Happy New Year! We're Home!

Our new year started out with a photo shoot (why not?). The Sunday before we left for home, I took some cute pictures of the kids in front of "the other house". Joe was working on getting things packed, and I was working on a blog assignment. I received some cute clothes for free, as long as I took pictures of the kids in the clothes and posted them on my public blog. I think they turned out really cute! (and should show up on my other blog soon)

I love Amelia's little outfit. I think the print on her dress is so cute and I would love something like it for myself! You can see that it is a smidgeon too big for her, but she is a little bit small for her age. She should be able to wear it for quite a while and I think she is adorable.

See those two little teeth in there? And can you believe my baby can pull off piggy tails?

Jacob and Ephraim both got some fun shirts from Tea Clothing, and I really like their shirts. It was harder to get nice pictures of the boys, because Jacob tends to give me his "picture smile" rather than a real one. You have to catch him off guard to get a nice picture.

Ephraim did not want to pose for a picture at all, but eventually I talked him into it.

Emily was helping me make them smile, and apparently she is pretty funny.

Aren't those pictures great? They are not quite what I had in mind for a photo shoot, but I LOVE them. They really show some personality.

I need to color edit the above photo (needs more yellow), but I love it too. Can you believe that Jacob is holding a grapefruit that is about the size of his head? When we cut it open we found that it had a really thick rind, but the boys though it was awesome that Grandpa's trees had fruit that big!

We got everything packed and went to bed. Of course Amelia knew something was up and did not want to go to sleep that night until nearly midnight. Then we got up shortly after 2 a.m. to drive home. Needless to say, I was one tired mommy! I even slept in the van while it was dark (again!). Of course I was not the only one to sleep in the van, we all took turns.

I love this picture because Jacob and Ephraim are both asleep at the same time (and you can see the wet spots from drool on Ephraim's shirt- haha!).

Since the weather had been so nice, we decided to go home through Flagstaff and Page, AZ. We made great time and even stopped briefly at the Glenn Canyon Dam. The boys thought it was fun to have some different scenery and see some red rocks.

We had a nice drive home. The weather was gorgeous and we made it home before 5 p.m. We did not have to drive through any snow or rain, which was wonderful. When we got home we unpacked the van and had frozen pizza for dinner. Then Joe went to the grocery store and picked up a few things after the kids were in bed. I was just too tired to go. Isn't he a sweetheart?

We had a great trip to Arizona, but we are glad to be home. Jacob is disappointed that there is absolutely NO SNOW at home, since there is supposed to be. I have to admit, that I was glad to come home to a clean driveway and my own bed!