4th of July

July 2011: We were the only family of the Franks down at the beach!  We still got up early just like we normally do with Ryan's family but everyone had something going on this year!  We both had the day off and all I wanted to do is SPEND IT ALL with my family!!!!  So we packed a ton of food and sunscreen and hit the beach!  There was a handful of people when we arrived but by about noon....Lots of people!!  Cooper kept playing catch with these two guys (older than Ryan and I ) with their football and they loved it!  Their kids were older and probably too cool for their dads but Cooper kept going and going ...We had to tell him to stop a few times and give them a break!  He does have a good arm!  

We stayed until about 4pm and this rude family came and seriously parked all their stuff around ours!  We could hardly get to our stuff and they kept standing around the stroller where you could clearly see the baby was sleeping! Ryan and I got mad at first but tried to be the bigger person and started to talk to them and realized we needed to get our kids home to shower and get ready for fireworks!  We even gave them our parking spot right above the beach instead of a 15 minute for them and all their kids....

Got home and cleaned up then headed back down with our Zips food to watch the fireworks!  They were great as always!!!  This year was Ryker's first year and he liked them!

Ahhhhh my little DIVA 

Please we know we are white ... No need for comments.... 

 peacefully sleeping until ......

Cooper pretending to be buried and mad 

Ryker LOVING the sand and play time!!

Pretty sure our other pictures are on our phones .....

Basement

As soon as we moved home we knew we wanted to start finishing our basement.  Our house is a rancher on a basement and each level is about 1425 sq ft.  We have been living out of the 1425 on the top and the downstairs is like a huge storage unit....Until June 2011.  We didn't really draw up any plans as when Ryan and I talk we usually decide on the same things!  We decided we could put 2 bedrooms, an office, a family room with a wood stove, a food storage room, a bathroom and a laundry room/storage room.

We are extremely grateful to everyone that has helped us out with this project!  We have had lots of family and friends help us out in so many ways!  Currently as of Dec. 2011 we have the bedrooms, office and family room almost done!  One bedroom is missing a closet but will get one soon, the family room needs the wood stove tiled and the 1200 sq ft we have been working on just needs carpet that I ordered today!  Here's to hoping by the end of the year we will have it installed!  

Next project is the food storage room and laundry room!

One of the windows wasn't big enough to be considered a bedroom so Ryan dug this 7 foot whole to have a guy come and cut the concrete to put in a bigger window! The reason it is so deep is once he cut the concrete we didn't want to attempt to haul it out so we buried it and no one knows!!!!

These are just some pictures ... This is the update until about August!  

Last days .... Drive home to Idaho....

The pictures below are of our last days in Arizona.  Ryan's dad flew up to help Ryan drive the Penske!  We rolled out of town the day after Cooper got out of school, May 25th. We drove for 2 days and stayed the night just North of Salt Lake City so the traffic wouldn't be too bad!  

Packing the truck wasn't too bad but I didn't do too much! I just packed the boxes!  Ryan's dad was a bit hot due to the AMAZING weather - I think it was about 90 the 2 days he was there!  The kids loved having their Grandpa there and Grandpa enjoyed the nice weather and picking the oranges off the trees we had right in our backyard!  Not having those any more I realize I never once picked an orange.  Ryan always did it and squeezed them!  Another reason we need to go back to Arizona for a visit!  

First day of the drive I had all 4 kids as Ryan and his dad left 2 hours before us at 5am.  Not so good when you go to bed at 2am.  Ryan got sick and rode with his dad all but the last 2 hours and the kids did AMAZING in the van for me!  We hardly stopped as they wanted to keep catching their dad and Grandpa!  We stayed the night in a hotel that had a huge pool and the kids loved swimming and it wore them out!

Home stretch of Day #2 of driving for 12 hours!!  Everything went great and Ryan even rode with us for some of the day!  We didn't see snow until we were on top of Lookout Pass....We went from 90 and gorgeous to snow and rain for weeks .... I will admit I was unprepared!  We lived with one of Ryan's brothers  and his family until our renters decided to move out!  Lucky for them it was only for about 10 days!  

Chloe and Grandpa bonding??? 

Waiting for Cooper's bus on the last day of school :( 

Grandpa had to pick some oranges to bring to Idaho from our backyard 

Some random guy offered the kids to sit on his motorcycle and they LOVED IT!! 

Chloe loving the motorcycle!! 

Cooper got to ride with Daddy and Grandpa in the Penske!  Bad picture but he has a HUGE smile! 

SNOW 

Easter Swedish Celebration @ IKEA

Ryan took the kids to IKEA to celebrate Easter!  I forget the name of it but will have Ryan post about it!  Here are the pictures!

Cooper vs Beam at School

April 2011: We got a call at 8:45am (when school starts) from Nurse Watkins (who we also went to church with!  Cooper had ran into a "pole".  She was not sure what it was but we later found out when Cooper pointed it out to Ryan it was a big beam!  Anyways, he was playing with his friends and wasn't watching where he was going and BAM - smacked right into it.  

Ryan went and got him from school and went straight to Dr. Garrett's office.  Our pediatrician had already done stitches on Reese back in February so she was probably not surprised to see us again.  6 stitches later with NO crying and Dairy Queen with dad Cooper was ready for school again!  All his friends were so concerned about him and when he returned they all were surprised and ran to him when they saw him!  Just made his day.  

Had to be front and center!  Bummer part is the other dr took the stitches out and the steri-strips didn't hold too good at the San Diego Beach so his scar is a bit open ....He is still super cute!!

Nap Time

If you get offended I am sorry but this was too cute!  Reese falling asleep in the chair and just looking so comfy while snoozing away!!

Maybe Ryan was trying to work also....Probably didn't get much done!

Phoenix Zoo 2011 Last Trip

May 2011:  We were able to go with our friends the Campbell's for our last trip to the Phoenix Zoo.  Love that place!  We will definitely hit this fun place up when we visit again!  

That about sums it up!  The adults did too much talking so not as many pictures!  Last one was Ryker loving his snack since he didn't go on the camels and was stuck with mommy!!