The Sanders Family

Collin being a clown!!

2010-12-08T10:39:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON!!!

2010-07-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Mason turned 7 on July 12th. We can't believe how big she is!! She had so much fun with her friends at her birthday party!!

CAMPING!!

2010-07-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went camping with the Sanders at Upper Tonto Creek, by the fish hatchery in Payson. It was so fun!! We even got RAIN!!!! (lots of it).

BOOOOOM!!!!

2010-07-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Porter was asked by a soldier at the end of the parade to pull the trigger for the final cannon. He could have not picked a better kid to do it!!! Notice the smoke behind him and the smile on his face as he comes back...

COUSINS!!!

2010-07-13T12:11:00.001-07:00

It had been so long since all the Duris cousins were together! It was great to see them play!

Utah Trip!! Happy 4th of July!!!

2010-07-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to UT to see the fam and had a blast!!!

Summer FUN!!!

2010-06-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

Collin graduated from preschool!

2010-05-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Last week Collin graduated from preschool and had a fun party! He's so proud of himself and we're of him!! We love you little guy!! :)

Way to go Porter!

2010-05-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

Porter was recognized at a special flag ceremony at his school for his academic achievement this last school year! Good job Porter!

Family Trip

2010-05-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

We were able to go to Pine and enjoy the weekend as a family! It was AWESOME!! We also attended the Gila Valley Temple dedication on Sunday at the Pine ward building. It was the first temple dedication for Jace, Micah and Porter!

New Sanders Family Pic!!

2010-05-29T17:24:00.001-07:00

Collin's summer look...

2010-05-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

Fathers and Sons

2010-05-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Jace and the boys went to their yearly fathers and sons campout with our ward and had a blast! So did Mason and I at home with no boys!! ;) They went fishing too, which is one of their favorite things to do!

Easter

2010-05-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

This year's Easter we had a different kind of egg hunt. Our kids are getting older and we gotta get more creative. So they each had an egg hunt in their rooms. Jace had way too much fun hiding the eggs... ;)

Webelos Project

2010-05-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

Micah made a treasure chest for one of his webelos wood project. It turned out very nice!

DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

We were so blessed to go to Disneyland in February!! Boy we LOVE that place!! Even Collin was tall enough to go to everything this time. We had the best time!!!

Porter's Baptism

2010-02-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

We are so happy that our Porter was baptized. Lots of family and friends were there. It was a very special day!! :)

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas this has been!! :)

Porter turned 8!!

2009-12-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

Porter turned 8 and will soon be baptized!! He's SO excited!! We can't believe we're baptizing our #2 kid!! Time flies...

Photo Shoot

2009-11-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to grandma's so all the grandkids could take Christmas pictures with grandma and grandpa. It was interesting... But the pictures turned out cute!!

Micah's Concert!

2009-11-20T15:39:00.001-08:00

Micah had his first orchestra concert!! He did so well! We're so proud of him!! :)

The Mentos Experiment...

2009-11-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

Shannon and Aaron gave me "The Mentos Experiment" set for my birthday. We had a blast trying it out with all our kids and their friends!!! Boy did it work!!!! Yep, I'm not mature at all... Maturity is for boring people! ;)

Halloween!! :D

2009-11-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

The kids LOVE halloween!!! This year we painted some pumpkins that grandma gave us on the FHE before halloween. The kids had a blast and we used them to decorate the entrance to our home. Collin was a skeleton, Mason a cat, Porter a cowboy and Micah a Jedi or something star wars... We had SO much fun trick-or-treating with all our friends and neighbors!!!

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

This labor day weekend we went to our family cabin in Pine, AZ. We had a great time visiting with family and spending time doing things we enjoy! :)

Cabin FUN!!!

2009-09-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

What better to do at the cabin than jump off the stairs and land on the love sac?? :)

Big fish!!

2009-09-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Jace and Aaron went back fishing Monday morning and got 5 more!

Feeding the ducks...

2009-09-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

On our way back home we stopped at Payson Lakes and fed the ducks and other "things" our left over bread!

Family BBQ

2009-09-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

We finished our labor day weekend with a family BBQ and some water fun!

