New neighborhood fun

We live in a master built community in a tiny town just south of Tucson called Sahuarita. All the street names are in Spanish and the highway we use is in kilometers :) We have been enjoying exploring the desert. 

 We got these cheap, inflatable rafts to paddle around the lake next to us. We had a lot of fun despite the chep paddles 

 Backyard BBQ. Yup, that is an AstroTurf rug you see back there. Grass is a weed here and too hard to maintain so we bought the fake stuff--not at all the same.

The summer was not near as bad as everyone led us too believe. Granted, it is hot, but because it is also monsoon season, there is almost always an afternoon rain shower to cool things off. After years of drought in Texas, the boys were very happy to play in the daily rainstorms.

 Then they played in the mud. Kimball found a feather and used it for a paintbrush to decorate his body with mud--so creative.

 Awesome train track the day after we arrived

 Here's the neighborhood mini golf course with a few holes-in-one

 The cool kiddie train that goes around the clubhouse

 The awesome waterpark

 The fun giant turtles by the lake

The week we moved in Peter and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary. As you can see it was very low key at home with our 2 favorite boys. We're saving up for 10 years for when he graduates and we'll go away for a whole month and leave our kids with grandma and grandpa--get ready :)

 I just love when Joey spontaneously reads to Kimball. I love seeing them snuggled together being sweet brothers

 Joey was begging me to let him ride his bike through the big puddle in the road, so one day when dad got home early we went (I knew Kimball would want to too, but that might have been dangerous until he gets older). Joey had one messy back when we got home

 Filling up the honey jar. Every so often we have to fill up the honey jar from the 5 gallon bucket of raw homey we have. It's so cute to see the boys sit there for quite a while and just watch the honey drip from the funnel into the jar. It made me so happy to see that that is entertaining to them. Not watching tv and rarely playing computer games has payed off--the simple pleasures of life are still amazing to them. Or they could just be doing that because they know if they stay there long enough they will get to lick all the honey equipment when I'm done :)

Backwards day. We got Ice Cream for Breakfast from the library and the boys begged me for weeks to have backwards day, so one day I finally caved (after I made carrot cake so they could have a semi healthy dessert for breakfast.). So one morning we woke them up and said good night, they put their shirts on backward, and then we had cake followed by peas and grilled cheese for breakfast. They attempted to walk backward all day just like Huckle did, but that lost it's charm after a while. It was fun to have a silly day with them!

Joey inherited my small mouth and his 2 permanent teeth weren't coming out because there was no room so Peter took two baby teeth out. The hygienist said she thought the tooth fairy payed extra when you're brave and get your teeth pulled out by the dentist, so we found this note next to his teeth, "My teeth we're pulled out at the dentist." Written partially in cursive nonetheless  so she had to give a good reward.

Backyard Buddies. right next door to us is a family with a little girl, Katie, who is in Kimball's class at school. The boys really like playing over the wall with her. On Saturday mornings we hear a little voice yelling, "Joey, Kimball, can you play." They often throw balls back and forth to each other over the wall.

The boys really wanted the missionaries to stay and play with them one night after they ate over, but they had to get to an appointment. So they got out their planners and made an appointment to come back and play chase with the boys. It was so cute. I was so impressed that these Elders would come run around our yard in the hot Arizona sun. They are really good guys. We will really miss Elder King when he goes. He always shares a scripture with the boys about respecting your parents and appreciating you mom. He is welcome in my house anytime!

 Because we live out in the boonies, and because there is a city ordinance against street lights because of the observatory on the mountain, we can see some amazing stars right in our backyard. We have seen quite a few shooting stars! The boys love to listen to stories we make  up staring them as we watch.

 The boys had endless hours of fun going down the water slides. It's so much better than crowded Sea World!

 This fun Saguaro is down the street. It has two little balls growing from it that make it look like eyes.

  This frog was on our front porch one night. Apparently some kids lick the frogs back to get high. It secretes a chemical similar to LSD. People have to watch their dogs because they love to lick these guys too. How desperate do you have to be to get a buzz.

The boys got a certificate for their 4 days of summer camp!