We saw this as we were packing up to leave Arizona. (Just outside Nancy's house) It was like a farewell present. It hardly ever rains in Yuma so it was unusual. Our last full day in Arizona was 118 degrees and like 300% humidity...okay, so not really that humid...but it felt like it as I packed the car. I do love you though Arizona in spite of these things.
The courthouse where Nathaniel works. It is 100 years old. It is a very stereotypical old courthouse. I love it.
My handsome husband on his first day of training. He thinks I'm a little too trigger happy with the camera.
This is the steam train that goes right past our house (well, one street up).You can go for a ride for a small fortune of $24 a person. Not going to happen! Nathan LOVES to hear the train whistle. He imitates it all of the time. He is very animated when he does it. We have to remind him to not be quite so loud when he does it.
This is right by the train depot.
This is the local paper. I was well versed with the "for rent" part of the Ely Times long before I ever came here.
This is the main road here.
This is the only grocery store. They have Sweet's brand cinnamon bears and Western Family brand. It is home! The first time I walked in to the store the first thing I saw was snow shovels and I started to smile. I haven't seen snow shovels in 3 years. Next I saw camouflageonesies. Yep, not in Tucson anymore. But, they made me smile too. I almost bought one for Laurel's little girl. They had ones with pink lace. I thought that would be funny...but I had a hard time shelling out $6.50 for a onesie.
This is just before you turn the corner and see this...
That is the sign that says Welcome to Ely. You blink and you miss it...and you probably run out of gas 'cause there's no other place to fill up for hours.
The stop light as you come into town. Yep, this is "in town"
Nothing like McDonald's to make you feel like it's home. Our first night here we went to McDonald's and since they are all so similar it didn't seem so different.
Here's my brown-eyed now black-eyed girl. Nathan and Kate were running in opposite directions while we were staying at Aunt Nancy's house and neither was watching were they were going (I think we probably should have paid rent for the month of August since we were there for about 2 weeks total). Above was on Aug. 24th, the day it happened. It instantly swelled and turned purple...even with yarrow.
This was on Wed. the 25th on our way to Ely.
This is the next day in our new house. It's just great to move to a new place and your child has a black eye. We were asked about it often. We just had Kate explain it, that way it didn't look like we were making up excuses for our abuse.
Love this one of Tanner and Papa! It was a long, hot, but beautiful day!
Eliza couldn't get enough of the bride. I mean it's like a real life princess. She was gorgeous!
My handsome boys
Pretty maids all in a row
Kissing Kate
Cute place for a picture at the reception.
Daddy holding a tired Tanner
Doesn't he look like an angel? So deceiving...
Aunt Elizabeth playing with Nathan in the misters
At the reception center. It was a really beautiful place.
My girls in their matchy dresses that I made. I love how they turned out.
The handsome couple. Kamber was such a gorgeous bride. I loved how happy Matthew was. He's always happy, but there aren't words to describe him on that day. His face must have been tired at the end of the day from the smile he carried around on his face. So cute!
The girl cousins all matching. I loved having this at my wedding. All of my nieces wore matching dresses that their mothers had sewn. Nancy and I bought the fabric and a pattern months ago with Kamber...but we didn't start the dresses until the week of the wedding. Nancy made 4 dresses in the time it took me to make 2. She made her 3 girls plus one for Neve. She was so sweet. She didn't want Neve to feel left out of the girls so she made one for her too. Nancy also sewed everything first, which means she had to read the pattern and then figure it out. I looked over her shoulder and then copied her... or sat at the machine and said, "now what do I do?" So, I wouldn't say I'm a master seimstress yet, but I can copy others and follow simple instrucions. We modified the dress a bit and I absolutely love them. Nancy's girls are all in yellow and my girls and Neve are in orange accents.
My girls just love their cousins!
Matthew and Kamber were sealed in the Mesa temple on Aug. 14th at 3 p.m. It was a typical Arizona summer day...a wee bit hot. They were so cute and happy. I love to see new couples come out of the temple. We had been in Yuma for the Sorenson family reunion so we drove up from there. We went straight from the temple to the reception center for pictures and the place was very nice...therefore I was a little nervous about having my kids there. I didn't want them to touch anything. I loved watching my kids play with their cousins and would have had a great time if I was childless for the evening. It was a very romantic setting. There was a sit down dinner, music, and family. We had to leave early to get the kids home to bed and we had to speak in our ward the next day in church so we left around 8. It was a beautiful (but long) day and I am so glad we didn't miss it. My girls are so excited about having a new Aunt Kamber!
