So quick, but so fun!

We had such a great time. So glad the whole family could come. Wish we could do it more often. And I'll admit it. After hearing Luke wasn't sure he wanted to come, I was kinda' glad to hear he cried at the airport because he didn't want to leave.
I don't have a lot of time to write much about the pictures-hopefully everyone else will chime in. I will say, notice the dads in park shot. Also look for the picture with Jeff running towards me, "You can see him saying, "Mo-om, it's not fair...'" Abby and Taylor-Jen you can take that one, and cute picture of Jen with the girls on the swing. (Em, I have a better picture of you on the playground, but the wrong one downloaded. When I get back to Scottsdale, I'll try and remember to upload the best one.
If you missed some of the other posts, check out Creepy Crawlies, The Good Egg,  OJ adventure and our Easter Egg hunt.



... and the Friday finale! The Statue walk downtown (love the new American Gothic), Mangos then ending up at the Easter Pageant.



CAM! So happy to see you and your beautiful family. It's been a LONG time, but not much longer.

post game fun

Good Morning!

Who needs roosters when you have buff cheeked Gibbons hanging around? We could hear them from the entrance! At first, I thought it was a sound track when Jeff asked, but it didn't take us long to find them...or for Jeff to call back. What a great way to start the day.

Until we met their neighbors breakfasting on 'meat product'. (That's what the keeper called it, anyway. Just what is 'meat product'? Gross. King vultures, not my favorite, but I can't help stopping to stare.

Our morning was in for more ugly when we stopped to watch a little community hygiene going on. Social grooming at its best and breakfast to boot!

I don't know what was going on here-but when Jeff sat along the wall, several of these guys came to join him. Sorry girls, no lice on this boy. (Whew!)

Not everyone was enthusiastic about starting the day.

Others hadn't even started yet.

I felt bad for waking this guy up. He was just so cute curled up under the tree. 

 Jeff ran for the telescope, but there was no need. Both cheetahs were up and roaming, then came and posed for the camera.

Can you see the other cheetah back against the fence waiting for his turn at breakfast?

The cheetahs were inspiring, so we decided to pick up our game and race against the clock.

Let's just say I'm glad I don't have to outrun any four legged critters to save my neck.

And there's nothing I do that's this fast.

Or, fortunately, this ugly. 

Or this cute.

and back to... ugly? Or exotic? Or angry? Or creepy or what are these guys? I don't know, but they weren't exactly thrilled with us. We didn't stay too long here, they were making me feel guilty.

But my favorite of the day...

...watching these two staring at each other? I just wish I knew what was going on in their minds. (This was right about the point Jeff tried to climb as high as he could on the fence. Really, what was he thinking?)

For an even better pic of this beautiful cat sneak over to this post.

This one's a keeper!

We're trying to put together healthy recipes and this is one we all liked. We're having a lot of fun cooking together, and I hope the kids are learning some things about healthy eating the process. 

We layered a casserole dish with roasted red peppers, some fresh spinach, and drizzled a little olive oil with minced garlic over the top. While the layering was going on, someone was browning some chicken tenders loins. Those went on top of the veggies with mozarella made from skim milk. We put it in the oven to finish cooking. A few red onions grilled with a touch of olive oil and balsamic vinegar were tossed with peas. Love to hear what you're doing that's yummy and healthy.

ps-my family makes fun of me when I bring the camera to the dinner table.

Amazing!

This isn't one of mine. Click the picture to go to the original.

Elder Andres Diaz

Not to be confused with Elder Diaz of the Phoenix mission. That's his twin brother. OUR Elder Diaz, the happy elder below, shared one of his family traditions with us today.

It's like a bingo game and called loteria. There are chances to win, quarto esquinas, cuadros, choro, llena; all four outside corners, the four inside squares, an across down or diagonal, and all the squares filled. We played with cinnamon bears as the prize thanks to Doug and Carter's contribution (my cousin and his son were in Arizona for the bowl game.)

And to make it really special, we had a favorite family dish.

Start with a large flat of fresh strawberries. Wash and rough chop. Add sour cream and plenty of white sugar. Mix it all together just like you see above. It is FANTASTIC!

It may be the middle of winter, but the weather is beautiful! I could sit outside and take pictures of my boys all day. I wish the break could last a little longer, but there's work to do. Put your shoulder to the wheel!

Game On!

It doesn't take long to open all the presents when you start before the sun is up; so before the morning was half over, the wrapping paper was thrown away, the piles cleared to the sides, and the games began! Elder Coffman's family stays in their jammies all day, and the kids were quick obliged. (Elder Diaz' family stays up on Christmas Eve until 12:01 and then opens all their presents and goes to bed around 3:00 am. We said no to that one!) So jammie clad, they headed off to the gym for a dodge ball. We eventually ended up back at the house to play lots of new games. One favorite? "Curses" from the assistants. Sorry-no pictures of that one, but it was awesome. Especially when Dad had both the curse of talking like he was using sign language and pretending like his hands extended directly from his shoulders.

Say Cheese!

So here are some out-takes from our attempt at a Christmas card picture.  I just grabbed a few-and not any of the incredibly awful ones with strange expressions, closed eyes...

One of these at the fountain almost made the cut, but I was outvoted.

Jessica loved this picture, because she said it described all of our personalities. I can't remember all of it, but basically-Jeffrey is the star/center of attention. She's not jealous. ha ha. She'll need to comment and remind me what everyone's expressions say about our family dynamics.

The great thing about digital photography...

...you can take 100's of shots to gaurantee at least a handful of good ones to choose from.

The downfall of digital photography...

....you take 100's of shots!

And here are the fearless photographers, Adam and Rebekah! Actually Adam, took our family piture last year, too. So nice to have them close by!