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We are on our second Arizona Adventure. Sedona is so incredibly majestic, so this would be our next plan. Sadly, we had to leave Cooper with Boulder Falls Pet Resort.

Tot held him all the way to the Resort. He doesn’t know what is coming. Sad face.

We got extra hugs before we left. There he is wondering what has happened. We had to leave fast because it was H.A.R.D. I told Tot that is how I felt when I had to leave her with a caregiver when she was young. Tatum understood the pain!

We are off! Podcasts, Winnie The Pooh audiobooks, and fun conversation.

We arrived at West Fork hike about 11am. Wow. Just wow.

Trail here we come! Thank goodness it’s cool today. The clouds helped a lot.

Along the way, Doug apparently liked my backside.

Ha! We passed many tourists and enjoyed casual conversations. Then it happened. We spotted a …

He just looked right at us!

We had to cross the creek many times, and this was a great opportunity for Daddy and Tot to hold hands. Tatum found a nice little walking stick. The beauty is overwhelming.

Finally after about 2 hours and a ton of magical scenery, we headed back and crossed the final bridge.

Doug caught some incredible pics along the way. This butterfly fluttered for a while and held the pose for Doug. Exquisite!

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He also found these beautiful flowers just growing wild.

His photographing is spectacular; I look forward to more of this and maybe some more birds!

The apple/pears are not quite ripe yet, but we did test them.

Where you going, girl? I’m ready to be sedentary. I AM SO AMAZED AT THIS GIRL’S ATTITUDE; she was happy, funny, and just plain brave. No complaints from her little mouth; she sure is growing up.

Daddy and Tot were ready for a nice snack. We did it, Hays! I think they are done for the day. It’s only 1:00!

We joyfully got into the car and drank a gallon of water and wolfed down some snacks. It was time to check into our hotel and get some lunch. Golf in the afternoon. Our hotel is right on a 9-hole course. I wanted our room to be right on the course so we could just mosey out.
The clouds began to move in, so we had our hats on.

Ok, here it comes, but it didn’t phase the Tot. She was ready to rally!

We only played a few holes because it was pretty wet. We decided to stay wet and get in the pool and then go get dinner.

Game and snacks first; Snakes and Ladders kept us being silly. I also researched a trail for tomorrow.

On the way to dinner, this is the view…..

aaaaahhhhh….

We got back to our hotel and had a sunset dinner on the course. Can you even!!??

The time with our family was priceless. We enjoyed funny conversation, reminiscing of the beauty of the hike, and discussion of the next day’s adventures.

Winding down with some reading and playing. Can’t wait for tomorrow.

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It’s all coming to an end with a joyful noise. The noise is coming from me rejoicing in how proud I am of my girl.

First, we had a plan of all kinds of activities to fill our summer.

We were overly successful. We accomplished pretty much everything on this list.

Crafts, planting, Brain Quest, library/reading, swimming class, piano lessons, lots of games, Phx Theater camp, many lego fun times, Sedona, Prescott, cookies for policemen, book donations, water/granola for homeless, St. Vincent’s donations, journaling daily…and LOTS OF LOVE. Oh, and did I mention Cooper?

We kept track of her Piano, Reading and Brain Questing. Cooper got tallies too for being so still while we played our piano and journaled.

Just look at this improvement in her handwriting!! I gave her a happy emoji and a load of balloons on the top.

Cooper was “down” the whole time. Good little puppy!

She finished up her Brain Quest (8 levels!). (only 3 more pages and she’ll do that on Friday)

I don’t think Mrs. Finman (her new 1st grade teacher) will see that SLIDE that usually occurs with the kiddos over the summer.

Tatum and I also made our own storybooks.

It needs some color. Which one is me? Only the readers get to know. heehee

Daddy also joined us on Sunday for our verse practice. We are up to about 60 verses. It’s been a fun tradition now for 2 years.

Cooper is learning too.

I can’t even describe the party in my heart that is going on. I have had the best time with her. I’ve seen tremendous maturity in my little gal. She is turning into a lovely, kind, Jesus-loving young lady.

I’m going to miss you while you are in school, my sweet girl. Thank you for making my summer so special.

I could have. Yep. I could have swept in and fixed the whole thing in one shot. But, I decided to let her experience a bit of life today.

Let me back up. We were having a great day! After the gym and Einstein’s, she wanted to go to Target. Baby came with us today because he just got a new binky. (He has been MIA in the daytime because now he’s just a “nighttime teddy.” Yikes! …another sign of her maturity). I sewed him a little binky to cover his bitten, worn nose, and now he can come with us in his car seat.

