We found a house!

After a grueling week of trying to find a place to live, we finally found (3) great homes to rent! We were having a hard time finding one without braking the bank and we feel very blessed the way everything has worked out. We decided to go with a newer home in Lehi and we're thrilled with the way this house worked out. After I saw it listed I went to see it and it had already been rented, but I wanted it so much that I called just to let the property management company know that if it didn't work out for this other family that I wanted this house! Incidentally right before the family went in to sign the papers the gentleman renting the home experienced some health problems that made it impossible for them to move at this time. Yeah for us, but sad for the poor man. We're going to sign papers next week and we're really excited. This home is in a new subdivision and about 2 miles away from a new Elementary School. We go to sign papers next week and then hopefully we'll move in soon after. We'll keep you posted ...

Island Park 2007

Every year around the week of the 4th of July we plan a week-long trip up to our cabin in Island Park, ID. We were so grateful that my family waited for us to move back this year so that we could go with everyone. We had the best vacation, it always seems to go so fast! We spent the days down at the water watching the kids play in the mud or making sand castles. Josie had a great time this year eating rocks and sand and drinking yummy lake water! She was thrilled to get her swimming suit on and sit in the water and throw the rocks and splash around. She also loved riding in the boat. Johnny and Maggie mustered up the courage this year to be pulled on the intertube behind the boat. After the first ride they were hooked and I'm sure most of the boat rides this year were spent pulling the kids around. They also loved jumping off at the end of the ride into the water, they had no fear! We got to spend time with all my brothers and sisters and their families this year, it was wonderful! We made so many good memories playing games, playing outside, eating way too much yummy food and treats, and staying up late visiting. I am so grateful for such a fun family and that we enjoy being together soooooo much!

Happy 4th of July!

It was an interesting change being back in Utah for the 4th of July as opposed to last year in Tucson. I don't know if patriotism runs that far south in the country! We had a great day spending time with the family we've missed so much since being so far away. We went and saw Ratatoullie, and we all loved it! We also enjoyed a BBQ and loved relaxing and visiting with each other. Josie has had a hard time transitioning from the move and is also punishing me for leaving her for a week by acting as cranky as can be and not letting me even leave the room without her; but when she was swimming outside with her cousin Blake, she was the happiest I'd seen her in a week! The fireworks show that Uncle Ben put on that night was very entertaining, the kids loved it! And the adults loved watching Independence Day afterwards outside on the projecter. We made lots of good memories and we're looking forward to many more holidays to spend with our families!

Pictures of Tucson

I just wanted to post a few random pictures of things in Tucson ...


This is a picture of the Children's Museum. We had a pass there and we'd visit at least once a month. It was a great thing for us, we enjoyed it so much!













This is a picture of Johnny's school. It was right down the street from our house, Johnny wanted a picture of it so he could remember John E. White Elementary School. He thought it was pretty cool that it was named Johnny (John E.)













This is a picture of the pool at our apartment complex. It was the best pool for the kids, most of the pool was only 3 feet deep and it only got up to 5 feet. We spent a lot of time at this pool.













This is picture of Saguaro National Park. This picture doesn't quite grasp the view of all the cacti. This was one of our favorite views of Tucson to show visitors.














This was Johnny's favorite place in all of Tucson. He was very adamant about getting a picture of it before we moved. They had the best slushies, we would go every Monday and Friday after school and a lot of weeknights after John would get home from work. We dumped a lot of $$ into this Circle K!

John's Internship Graduation

We are so proud of John for his graduation from his internship at the University of Arizona's program in their Psychiatry Department at University Medical Center. They hosted the graduation at a fancy Country Club including dinner and dessert. It was really generous of them to include the Interns in the graduation with the Psychiatry Residents and Fellows. We were so glad that Mom & Dad Livingstone could come with us, we're grateful to have the support of our families on this long road of schooling we've been going down. We're also grateful to have it coming to an end, we're looking forward to next year when there's a diploma hanging in John's office. He made many great connections down in Tucson and his co-workers and supervisors had only great things to say about him. We're really proud of him and the sacrifices and hard work he's putting into providing a good life for our family.

We wanted to take more pictures, but we were there so long and we didn't take the time after we left. These pictures don't do justice of the beautiful building and surroundings we were in.

Swimming Lessons Success!

The weather heated up quickly in Tucson and the best way to beat the heat was by spending time in the pool. We invited our friends over every Wednesday afternoon to swim and the kids enjoyed 2 sessions of swimming lessons before we moved. Both of the kids really ventured out of their comfort zones and found great success this summer in swimming. Johnny is now fully swimming and Maggie is close behind. They are both so much more brave and I told them that I would give them both $5 if they would jump off the diving board at their last lesson. They were both very determined and prepared to jump but unfortunately they didn't let any of the kids jump, although they opened up the water slide and both the kids went multiple times after a little prodding and encouragement from Grandma Livingstone. Josie and I really enjoyed watching and waiting for them everyday, but it was hard when it was 100 degrees outside every morning. I loved the view from the pool, the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

My latest obsession ...

