Friday, June 30, 2017

Foothills Aquatic Center

Last Sunday we took the kids to the Foothills Aquatic Center by our house for a fun pool day. We have gone several times before and if you click on "Foothills Aquatic Center" below this post you will see all the other posts about our visits there. It is fun to see how the kids have all grown! Everly was supposed to go there for a field trip the week prior for Summer Camp but we had record heat that week so they cancelled the field trip. I felt bad so we decided to go on our own. It was still insanely hot but the kids had a lot of fun. We actually had to get out of the pool for a while because some girl passed out (I think there were substances involved) so that was pretty odd but I am pretty sure she was fine. Everly had a blast on the water slide as did Mae and Cameron and Aspen and Nora loved the lazy river. I could sit in that thing all day! Teddy had a blast jumping in the big pool. The kids all got in a good nap in that day for sure! We love it there but I really just wish it opened earlier. It only opens at noon on Saturday and 11:30 on Sunday and we are early risers so that is late for us!
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Everly was not tall enough for the tall slides in the back but she will be next year!
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Fearless Mae!
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besties!

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Mt. Humphrey's Hike

Last weekend Justin and I along with my brother-in-law Doug completed a hike we have been wanting to do for awhile. We hiked the tallest point in Arizona, Mt. Humphrey's in Flagstaff. My sisters had completed this hike a few years ago when I was super pregnant with Aspen so I have been wanting to do it since I missed it then. I had been looking in to doing it for a while and as we are coming up on monsoon season I knew we either needed to do it know or we wouldn't be able to do it until the end of summer. We were able to get our super cheap Flagstaff hotel room and my mom and sisters were able to help with the girls so a couple of weeks ago we booked the rooms and planned to head up to Flagstaff. We ended up leaving on Thursday night and due to some wildfires, it took us a little longer than planned to get up to Flagstaff but we made it up there and had a super delicious meal at Dara Thai and a couple beers at Historic Brewery. We got up pretty early the next morning and grabbed some Starbuck's before heading up to the mountain. We ended up starting our hike just before 6 AM. The weather was perfect at about 60 degrees. We stopped a couple of times for a quick minute on the way up to pee/grab a snack/apply bug spray but still made it to the summit in 3 hours and 10 minutes. We lucked out and had the summit to ourselves for the entire 30 minutes we were up there. We had a beer even though it was 9 AM and ate some snacks and took a ton of pictures. The last 40-ish minutes of the way up was not necessarily hard but we were ready to be there. Once we got up we were feeling great and thought it would be literally all down-hill from there. Unfortunately, getting down was not as easy as we would have liked. I underestimated how much you have to focus on your way down so that you don't slip on any of the loose dirt or tree roots. It was mentally exhausting. I think we all also got a mild case of altitude sickness because at about 1 hour left we all kinds felt gross and just wanted to be DONE. The mountain definitely got more busy on they way down so if you are planning on doing it I would definitely go early. While it started to get a little warm on they way down, since we were almost done, it wasn't really bad at all. We didn't even have wind at the top so I would definitely recommend this hike in mid-late June (when my sisters did it in late August they were FREEZING). I did not pause my watch while we hung out at the top so I ended up logging just over 11 miles in 6 hours and 15 minutes. We were all beat when we were done and couldn't wait to take a shower. We took a nap after cleaning up before heading out for dinner at our favorite brewery in Flagstaff. The weather was amazing and it was the perfect way to recover after that hike. The next morning we got up and packed up with no set timeline but ended up getting back to Phoenix at 9 AM. It was a super fast drive back, thankfully! We missed out girls but are so glad we were able to make that hike happen. Flagstaff is always a good choice!  Here are some pictures and a little video!
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Just as we were starting
 
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Amazing views
 
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The actual trail doesn't even start for about a mile.
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Lots of trees!
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Gotta get that snow pic (meanwhile 2 hours away Phoenix is literally on fire) 
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Never say no to a 9AM beer

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Summit Selfie
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Cautiously heading down.
 
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Perfect 2 days in Flag!

Monday, June 19, 2017

Father's Day 2017

Yesterday we had a great day celebrating Justin for Father's Day. He did a Father's Day trail run in the morning and then after he got home we went out to breakfast. The girls were hilarious. They ate soooo much food. Breakfast was super yummy and then we got some shopping/errands done after. Once we got home, Justin ended up going with my mom and sister's to see Cars 3 with Everly and Aspen and I went to the grocery store. Thank God for Fry's childcare!!! Sunday evening my family came over for some pool time and we had baked ziti for dinner. Everly is doing really good without her puddle jumper in the pool and getting more and more confident. We had a great weekend and I hope Justin enjoyed it too. He definitely deserves it!
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Presents from Aspen
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cheese!
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Okay that's enough.
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Aspen at they grocery store childcare playing video games and the sheet Everly filled out about her dad.
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Justin made this couch!
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Ev and Nora
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Ted and Cam and a little Mae.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Sephora Play!: June 2017

My Sephora Play! box for June came a little early this month so it was a good day yesterday! This month's box was summer themed and came with 2 kind of large hair samples for curly hair. I tried one today and don't think I used it right so I am going to try it again because I would like to not have crunchy curly hair! I will say it did smell really good. This month's box came with tiny sample of porefessional, which I love and a Kat von D liquid lipstick that I am excited to try. It also came with a supergoop setting spray with SPF which will be awesome for my pool days in Vegas this summer. The fragrance sample is from Versace which is typically too floral for me, but I will give it a try! Really hoping some of these hair products work out!

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I also really love the 50 extra bonus points each month!
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Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Weekend in Review

This past weekend involved a lot of pool time. It was slightly longer for me since I had Friday off. We were all pretty pooped after the Zoo trip Friday morning and then my sisters came over for some swimming Friday night. Saturday morning I got up and hiked Pinnacle Peak before it got hot. It was actually a really nice 70 degree morning and since it was so early when I got home I also knocked out the grocery shopping. Later that morning the girls had swim lessons and then my sister came over and the girls continued to swim. Aspen is still struggling and he thinks her ears might be bothering her so we are going to try ear plugs next time but I can't imagine she will keep them in her ears. Saturday night my sister met us at church and then the girls went home with her. They didn't even want to come home with me so we decided to take all of the kids to desert ridge for some night splashing. Sunday morning we had more swim lessons and Justin got a lot of work done on an outdoor patio sofa he is building us. He basically just needs to sand it and stain it and then I will post final pictures. Sunday afternoon I had a soccer game and then did an escape room with my sisters before everyone came over for pool time and pizza Sunday night. It was a great Sunday night even if it is crazy having everyone over!
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beautiful morning!
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Aspen is getting good at her back float!
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Ev is officially puddle jumper free!
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Had to put together this side by side since Nora was wearing Aspen's old swimsuit.
 
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Cutie Aspen and then my phone got confiscated!
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Weekend in Review

Summer is basically here and we are already in full on pool season. On Friday I had the day off so I spent some time with Aspen and took he...