The Lee Family

Oh happy day!

2011-11-23T07:09:00.001-08:00

Today is a day that deserved a little "shouting from the rooftops". So here I go...

I zipped up my favorite pair of jeans!!!!!! Hip hip hooray!!!!!!!

I'm not saying they fit great, but at least I can put them on and zip them up. I've waited over 7 months for this day to arrive, and now it's here. Just in time for my Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. I may have to remove this post come Friday morning.

Happy Fall!

2011-10-25T08:12:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Life's been crazy. But I love blogs and I'm not a quitter, so here we go again...

I LOVE the fall! Here in Arizona it is the kick off to beautiful weather, festive activities and all of the great Holidays. How could you NOT love it??? So I thought I would commemorate the beginning of fall by putting my baby inside a pumpkin. My poor child, I keep shoving him inside miscellanies things just to get a cute photo. Maybe it's a faze I'm going through. I'm sure when he's 20 he will be mad at me and wonder what the heck I was thinking. Oh well!

I can't be the only one that thinks sticking a baby inside a pumpkin is a great idea, a friend of mine heard I was doing it and after I was done she decided to take my pumpkin and try it with her baby. Then she passed it to her neighbor who did the same and then on to another friend. I thought we should do a separate blog post called "Pass the Pumpkin" just to see how many babies we could get inside the pumpkin before it rots.

Any of you out there with babies I recommend you try it, and let me know if you do.

Happy Fall everyone!

From October 25, 2011

Kingston Andersen Lee - 6 months old

A Miracle!!!

2011-07-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Friends... rejoice with me this day for a miracle has occurred! KINGSTON SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Ok, so I am a mother of 4 and I realize that this was most likely a fluke and I'm sure it won't happen again for months, but I don't care! I am still rejoicing! I can't tell you how liberating it is to have slept for a good 8 hours straight. That doesn't mean I didn't wake up at least a half a dozen times saying to myself... "I can't believe he is still asleep!" And then I'd quickly try to go back to bed so as not to miss one single sleep filled moment. It was beautiful.

Life has a completely different outlook when you wake up well rested. Let's just hope this happens again in the near future. As for now I am just going to enjoy this day and the little miracle that occurred.

From Portraits by Robin Lee

He's Here!

2011-04-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce our latest addition:

Kingston Andersen Lee

Born: April 17th 2011

Weight: 7lbs 8oz

Height: 20"

From Portraits by Robin Lee

He's such a sweetheart and our family is loving and smothering him everyday. I'm sure we will have lots more pictures to come.

London's Play

2011-02-18T06:45:00.000-08:00

If anyone out there is looking for some good wholesome entertainment, my daughter is in the cast of the latest Copperstar Repertory Co. performance...

The Music Man!!! They are performing at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts.

It's really gonna be great! The cast includes all age ranges, and it has a ton of very talented actors.

We are planning on attending the family night on Monday the 21st (perfect FHE!) because it's only $10 per person.

Hope to see you there. And if you do go, look for London, she's one of the townspeople and she wears a pink dress.

2011-02-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Still looking for that perfect Valentine treat for your hubby? I have the answer! My cousin Katie found the idea for these sugar cookies on another blog www.howdoesshe.com and decided we needed to make them. They crack me up! (pardon the pun) No they are not appropriate for your children, in fact I'm sure there are some fellow bloggers that are a little too prude to even make them for their spouse, and that's OK! My cousin's and I had a blast putting them together, thanks again ladies! The funniest part is that we are all planning on giving a plate of them to my Grandma. She's gonna love them! Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

From The Lee Family

The perfect valentine's gift

2011-01-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not one to promote various items on my blog, but this purchase is one that I want to share with the world! "I'm in love I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!" (that's a quote from "Elf") Anyway, here she is in all her beauty... the Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker.

I purchased this bad lady a couple weeks ago after my sis-in-law told me about it. (Thanks again Chelsea!) I was sold after she told me that it was Chef Brad that recommended it to her, he says it's his absolute favorite and he's tried every pressure cooker out there.

Here's why I love it...

1. It's electric! Anybody that has cooked with the other kind of pressure cooker knows what a pain it is to have to sit there and babysit it to make sure the temperature stays where it's supposed to. Not this one, you set it and walk away!

