A few pics and a video...

Thank goodness for Scottsdale PD

Jackson decided to have a little adventure on Sunday night. All three of the boys were outside playing and I was inside cleaning up the desk when Payton ran in and told me Jackson had run away. I wasn't too worried. He'd only been out there for 4-5 minutes, so he couldn't have gone far. I put my shoes on and went outside. Payton told me which direction he had gone, and I started out that way. After a couple minutes, I still couldn't find him. I was starting to get nervous and went straight to the pool that was closest to us. Both pools are gated, but it's not uncommon for the gates to be propped open. Luckily, he wasn't there and all the gates were shut. But still no Jackson. So I put Payton and Logan in the car and drove around the complex. It felt like at least 15 minutes had gone by. When I came back around to our apartment, I knew I needed to call for help. The 911 operator asked me when I had seen him last and that was around 5:30pm. "So that was about 7 minutes ago?" she asked. It had only been 7 minutes?! She started asking me whether I had family who might "pick him up" and she asked where dad was. I didn't realize at the time that she was trying to pick out someone who may have taken him! She told me police were beginning to arrive and block off all the exits to the complex. They would search any vehicle leaving the complex. Then she had more officers checking the pools. By this point, I wasn't doing so hot. I had asked several neighbors who were coming home whether or not they had seen him, and no one had. Two officers who finally walked up to our apartment asked me a few questions and began to search our apartment for him. Another officer took the picture I had gotten out for them and used his phone to take a picture of it. 30 minutes had passed and I finally had a minute to call Moose. When he answered, all I could say was, "You need to come home." I no sooner got that out of my mouth when two men were walking up with Jackson in their arms. I hung up on Moose and ran to him. He was crying and I was crying. One of the guys said he had made it to the other side of the complex and a couple of girls had found him. I thanked them and went into the apartment to tell the officers who where still searching for him inside that he was found. The officers asked who found him and I told them about the two men who had brought him to me. By the time we got back outside, both men were gone. I could think the worst about why it was two men who returned him and why the officers hadn't seen him, but I choose to think they were my neighbors who were pitching in to help me find my little boy. So thank you to them and to all the Scottsdale police officers who responded so quickly.

We helped out at a Halloween Block Party event with our small group from Praxis and it was a success! There were a ton of kids and we had games, bounce houses, and hot dogs. Here are some of the highlights...


Kelly and I racing to eat a donut off a string with no hands. I won :0)


Logan in the bounce house...


Moose helping me set up.

Here is Jax taking a crack at the donut game...

Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween!

Scottsdale Healthcare's Fall Festival

Two weekends ago we attend the Fall Festival at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea. It's the first time we've been and we had a great time! We will be inviting friends and family to go next year!

They had a fire truck, ambulance, and police car that the kids could climb into.

They also had a teddy bear clinic. Each child got a "sick" teddy bear that they took to the Pediatric Emergency Department. The bears got check ups, medicine, and bandages! So cute! Notice they even have hospital bracelets on! They decorated cookies...

and Logan's bear even needed to get an echo cardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) by our fabulous echo tech Mike, who works on our NICU preemies.

We had lots of fun!

Moose-athon

Moose did his first full triathlon last weekend...and boy did he pick a doosy! It was a 1500 meter swim in Bartlett Lake, 24.8 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. Both the bike and run were uphill all the way up with no reprieve! These "hills" were actually being called mountains they were so steep! Bartlett Lake Triathlon is called, "the toughest most beautiful triathlon in AZ!" And Moose chose this one to be his first! Mom and Dad brought up their camper and we were able to spend the night up at Bartlett Lake. Kelly and Robert came up too to help us cheer Moose on! I even made us shirts :0) The back says "Team Moose".

He did fantastic in the swim! He was one of the last ones to start but quickly passed many of the swimmers. He finished with 20-25 swimmers still in the water. Look at that stud!

This is after the swim, headed back to transition where his bike was. And changing out of his wetsuit...

Then, off on the bike! We saw him off at the transition station and then hiked up to the spot where they do a turn around. Here are some pictures...Check out that hill!

