Wednesday, September 4, 2013

July: Fun Times With the Zierses

 
In July, Kelly's brother came for a visit from Las Vegas.  We had a good time visiting, playing, and spending time with each other.
 
Baby Sydney had her blessing.  We all gathered for dinner afterwards!
 

 
 
 We were all together!  It doesn't happen all too often. 
 
 
 The ladies!
 
 
The gentlemen!
 

One of the activities we did was go to Lagoon.  This was one of those occasions that we weren't all together.  Some had to work and some were sick.  The beginning of the week a nasty bug was floating around the family.  Luckily, it passed us and our kids, but others weren't so fortunate!
 







 
This was the group that made it to Lagoon. Even some of the adults weren't feeling all that awesome.  But we all plugged along for the sake of the children! They loved it!
 
 
 
Along with Lagoon and the blessing, we had girl's night, which is always a highlight.  The men golfed. We played games.  Kelly's parents had their annual "grandma and grandpa night."  This is when all the grand kids come and eat dinner, have activities, and sleep over at grandma and grandpa's!  They always look forward to this night.
 
We had a fun visit and spending time with our family!

A Trip to Phoenix

 
After Easter we took a road trip to Phoenix. It had been a few years since we had made the 12 hour drive.  The kids had a whole week off for Spring Break so what better thing to do than go somewhere warm!
 
Plus we really missed our very good friends, the Carneys!

One of the days we spent the afternoon and evening 4 wheeling in Wickenburg.  The kids of course loved it.
 





I forgot how pretty the sunsets in the dessert are!


We also spent an afternoon at The McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale.  No trip to Phoenix is complete without a stop at our favorite park!
 



Waiting for a train ride!
 






 All the kiddos!  Look at Kate and all those boys!  I love that our kids just pick up where we left off.  They are all such great friends.
 


Keeping with tradition and playing the "jail game!"  This is a silly game that Kelly made up with the boys when Connor and Carson were 3 and 5 years old!  They always play it, even though Connor is now almost as tall as Kelly!  He still picks him up and drags him around as if he were still 5!
 


And lucky for us, Hotel Carney comes with a swimming pool.  We spent a lot of time in the pool.  And by we I mean the kids and their dads!
 








 Last summer when the Carneys came to visit us, we put plastic wrap around their car as an effort to try and keep them from leaving.  They returned the gesture!  They hid our car keys and blocked us in with their cars.  They left us messages on our windows. It was hard to have to leave.  We really love the Carneys!
 




 
We had a wonderful time.  We stayed up late and laughed a lot.  We always reminisce about our Buckeye days and talk about the memories.  It is always sad to say goodbye.  We are so grateful to have some great friends!

Easter Weekend: Better Late Than Never!

We started Easter weekend off by having Carson's baptism.
 

Isn't he handsome?!
 


And Katelyn who always loves to pull a pose!
 






Love my family!  It was a fun and busy day (my nephew also got baptized this same day) of celebrating and being together.


The next day was Easter Sunday.  Here are the kiddos in their Sunday best!
 








 
 
And having an afternoon egg hunt!