Gene and Makenna go camping...(May)

Grant, Gene's brother, brought us home a hammock from his mission:) Gene had this wonderful idea of going camping and us just sleeping in the hammock...well we get to our site to find out that were not aloud to place screws in the tress to hang the hammock... so we find some rope and rig it...kinda scary!



needless to say, we slept in the car.


Man makes fire...


We went on a hike and I slipped and went in the river. I was pretty grumpy bc my shoe got soaked and its not so fun hiking in the dirt with a wet shoe:\ thanks for taking a pic of that Gene! your such a charmer!


I dried off and felt much better and then we were off. This trail was about 1 mile from where we camped- and absolutely beautiful! I think its called oak creek canyon trail in Sedona. It was amazing. I think its rated the best hike in AZ.





We only stayed one night in Sedona, but it was well worth the trip. I was super nauseous bc of the baby but this was definitely what the 3 of us needed!

"Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved."
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, 1862

buds...

"Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude."
Ralph Marston

last zoo trip before the summer

So this trip was back in April! things got crazy with the move so i never got around to posting.... I miss Dylan's shag hair!! :( aw. he looks so little but this was only a few months ago!

Gene and Makenna's baby @ 17 weeks

Or 4 and 1/2 months for those of you who don't do weeks;) Don't mind the scrubs, i was on my way to work and I felt like taking a pic since this little person is starting to poke out! I finally felt some kicking this week too:) its the most incredible feeling ever. our Ultrasound is comming up in a few weeks. I still can't talk Gene into finding out what were having! Which is funny bc i can talk him into anything!! So i'll let this one slide.

"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on."
-Carl Sandburg

my boys...

This pic makes me laugh every time i look at it!! I told Dylan we need to put on his pjs and next thing I know hes coming downstairs with them on all by himself! He found his pants that dont fit him anymore:) he was very proud.

Dont you just want to kiss that cute face!?


Gene and Dylan relaxing:) so cute.

I know! I couldn't believe it either the other day when Gene told me he has never played raquettball before! We had to go! Fourtunately, my gym has some courts~ it was way fun and I had to let him beat me though, since he is just way more competetive than I am, it just makes life easier:) (xoxo Genie) We played 4 games and I won the 1st one, and I told him not to take it too hard since it is 2 players to one! (haha get it? the me and the baby vs. Gene) well, he didnt think that was very funny and he ended up beating me the last 3 rounds...it was close tho! We had fun.

He who is impatient is not in love.
-Italian Proverb

Urban Dare Phoenix

I am posting so much old stuff now- only bc I took a long break from blogging and I have some extra time on the Internet these days but for our anniversary earlier this year in Feb, Gene surprised me with a confirmation code for our entrance in the Urban Dare in Phx down town. I was super excited and it ended up being soooo fun! I took my Garmin with us and we ended up running around 10 miles (and burned over 900 calories!). A lot of it was stop and go but our last stretch was over 4 miles to the finish line. Basically they give you a list of sites in Phoenix to find and take a picture of ( like memorials and random water fountains and stuff) and thats it. We had to decide where and what order to proceed. Our last couple items we had a hard time finding, so we decided to head closer to our finish line to find one of them while we were figuring out how to find the last one. Well it turned out that our last one was like 2.5-3 miles away from the where we were! Ah! so that added on probably 35 minutes. We finally came in 22nd out of 75, which was not too bad. But it was so frustrating bc had we planned it out better and came in 30 mins sooner we would have made the top 5 and got some fancy prize. Anyway it was fun, and now we know for next time! I highly recommend this race- you dont even need to be a runner (if your a thinker!) Unfortunately, I excel in the running category over the thinking category. It has been way too hot to run lately tho, and the doc says pregnant people shouldnt get their heart rate above 160 and should avoid excessive heat, so that means i just need to take it easy in the cycling and yoga classes in the gym.

