Pinetop oh, Pinetop

We have been waiting for about 6 months to go to Pinetop and enjoy the nice, crisp weather in the new condo. Finally it was finished at the beginning of July. My family (Javi, kids and me) went up there on July 5th -July 8th to check out the new digs my dad and stepmom got for us to use. We left Phoenix at noon and it was 105F, suppose to be 115F by the afternoon. When we arrived in Pinetop only 3 hours later, it was a mere 82F...talk about nice! The condo is so nice and put together well...Joan really did a wonderful job on decorating.

The weather was to die for with small monsoon rainshowers in the late afternoons of 2 of the days. The overnight/morning low was in the mid 60's and we were able to leave all the windows and sliding glass doors open throughout the night!

Stephanie flew into Showlow on Friday afternoon, where we picked her up. So, it was fun having her around for the weekend to share in the condo's initiation. Stephanie, Marley and I went on a hiking trail just 1 mile away from the condo. Marley lasted about 10-15 minutes and I carried her piggy-back the rest of the 1 hour hike. Talk about a great workout!!! She added about 36 lbs. to my workout, I was sweating like a pig...good thing we were in 70F weather!
We also enjoyed our favorite Pinetop Mexican restaurant Los Corrales for dinner...we were a little disappointed by the downgrade in their quality of food. We decided it was just a really busy night and we let it slide.
We then had a very safe trip home and were happy to be in our home with our beds.

The following weekend we had planned on going back up to Pinetop with Stephanie and Phil. We arrived in Pinetop 8:30pm friday night. Saturday morning Stephanie and I went hiking on the same trail we went on the previous week, sans Marley. This time we went on the entire 3.5 mile hike and it took us about 1.5 hours. When we got home, Javier and Phil had to be dropped off at the golf course to play their round of golf.
While the guys were playing golf, Stephanie and I ran a few errands and decided to eat lunch at Los Corrales. Man the food was gross...their bean burrito enchilada style had absolutely no flavor and their 'cheese crispy' is deep fried! YUCK!!! Even their house salad was just plain iceberg lettuce shredded with tomatoes and mushrooms...boring!!! Not to mention the prices are outrageous!!!
Later that night we went to a different mexican restaurant, referred to us by my dad. It is called El Cupidos. That place is awesome and we decided we'll never go back to Los Corrales again. El Cupidos was a breath of fresh air with great traditional mexican food and great low prices! Thanks Papa for the great recommendation!
Again, we had a safe trip home...even though we ALL were squished into our minivan!

Conclusion: Pinetop is an awesome city with a lot of beautiful scenery, great weather and future memories! We love the new condo in Pinetop :o) Oh, and the picture above is a generic Pinetop pic from the internet since I haven't taken any condo pictures from the outside.

4th of July...a blast or a bust?

The 4th of July was pretty fun for us. It started out that we were going to go to the gym in the morning and when we got there, the kid's club was closed:( So, we changed our mind and took them to a park on 42nd Street & Campbell. There was NOBODY there, we had the whole park to ourselves...it was nice! No worries about "is one of my kid's going to make another kid mad?" or "is another kid going to make one of mine mad?", it was awesome!
Then we came home and Grandma Kathy and MiMa came over to see the kid's in their 4th of July outfits. Marley wore a handmade dress I bought from eBay that was adorable and Christopher & Jaxon wore matching Gap logo 4th of July shirts. They looked very cute and festive in their little outfits and I loved it!

After the kids had lunch, Julia came over to babysit so Javier and I could go to a 4th of July pool party. Stephanie and Phil hosted the pool party at Larry & Kim's awesome salt water pool...full of delicious food including Pesto Scallops and chips w/ guacamole...mmm!
So, Javier had to leave early to relieve his mom from her duties at our house, but he let me hang out longer by the pool. A few hours later, he came to pick me up and while we were driving home Christopher and Marley fell asleep. Now, by this time it was 6:45pm and it would have completely messed up their bedtime if we woke them up. So, we didn't get a chance to see fireworks at all this year!! I can't believe it, I feel so bad...oh, well...there's always next year!

BTW...I took a lot of cute pictures of my kids in their outfits, but I can't seem to locate them and they have been deleted from the camera SD card...bummer:(
If I find them, I will post 'em.

Marley, the Hairdresser?

Most people have seen Marley's new short 'do, but I wanted to record the story about it. It seems that I have passed on a certain knack for cutting hair down to Marley. I found her in her room, scissors in hand, hair on floor. She had cut her hair in the front, creating a few bangs for herself. So, I had to cut more hair to complete the bangs and I decided to go ahead and create a shoulder length bob.
The reason this is an interesting story to me is because of what I did as a kid. When I was about her age, I cut my own hair...creating bangs that my mom never wanted on me or my sister (just like me not wanted them on Marley). Also, when I was about 6 and Stephanie was 4, I cut her bangs as well...I guess it was destiny that I would end up a hairdresser (okay, almost).
It will be interesting to see what Marley chooses to do as a career...will she be a hairdresser too?!! Only time will tell. :o)

IT TAKES 2...to fall asleep?

At the old house Christopher & Marley shared a room and bunk beds for about 6 months. When we moved, we decided to let Marley have her own room and the boys should share a room. Fortunately, the boys' room is huge and can fit both Christopher and Jaxon's bedroom furniture with a ton of room left over to play. So, at the moment Jaxon still sleeps in his crib, while Christopher has the bunk beds all to himself. We have a strict bedtime for the kids which is between 7-8pm every night. However, it seems that occasionally it is a wee bit early for our rug rats and Christopher & Jaxon will be heard talking and laughing together. Well, one night after we put everyone to bed, we could hear the boys talking and laughing together...so, we decided it was harmless, figuring they would eventually fall asleep. After realizing that we had not heard them in a little while, I decided to check on them (all part of the motherly paranoia). To my AMAZEMENT, I found the both of them asleep in Jaxon's crib, side-by-side! I thought this was so cute...it could be worse...they could dislike each other! I captured this moment on camera and thought I would record it! These kid's of ours crack us up all day and night long!