are free entrance into the national parks are August 14th and 15th, then I think Sept. 25th and Nov. 11th.)

 The boys are obviously having a great time. :) As soon as we got out of the car practically, Elijah fell in the parking lot and scraped his knee. Amazingly enough I actually had a little first aid kit in the glove compartment so we got a couple band-aids on and he survived (he can be a tad dramatic).

The ruins were made by I think either the Anasazi or the Sinagua indians (maybe used by both? I honestly didn't pay much attention) I think about 800 years ago. It has 100 rooms.

We're making our way down to the ball court and blowhole (a natural hole in the ground that blows air during the day and sucks it in at night).

A very cool piece of sandstone that's been eroded away over the years.

Hey, who paved the forest? This area is actually covered with volcanic cinders- there are hundreds of small volcanoes in our area, all of which are at least dormant. Hopefully they don't come back to life during my lifetime. :)

This is a picture of a lava flow. And I can't think of anything interesting to add to that statement. 

Last, but not least, a picture of our San Fransisco Peaks, which was a large volcano once upon a time. I don't think that snow will be there long with the crazy-hot weather we've been having!

Targets and Summer Do's

So far the target is turning out to be a worthy investment- a whole evening and morning has passed and I'm pretty sure the boys haven't peed on the floor yet- a record for sure! The website where I bought them from (http://www.toiletmarksman.com/) also carries stickers that look like flies, but I thought that would drive me a little too crazy, as flies are on my "dislike with a passion" list. Anyway, it's pretty amazing how boys are just driven to aim at something if there's something to aim at! Otherwise, well, you know.
On a slightly more civilized note, P and E are now sporting their summer hair- they still look a little funny at this point, but I know I'll get used to it and will for sure appreciate not having to cut their hair as often! And of course A had to jump in for a picture- she's still a bit grouchy at me from cutting her hair last summer, so we'll not be trying that again yet. :)