http://urbandare.com/


There are four things every person has more of than they know; sins, debt, years, and foes.
-Proverb

Mr. Independent

Dylan is going through his independent stage. He has to do EVERYTHING himself! Its totally fine and very cute, except when, for example, he wants to buckle his own car seat and its bloomin hot outside and it takes him 10 minutes! If I so much as touch any part of his straps while he is working on it he will get super frustrated and take it apart and start all over! He lets me know my place lol. I laugh about it later:) Oh to be almost 3, so big yet still so little!
He also is so big he has a big boy bed now! But he comes in our room all night! Usually around 2-4am is his first round, then 5-6am is the second time. We have discused at length what we should do about this. He grinds his teeth too at night and drives Gene crazy lol. We definitely dont want him getting used to this, especially since we have a baby on the way- I can just see our room turning into the family room- ah! Fourtunately, we have a cal king bed, so were not squished. Dylan wants to lay with us at night so I have been just letting him lay there until he falls back asleep (1-2 minutes) and then i take him back to bed. Not sure how effective that is...and if its after 5:30, i just let him stay with us (unless hes grinding haha) We are definitely open to suggestions:)

so thoughtful!

Just wanted to say how cute my husband is- So ive been craving a TON of watermellon lately! I bought one yesterday and I always have Gene cut it up for me bc hes good at it and frankly, I think he likes being helpful;) Well i accidently bought a seeded watermellon and as Gene was cutting it, he was taking out all of the little seeds for me! Aw, it was cute. Hes been so great w my pregnancy stuff! Thanks Bo-bo!
Might i add that he is so funny and a sucker for a back scratch and cuddling;) He is so easy to please too, like when i go grocery shoping and i grab him a couple power aid drinks, youd never see a happier guy! thanks for making my dreams come true everyday!

Dylan is getting so big too! im trying to get out of the habbit of calling him baby boy, bc hes big and what am i going to call the baby!? Wow Dylan will be 3 this year! I remember when he was just my little baby!!

“Never waste a minute of your precious life by squandering it thinking about people you don't like”

-Author unknown

Dylan do it!

Moms: So i found this awesome place! This is "Jumpstreet" off warner and Alma School- for children 7 and younger its only $4 to have unlimited jump! We spend at least 2 hours there. Its
such a great way to get out of the heat, and the best part about it is that parents get to jump with the kids;)

well worth it...

So the kayaks ended up being a good investment! we havent headed out for the last couple weeks bc of our schedules but we were going a couple times a week;) its soooo fun and relaxing! We love it. Its nice bc its too hot to do anything else these days in AZ. Although, we are going to head up north in a cabin for several days...cant wait!!

new found glory

So Gene and I found a new hobby...Kyacking! we havent actually gone yet together- but we have them and were going monday morning!! Ive gone before and its a sport ive always wanted to get into, and i guess he was feeling it too so here we are! We decided it would be our christmas present for eachother for the next 2 years;) Im super excited (if you cant tell!) Still trying to figure out how to store them in our garage tho??

Other than that, just dealing with wanting to throw up multiple times a day! I havent tho, just feel icky sometimes. Its getting way better and fresh air always seems to do the trick, hence an other reason for the kyacks.

Dylan is my big boy now, when I tell him no about something (climbing on the counter) lately he has been saying, "Why!? Be-cause!" Silly boy.

Work is good, 4 days off every week is better!!

aw!

So i havent posted in months!!! its been such a trasition not being in school, its fantastic! I highly recommend finishing school! being done is the best feeling, and i get to do what i love. I love my job, i learn so much everyday...i hope to go part time here soon, especially after the baby comes! ;) thats right, theres a little baby growing in me! yay! were going to keep it a suprise baby, Gene insist! which basically means, he doesnt want to be disapointed early by finding out its not a girl, haha. Im just messin, we'll be happy with whatever we get, but when i tell Gene i think its a boy- hes like no its not! we'll see! Dylans so excited about being a big brother! he says he wants a sister too- he doenst even know what a girl is yet, so that doesnt really count! im almost 12 weeks here soon. We had a 1st ultrasound and we saw the little peanut's heart! that was exciting;)

neat stuff

Makenna Francis, RN.