Family day at the lake! :D

2009-08-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had our annual family reunion at Canyon Lake, AZ. It was an awesome day and we had so much fun tubing down the lake! After about an hour of being out on the lake we went back to let the rest of the family have a turn at it. But right after they left we had a HUMONGOUS storm go through without warning!! I grabbed all my kids and hanged on to them as the wind and rain pounded on us. All we could do was ride it out!! They were scared and crying, but they were with Jace and I, and I was more worried for the rest of the family on the boat!! When the storm passed we had nothing left on the tables which we had set up with food, drinks and treats, we had lost a raft and other things to the lake, and everything else was buried in the sand! Crazy but FUN!!! I LOVE big storms!!! :D

Indoor soccer!!

2009-08-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Micah and Porter started their indoor soccer season and they had their first game on Saturday morning. The "green mean machines" played SO good!!! :) Micah is #7 and Porter #4.

Chore Chart

2009-08-19T14:48:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was our ward's Super Saturday and I ventured out of my non-crafty comfort zone to make this really cute chore chart. I also made a bunch of magnets to go along. We've been at it for a week, and IT WORKS!!! :) So excited to get the chores done while the kids have so much fun checking their chores everyday. It's almost a game!!

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

2009-08-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Today the kids went back to school! Oh happy day!!! Micah is in 4th grade, Porter in 2nd and Mason in 1st!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLLIN!!!!

2009-08-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Collin turns 4 today!! Can't believe my baby is 4!! Love you Collin!!

Random....

2009-08-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Pictures by Porter

2009-07-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

Porter loves taking pictures! These are some of his latest ones. He wanted me to put them on the blog. :)

My trip to Utah!

2009-07-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to Utah this last weekend to see Paula's new baby, Gavin. It was a lot of fun!! It was fun to play with my little nieces too and get to know them a little more, since I don't see them often.
On my way back my flight was diverted to Las Vegas due to the BAD weather in Phoenix. My flight was VERY rough and I could see lightning out of the plane's window. I got home 3 hrs later than I was supposed to!! But at least I made it home. I was worried I wouldn't.... Crazy weather!!

Sunday afternoon....

2009-07-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

What better to do on a Sunday afternoon than jump off the table on Walmart made parachutes?! I can think of a million things but the kids thought that was IT!!! :)

Mason's Birthday Party!!!

2009-07-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had Mason's friends over for her 6th birthday party. She had a blast making everything PINK and playing with her friends! We can't believe she's already 6!!!

Random weekend pictures!

2009-07-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome weekend!!! Here are a few random pictures we took here and there during the weekend.

Rock Climbing

2009-07-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

What better to start the 4th of July weekend than with some rock climbing??? We went to the Gilbert Rec center and had some fun climbing rocks!!

I scream for ice cream!! :D

2009-07-05T09:39:00.001-07:00

After dinner Friday we got some ice cream cones from McDonalds. The kids were SO happy!! Collin can never eat his ice cream fast enough to keep up with the AZ weather!! ;)

Beautiful AZ!!

2009-07-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Friday night was an awesome stormy night!! As we drove home this is what the mountains looked like! We even got some rain! (if you live in AZ you know what a HUGE event that is...) And later that night it REALLY came down, and had an awesome lightning show, dust storm and more rain!! :D

All nighter

2009-07-05T09:31:00.001-07:00

So Jace and the boys decided they were gonna stay late and play XBOX, which they usually do on holiday weekends. At 4:30 in the morning I heard some talking and went to the basement and found Jace passed out on the couch and the boys still going strong!! I couldn't believe it. I sent them to bed and when I woke up an hour later to go on my morning walk this is what Micah looked like!! I just LOVED his hair!! :D

Swimming!!

2009-07-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

Who can go on a 4th of July without swimming?? We went swimming with our family and had a blast!! We all LOVE swimming, specially when it's 105!

FIREWORKS!!!!

2009-07-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to our friends' house, the Andreasens, to watch the fireworks! It was fun! We also made homemade ice cream and Lisa made an awesome flag cake. We made strawberry cheesecake and Andreasens made oreo cookie ice cream. SOOOOO GOOOOOD!!! :)

SUMMER!!! :D

2009-06-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! I have not updated my blog in a while! That's because we've been busy all summer with fun things to do! :)
We've been going to the new Mesquite Groves water park every week! The kids LOVE going there, and I like taking them because it's cheap! ;) We spend hours playing in the water and cooling down, although so far our AZ summer has been very mild.
We also go every Thursday to the shows at the QC library. We've had a magic show, reptile show, and story telling. They are a TON of fun!! What the kids like the most is getting a McDonalds ice cream come every time after the show. The kids are also in the library summer reading program and they've earned prizes!
We got an over the ground pool this summer so the kids spend HOURS in the back yard playing in the water!! Their friends love coming too.
Every week they go to Grandma's house for a fun day! She takes them swimming, on golf cart rides, and they play in her yard. The LOVE Grandma's days!! She's also been taking turns with the kids and takes them for their special day with Grandma and they get to sleep over at her house. How nice is that?!
I wished I had more pictures to post, but since most of our activities include water, I rather not take the camera!
Of course we LOVE our basement where we have "movie parties" with our friends and neighbors. We had one a couple of weeks ago and there were 28 people here at one point!! SO FUN!!
Here are a few of the very few pics I took this summer...
Hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July! :)

