4th of July

The Kids

 Dear Familia,

I had a wonderful 4th of July in AZ this year. We stayed at the Fort McDowell Radisson for fireworks and pool time on the 3rd and a movie marathon on the 4th. It was great.

Along with being proud to be an American, I am also proud to finally have accomplished one of the many things I either "pin" or "bookmark" to do sometime in the future. Tie Dye 4th of July shirts :) Miranda at one little minute did a fabulous DIY for this project and it turned out amazing...the kids even did most of the work!

If you check out her blog, also check out her "Project Repurpose". I originally found her blog because of this post and I promise that someday I will figure out how to do it! Probably need a sewing machine and any sort of sewing knowledge first though. Haha. Also, Lysh, for baby #2 I will make sure we get you set up for "Project Baby" :)

Love,
Jem

PS Next year, everyone should definitely come visit Zane and I in DC for the 4th. Come on, fireworks in our Nation's capital. What could beat that?

What is 4th of July without a star?

Cruize!

 Dear Familia,

I could not have planned my AZ trip better...I arrived late in the evening of the 26th and Lysh went into the hospital on the 28th. Cruize Nicholas Cordova was born June 28th at 2:02 pm. He was 8 lbs 9 oz and 20 & 3/4 inches long. He is so adorable and I love getting to hold this bundle of goodness in my arms.

Love,
Jem

Arizona Dust Storm

Rudy during the storm

Dear Non-AZ Familia,

Totally forgot about the craziest thing that happened while I was home. We got hit with an armageddon style dust storm. It was complete madness. Cassi came in telling us how crazy it was so her, rudy, johnny, madi and I went out through the garage to check it out. At one point my Mom and Abbi went out the front door and were at the end of the driveway and it was so dusty we had NO idea they were even out there.

Check out this video with an aerial view of the storm:

Love,

Jem

Visit Home

Working Hard...

...or hardly working??

Dear Familia,

My recent visit home to AZ was very productive wedding wise. Zane and his Mom flew out for a weekend and we got busy! We decided on a reception venue, booked a rehearsal dinner site, took Zane and his Mom to see our Church, found a house for Zane and his groomsmen to rent, updated our wedding website with accommodation information, and looked at houses for Zane's family to rent. I'm really excited to work on the details of the wedding now that we have the big things set. The best part of the weekend was having Zane's Mom meet the Garcia clan. It gave me a little taste of what the wedding will be like...bringing all our family and friends together for a once in a lifetime event :)

My trip home was also great because I spent a lot of time with my siblings. We watched a ton of movies, ate a lot of junk food, and tried to keep cool in the AZ heat. Unfortunately there was not a lot of picture taking happening, but it was very fun. Kaiya had her first birthday while I was visiting. On her actually birthday, Tara and I went to get her first pedicure and then out for a birthday cupcake. A couple of days later, on my last day home, she had a pool party. Definitely a great way to end my visit!

Birthday girl and her Mom in the pedi chair :)

Toes all done

Cupcakes by Roberta!

"Reading" her card, precious!

Love,

Jem

PS Zane actually did an incredible amount of work for the wedding, but I loved that picture and had to post it <3