Tag....you're IT!

4 random things about my husband:

Ben is a huge TEASE!

Ben loves, loves, loves football season.

Ben is great at thoughtful little surprises.

If Ben was paid what he's worth, we'd be millionaires!

4 movies that I would/could watch more than once:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Life is Beautiful

Just about any sports movie: Sandlot, Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, etc.

Napoleon Dynamite

4 tv shows I watch:-

The OFFICE

Seinfeld, Friends, Malcolm reruns

I love game shows!

Biggest Loser

4 places that I have been:

Petra, Jordan

Venice, Italy

Vancouver BC, Canada

Jerusalem, Israel

4 people who email me regularly:
Mom M

Robyn

Jenna

Mon

4 favorite foods: (these are my indulgences...obviously)

White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle cheesecake from CF

Double-doubles from In-N-Out (thx, Aunt Judy!)

Pepperoni & pineapple pizza w/ ranch (yikes...no wonder I can't drop my last 10!)

Taco Salad (good mix last night: romaine, tomatoes, b. beans, g. beef w/ chili powder, taco doritos, cheese & garlic ranch dressing.)

4 places I would like to visit:

New York

Hawaii

Washington, DC

Africa

4 things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

Starting my new job... part time visual arts instructor for a very small k-8 school in Mobile, AZ!

Ben getting accepted to Thunderbird School of Global Management & starting 01/09 (hoping, hoping, hoping!)

Visiting Ben's family in Texas for the first time in their new home

Going to San Diego in October & visiting Babs & fam... can't wait!

4 people that are now IT:

Babs

Kell

Jen B.

Jenny

GRAMMAZONA

Waiting for Gramma at the airport...is she here yet?!?

Kaleb in the treehouse.

Shopping with the girls...maybe I don't need a girl after all?

D's first (of many to come!) ride on the carousel...he LOVED it!

Dylan is King of the Slide Mountain!

This is how I found them when I came home from my interview. So sweet!

The Birthday boy with his baby friends: Drew & Nicholaus.

The AWESOME new Cougar Cavern (I think) at the zoo! Complete w/ splashpad, slides, a waterfall, stream, shade & more... we loved it!

Gramma's famous Bonnie Butter cake with French Silk Chocolate frosting. YUM!

K & Gramma on safari checking out the orangutan family.

When I was a little girl we used to take at least one road trip a year down to "Grammazona." Well it was either that or "Summerzona," I couldn't make up my mind. I guess I associated Arizona with two things...Grandparents and the summery hot sun. I always loved our family vacations visiting Arizona, but would have never guessed that I would live here for as long as I have... 9 years! Especially now that over the past year my ENTIRE family has moved back to Oregon, except for me & mine, it seems at times like I've had enough of this place. But life's not fair as I've been told several times by said family, so you just as well make the best of it, and that's exactly what we did.

We really enjoyed having my mom for 10 days, and made the most of every day she was here. She made living here feel like vacation again! I cleaned my house really good before she arrived, and then forgot about it while she was here. We threw Dylan a BBQ bash with the grandparents and a few of his baby friends, went to 2 chick-flicks, out for Mexican food, shopping with my grandma, and somehow managed to fit in a trip to the zoo and a few sewing projects, too. Mom also watched the boys so Ben and I could go on a date, and it was SO nice! We went to PeiWei's, the temple for sealings, and then to Cheesecake Factory for dessert afterward. It was hard seeing her go, and hard to get back into "Sara in Real Life" mode, but life goes on. We sure love you, Mum...thanks for all you do to keep us close to you even though we're miles apart!

Gameboys

One of Kaleb's favorite all time past times is Hide & Seek. In the past we always seem to hide in the same 5-6 places in our house, but recently Kaleb has kicked it up a notch. I'm now finding him under my bed (how he can fit, I have no idea w/ all the junk we have stored under there), under the sink behind the "cuver" door, under a closet organizer, and more. Dylan's favs are peek-a-boo and the walk & dive. He loves to walk between us, dive into our arms, and give the sweetest hugs...it's really the best! K's new favs from preschool are Duck, Duck, Goose and Mr. Alligator and Going on Safari w/ Gma. Here's some recent pics of our little gameboys.

That's right...no child locks on this "cuver" door!

Swing time!

Peek-a-Boo,

I see you!

And last, but not least. the "Boom Boom" elephant game that K made up. It always makes Dylan laugh. :)

Little Einstein?!?

On our way back home from getting the mail, Kaleb "read" this GEICO ad to me. At first I had no idea what he was saying, until I took a closer look. He's one smart cookie...or possibly a TV junky? You decide. :O)

(Sorry for the shaky footage...baby D was on hip & I was taping w/ one hand.)

First Day Fun

Craft time

Kaleb & Bryson

Charity & Natie

First day of preschool.

Cutie-pies showing off their "circle" faces.

After an unsuccessful year of coop preschool last year (due to factors unrelated to Kaleb) we decided to give it another go. Kaleb and three of his friends started their first week at our house and we had so much fun! We focused on shapes and the golden rule, and can I just tell you a year in the life of a toddler makes SO much difference! They were able to actually sing our welcome & opening songs, ask questions related to the lesson, listen intently to story time, share during snack and free time...ah, all this mom/teacher could ask for! Kaleb's favorite new thing this year is singing "What's the Weather?" He also really likes his friends and talks about them all the time. He can't wait to go to his friends houses to play and learn at preschool this year and I'm so happy we're off to a great start!

Long Weekend with Uncle Scott

Ben's brother, Scott, was able to come visit us for the Labor Day weekend, and we really enjoyed having him. Kaleb was a little shy at first, but once he opened up it was "Uncle Scott, Uncle Scott, Uncle Scott" non-stop. Scott was great and showed K some new kung-fu moves, watched cartoons, did puzzles...you know uncle stuff. Ben loved having Scott around to do guy stuff... opening ASU game, spy movie, day dream at Best Buy. It was so nice having him in town and we're hoping he gets accepted to dental school down here for fall 2009.