Scout Camp 2009

2009-06-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Jace had the chance to go to scout camp for 6 days up by Flagstaff. They had a blast!!

Mason's Kindergarten Graduation :)

2009-05-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

My little Mason graduated from kindergarten today!! We are so proud of her and she's so proud of herself!! :)

Family Camp Out!!

2009-05-09T18:53:00.001-07:00

Last night we went camping!! Our family loves being outdoors and enjoying the weather!! :)

Back to Gilwell!! :)

2009-05-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

Mid April into May, I had the AWESOME opportunity to go back to Wood Badge as staff. I was the ASM-Programs, which was a lot of work but very rewarding!! I had a blast and learned a ton, even as staff. We had the best and craziest staff!!! :)

District PWD

2009-03-23T09:20:00.001-07:00

Porter raced his car in the District Pinewood Derby and he took 3rd in Tigers!!! Way to go PORTER!!!

Porter - The entrepreneur

2009-03-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

So Porter is SO determined to have his own business. Yesterday he made "S" out of paper clips and sat on the curb waiting and waiting.... He even made his own sign. It was HOT, but he wasn't about to leave without selling "S". And HE DID!!! He actually had people buy some!!! 7 to be exact!!! Nice people around here :)

Spring Break at the Phoenix ZOO!!!

2009-03-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of Spring break and we went with grandma, Anna and some cousins to the zoo! It was a fun day and we saw all kinds of crazy things!

Mason ~ Student of the Month!!!

2009-03-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Mason was chosen to be student of the month!! She's so happy and we're so proud of her!! She's such a sweet girl!! We love our Mason!! :)

Down and Derby!!!

2009-03-03T13:31:00.002-08:00

We had our Stake Pinewood Derby last Saturday. It was great!!! Of course, since I organized it... :) We had 143 kids in the stake race. It was a loooooong and busy day for me!! Micah had a great time!! His car took first place in all his races and later it won 2nd place overall for the Bear den and "Most Patriotic" car!!! Micah has his awards proudly hanging in his room!!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's day we went with our friends Rick and Lisa to hike up the Superstitions! It was beautiful! After our hike the guys cooked a very nice steak and shrimp dinner for us and set up the table very classy! :) We had a great time!!

Saturday at the park!

2009-02-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning we went to the park by our house and took our plane for a fly. It did quite well, except for a few rough landings.... The kids had fun playing soccer with some friends and watching the plane. It was a perfect weather day!! :)

Relief Society Shooting Activity!!

2009-02-03T10:13:00.001-08:00

We FINALLY got to go shooting with the ladies!! We had so much fun!! We NEED to do that again SOON!!! :)

Week in review!

2009-02-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

This week was a lot of fun! Micah turned 9 on Thursday! We can't believe he's 9 already! He had a birthday party with his buddies on Saturday and they had a blast! Also on Saturday Porter had his first Pinewood Derby!! Jace and Porter spent a long while getting "The Bullet" ready for the big race! His car raced many times and did very well. Micah loved the chance to get some ideas for his derby coming up at the end of the month.

Hope you all having fun in life with WHATEVER comes your way!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

Blue & Gold Banquet

2009-01-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, January 21st we had our ward's Blue & Gold banquet. It's when we celebrate another great year in cub scouting. Micah received his Wolf rank after digging for it in a whip cream pie!! Jace, of course had to do the same. It was also Jace's b-day!! We had a very fun day!!

Pine Trip

2009-01-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

Last weekend grandma, grandpa, and the girls took the kids to the cabin, while Jace and I were busy training for our upcoming Wood Badge course. They had a blast playing in the snow and spending good times with the fam. THANK YOU GUYS!!! :)

Utah Trip!

2008-12-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we went to Utah to visit my family. The way there was long and very snowy. The highways were COVERED in snow... But we made it and had a blast with my family and playing in the snow. Although we are very happy to be back in our nice warm valley weather!!

Christmas Day!!

