Welcome little Eva!

Eva Katherine Miner was born on February 22, 2011. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce. She has been an angel baby and adored by her older brother and sister. She is now almost two months old and we are waiting to see whether she will have brown eyes like her sister or blue eyes like her brother. She has just barely begun to smile, but we have yet to capture it on camera.
Tyson just began T-ball a few weeks ago, and we are having a great time watching him learn the game. We got a few chuckles the first game to watch him run from 1st base to right field, instead of 2nd base. He also has been found the last man standing in the outfield while the rest of his team is in line ready to bat. While he may space out at times during the game, he is definitely starting to pick up the basics! We love our little slugger!
Elise is our little princess who never tires of dress-up and make believe. She is found at night making up songs and singing herself to sleep. She also has developed a love for dancing and likes to shake her little hips. She has a knack for art and will spend hours on creating pictures from crayons, paint or any other thing she can get her hands on.
We are loving our new home and have lots of projects to keep us busy. I am proud to say that Brad (with some help from my Dad) successfully installed ceiling fans in several rooms throughout our house. He is becoming quite the handy man these days!

Halloween 2010!

We enjoyed the ward trunk or treat this year, and Grandma Salmon was able to join the festivities with us. Our only problem with the ward party was that someone forgot to give the memo to the maintenance crew of the park to shut off the winter lawn sprinklers for the night. We ended up getting a shower we hadn't planned on that night as we ate our dinner. Oh well!
The kids enjoyed being a cowboy and genie... (we just told her it was Princess Jasmine)! They ended up with lots of candy and enjoyed hanging out with their cousins and friends. It is so much more fun now that they understand the holiday and get what it is all about. They were both starting to worry that Halloween might never come this year. Although their patience was tested, they were relieved when the big celebration finally came.

Halloween 2009

I guess better late than never! This is for the aunts & uncles who never got to see the kids for Halloween.

Tyson was a swashbuckling pirate with Elise as his sidekick fairy princess. Both kids enjoyed the endless supply of candy, as did their father!

Tyson's 3rd Birthday

Tyson was into the pirate theme this year for his birthday. We invited some friends for a party at the park. We played musical chairs, a cannon ball game and ended with the hunt for a treasure chest. Brad and I had fun coming up with the different clues and challenges the kids had to complete at each part of the treasure hunt. I made a pirate ship cake that turned out great until the 100 degree temperatures literally caused the ship to fall apart at the seams! Although it looked more like a ship wreck by the time we got around to eating it, at least it still tasted good!

I Want to Be a Part of It...New York, New York!!!

Brad and I just had a whirlwind weekend going to New York City. It was a totally last minute opportunity with Brad's work, and we decided to make the most of it. We got in Saturday evening and came back Tuesday morning. Although we only had a few days to spend, we tried to fit in as much as we could. We took a bus tour that gave an overall view of the biggest attractions in Manhattan. We literally walked til we dropped, and tried to eat some of the most popular New York dishes. It is quite a crazy place to be. We actually saw a man whose job it is to safely help pedestrians across a crosswalk get hit, and an ambulance had to come get him. I was also stunned to see a man in Times Square wearing only a pair of underwear, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat playing a guitar. I got to go on a food tour of Greenwich village on Monday, while Brad was gone on business, and they took us to "The best New York pizza" rated by Food Network. I must say I agreed! Some of my favorite things we did while we were there included taking a walking trip into China Town and Little Italy. They had some great food and fun shops to look in. We ate dessert one night at a little cafe called "Serendipity" where we tasted some very yummy frozen hot chocolate. I was astounded to see a dessert on the menu that cost $1,000. You have to pre-order it two days in advance so they can fly certain ingredients in from other countries. I couldn't imagine anyone wasting that much money on a dessert, but I guess there are some people that have that much to throw away! We also got to see ground zero, which was very memorable. There was a fence near the twin towers site where children from all over the U.S. had sent tiles they had colored and written on to send their condolences to the families who had lost loved ones and to the city as a whole. We enjoyed the whole trip and can't wait for a chance to go back someday!

Dinosaurs!!!

Tiff, Mom and I had the chance to check out the Museum of Natural History with the little ones today. I love busy mornings because it helps to ensure long nap times later on in the day! Obviously the highlights for Brody and Tyson were the many dinosaur exhibits. It was so cute to see how excited they got at each new display. There were even some displays so realistic that Brody and Tyson were a little hesitant to get too close. I have to admit, after looking at a picture gallery from the Arizona Highways, I was in awe of how beautiful our state is. There are some really amazing looking places that I have never even been to, even though I've lived here my whole life. We had a good times checking out the shops and restaurant in downtown Mesa as well. We ended the day with some goodies from Sweet Cakes Cafe. I must say that the 5-layer brownie was downright sinful and 100% delightful!

Labor Day in Rocky Point

We had a nice relaxing weekend down in Rocky Point for the weekend holiday. I was surprised to actually be able to do a little boogie boarding and body surfing with the waves this time around. I didn't think they could get that big in Rocky Point, but I was pleasantly surprised to find I could. Luckily, Elise had less fascination with the tile staircase this trip, which made my stay a lot less stressful. The boys all had a grand time being buried in the sand, and Uncle Brad got a sand war started...shame, shame, we know your name! Luckily no one lost an eye from it. The highlights for me that weekend were watching Brad try to skim board with pointers from his nephews, and then Brad's Sunday attire with the help of a local Rocky Point clothing store and a bright yellow polo.(he forgot his Sunday clothes at home!)