The babies

Well I am going through all my pictures from my week vacation with the fam and I just wanted to put a few out there just for fun! I will post in more detail later with LOTS more pictures! But it was so nice to be around all of the family ESPECIALLY the babies! All the nieces and nephews were there and they are just so cute! I went on a walk with the 3 older ones and we found dogs and sticks and all kinds of fun things a 3 year old loves to play with! It's nice to be the aunt with no kids, then I can spend lots of time with them and make sure they know who their favorite aunt is!!!







I took some professional family pictures of Brooke's family while I was up in Greer (because it is amazingly beautiful up there!) Here are some of the kids pictures! I think it is safe to say that I have some of the best looking nephews and nieces around!

Little critters....

Well since I have been in Arizona I have encountered the strangest little critters.....Some of the weirdest looking things ever. This first guy we have come across a few of them...They are sooo weird looking! It's some sort of spider but boy is it ugly! Allison was unfortunate enough to encounter one at my house while she was innocently sitting on the floor. I have never seen a pregnant lady move soooo fast!

Then another day the dogs were barking like CRAZY! Russ and I finally went outside to check on the ruckus and we found this little guy! I picked him up and put him across the street in the grass where the sprinklers come on and to get him away from our dogs that were bothering him. I think he is kind of cute... =-)

Then I went to Castle and Coasters with Kerri and Marcy while they were in town for a good game of goofy golfing..... We were having a good old time minding our own business when Kerri saw this creeping thing! a SCORPION right at her feet! I usually don't kill little critters at home (I put them outside) but for the safety of us and all our fellow golfers we had to kill this one.....

Then Last but not least I found the craziest bug EVER! It was a HUUUUGE BEETLE! The dogs were barking at something again in the backyard and I went to investigate! THE HUGEST BEETLE I HAVE EVER SEEN! It is sooo crazy! I have never seen one like this before! I took him and put him across the street too.

Arizona has shown me some interesting things while I have been here. It's kind of fun to see all these different little critters. I could do without seeing another scorpion. I guess the only thing I need to see now is a rattle snake, (i've seen a few road runners) a jack rabbit, and a javelina!!!

Cheap Date

Well, since I am not working while I am down here in Phoenix this summer (besides photography jobs I am booking) Russ is carrying the load of making the mula to pay our bills. So not much eating out, not much spending unnecessary money, just trying to have fun in a cheap way. Russ has had this craving (ever since we have been married) to reenact a fun activity he used to do as a child; hitting golf balls with baseball bats. Well one night his dream came true. We decided to go to his old stomping grounds, the park by his house on Utopia and sneak onto the driving range behind the park. It was dark and we played a game to see who could find the most stray golf balls (the ones that don't get picked up by the cart) kind of like an easter egg hunt. So I pretty much won by almost double. Haha. I found about 40 balls and he found like 23 or something. But instead of hitting the balls straight back onto the driving range I decided to add a little twist to this adventure. I wanted to take them home and write messages on them and THEN hit them back on the driving range. So we went home and Lacey and Dad hopped into the action. We wrote on all of the golf balls and we went back to hit a few back on the driving range. We haven't hit them all yet but we will. I think it will be fun when the golfers get a cool ball with a message on it. =-) It was pretty fun, I would recommend it.

I love those Sorensen's

It's time to blog again. I have been pretty busy this summer doing photography....That makes me happy. =-) Good Ol' Russ has been working hard doing his internship with my dad. The summer has definitely been a good break. I do miss the Utah weather and the Utah Mountains.....But a little bit of Utah and TEXAS and Cottonwood came home a few weeks ago. Amy and Marcus Family, Grandma, Kerri and Marcey and Dan and Alicia's Fam all were in town because Kerri and Marcey got sealed in the Mesa Temple! It was sooooo exciting to see them get sealed and to see all the family for a weekend. It was great! Grandma even came all the way down from Utah (a she hasn't made for a while). Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

I love those Sorensen's

Sam the man

Some of the highlights of my time being down in Arizona is to get to see my family and my friends! It's so nice to hang out with everyone whenever i want!

I have been trying to steal one mans heart away in particular since I have been down here.

Allison's little Sam.

Sam the Man.

I have missed a lot of his 1st year of life and we have some major bonding to catch up on.

Lacey and I went over to Allison's house to visit with her and of course I had to get some brownie points with sam so I will be the favorite AUNT! I played games with him and we had a fun time.

I even taught him how to pose for pictures.

I can see modeling in his near future....

Cool weather + fireworks = a good time

Well our families usual activity on the 4th of july would be to go to Harkins on Bell, watch a movie and come out just in time to see the fires works from the parking lot from the Peoria Sports complex. It works out pretty good. Bring some chairs, some refreshments and it's a pretty good setup. Since The 4th fell on a Sunday this year we decided to go up to Prescott (like we have a few times in the past) and they have an amazing carnival/Fireworks show and the best part is it is free admission! Mom and Dad, Lacey and her friend Steven, Russ and I and Ryan and Bri all went up for the event.

We were going to take a scenic route to sedona before we went to prescott but my dad decided it would take too long. So we ended up driving through my favorite place EVER Jerome, Arizona. If you haven't been there you need to. I may just have a weird crush on that place but it is a deserted mining town that is build on the side of a mountain. It is a pretty interesting place. But since we were short on time we didn't really get to stop. So instead of it taking an hour and a half to drive to prescott it took up like 3 hours. Ryan drove Russ and I up in his new Honda Fit and we all really got car sick (even Russ and he NEVER gets car sick) other than that it was a fun time!

We got there, set up our blankets on the baseball field and watched the fire works go off. It was even getting a little chilly! I wish Phoenix cooled off at least at nights. But it's ok, I'd rather take the heat than the snow any day.

I'm so glad that we live in a free country with all the rights and privileges that we have! I know I take it for-granted and I feel blessed to be apart of this nation.

Hope you had a Happy 4th!!