2008-12-31T08:47:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas day! The kids were happy with all their presents and it was fun spending time with our family and friends!

Happy Birthday Porter!!

2008-12-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

December 22nd was Porter's 7th. birthday!! He had a very fun party with all his friends from school, church and neighbors!! He's such a smart kid and sure loves to keep Jace and I learning how to be parents... We love our Porter!! :)

Happy Anniversary to US!!

2008-12-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Dec. 19th, Jace and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!! It's hard to believe it's been 10 YEARS!! We went shotgun shooting, which is something we both love doing!! We spent the day up in the mountains where there was SNOW and COLD!! We had a great time together!!

Christmas Concert

2008-12-18T10:31:00.001-08:00

Micah and Porter had their Christmas School Concert last night! They did great!!

Mason's Dance Show

2008-12-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

This morning Mason had a dance show at Power Ranch at the park by the club house. It was a beautiful day, although a bit cold for the little dancers... Mason did so well and she looked SO BEAUTIFUL!!! She loves dancing and she has lots of friends in her class! :)

A little dance for you all!!!

2008-12-09T21:43:00.001-08:00

We practiced and practice and this is what we came up with!! I hope you enjoy it. jace was too shy to join the fun!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

QC Holiday parade!!

2008-12-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

We had our Queen Creek Holiday Parade on Saturday and we were the head of the parade with the scouts and cub scouts of our ward!! Our scouts were the color guard!! We had a blast!! We're gonna do it next year again!! Porter was in a float with his cub scout pack and Mason was in another float with her school!! Collin had fun watching the parade and riding the golf cart with grandma!!

This week...

2008-12-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

This last week was a busy one! (nothing new...)
Collin had a great time at grandma's house making chocolate covered mice and playing with his cousins!
On Sunday we had Porter's "pre-b-day party" together with Spencer's. They both turn 7 this month. Porter was very happy to get "Clone Wars" and a new Lego Star Wars game for the Wii!!

What Cute Kids I Have!!!

2008-12-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

These are pics that Jace took of our cute cute kids on Thanksgiving!! I love them so much!! They are the best!!
Click on the pic to see it bigger!!

Arboretum

2008-11-30T18:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday we went with Steve and Heather and their kids to the arboretum by Superior. It was a BEAUTIFUL place!! We took a little day hike and had a ton of fun!!

Decorating for Christmas!!

2008-11-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Friday we spent a lot of the day decorating our home for Christmas. This year we got a new tree which we decorated very nice and our old tree we'll put in our family room and will be our "family tree". On it we will put all the fun ornaments and the cards and pictures we get from all our family and friends!! We had a blast getting things done!! (Maqueca, you'd be proud of me with the decorations...)

Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-30T18:10:00.001-08:00

We had a great thanksgiving weekend!! We spent a lot of time with family and friends. We started on Wednesday night with a Wii party at our house. On Thursday we went to the Sanders' home and had a wonderful time with everyone. We had lots of food, pies and even a snow ball fight!! Of course, we can't forget the 4 hrs. of soccer, which were a TON of fun!!! It was a fun day!!! Here are pics Jace took of the kids and the fun.

Micah at DISNEYLAND!!!

2008-11-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

Grandma took Micah to Disneyland on Tuesday!! He had SO much FUN!! They flew out Monday night. It had been a while since Micah had flown anywhere so he was a bit nervous about that, but when he got back he said that he LOVED flying!! THANKS GRANDMA!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!

Our Beading Ceremony

2008-11-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last night was our beading ceremony. To you non-scouters, after completing our ticket items (goals) for our Wood Badge course, we receive a special recognition, "the beads", which has an awesome significance to those who have attended the course. I guess you all have to go so you know what that means :) I LOVE WB!!!
Jace, Rick, Brian and I were all beaded!!
THANKS to all that were there last night!! It was awesome!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

2008-11-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

Thursday was my birthday!! I turned 21 with 11 years experience :)
It was an AWESOME day!! I got lots of calls, emails, facebook wall notes and texts from all of you great friends and family!! I love you all!!
I spend my day SHOOTING!! We went to do sporting clays at Usery Pass shooting range with some sweet shotguns. After 150 rounds I was pretty sore... I still have a bruise on my shoulder... When the kids got out of school we went to dinner and then to do some more shooting. We went to caswells shooting range and shot some .40 cal and .22!! IT WAS A BLAST!!!!!!!!!!