Unfortunately, Moose's bike wouldn't switch into the lower gears needed to make it up those steep "mountains". He went as far as his bike and body (and the race director!) would let him before they drove him back to the transition area. He pushed himself so hard he didn't even realize he had pulled his left hamstring. Because of his injury he couldn't start the run.

We are all so incredibly proud of Moose! He made it through the swim and 20 miles of the grueling bike! Butch, a friend we made and a fellow competitor who does about 6-7 triathlons a year, said he would never do this race again because it was so difficult!

Moose is already scouting for his next race...and I don't doubt he will finish it. And who knows...maybe he will attempt this one again sometime in the future. And just for kicks, here is a picture of Moose just 11 months before this race. What a difference!

Shrine Circus

Amazing balancing acts...

Trapeze artists and elephants...

Snow cones at intermission...

A bear pushing a stroller and lots of tigers

And even more amazing balancing acts...this was by far the best! It's hard to see, but the man in the last picture is jumping rope!

And I love Caillou for keeping my kids intertained while I posted these!

Is it Fall yet?

I guess I should ask is it winter yet since we typically get about a week of fall in AZ! We are about done with the heat. The rain last week was great but I was ready for it to bring cooler weather for 2 reasons mainly. One, I can put the kids outside to play and two, we all get new wardrobes! Not brand new, but at least not the same stuff we've been wearing for the last 6 months. Although with the cooler weather comes the holiday season, which I cannot believe we are 3 months from! Anyone thinking of Christmas shopping yet? It won't be long before you will start seeing it on retailer's shelves. Michael's already had theirs out!

I am taking the boys to the circus tomorrow with my parents, Kelly and Robert. I will post pictures later...

Here's what we've been up to the last couple weeks...

"How to Train Your Dragon" watching in our fort

"First day of school, first day of school!"

And just being...well. silly :0)

Here is Jax dancing to his favorite song "Monster" by Skillet
And I must say he has the cutest air guitar ever!

Has it been a month...

Really? Almost a whole month since I last posted? Wow! We've been as usual. Work, A&P, work, and work some more. The kids met their teachers this week in preparation of school next week. Yeah! Logan has his same teacher, same class this year. Payton will be attending a new school for full day kindergarden. His class has 11 kids and 2 aids and he will be attending specials, like art, music, and PE. He is growing up so fast!

In case you were wondering, Jax has no interest in the potty we bought a month ago. We're just letting him tell us when he's ready.

Moose is doing well at work. He still enjoying providing (aka purchasing) merchandise for the store. Unfortunately, the store is moving again. Don't have details yet as to where they are going but that just means more work.

I am due to finish my 29th (and final) week of my Anatomy & Physiology class this thursday! Yeah! I'm debating whether to take my last prerequisite class this semester, which would start Aug 22nd. It's a physics class which sounds difficult. I don't know...we'll see.

Hope all is well with the rest of ya all! See you guys soon for Moose's Birthday!

The New Potty

Yep, potty training for the last time! Jackson got a new potty yesterday and when we got home, we unwrapped it and sat him on it. We read a couple books but no luck. So I started putting the letter stickers on it and meanwhile, he peed on the bathroom cabinet. Did I mention that I hate potty training?

Moose's Half Triathalon

Well, he did it! And did awesome! Here are some highlights...


Woke up at 4am...set up by 5:15am



Getting chipped and numbered...



First the swim

Then the bike...

Then the run...

And done!



He finished 7th overall in his weight class of 190lbs+ and 2nd in the run in his weight class! So proud of you honey!

Blood, Sweat, and No Fear!

Did a 16 mile Bike followed by a 3 mile run into work today. Sweated more than I think I ever have. Here is a disgusting picture of my shirt. The shirt was light blue, all the darker areas are sweat and the dark brownish colored area on the right side of the picture...thats blood. I felt it burning but around the 2nd mile running i blocked it out and hit "the zone" got to work to find my nipple bleeding. Guess i can block out about anyhing if i can put that outta my mind. :o) keep rockin!

