A quick update

Well I had to start with this photo because I think it is so cute, I love you Deke! Anyways Burch life is busy as usual and here are some photos of what we have been up to. Deke and I took a little trip up to Holbrook this last weekend and since we were there we had to see the Wigwam hotel (you know the idea behind the cozy cone hotel in the Cars movie)

We also stopped in Winslow to make sure to see the "Man Standing on the Corner" of Winslow, AZ and go through a couple of cute shops totally dedicated to ROUTE 66.

A quick stop just outside of Joe City where my parents met to visit Geronimo. A little trading post where my mom once had I believe a summer job.

In Joe City we actually went by Grandma and Grandpa Hatch's old house since Deke had never seen it. It was kind of emotional to me to see it again and think about the fact that this little town is where my parents met and that this was the house they used to come home to on their dates.

Oh yes and Easter came and went. I have to post my favorite part of Easter in the next picture below. I LOVE these little chicks, they each have a different adorable pose that suggests certain personality traits. Yes I realize that they aren't real but they for whatever reason are adorable to me and I look forward to Easter because of them.

These are the cute Easter bouquets that we made for the Grandma's for Easter this year.

This is the Surprise Stadium where we took our kids for an egg hunt like no other. Never seen so many people, so many ridiculous people. The hunts were supposed to be divided into age groups yet somehow a thirty some odd woman still ended up walking off the field during the two year old hunt, unaccompanied by a child in a short skirt and spaghetti strap shirt, with as many eggs as she could hold carried in her shirt. All I could think was "Really lady, really???" Other than the fact that we had to sit in stadium seats for twenty minutes each holding a two and under child on our lap with the view of colored eggs waiting right before them it was great.

I let little Avery run out onto the field and was prepared to take on any of the crazy moms that were out there if they tried taking any of her eggs as she tried to gather them. As everyone rushed around her she just slowly picked them up one by one and smiled at me every time oblivious to the madness surrounding her.

Hunter however was raring to go and quickly dashed away from Deke in pursuit of just the right eggs. The word "comical" comes to mind as I watched Hunter dart through the crowds with Deke weaving and darting in and out trying to keep up with him. All in all very fun except for the fact that the bunny left the scene early and that reduced a very tired Hunter to tears.

Julian, Mira Mar, and Mitsuwa

I apologize up front for the amount of pictures you are about to be bombarded with. Well this last weekend we were so excited to have a chance to get away to beautiful San Diego for a visit with my mom. It was Deke's spring break so we headed out on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Cali later that night. On Friday morning we woke up and drove over to Julian this adorable little country town with rolling hills, farm animals, orchards, and quaint little shopping areas. It is known mostly for it's orchards and famous apple pies, in the fall you can go there and have a chance to pick the apples and make your own cider. We went into downtown Julian and walked all the shops and had fun taking pictures in all of the great little photo spots around town. I loved some of these pictures that we took of the kids. I don't know why but the one with Hunter standing by the red and blue barn door is just so cute, I love it. It was absolutely gorgeous there it was so green and I again wondered why we live in Arizona? We stopped by the Julian Pie Company and picked up an apple pie which was flaky and delicious. They make cider doughnuts that are supposedly amazing, we asked to try one and were shocked when the lady told us that you have to reserve a dozen if it is a Friday or a Saturday in order to get any. I then was even more interested in trying one and of course it was Friday so...no doughnuts for us. We spent all afternoon just walking the shops and then headed home for the evening. Deke wrestled the children while my mom and I snuck away for some fun one on one time shopping together. The next day we went to the Mira Mar aviation museum which was very cool and fun for both of my boys, both the little one and the big one. The old helicopter's were really neat and it was great because they actually let the kids touch the planes so they could really experience it. Then we headed to a huge park across from Sea World and had a picnic which was great until a guy crashed his kite into the tree right above us. Then Deke had to help him untangle it all which was quite a task. Marley took us to Mitsuwa a very neat Asian market. We went through a bookstore, a neat shop with all sorts of ornate tea sets and tea pots, aisle after aisle of new foods and vegetables and a giant room totally devoted to every type of rice you can imagine. It was really interesting to be somewhere where everything was in a different language that you couldn't read and people were talking in a language that you couldn't understand. I guess it was my first time being in a place that I was totally surrounded by another culture, it was very eye opening. We then headed home and let the kids play and we just relaxed. We relaxed and visited on Sunday and then headed back to AZ. It went fast of course like it always does but I just love love love going to California. It is such a fun place to get to go away for the weekend and let the kids get to spend time making some memories with Grandma and "the auntie's" as Hunter calls them.

It's here again

Two things to start off my post: First of all I just have to say how much I absolutely love this kid. Secondly, I have to apologize for the crazy coloring in my photos. My camera is dying and the people at Ritz camera checked it out and to fix it will cost more than it is worth. I had to figure after five years being used so often and being a very basic camera that it was going to happen eventually. We could buy a new one for that much which is what we are now saving up to do. So until the blessed new camera comes the color distorted pictures will have to do. Well Deke and I recently celebrated our birthday's on the 25th and 27th of February. Since Deke had work and school until 10 0'clock on his birthday we had decided to wait and celebrate later on in the week. However as the day went on I just kept feeling sad that Deke wasn't going to have any kind of celebration on his actual birthday. After dinner Hunter and I ran over to Fry's and got all the fixin's to make Deke a "transformer cake".Instead of using cake we made a big rice krispy cube to function as the "all spark" (sorry if you haven't seen the movie than it may not make a lot of sense). Then we put a couple of transformer figurines on the top and I did a bad artistic rendition of the transformer logo with a piece of tin foil for the front. It could have looked a million times better but of course I waited until last minute and was just trying to get it done, but the love that was put into it was definitely evident. Not to mention the fact that Hunter had so much fun he couldn't stop smiling and giggling as we were making it. Hunter was so excited that he couldn't sleep and so when Deke got home he was still wide awake and we put candles in it and dug in. It didn't matter to Deke how homemade it looked, he loved it. For my birthday Deke took me to pick out some much needed work clothes which are so cute. I found five adorable tops, two pairs of earrings and two necklaces. Then instead of doing a cake we enjoyed a Jamba Juice which was much more refreshing since it is trying to turn into summer down here already. I can't believe it is only low eighties and I am already feeling irritable about the oncoming heat. I again ask myself why I live here since I love the fall weather, rain, cold and snow. Anyways, on Friday we celebrated as a family by going out to Oregano's for pizza, which by the way is amazing! We had a yummy pizza with feta cheese, bacon and sun dried tomatoes and a delicious antipasta salad. For dessert we enjoyed this delightful little number... yes that is a deep dish cookie, one half peanut butter chocolate chip, the other half chocolate chip warm and still a little gooey. It was delicious, not as good to me as Macayo's chocolate chimi cheesecakes but still tasty. As if we hadn't had enough fun we took Hunter and Avery for their first bowling experience. Over in Mesa there is an alley that has 99 cent games in the afternoons. We had bumpers on our lane and we let Hunter throw his own ball by himself after showing him once or twice and he beat me by two points. Now I must be honest this really wouldn't be a huge feat since I am the world's worst bowler but he is four so....yeah I am pathetic. Anyways it was so so much fun and the kids loved it. We had such a fun week celebrating birthdays, when you can celebrate with the kids it makes getting older feel a lot more fun.