Shooting & Repelling

2008-11-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

Jace went with the Venture scouts and Laurels shotgun shooting and repelling on Saturday! They had a blast!!

Caving!

2008-11-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

I went caving with the Teachers and Miamaids on Saturday to Oracle caves!! It was AWESOME!!! It was muddy and slippery so we got pretty dirty, but it was so fun!! We gotta go back SOON!!

Scout-O-Rama

2008-11-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Today was our scout-o-rama! The kids LOVE going because there SO much to do and see! It's a huge valley wide event where packs, troops, teams and crews put together booths and different activities for scouts and families!

Halloween 2008!!!

2008-11-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Halloween was a lot of fun! Anna and Phyna came trick-or-treating with us! We got TONS of candy! (too much...)
The kids were so tired at the end, that when we got home and the sugar high wore out they all fell asleep together watching a movie!!

Last week...

2008-11-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

This last week was super busy!! Porter has been working hard with his Tiger den and has earned his BOBCAT!!! Good job Porter!!! He's so proud of himself! The rest are pics from pack meeting FUN!!

Powder Horn Second Weekend!

2008-10-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

We completed the second weekend of Powder Horn yesterday! It was a blast! Thursday we started with some bouldering and repelling! I love repelling, although we did a very short cliff. I wanted to keep going! Then we had class and practice on wilderness survival and wilderness first aid. That night we had our crew campfire which was so FUN!!! Friday we spent all morning at the lake doing canoing, kayaking and sailing. I enjoyed kayaking a lot! After lunch we had our conservation project and then we got ready for our expedition. Jace's crew canoed to their campsite. My crew backpacked. We had a great time with our crews and keeping away from scorpions, rattle snakes and whatever else was making noises on the bushes.... (I don't want to know what that was...) Our last day we had crew competitions on canoes and also on dragon boats!! That was a blast. The dragon boats were A LOT of work... At the end of the course we had our graduation ceremony which was very cool. Powder Horn was a blast!! I hope we can be staff some day!!

SUCH A FUN WEEKEND!!!

2008-10-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jace and I and a couple of guys from our ward (Rick and Brian) went to "Powder Horn" a high adventure training for the BSA at Pleasant Lake. It was SO FUN!!! We did a lot and were so tired by the end of each day! My favorite part, of course, was shooting sports!!! :) I learned to do archery. Jace and I had a little competition in each event and in archery I killed him!! HAHA!! I got 2 bulls eyes!! We also did shotgun shooting, trap shooting, which I had never done and I LOVED that. I shot 9 out of 15 in our competition! Jace and I tied. I ended up with a bruise on my shoulder from the shotgun... It was AWESOME!!! I SO want to do that again SOON!! We also spent a while learning fishing. I now know how to cast right, fly fish cast and to tie a fly on hooks!!! How cool is that?
We did some geocaching with compasses and GPS going after some "treasures". I was happy to learn to use the GPS!
Another awesome thing was scuba! I have never been scuba diving. I was SWEET!! We went to the lake for that. The water was great, windy and cold outside, so we didn't want to get out... I could have gone scuba ALL day if I could! SO FUN! We are planning on getting scuba certified and going to Catalina Island next summer!
We had a mountain bike trek which was awesome! At the end of it I had heat exhaustion since that day was HOT! So I ended up getting treated for that, but I was ready to go right after! No quitting for me!! :) Jace, Rick and Brian are gonna start mountain biking on Saturdays.
On Friday night President Dalquist came to talk to us. He's the church's general young men's president. It was a treat! He's amazing! That was the highlight of the training for everyone.
We also had instruction time for edible wild plants, ecology, wild life, and backpacking.
It was a FUN weekend!! I was happy Jace and I could go at the same time. We are going back next weekend to do mountaineering sports, wilderness survival, water craft sports, and desert camping!! CAN'T WAIT!! I'll get some pictures at the end of the course so I will post them then.

Ward Camp out!!

2008-09-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

We had our ward Camp out this weekend!! It was FUN!! There were A LOT of people there from our ward. We got there Friday afternoon and after setting up camp we made some hamburgers on the griddle. After visiting with friends we went to watch the "movie under the stars" with everyone in our ward. They had a movie playing with a projector at a ramada and gave us all popcorn, candy, treats, etc. We went back to camp and had some hot chocolate and cookies from Paradise Bakery, which our home teachers had brought to us to camp!! Now those are some good home teachers!!
The next morning we got up and went to our ward breakfast, which was very good! They had some games set up for the kids there. It was good to hang out with friends from our ward!!