The Arizona Lupineks

A Family Weekend in Sedona

We took a mini vacation to Sedona on Labor Day weekend to celebrate Jeremy's birthday. It was a little cold, but we had a great time. We had some adventure and a lot of family time! We stayed at a nice resort on the south side of Sedona. The best part of course was the views. You can see in the backgroud of a lot of these pictures just how beautiful this area is.

This was outside our condo that we stayed in. This was the view out the front door. Spencer looks like he is holding Lauren hostage, but he just got a new water gun and was very excited!

This was going north of Sedona. We were on our way to Slide Rock state park.

We went up to the airport in Sedona. As you can see it has outstanding views.

We decided in the morning that we should go to Slide Rock State Park since it is just a few miles outside of Sedona. The park has a natural waterslide that has been formed by rocks. This makes it a popular place to go, but even more so on a holiday weekend. We waited 1 hour and 45 min to get into the park, but we thought that it would be worth it to see this natural wonder. We also thought the kids would enjoy playing in the water even though it was only 85. I guess the black clouds you can see rolling in on this picture should have been a warning to us.

We got to the bottom of the stairs to get to the water and it started down pouring! What timing! We took shelter at the top of the stairs in a tiny shelter hoping that the rain would pass and we could still enjoy the day. Rain storms can come and go fairly quickly in AZ, but not this one. Not only did it not stop raining the temp dropped 20 degrees in the 45 minutes we were waiting for the rain to pass.

Jeremy said at least we will never forget the trip to the state park! As you can see Lauren is cold, wet and tired. We were just waiting for the rain to lighten up just a little so we could get to the car.

This was on the way back to the resort. We got our sweatshirts on, turned on the heat, and were on our way. You can see she is much happier now! Poor thing was freezing.

Jeremy and the kids at the lookout by the airport.

Someone was nice enough to take a family picture for us.

Spencer loves looking out these things. He was more interested in the cars below than the red rock in the mountains.

Jeremy and the kids by the pool. We had a pool just a short walk from our condo. We did end up spending more time in the hot tub than the pool. They said it was a heated pool, but you wouldn't know it. We decided we have turned into the people who have to have it above 100 to get in the pool or it is too cold!

Lauren has a love of the water. Both the kids spent weeks in swimming lessons this summer and countless days at the waterpark. They were very timid in the first part of summer, but by the end they were both swimming under water and jumping in with ease!

Spencer loves the water even more than Lauren. He is so proud of himself that he can swim.

Lauren getting a little help from dad.

It doesn't get any better than this does it?

Arizona in August, are you Crazy?!

Danielle was nice enough to come visit us before she went back to school. After the first few hours of the heat, I think she was rethinking coming to AZ in August. I never thought I would adjust so fast to the heat, but I know from experience coming into this heat is hard for someone who isn't used to it. It was a cool 105 the day she arrived and I think she thought she was going to melt. It didn't take long for her to realize it takes a lot of water both to drink and to relax in to survive here! What do you do in AZ in the heat, go to the pool! And that is just what we did. After a day at the waterpark, Danielle decided this wasn't so bad after all. We spent most of our time in the water to stay cool the entire time she was here. When we were not at the big pool, Danielle and Lauren were keeping cool in Lauren's little pool. By the end of the week Danielle was loving it here, even with the 105+ temps. We were sad to see her go, but we had a great time while she was here!

Spencer's First Day of Kindergarden

Spencer started School!!! School started early for us here. August 11th!! Isn't that the middle of summer?? Anyway, Spencer as you can see is such a big boy. I really can't believe that he is in school all day, everyday. What happened to my little guy? He LOVES school. He is excited every morning to go to school and is excited to tell me about his day when he gets home. He is in Kindergarden at our church Cross of Christ. We are blessed to have him in such a great shool. On the first day of school Spencer would not even let me walk him in, he would only let me drop him off. He said "I know where I am going mom, I can do it myself". I don't think I am ready for him to be able to do it himself! It was probably a good thing anyway, that way he did not have to see the tears from me or Lauren. I am not sure who is having a harder time with Spencer being gone all day, me or Lauren. We are now done with our 4th week of school and she is just now starting to adjust to Spencer being gone all the time. Now only if they had school for 2 yr olds!!!! Lauren wanted her picture taken after Spencer did, so there she is in her pj's, all smiles until she realizes Spencer is gone for the entire day!

Summer Vacation in Minnesota!

What a GREAT three weeks in Minnesota. We packed everything we could into the three weeks that we were there, and here are all the pictures. We were lucky enough to be able to spend 10 days at Grandma and Papa's cabin. The kids loved it, and I got to relax more in those 10 days then I have in 10 months! Next year, at least two weeks will have to be spent there. The entire trip was a great time reconnecting with everyone and getting carried away by mosquitos! The poor kids looked like they had chicken pox! Thanks to everyone for some great memories!