You've always heard people talk about the ol' tie the dental floss around a doorknob and slam the door method, right? Well, it's very effective. We were over in Yuma visiting Nancy's family on Aug. 7th and while Nathaniel and Quentin were at the Alumni Swim Meet, Eliza and I decided it was time for that tooth to go. She must have done something to it that day to make it even more loose so I decided that even before she could eat lunch we needed it out. Nathaniel isn't a huge fan of pulling teeth so we thought it would be a fun surprise for him to come home to. Nancy got us the floss and I was a little nervous, but once it was tied to the tooth (the tooth was so loose I could hook the floss under the back side where it was coming out) there wasn't any way to get the floss off other than to get the tooth out. When I slammed the door I didn't think it had come out because she had no reaction whatsoever so I was dreading having to do it again. Not because it hurt her obviously, but because I was a little scared. But then she started moving her tongue around in her mouth and she spit out her tooth. It was so funny. She had quite the audience. All of Nancy's kids as well as all of mine were there to cheer her on. Luckily the Tooth Fairy knew we were out of town and came to see her at Nancy's and left her a buck. Eliza said she was hoping she would have left treats. I told her the Tooth Fairy doesn't want to ruin her other teeth. Then, less than a month later, we are here in Ely unpacking on our first Sat. (the 28th of Aug.) and the other bottom tooth needs to come out, so... second verse, same as the first. I was very happy we got both of them out. She already had the replacements coming in behind the baby teeth so it looked a little awkward and picture day was the next week. How vain am I? Anyway, she looks SO grown up now with 2 permanent teeth in and she hadn't even started school yet. What a big girl! Side not: There were no tears shed at either pulling...that's more than I can say for my own childhood. Papa did want to get the pliers out for the second tooth (around the 12th) but I wouldn't let him, I told him it just wasn't quite ready. It must be that generation. That's how I lost most of my teeth. You can kinda see the teeth coming in behind the row of baby teeth. The surprise to show Daddy when he got home. P.S. He was happy he didn't have to take part in either occurrence.
We were married in April 2004. We have 5 beautiful kids- Eliza, Katelyn, Nathaniel Jr., Tanner, and Kelsey. Nathaniel is now officially a lawyer and I love being able to stay home with the little ones.
We saw this as we were packing up to leave Arizona. (Just outside Nancy's house) It was like a farewell present. It hardly ever rains in Yuma so it was unusual. Our last full day in Arizona was 118 degrees and like 300% humidity...okay, so not really that humid...but it felt like it as I packed the car. I do love you though Arizona in spite of these things.
The courthouse where Nathaniel works. It is 100 years old. It is a very stereotypical old courthouse. I love it.
My handsome husband on his first day of training. He thinks I'm a little too trigger happy with the camera.
This is the steam train that goes right past our house (well, one street up).You can go for a ride for a small fortune of $24 a person. Not going to happen! Nathan LOVES to hear the train whistle. He imitates it all of the time. He is very animated when he does it. We have to remind him to not be quite so loud when he does it. 
This is right by the train depot.
This is the local paper. I was well versed with the "for rent" part of the Ely Times long before I ever came here.
This is the main road here.
This is the only grocery store. They have Sweet's brand cinnamon bears and Western Family brand. It is home! The first time I walked in to the store the first thing I saw was snow shovels and I started to smile. I haven't seen snow shovels in 3 years. Next I saw camouflage onesies. Yep, not in Tucson anymore. But, they made me smile too. I almost bought one for Laurel's little girl. They had ones with pink lace. I thought that would be funny...but I had a hard time shelling out $6.50 for a onesie.
This is just before you turn the corner and see this...
That is the sign that says Welcome to Ely. You blink and you miss it...and you probably run out of gas 'cause there's no other place to fill up for hours.
The stop light as you come into town. Yep, this is "in town"
Nothing like McDonald's to make you feel like it's home. Our first night here we went to McDonald's and since they are all so similar it didn't seem so different.
Eliza's school.