2. It has a keep warm setting that comes on automatically after it is finished cooking. So you can leave it sitting there with dinner ready all day if you want. So cool!

3. It's super easy to clean. The nonstick removable pan comes right out and rinses clean in a snap. Nothing sticks to it. Plus it's the only pan you use, you can saute, simmer, cook and keep warm all in the same pan. Only 1 dish to clean! That's my dream come true.

4. It's fast! You can cook a pound of hard pinto beans, without having to pre soke, in only 30 minutes. Brown rice takes only 20 min.

5. It's healthy! You don't have to cook with as much liquid so veggies keep their nutrients.

6. Everything cooks perfectly! If you follow the guidelines your food will always turn out great. Food has so much more flavor and meats are so much juicier.

7. The price is right. I purchased mine a couple weeks ago from Costco for only $69.95 The sad news is that there were only 20 left at the mesa Costco on Sossoman the day I bought mine, and that was the last store to have them in stock in the east valley. However, I did look and you can purchase them online through Costco for $84.99 (shipping and handling included) I feel like it's totally worth it. Other pressure cookers will run you $150-$300 or more. I have one of them, and I don't like it as much. ***Update- My friend Anna went and purchased one today (1/20) from the Costco on Sossoman and she said they had 18 left***

All in all, I love simple meals that are fast but they also have to be healthy, and I feel like this helps me accomplish both. Everything that I have made, my family has loved! I stash veggies in everything and my kids don't even blink an eye because it tastes so good. Mostly I love it because it's easy. Here's an example of how easy I'm talking... this is what I made for dinner.

One pot spaghetti

I threw 1/2 a pound ground beef in the pot and set it to simmer. I hurried and chopped 1/4 onion and threw it in. Before it was done browning I threw in a jar of spaghetti sauce, a half a bag of whole wheat wide noodles (uncooked) a cup or 2 of water, and one raw zucchini quartered and cut 1/2 an inch thick. I closed the lid, set it to high pressure for 5 min. and walked away. (I even used a paper plate to cut the onion and zucchini on so I could throw it away-that's how badly I hate dishes)

PS- my sis-in-law throws uncooked quinoa in with this recipe and the kids don't have a clue that they are eating it! (A great tip from Chef Brad)

That was all I did. The machine took over. It always takes a few minutes to pressurize, then it began cooking, it beeped when it was done and sat on warm until I was ready to open it up. Because I made pasta it's recommended that you use the quick release method, which makes it even faster. You just turn the nozzle and the steam escapes. It unlocks when it is totally released. I opened it up and here's how it looked...

It was a huge hit. Now I am fully aware that spaghetti is normally a pretty easy meal, but never has it been THIS easy! I'm trying to talk everyone I know into getting one so that we can all share recipe ideas. Heck, maybe we can start a blog about it!

Email your husbands the link to this blog post. Let me sell them on it. You can thank me later.

Happy Valentines Day, and happy pressure cooking!

2010-12-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

Better late than never. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

From The Lee Family

Mission: hopefully not so impossible

2010-12-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

From The Lee Family

I'd like to announce the newly called Elder and Sister Andersen (aka: dad and mom) who just received their call today to the Canada Toronto East mission. WHOO! We are all so excited for them. No one could think of a place where both my mom and dad seemed to fit... my dad being a ruff and tumble farm boy, and my mom a sophisticated Nordstrom shopper. So everyone agreed that it was best to leave it up to the Lord to choose. That's what they did, and He has found the perfect place for them. Plus, it's not a bad vacation spot for the rest of us who plan on paying them a visit here in the next 18 months.

Unfortunately now I'm going to have to break the news to Liberty, who's absolute favorite person in the whole world is "Bama" (Grandma) Not sure how to deal with that one yet, I think we might have to get really good at using Skype.

2010-11-16T08:05:00.000-08:00

HELP!

Can someone tell me what I do? Somehow, someone has hacked into my other blog account... www.portraitsbyrobinlee.blogspot.com and posted multiple posts. I have erased them, but what do I do? Now they have my information and can do that anytime? I can't go private because that blog is acting as my website. HELP!

Big News!

2010-09-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

My oldest nephew is serving in the Mexico City South mission. He is such an awesome kid! Just an all around great example. Plus he's super funny. Here is an extra special excerpt from the letter he emailed our entire extended family last week. I thought I might share it with everyone, after all it is pretty interesting.

