12 Years/12Weeks: Week 8 Amazing Friends

One thing that Sierra Vista has given our family is Amazing Friends.  We often have said if only we could take all the people here in AZ and transplant them to a greener place we would be in Heaven. 

I know I don’t have pictures of even half of the Amazing friends we have made but here is just a highlight of some of the many amazing people we have had the chance to interact with.

Here we have found friends to

Learn with:

 

Play with:

 

Walk With:

 

Grow with:

Vacation with:

 

Be a little crazy with:

 

Even to Dance with. . .

Thank you everyone for 12 years of Amazing Influences.

12 Years/12 Weeks: Week 7 Soccer Fields

To someone who grew up with green a Soccer field in Arizona is an oasis.  It is the one place you can go to see beautiful green lawns. 

This is where my kids got to spend every fall-winter and where many life lessons were learned.

A soccer filed has taught our family about team work, perseverance and most importantly about the qualities of a good friend.

Its not every day that you find a team where each member is treated equally.  Where the kids on the team are rooting for each other.  Where your team mates spend an entire season making sure each member of the team gets a goal even if it took all season to make it happen, and where everyone was given a chance to succeed.

It was on these very soccer fields that my children felt most loved and accepted by everyone and where confidence was acquired.

We did not end up with two Soccer super stars, but these fields have been a sort of home for us,  We will miss the many friends that were made here, but we will get to take with us the many qualities that were sprouted.

12 Years / 12 Weeks: Week 6 Trunk-Or-Treating

Well we are half way to leaving our 12 year home.  The time is going so fast.  Sometime I hope we will have enough time to say goodbye to everyone we love.

This week I wanted to highlight another one of our most favorite holiday traditions that came to be here in Sierra Vista.

TRUNK-OR-TREATING

This is something I had never even heard of until we came here to Arizona, and boy were we missing out before.  There is nothing like parking your vehicle in the church parking lot and hanging out with friends while your kids enjoy an evening of Trunk-or-Treating.

Megan’s 1st Trunk-or-Treat (They were so little)

The Hill Cumorah and the golden plates. (Do you get it ?)

 

Brother Byington always with his camera.

Braxton and his friends being the Ghosts in the Ghost Gallery.

Even if we were staying I knew this tradition would soon pass with my children getting older, but it will forever be one of my favorite memories of Sierra Vista Arizona.

12 Years / 12 Week: Week 5 Blood, Sweat and Tears of Blessings

Remembering Arizona would not be complete if I did not include our second home here.  This home was not new or shiny, and many drops of blood, sweat and tears have been shed as we made this old house into our home, but it has been one amazing memory builder for our family.

In 2008 we decided to sale our little home and upgrade to a bigger yard and home.  We knew this would be one great adventure for our family.

This home was older and needed a lot of work, but we were excited to take on this challenge and teach our kids how to work.

In this home we learned so many things:

How to tile

How to paint

How to scavenge

free brick and rocks for a backyard fire pit and garden.

How to plant trees

And how to enjoy the fruits of your labors

Today we feel so blessed as we have the opportunity to turn this wonderful treasure in our lives over to a new family

Heavenly Father has truly blessed us and we cannot wait for the new adventure that is awaiting us in Washington

12 Years / 12 Weeks: Week 4 Arizona Beauty

I know Beauty = Arizona was not in my thoughts either when we first moved here, but through 12 years of discovery we have found the beauty in the desert.  Its not at ground level, you must climb or look above to find the true beauty here in the desert.

The Huachuca Mountains

 

Chiricahua National Monument

But, the beauty I will miss most is in the skies

Monsoon Rains

Beautiful clear Sunsets

Rainbows in Winter

And where else can you find lizard eggs in your soil and hatch your own pet lizard.

Nowhere else will you find this kind of beauty.