Prom!

Prom was held at an event center in Carmel this year.  After prom was held at the school where the kids  traveled around the world!  Lots of parents helped to transform the school into different countries.  

 Both Nick and Sam went with their dates and had a wonderful time!

Nick and Phoebe

They dined at Stone Creek before heading to the dance.

Before dinner they met up with a large group of their friends for pictures at Holliday Farms Country Club.

A lot of these boys have been Nick's friend since kindergarten. 

A sweet father and son moment. 

Sam and Ayla

They ate at Harmony Steak House with a group of friends before the dance.

 The kids meet up with their friends before dinner for pictures.  Having 2 sons at the prom this year meant that Eric and I had to hustle between groups for pictures!  By the time we got to where Sam was, the big group photos were all complete, but I couldn't miss getting a picture with Tim and Katie! Sam and Tim have been friends for many years.

Sam and Nick shared these pictures from the dance.

Nick and Grace, these 2 met each other at baby story time at the library and will forever be friends, thanks to their mamas!

Between the dance and after prom these 4 stopped home to change.  I was so happy to see them and snap this quick picture!

 

April...

We celebrated Easter with our family of 5, we all went to Mass, afterwards I bribed everyone to stay in their Sunday Best for a picture.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out outdoors in the pool, washing cars and grilling steak!  Sam helped out the Easter Bunny this year by hiding the candy filled eggs for his brothers.  I'm guessing we may still find hidden eggs come July!  

A beautiful sunset on an evening walk. 

It's for real!!

Sam and Nick are going to Prom later this month.  I took them suit shopping.  These 2 are always quite entertaining!  The sweatpants with the suit jacket are a nice look.  Ha!

Ben and Blue Bell on a recent volunteer date at the Humane Society.

 

Valley of the Sun

During our week in Phoenix Eric and I took a nice hike into South Mountain Mountain Preserve.  It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for checking out saguaros!  

We had a beautiful view of the valley and Camelback Mountain.  

Sam and Ben had their first official college visit, we toured Arizona State University.  The campus was quite pretty with all of the palm trees!

An aquarium has opened since we lived here, many years ago!  It was a fun afternoon spent visiting all of the sea life.  They had a large tank with a lot of different sharks.  That was all of our favorite part of the aquarium, as well as petting the stingrays!  

After the aquarium we went to Medieval Times.  We dined on roasted chicken, potatoes and chocolate eclairs. All without using any utensils, the boys were in their element!  Haha!  After dinner we were treated to an entertaining show.  We cheered on the red knight while he competed against the other knights in agility contests, and then eventually in battle!  

The final day we enjoyed relaxing at the resort and then had dinner with our family that lives in Phoenix- cousins Richard, Julie, Ryan and Kyle, Lora and Stan.  We met Ryan and Kyle's spouses and their sweet children.  We had a really nice visit with everyone, it was fun to catch up, reminisce and meet the little ones in their family.  Eric and I got to know Richard, Julie and Lora quite well when we lived in Phoenix, we did a lot of things together, dinners out, holidays, travel.  They were the first ones to babysit Nick.  It was a special time together.  

We were so busy talking that no one took any pictures, sadly.  

Our trip to the Valley of the Sun was pretty great in every way!

 

Sedona

We took a day trip to Sedona on Monday.  Our first stop was at the Red Rock State Park where we did a beautiful 2 mile hike.  It was the perfect introduction to Sedona and so picturesque.    

We had lunch at the Sedona Airport and then sought out another hike, this time at Faye Canyon.  This was a beautiful hike that was somewhat flat, until the very end.  The Canyon was the end of the hike for Eric and I, but the boys continued, scurrying up the mountain, making Eric and I very nervous!