Two Birthdays and a New House in Mesa

The builders are telling Stacy and Tom that their house will be ready in just over a month. 

Roger has been dying to go check it out before it's all finished (it's the great attention to detail he has from his Woodside Homes and Sunbrook Homes days!).

With Conference weekend coming up and no Church responsibilities for Roger or me, we left for Mesa in the morning on October 3.

He took a quick shot of it after we arrived, in the late afternoon before sunset.

Isn't it beautiful?

When we got back to their rental house, Luke was busy "preparing dinner," complete with his onion goggles. 

Both boys truly aspire to be chefs. 

This has not been a passing fancy. 
 Ever since they were toddlers, they have wanted to "cook" with Mommy.

Max and Luke have seen Ratatouille countless times, and they are watching it in their chef coats, 

spellbound, yet again!

We watched the Romney/Obama Debate that night and loudly cheered for Mitt!  

He was fantastic and we are all huge fans!

We are crossing our fingers, praying, and telling everyone we know about his goodness and his suitability for President of the United States!

Next day was a busy one. We went over to the new house with Stacy and we helped her make several detail decisions about tile placement and garage door color.  We then headed to downtown Mesa to pick out material for the countertops in the garage.  We grabbed a quick sandwich at Urban Picnic. 

This cozy (it is cement!) hot pink chair is out front.  

The boys are holding their left-overs from lunch in their lunch boxes.

Next day was Londyn's 11th Birthday!  
We were so excited to get to be with her!

Londyn had nine friends (including cousin Anna) over for a fun birthday party.  Stacy made lemon cupcakes (Londyn's favorite), they had Italian ices, then were taken to the new cartoon movie, Hotel Transylvania.
Roger and I took a carload and enjoyed the movie - it was cute for kids and adults.

iPhone pic after the movie

Hangin' out with the twins is pure joy!

That night we went out for dinner at Londyn's pick restaurant for a bloomin' onion, wedge salads and steaks. Yum!

Happy Birthday, precious Londyn!

When we returned home, we watched the USU/BYU game.
Groan! 
Neither team played very well, except both of their defense teams!
BYU squeaked out a victory!

Roger got some cute shots of Max and Luke driving their car.

These boys live in costumes. 
I mean, every day they are a different character. 
 Doesn't matter if it is 110 degrees outside, they wear their costumes. 
 All day. 
 Every day.
With one exception. 
They do wear church clothes to church.

Saturday we enjoyed watching both sessions of General Conference together. 
Ryan and Emily were leaving for Disney World with their kids the next morning, so the adults went out to eat after General Priesthood meeting for Stacy's birthday to a wonderful pizza place. So good!

The kids are hard at work making birthday cards for their Mom.

On Sunday, Stacy's birthday, Tom and the kids served Stacy breakfast in bed.

Then her kids treated her to a leg massage/pedicure/hair styling parlor.

We watched both wonderful sessions of General Conference, then served Stacy her birthday dinner.

Tom barbecued fresh salmon and veggie shish kabobs and Londyn helped me make a tossed salad with homemade gorgonzola dressing and cheesy garlic bread.  She has serious knife skills!

We also had salted baked potatoes and I made Joe's Stone Crab Key lime pie.

When Stacy was growing up, she always asked for Key lime pie instead of a birthday cake.

Stacy is holding the Le Creuset jumbo baking dish we gave her for her birthday.

We love our precious daughter Stacy!

Early Monday morning, Tom, Jake and Roger golfed and Stacy ran over to the new house.
When she got back, we went shopping for kitchen appliance handles, then checked out the new Nordstom Rack.
Roger met us for lunch at Fresh Choices, then we headed for home.

Stacy took these pics just before we left.



We love to visit Mesa and see our two wonderful kids and families there. 
We hope next time we can spend more time with Ryan, Emily and family.
He was in Chicago attending a national meeting of the American Urogynecological Society, of which he is a board member and treasurer, all week, and he got home Saturday night.  
We're glad that we got to see him briefly and also Emily and the kids at least a little bit, anyway.