Because we're moving in three weeks and I've so far only packed one box .. I have bad timing when it comes to my latest obsession, which is a new book. One of my cousins said it was great and so about a month ago I ordered it used from Amazon.com. It didn't come for about 3 weeks and I never even read the back cover to see what it was about. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it back down and I have been hooked ever since! The book is called Twilight, written by Stephenie Meyer. After I finished all 544 pages of Twilight in three days, I couldn't stop thinking about it! I planned on checking the sequel called, New Moon, out at the library a couple days later-- but I found myself at Target the next day for some other things and I just had to buy it and had all 562 pages of it finished within the next three days. So far my last week is a blur because I can't stop thinking about this story! I started rereading the first book again last night to go over it all again and pick up what I may have missed and it is just as captivating as the first time I read it! So, the bonus that John pointed out to me after I was half-way through the second book, is that Stephenie Meyer is a BYU graduate and after looking her up on Amazon.com and on her website, she's LDS! One of the best things about these stories is how amazingly clean they are, and so now I'm one of her biggest fans. There is book 3 and 4 also in the works and I'm so excited the story continues. I'm also dying for someone else to read this book so I can rant and rave to someone else, so here's your referrel for a good book!

Maggie's Dance Program

The last of our exciting events last week was Maggie's dance program. They learned a little dance to perform at the last class. She did a great job, although we learned from this experience how much she enjoys being the center of attention-- she couldn't keep her mouth closed to save her life! She always had a witty comment to make and is very different from Johnny in that she loves to have people watching her. I think we have ourselves a little performer! Her skills have really improved this year. She took this class with one of her little girlfriends and if she would learn to keep her mouth closed and listen to her teachers better I think she'd really learn a lot more. She's got great talent and we're looking forward to seeing her develop it even more in the next coming years.

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Johnny's Kindergarten Program

I have to say that I'm glad we got to experience Johnny's kindergarten program because it was a show we'll probably never witness again-- and I don't mean the kids! The spectacle the parents put on was absolutely crazy! These little kids were having a program for the last day of kindergarten and these parents were celebrating like it was high school! The view of the kids on stage was blocked by multiple balloon boquets, flowers, gifts, and people being too rude to sit so people behind them could see. We got there 15 minutes early and we were still in the back of the room. I'm disappointed in my pictures because I couldn't even fight my way to the stage to get a good shot. I tried to be as agressive as I could, but got held up about half way to the front of the room. Anyway, it was great to be there and Johnny did a wonderful job. I have no idea what the song was they performed that is in this video. His teacher this year was the greatest and he made so many good friends. Afterwards we were looking at his report card for the year and he excelled in everything he did. We're so proud of his developing social and academic skills, he's a different person than he was a couple years ago. It's great to see him get out of his comfort zone and really learn to adapt and he's done an amazing job! We're so grateful for the person he's growing into.
Johnny is on the top row.

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Maggie's Preschool Program

We were fortunate enough this year that Maggie was able to attend preschool in a home with one of our dearest friends as her teacher. We were blessed to become quick friends with a family in our ward named Brad & Amber Layton. They have a little girl, Annie, who is Maggie's age and a little boy, Jace, who is about Josie's age. Maggie enjoyed attending preschool with all her little friends from primary and especailly enjoyed having Miss Amber as her teacher. Miss Amber did a wonderful job of working with the kids and teaching them structure and a lot of great things through stories, singing, and interaction with each other. For the program each of the kids learned a nursery rhyme they had to recite using props. This was Maggie's in case you can't hear it in the video, "Three little kittens lost their mittens and they began to cry. Three little kittens found their mittens and they shall have some pie." She took one of her build-a-bear kitties with two little kittens on the side and put mittens on them and then had a pie to show. She did a great job, no fear at all! It was a great program and great to have Micki & Spence there with us.

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Spencer & Micki Visit Tucson

We're getting spoiled now by all our visitors! We had such a wonderful time with Spencer and Micki's visit. It was so great to have them here to be able to go to both the kids end-of-year programs and to the program Maggie's dance class prepared for the last class. We visited some fun places and got to take them to Mexico for both of their first times. Micki was sad that she didn't get a MEXICO stamp in her passport, where we went wasn't high class enough, just a little border town. We got to take them to our favorite local places to eat and one of our favorites was a little restaraunt inside one of the Casino's that we went to for breakfast on Monday morning. There was more food than we knew what to do with! The kids were happy as could be and Micki was very patient to let them follow her around and to share her lap. I'm sure they were so glad to be home after as much loving from the kids as they could handle! Josie had Micki manipulated every time we got into the car to put the DVD player down so she could watch it. She may not talk, but she knows how to get what she wants! We enjoyed lots of good fun and had a great time warming up at cards and Settler's of Catan again after a year-long break! We're so grateful to them for coming to visit, we enjoyed their company so much. We're looking forward to spending more time together a month from now. The question is, are you ready for us ...???

Uncle Ben comes to visit ...

It was so much fun to have Uncle Ben come and visit us in Tucson a couple of weeks ago. The kids were so excited to see him and asked repeatedly each day, "how much longer until Uncle Ben comes again?" It's amazing the bond a family has to each other. Ben thought the kids wouldn't even know who he was, but they remembered and the best thing is, they'll probably never forget him! It was great to have some one-on-one time and get to go see a few fun things, but we really appreciated getting to spend time together. Being far away has made us appreciate our families so much more and we are so anxious to get back so we can be together again. Thanks Ben for coming to visit, had a great time with you!


In the parking lot at Old Tucson Studios we saw a hungry coyote eating an apple.


We visited Mission San Xavier del Bac, which is a landmark of Tucson. It is a very old Mission which is still used today. It was interesting going inside, the kids weren't sure what to make of it. The best part was the fry bread with cinnamon and sugar that made by some local Native Americans.