Yes, It Does Snow in Arizona!

Our family took Monday off from work and school and headed up North in search of snow!! We found some about 2 hours away and had a blast! For a while it was just us. It was so peaceful, and the view, breathtaking. We even had a picnic in the snow. My kind of picnic--NO BUGS!! It wasn't very cold either, which was nice. At one point I just had short sleeves on and felt great. The kids did get a little cold, though, since they completely soaked their clothes. I packed plenty of extra clothes, but the one thing I did forget was sunscreen. Poor Daddy, Lincoln and Shiloh suffered from some sunburns. All in all, it was a super day. A day our family needed very much!


SLEDDING: We bought some cheap, round sleds that made for a lot of hill-sliding fun. I was first to try out the steep hill, and goodness me, I had no idea how FAST I could fly. It had been a while since I had been on a sled. My backside is a bit sore today, to say the least. Didn't stop me from sledding a bunch more times, though! Mullin and Lincoln were so brave climbing way up the hill to sled half way down and then bust!! Shiloh loved flying down the hill in Daddy's lap.

PLAYING: There is just something about seeing a little, pink bundle in the snow. Shiloh liked eating it. Lincoln tried making a snow angel, but the snow was just packed too tightly, which, thankfully, kept our feet from sinking with every step.

SNOWMAN: It sure has been a very long time since we built one of these. Some of it had already been done by someone else. We just finished him.

BATTLE WOUNDS: I was trying to show off my owies, but they didn't really show up very well. When sledding down the hill one time, I forgot to push my longsleeves down, and I ended up busting. Basically, I got "Snowburn"--sort of like rugburn, ya know.
SNOWBALL FIGHT: The snow was packed pretty tightly, so it was somewhat difficult for the boys to form snowballs. One time, Daddy hit Shiloh right in the buns with a snowball. I am sure it felt like a love pat, but she didn't like it and let everyone know with her crying and whining.

What a fun day this was. I hope their will be lots more of these trips in the future!

My Very First Real Coconut

My boys and I thought it would be a fun experience to buy a "real"coconut. I did a little research yesterday on how in the world to cut one. I hope my efforts pay off...
It felt wierd using a screwdriver on a piece of fruit, but it proved to work quite well in poking its "eyes" out.
Mullin is draining the coconut milk into a bowl. Not sure what we are going to use it for. Guess I need to research that now.
Sorry Lincoln, but Mama is going to be the one to hit the coconut and hopefully split it!

I hope this works, and I really hope no one is passing by my garage right now. I am sure I will look very silly!
What do you know-- 2 hits and whammo! I know I am wierd, but I felt so elated after this experience. Trying new things is fun, and since I have no desire to do something really fascinating like, deep sea diving or wrestling alligators, cutting open a coconut was adventurous enough for me.
The meat inside was so smooth and pretty. I wish my teeth were this white!

After all that work I ate a healthy snack of banana, coconut, raw almonds, and local honey. Yum.
My boys weren't so impressed with the taste, but they had a fun time with it.



I must add that I never thought anything could be more difficult and time consuming than cutting open a pomegranate! Acorn squash can be a bit tricky, too, but nothing compares to the coconut! As I was trying my darndest to cut and scrape away at the pearly white meat, I had a lot of time to just think.

As I was scraping away, I thought about how easy it was to get to the milk. Getting to the "meat" on the other hand was taking time, dedication, hard work, and patience. Then, in the quietness of my mind, the Holy Spirit began drawing a mental picture for me, relating the milk and meat of the coconut to the milk and meat of God's holy Word.

As baby Christians, drinking the milk of the Word that is so easily accessible is vital, but we were never meant to be sustained on milk alone. It is just as important to move on to the meat of the Word growing up in the wisdom and knowledge of God and becoming cross bearing servants in His Body, the Church. So many are content to just sit back and sip on milk without ever moving on to the meat. It requires time, dedication, hard work, and patience. It requires sacrificing one's own desires, and that never seems fun at the time.

I am glad I bought a coconut today! Blessings to you and yours--it is time for me to wake my sleeping beauty.

**I know with this many words and my spell check not working, there are bound to be some misspelled words, but I just don't have enough time to proofread. Gotta wake my girl or she won't want to go to bed tonight!

Strawberry, Arizona

Saturday road trip. First stop, Strawberry, Arizona. After a couple of hours in the car, it felt good to stretch our legs, and breathe in the fresh mountain air!
A little education--I guess that means I can count this as school!
What is this I see? A tree starting to change colors! Yea!
Of course, Shiloh didn't want to cooperate during picture taking time.
My wonderful husband and me sitting on the bench together. Awww, how romantic.

Pine, Arizona

The desires of my heart were gratified this Saturday in Pine. Just look at us surrounded by the amazing autumn beauty!! My soul feels revived after drinking in the incredible views.


There was a cool breeze, so it felt like fall. The leaves crunching beneath our feet made it sound like fall. There were lots of evergreens and a few campfires, so it smelled like fall, too. And with all the fiery colors, it definitely looked like fall! The only things missing were my homemade Pumpkin Bread and my homemade Harvest Apple Cider, and then it would have tasted like fall!!
Shiloh and the boys had a blast just throwing rocks into the stream. Experiencing nature in Pine on Saturday was definitely worth the 2 hour drive.

Wind Cave

After simply having a wonderful Christmas time, my mom, Darrell, Mullin and I decided to hike Wind Cave trail located on Scar Face Mountain. It is a strenuous 3.2 mile trek round trip. I couldn't believe Mullin made it to the top! (Especially since he was sick, though I didn't know it at the time.) After about an hour, we reached the top, Wind Cave, and boy we needed some rest!! Mullin complained that he didn't feel very good, but I just owed it to the fact that we had just hiked up a mountain. Shortly after we had begun our descent, Mullin took a little tumble and proceeded to cry the rest of the way down. I diagnosed it as embarrassment and tiredness, but I was definitely mistaken. I took his temp when we got home, and it read over 103 degrees. This marked the beginning of our post holiday blues...