Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

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.

We finally got together with her best friend from school. We are on a countdown to 1st grade, so we met mid-summer to paint. I made something ( a surprise for someone special) and Tot made a tile.

Charlotte made an owl, and I got to write “Spotty Blue” on its chest.

It was so fun to see her mom and the new baby Cicily.

We’ll see you soon dear girl!

We had to do it. I mean shouldn’t everyone do it at least once? We took Tatum …..

BOWLING!

Toddler Size 9 shoes, size 6 ball, and gutter bumpers, and a ramp. She took one look at that ramp and said NO WAY. She wants to do it HERSELF! GO Tot. So got all hooked up and she was ready to roll. Yes to actually roll the ball.

She gets a SPARE! Yes! Happy dance.

Now, Daddy looked quite adorable in his get up. Dress pants, white tightie shirt, and his suave bowling shoes.

The gutter bumpers helped all of us, but for sure, Daddy rolled many strikes. He has it going on!

Then I did my thing. I was not on a roll.

I had a few fancy moves, but it really didn’t translate into a high score.

The HHH (Hot Hay Husband) rocked it with breaking 100. Totally Awesome Tatum (TAT) and me (HHW..the hot wifey) tied.

Fun times with the fam. I love our adventures. Thank you, Daddy for making it possible.

I just was on Facebook to send a message and saw the Scottsdale Police page.

WOW. They have a few likes from what Tot did. I’m not one to brag, but I want her to see this one day and see what GOODNESS does.

And look at the comments from people we don’t even know.

I do too. I wish we would show more gratitude as a society.

This is not the first time we have done this. Or this time; or this one! It’s the fourth time we have visited our local police headquarters. We made them some chocolate chip cookies and Tot drew another picture. We are COMMITTED to being givers and people who are grateful. We want to show it not just talk it.

We got there nice and early and Tatum had to hug the statue like the other little girl.

Ok, here we go!

This time, they all came out to greet us! They also asked if they could publish this in their newsletter again. I am thinking this doesn’t happen for this often because we always get the royal treatment.

Police chief Alan Rodbell was so excited to see Tatum! He said, “It is so fun to watch you grow.” Wow, he remembers all the times we have come in the past 3 years.

Again, they gave us gifts. You just never knew what can happen when you care and love on others; a great lesson for Tatum.

WE APPRECIATE YOU, POLICE!!!

And there it is: They put it on their Facebook page. SO nice!

Doug and I have decided that we are going to celebrate Arizona by going to various places in the next year and a half. We have such a remarkable state, so why not see all of it?
Sunday, we started with a day trip to Prescott. Also, we’d get out of the heat.

Well, not sure if 90+ degrees is out of the heat, but it was a great idea to go on a hike in the mountains. My honey found a perfect hike for us: Thumb Butte.

Our drive was only 90 minutes which of course meant a quick break to use the facilities. McDonalds always perfect for this and to get a pretend hot fudge sundae.

Here we are! It looks promising!

After we paid our fee to park, we headed up. Daddy and Tot stopped so we could smell the bark on this tree. Definitely smells like vanilla.

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Well, let’s take some home. I love stopping to admire the foliage, but darn it’s hot and I want to mosey up so we can get out of this heat. What happened to this “cooler weather” idea???

Continuing on as we neared the top, we came across this memorial. It was for the Prescott 19 which were the 19 firefighters killed a few years ago. It gave us all goosebumps.

The top was so fun to see!

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We then saw the mountain with the 19 on it and understood. It’s a bit hard to see, but this was our spectacular view. We HONOR you, firemen.

Coming down was much faster; finished in 72 minutes and about 2 miles. Not bad for stopping often to shade and to let Tot grab Daddy’s hand.

Here she grabbed my hand which was so awesome. I know Daddy felt the same.

We made it!

Hooray! The car has waters and snacks. We couldn’t get there fast enough.

We headed to downtown Prescott with its beautiful courthouse.

They have a timeline of the history of Prescott. We found the date of our state founding.

We found the whole thing so amazing.

Then I wanted Daddy and Tot to stand in front of the whole thing. We love you Arizona.

After a bit of antiquing and reminiscing about our old toys, we had a nice lunch at Wildflower.

I loved the day with my family.
Cooper was being taken care of by my friend Kellye and Charlie. Charlie loved getting kisses.

And Murphy (their dog) loved hanging with the Coopster.

So good to be home with our little cutie pie. Thank you Daddy for a great trip! Next HAA here we come!