So as you may already know- I am a RN now!! yay! all that hard work really paid off! Wow, I have been blessed so much. So many great things are happening right now! I also have a fabulous job that I am going to love. I only know of 2 other student in my class of 40 that has a job. Nobody wants to train new grads right now, its too expensive. I am going to be working in the PICU which stands for pediatric intensive care unit. Its where the REALLY sick children go. It will be stressful at times and there is a lot to learn, but i am so excited! I didn't want anything other than an ICU so its perfect. The only downside is that i will be working night shift- 7pm-7am. But the upside of that is getting a 20%increase for that shift:)

Also, we bought a home (yay!) it was super cheap too (well compared to what it was going for a few years ago) !! and we LOVE it! its so nice. of course my camera had dead batteries when i went to take some pics of it :\ so i'll post some later.

friday night date night

So apparently the first friday of every month there is free admission to the children's museum of phoenix from 6pm-10pm...we went and it was soooooo fun!!! so much fun stuff for the kids. we stayed until they kicked us out:) we might make this a tradition. let me know if you wana go together!
http://www.childrensmuseumofphoenix.org/default.aspx

hangin out at nana's

ok this first pic is from an other day when dylan was sporting the shag hair. I love it!!!

yay december is finally here:)

it's been a while since my last post!! i guess i was just too busy enjoying having nothing to do!! ah, its been great. oh, by the way, I'm a nursing school graduate!!! woo hoo! i actually ended up doing really well on my final:) yay. now im doing my "internship" thingy- (preceptorship) I'm in the PICU at st joe's and its pretty cool. I've seen some seriously sick children but it's been good experience. my actual graduation date is next wednesday- the 9th. Then i just need to take my boards and i'll be on my way. I was offered a job where i work, at cardon's children's hospital in the picu:) we'll see if it actually goes through. oh and its night shift, so a little different than what im used to.



Dylan turns 2 on saturday!!! wow. he is so cute and big. lately, his favorite things are- trucks, tractors, trains, elephants, the movie cars, and the garbage man ("maih man"). 100% boy.



Gene finishes up his classes within a week too! yay! were definitely going to have a nice christmas this year!!



Let's see, what else?? oh, i ran in the turkey trot and almost beat the turkey!! i missed him by 1 minute! >:\ thats ok, maybe next year. my sister beat the turkey though:) good job tina! here are my results if you wana see...you can search other people through this link too...

http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=70865225&rsID=87521

i'm also running in the london's run on jan 30th....let me know if you wana join me!! We got our pics done to by a fabulous photographer who is just starting out. he did sooooo good. totally under-priced. this is his website if you want to check him out. i will post more of our pics as soon as we get them but heres a couple:)


http://grandviewphotographyaz.com/







to say the least, December has been a long awaited month:)

"Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."

-John Updike

kush 5k race day

some pics from the race- (sorry about the random half naked girl in the back)

our team was me, gene, big gene and karen my parents-in-law, hannah is there too, she ran for a family friend named amy something.... im not sure of her last name but shes 51 and came in a little after 26mins. our results are going to be posted at this website...

http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Kush09.htm

it was a fun morning! my gene is a stud and ran with dylan in the stroller the whole time! he came in super fast considering he was pushing a massive 30 pound boy! dylan did perfect the whole time too- i was worried that he'd freak out half way through but we gave him some fruit snacks and he was good to go;) thanks for being good sports everyone and running! Big gene beat us all;) the race was actually his bday present from gene and i- happy bday!! see you at the turkey trot!

Instead of thinking this life is about having a physical body with spiritual experiences, i would prefer to look at life as having a spiritual body, with physical experiences.

-me