Summer time

We have had a blast this summer!  I am trying to enjoy as much time with the kids as possible. Since Brendon starts preschool in the fall. We recently got a splash park 5 minutes from our house. We have loved it. Arianna even gets in on the action.
                                     

cuddled up with daddy.

 We took a quick trip up to Wisconsin to visit family and be a part of Michael's farewell. He was called to serve a mission in Mexico. He reports to the MTC this week. We are excited for Mikey and know he will be a great missionary. We love you Mikey. See you in two years. some fun things.  Before Anthony arrived we drove to Green Bay to the Train museum. Where we spent a day with Thomas the tank engine. There was a lot of fun activities to do all encompassing Thomas and the Island of Sodor. When Anthony arrived we took Arianna on her first go-cart ride with Brendon and Hailey. She couldn't decided if she liked it or not. We also had an early celebration for the kids birthdays. They both enjoyed that. It is always fun to spend time with family. We all had a great time.

showing off the train ticket

Taking a ride on Thomas.

Thomas the train

Play at the train museum.

 Arianna is in the car with me you can barely see her bow.

Passing by

Opening presents!

Loving what she got!

Katie and Arianna

siblings :)

 Fourth of July weekend was really fun this year. Anthony and Brendon both enjoyed going to the firework stands and picking out fireworks. I believe they went back 4 times! On the 4th we got together with some close friends and enjoyed a show of fireworks. Thankfully Arianna wasn't bothered by the noise. In fact she would clap and say "ya da dad".

hanging out before the firework show.



family



light it and run.

Month of May

May was a great month for our family. We had many wonderful and humbling experiences.

 To start the month off we had my dad come and visit us for a week. It was so much fun having him here. Brendon made sure he got in a lot of train time with Grandpa Mills. Any free time we had Grandpa spent it playing trains with him. Arianna followed him around the house everyday and fell asleep in his arms every night. Unfortunately my dad's visit came along with lots and lots of rain and  tornado warning. He got to be very familiar with our safe spot. He is convinced we need to move now. It was wonderful having him all to ourselves for the week.

Reading books with Grandpa.

Playing trains. The track they built together.

Saturday night at the Naturals Game

A baseball from the game!

Sleeping on Grandpa.

Playing in the rain!!

Soaked to the bone.

We were very fortunate to not have any tornadoes touch down in our area. Joplin a city about an hour or less from us was not so fortunate. They had a massive tornado touch down and destroy a lot of the city. The hospital, walmart, school and many other local stores and homes where destroyed. This really shocked  our family. Anthony has many customers that live in Joplin and we have friends families also there. Our church in this area was asked to gather up 200 men to go and help in the clean up effort. Anthony did not even question whether he should go or not. He quickly volunteered himself. He was gone Saturday and Sunday of that week helping in the clean up efforts.The first day he was there he was helping clean up debris that had fallen or damaged local homes. One woman came out of her house in tears, hugged Anthony and told him she had been praying for someone to come and help her. I felt blessed that my husband had the opportunity to help. It was a life changing experience. Pictures of this event will come soon.

 A year ago I was asked to fellowship a sister investigating the Church. Since then she has joined our church and we have become very good friends. Sunday the 29th her son Brenden was baptized. Anthony was asked to baptize him. It was such an amazing experience to watch my husband take Brenden into the water and baptize him. I am grateful for this gospel and opportunities like this that bring joy and happiness into our lives.

Anthony,Brenden, and Maria

Elder Schofield on the left taught Maria and her family the discussions

Thomas and Toes

 Thomas and Friends Live came to Bentonville. Anthony and I thought it would be fun for Brendon to go. I bought tickets for Anthony to take him. First father and son play. Brendon loved it. I loved hearing his excited voice on the phone before the show had started telling me what he was about to see.

 I was a little sad that Anthony got to take Brendon to the show, so I made sure Arianna and I had a great girls night. We went on a walk and came home and painted our toes. I wasn't sure how much fun this would for my Ana girl, but she sat there and let me paint. Her little toes looked so cute!

Easter

  Easter was rained out this year. My poor kids never got the chance to go outside for an Easter Egg Hunt. I tried to make up for it by having one in our house with some friends. Brendon while looking for eggs would only pick up the plain eggs . If they had a sticker or plastic around it he would pick it up and then put it back. The best reason I can come up with is that it is to much work to take the plastic or sticker off to get to the candy. He is such a funny kid!

  Easter Sunday was a great day. Brendon gave his first talk in primary. He did such a good job. I was a proud momma. After church we enjoyed our presents from the Easter Bunny and spent the day together as a family.

I tried to get some really cute pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes, but Brendon was not happy about it. He would not smile or sit long enough for a pictures. Most of the pictures are of Arianna. She did not mind posing for a few pictures.
                                        
                                                           Egg Hunt    

Easter Baskets

Mom and Dad's Basket



Brendon's Basket

Arianna' Basket

Easter Outfits

Playing with daddy

I grew up with the great tradition of the Red Plate. Whenever you do something special or have a Birthday you get  to use the red plate at dinner . I thought now would be a good time to start that tradition in our family. Brendon got to use the red plate after giving his amazing talk in primary.( He was more than happy to pose for this picture! Go figure.)

Baseball Baseball Baseball

Brendon has always loved playing sports. He recently decided that he really likes baseball. Anthony loves baseball and played all through high school and in college until his mission. So I am not surprised that           Brendon has a natural talent and desire to play baseball. Brendon got his first mitt and baseball along with a tee ball bat ( that was 20 bucks might I add!) last week. He is now spending a lot of time in yard learning all  there is to know about playing baseball.

                                                

First Family Baseball game of the season. Brendon has been asking to go to a baseball game for months. He finally got to go. We all had a great time. Arianna loved being outside and danced to every song.  Brendon loved the ice cream and watching the game from grass. It doesn't get much better than a night out with the family enjoying a baseball game.

Our seats in the stands



Brendon at the bottom of the grass hill. He was hoping for a home run ball to come his way.



Arianna enjoying the grass. We walked up and down the hill many times.



The Naturals in the outfield

Date Night

What do you get when you put the Saumwebers, the Stapleys, and the Hoffmans all together?!
ONE GREAT DATE NIGHT!
 We have all know each other for over two years and somehow have never managed to all go out together without the kids.
We all met at Carrabbas to have dinner. The food as always was fabulous, but the conversation and laughs where what made the night.;)  Next we decided to go go karting. My sly husband talk one of the workers into riding along with us. Which meant all adults in the cars and a boost for all the cars. I have never gone that fast in a go kart before! 1 time around the course and you could smell the rubber burning. For a short time I felt like a teenager again, having a great time messing around with friends.  Hopefully it wont take us another two years to make it out all together again.
Thanks to Karis we got pictures of our night out.



Filled with good food and hilarious conversations!




At the go kart race track




My life is complete!! I spun Anthony out! Ha ha sucker!!!





the race is on!

 

Arianna found her Groove

While enjoying some down time as a family Arianna decided to entertain us. I didn't get the best part on tape but I got something. I know that I am her mother and all, but I am absolutely amazed and in love with the fact that she is tying to dance. She is such a fun baby.Love her!