Spencer and Lauren LOVED fishing. If it were up to them, they would have done it the entire time. We tricked Lauren so she wouldn't hurt anyone and gave her a pole that did not have a hook. She was none the wiser even though she didn't catch one fish with that pole. Eventually Kaeleigh felt bad and let her hold her pole and she did catch a fish with that one.

Papa, Kaeleigh, Spencer and Grandma fishing.

One of Lauren's favorite things to do is run as fast as she could just stopping short of the end of the dock. We made a rule after the first time she did it, Lauren has to wear her life jacket at all times when she is outside.

Lauren had a great time digging in the sand. She couldn't get enough of it!

Kaeleigh was great, she sayed up at the cabin with us the whole time and we all loved having here there. Lauren loves her so much it was so great to have the time together.

Kaeleigh's big fish. The way these three are smiling, you would have thought it was a group effort! The rest of the week Spencer kept saying he wanted to catch a big fish like Kaeleigh, but it never happened.

Papa putting the fish in the live well. This was a big treat for the kids to be able to look at it when ever they wanted.

What a beautiful picture!

Every night Papa would go out fishing after supper and when it was starting to get dark the kids would go to the end of the dock and wait for him to come in. It was so cute. They just couldn't wait to see what he had caught. If you look closely you can see his boat on the water a ways out.

More fishing!

The way these three loved rides on the tractor you would have thought it was a fair ride. We would load up the things we wanted in the boat house fridge and put them on the trailer and take them down to the boat house. Each time the kids loved riding down. My dad couldn't start the mower without the kids running to it to get a ride.

The three amigos!

We had more freezy pops that week than any of us care to admit.

Papa's big fish, now no one could match that.

Lauren was always there to greet the fishermen when they returned.

Spencer and Papa going out in the fishing boat

"Give us another ride Papa"

"I hope we don't lose anyone off of this"

Lauren is the youngest and she was the only one allowed to drive, go figure!

Lauren was very excited to get a present at Spencer's party.

The cabin only has a shower, which Lauren doesn't love so her bath tub was the kitchen sink. She loved it! Every night she would say "tubby in the sink"!!

You wouldn't believe she put up a fight the first time she went in.

Spencer caught this turtle. Good thing Uncle Jeff was there to take it off the hook!

Kaeleigh and Spencer on the 4th of July. We were waiting for it to get dark so we could light off the firework and have a camp fire. It really doesn't get any better than that does it??

Lauren and Lily on the 4th.

Spencer and Andy at his Birthday party. What a great super soaker!

A little fishing trip with the boys.

The kids were all having a water fight.

Spencer and one of the many fish he caught. If they hit the right time of day, they would catch one right after another right off the end of the dock.

Uncle Jeff had his hand full taking off all the fish!

Lily and Lauren.

Spencer and Kaeleigh. This was one of the bigger fish spencer caught, so Kaeleigh helped him with it.

Spencer and Kaeleigh

Grandma gave rides ont he paddle boat all week. The kids loved it.

Kaety and Kaelin

Spencer coming in from a ride on the jet ski, thanks Liz! Another highlight of being at the lake.

Papa and Spencer

Who thought mowing the lawn could be so fun!

Grandma and Lauren

Lauren before the life jacket rule. I think this was right after we got there.

Lauren and Jade. They had a great time.

This is a four generation picture of the kids with Jeremy, Penny(grandma) and Dodie (great grandma). Great grandma had us over for dinner one afternoon.

Grandma Penny and Lauren

Great Grandma Shirly and Lauren

We had a great time at the Johnson's. We were lucky enought to get an afternoon/evening to catch up with old friends. We all miss seeing you, but Spencer especially misses coming over to see what you guys are up to. Thanks so much for having us over, we had a great time and we miss you guys!

Spencer playing the Wii with Peter. If I remember right they were bowling, one of Spencer's favorite games.

Jill playing with Lauren.

Spencer and Jill playing.

We went Strawberry picking, the kids had a great time and we got loads of Strawberries.

Danielle and the kids picking. I think Lauren mostly was in the way, but she had fun. I think she only stepped in my box of strawberries once.

Danielle was explaining which ones were the best ones to pick, she still was picking the small green ones.

"Look at the big strawberry"

Helping Suzy water her plants was always a favorite of Spencer's. He was so excited to be able to help her one afternoon.

Randy, Spencer and Westin on a golf cart ride. This is another favorite of Spencer's. Randy is always spoiling him with all the rides he wants.

"Don't I look beautiful"

This was at Como town at the Como Zoo. Danielle and I took the kids to the zoo one day. Lauren is tall for her age, so she was able to get on a lot of rides she probably should not have been riding at her age. She is smiling here, but I think she was so scared she didn't know what to do. Danielle and I couldn't stop laughing. It was great!!