God's Timing

Have you ever known that God has put you in the right place at the right time? On May 31st, on my 27th birthday, God knew exactly where he wanted Moose and I to be. This day was the first time we'd gone hiking since we were dating. I wanted to get way from life for a little bit for my birthday and this 4-6 hour hike into a canyon to see Fossil Creek waterfalls was what I wanted to do. We started the day with massages, Jason's Deli for lunch and by the time we arrived to the trail head in Strawberry it was 2pm. We knew it would be about dark when we got back to the car, but started out anyways. About 20 minutes into the hike, we saw a woman walking up the trail towards us. She asked if we had a phone because her dad needed help. He couldn't make it out of the canyon. Moose ran ahead to find the guy and I stayed with her until she got off the phone with 911. She went back up to the parking lot to meet parametics and I started down again to see if I could help. Moose had found the guy passed out under a tree about 15-20 more minutes down the trail. After splashing him down with water, the guy regained consciousness and was able to continue up the trail, resting every 20-30 feet or so. Finally a rescuer came down and brought him the rest of the way out on an ATV. His daughter called us a few hours later to say he was doing okay and was being treated at the hospital. She wanted to thank us for being there and helping them. That was definitely God's work. That my sister was able to babysit for us and that we chose to hike, and that we had started out late! By the time we weren't needed anymore, it was too late to make it down to the falls. But we were able to drive down closer to the water and swim in the river. And judging by the drive down, it would have been a very long and hard hike, so it's probably best we didn't do it!

The rest of the trip went beautifully. We both got the time we needed to reconnect to each other and God. But He wasn't done working yet. Robert (my brother-in-law for those who don't know) used our other car while we were gone and noticed that the tires were in pretty bad shape. So Moose took the car up to Discount Tires and they said the metal wires were poking out of them! I guess they were in really bad shape! When they replaced them, they said to have the brake fluid checked, so Moose took the car right across the street to Brake Masters. They told us there was a leak and we had almost no brake fluid and were 2 weeks away from complete brake failure! WOW! To know the tires and brakes were that bad, it was only God who saved us from a really bad accident. The weekend prior, I had driven it to Westgate, then my parent's house, and home! Definite praise to God and thanks to Robert! The unfortunate news is that the repairs to the brake system along with a few other problems with the car that Brake Masters found, it is not worth saving the car. So...we will be a single car family again for a while until we decide how to move forward. Prayers for that, please!

My favorite verse seems appropriate for these last few days...
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalms 32:8

Keep your ear out and watch for God's instruction. What may seem an unusual direction to take may be God teaching you in the way you should go. He may have someone down that path that will be important in your life.

Trip to Strawberry.

For Kristy's birthday we went to Strawberry, AZ just north of Payson. It was so great getting out of the city, hiking, swiming in the falls, being a couple again. We both miss just being us so we'll definatly do this again soon. Thanks Kelly and Robert for the help. I love you Kristy, Happy 27th Birthday.

we found a random axel at the river side and looked up to see a 60's-70's car that took a rolling tumble down the cliff side we drove in on. Heres Kristy with the car parked upside down in the middle of a tree.

Prayer

I am sending out a request for prayers for baby Kenzie. She is the daughter of some close friends who is hospitalized and may be close to joining Jesus in heaven. Please pray for healing for her family and friends who dearly love her.

Hunt Family Update

Hello all! Can you believe the random rain we got today? Very nice, very nice. Thankfully it waited til this afternoon because we had a lovely time at the Phoenix Zoo this morning. Thanks Sarah and Lila for coming with us! Well, the boys have 3 days of school left and then begins a busy summer. We'll be doing lots of swimming (Payton and Logan are in swim lessons for the month of June) and we plan to go to Harkins Kids Summer Movie Program. They show already released to DVD kid movies at 9:45am through summer (10 weeks) for $7 per person, for all 10 movies. I thought that was pretty reasonable even if I have to walk out of a few. Hopefully Jackson will sit still!

I had a wonderful, exhausting Mother's Day. I worked the previous night, slept a few hours and headed to my mom's for lunch, followed by the Hunt's for dinner. I slept well that night :0)

Here a couple of our zoo pics! Logan and Lila being spiders and Jackson and Lila driving the tractor.

2011 warrior dash

it was awesome. three and a half miles with obstacles and mud filled shoes. its one thing to train for a run it's a whole new experience to do it in 6 pound shoes cause shoes and socks are filled with mud. James Hunt #71679 AGE:31 MALE TIME: 38:58.85 here are some pics