Ok, back to the story. So she wanted some new glasses (with clear lenses that look “real”). She won’t let me say they are fake. Nope, they are real, so I acknowledge this to people and I say, yes, they are really on her face. They are not imagined. This way, I’m not fibbing. Target has some for about $5, and she wanted to use her allowance. She had $4 in her spend envelope and she’d pay me $2 from next week’s allowance. Perfect.

We picked some cute heart glasses out. Well, she did. I liked a different pair, but she is buying them! She does look ADORable in them.

When we got home, she played with them for a while and then I heard crying; A lot of crying in her bedroom. Apparently she was putting them away, they dropped, and she stepped on them. She showed me:

I held her tight and had loads of compassion for her. I told her stories of glasses I had saved money for and then stepped on them; mine were more than $100, but still. It’s a lot of sadness to lose or break something you just got. It’s what we call A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.

Do you know how badly I wanted to go back to Target and just buy her a new pair!? It would have been SO EASY to fix it and help her stop crying. But that would have been the worst thing I could have done. This teaches her such a strong lesson.

She noted how sad she was that she’d have to save all over again to buy a new pair. I agreed. She also noted how unfair it all was. I agreed. It really is, but I told Tot, this is part of life. It’s so hard, but she is learning such valuable lessons. She even told me she learned to be more careful. She said she also learned to not buy something so quickly without thinking about it first.

Well, I love this. We got home from some errands, and she decided to try to mend them.

She said, “Mommy, this will be perfect until I can save for a new pair.” Now that is what I call making the BEST of a situation and also a sure sign of maturity.

Every day I’m knocked over by her heart and her growth. Tatum, I’m so proud of you.

XO

Now, when I first saw this, I did a happy dance. We have almost every book in this list and own these author’s sets too. So hooray!

We decided to just pull out a bunch of choices, and then we would decide on which she would do.

Corduroy was one.

Yes, she made her own ending for each book. Baby became Corduroy and Tatum became Lisa.

Then she read I Lost my Tooth by Mo Willems.

Tatum found the missing tooth.

And finally, she read We are in a Book by Mo Willems. I woke up to her getting it all ready for later.

New ending: A little snake wants to play in the book now.

Wow! She finished it all. I’m so proud of her hard work.

Love the art and the running rainbow theme. (OH, there is Coopy; he was a big help too)

Here’s my cover and the whole book; Cooper wants to see!

Yep. We had to do it. We celebrated his 4-month birthday on Sunday. He was born on March 25th, 2019, so actually, Thursday was his b-day. But we wanted Mama to come over and join the fun, so we did it right after church.

Tatum and I got him a card and a new toy.

And we gave him some hugs before church. We told him we’d be home soon. Lotsa hugs for our four-legged cutie!

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Mama came after church and we took some necessary pics of course. My honey looked so handsome and Mama looked beautiful. She thinks he looks pretty fine.

Ok, back to Coopy. He loves MAMA!!

So much lovin’ goin’ on.

Mama got him a cute little squeak dog.

He immediately took it to his little cove under his place.

Then it was time for his card and…

HOT FUDGE. Yes, I think he’s ready for the sweet treat. I know we were!
We put a little whipped cream on a spoon (not chocolate since that would be a NO-NO for him), and we probably ruined him for life. Dog food will not have the same appeal I fear.

More, Mama!

Ok, our turn to lick the bowls. (And we did BTW).

One more toy for the cutie pie.

A squeaky ninja which is hopefully indestructible.

All I know is that it was pure joy spending time with my favorite people and animal. FAMILY: Hot fudge, fellowship, and fun. Perfect.

I love you all and COOPER, you bring us so much joy.

We haven’t forgotten you Coti! He and his giraffe send his love.

Thank you, Coti and family!

We had so much fun today with Mama. She looked so beautiful. I’m looking forward to weekly dates with her and bi-weekly dates for dinner at our home.

Right after she raised her hand to ask Jesus into her heart at VBS this year, we received a booklet in the mail. It’s an 8-week workbook on learning about what it means to be a believer in Christ.

We’ve been having so much fun working through it. In fact, we met Mrs. Holman (Jill) (her last year Kinder teacher) yesterday for coffee. She and I are becoming friends and Tatum joined us and played while we chatted. She had to interview another believer. Tatum was so cute asking questions.

She also asked Karen Montgomery (Neil’s wife and the leader of the kids) questions about our church.

We’ve been having so much fun filling it out.

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So grateful for this experience with her. I pray that your journey will continue fruitfully, my sweet girl.