"So I was reading in the scriptures the other day and something really stuck out to me and I had a really strong impression about something back at home. I read in Isaiah about the prediction of the coming of Christ. In Isaiah 7:14 about how the The lord will give us a sign, that a virgin will conceive and give light to a child. (I'm translating from spanish so it might not exactly say that) I figure if Isaiah can prophesy about the birth of a baby, I figure as a missionary, I can too. It also says in D:C that whatever we say when moved upon by the spirit will be scripture. So I want you guys to listen close as if this was scripture. Y he aqui yo os dirá que Robin Lee esta embarrasada. For you all that don't know spanish, Robin is pregnant. That's my prophesy that I received as revelation as a missionary that I want to share to you guys. This is why this letter is titled Big News. Hope you guys don't think I'm going crazy. Call her and ask for yourself.

I hope you all are doing great. I love you all so much. Have a great week and have fun learning Paragliding Dad.
-Elder Jake Andersen"

You may have guessed that he was embellishing the truth a little (what a goof) But it is true! Baby #4 is due April 20th. We are very excited!

We wrote Jake the day before and told him that we were expecting and told him he needed to spread the word to the family. I have to give him kudos for his creativity. That morning
his mom called me in great confusion and asked me if we had said something to Jake. I said yes. Then with a huge sigh of relief she said, " Oh good, I thought he was going crazy!"

His letter is definitely going in the baby book!

The Family Curse

2010-09-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

So I'm really starting to believe that our family is cursed. Clayton was flipping through medical bills a couple weeks ago (from when Hudson broke his arm, and when I broke my elbow) when he said to all of us..."No one else is allowed to get hurt!" That's when he jinxed us.

Only a few short days later our family was enjoying our annual trip to San Diego. We decided to stop for a picnic on Sunday the 12th at Balboa Park. We were all unloading the car. Liberty was inside, unbuckled, waiting for us to come get her. London didn't realize that Liberty was unbuckled and leaning up against the door. London quickly opened the car door to throw something inside when Liberty came falling from the seat of our Sequoia all the way to the ground landing directly onto her face. We all started screaming. I started balling. I can still hear the sound of her face hitting the pavement. It gives me nightmares. I was actually on the other side of the door so I only saw her land, but my poor husband was on the other side, at the back of the car and he tells me that he can't get that image of her falling out of his head. It makes him sick to his stomach.

From The Lee Family

Poor London felt so bad. She ran and got into the car and couldn't stop crying. We let her know that is was just and accident. It still makes me sick just thinking about it all. Liberty had 2 big bumps/scraps on her forehead, a large gash under her nose, scrapes on her nose, and a big fat black eye. At first we thought just her face was injured, but come to find out she has a broken arm too. We couldn't tell her arm was broken because she had a big fluffy jacket on, so her arm wasn't cut or bleeding. She kept saying her arm hurt that day, so we took her to urgent care and sure enough it was broken.

From The Lee Family

Liberty brought her favorite doll to the urgent care with her, and the lady there was so sweet, she decided "Baby Sue" needed her x-ray as well. Baby Sue also got a splint just like Liberty.

From The Lee Family

Despite all the bumps and bruises she still remained the sweetest, happiest girl ever.

From The Lee Family

Here she is at Disneyland a few days after the fall... you can imagine all the weird looks we received from everyone passing by.

From The Lee Family

So finally today she got her cast, a week and one day after the accident. She didn't like when the Dr. took off her bandage, but she LOVES her new cast. I'm just so relieved that I don't have to worry that she's going to trip and fall every second of the day.
Now I just need someone to tell me how the heck do you keep a 2 year old from getting their cast filthy and covered in food? Help!

From The Lee Family

If anyone else breaks a bone in my family I think I'm gonna lose it!

2010-05-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Better late than never... I want to dedicate this blog post to our awesome friends Steve and Jenny Smith, who invited us to come stay with them at their timeshare in Kauai for spring break. Yep, they are pretty awesome!

We had such a great time. I will say doing Hawaii with kids is very different then going without, but we still managed to have a blast. We got to hang with the Smith's for 5 days in Kauai, then we said goodbye and headed over to Oahu for 3 days. Some of the highlight of our stay on Kauai were... hiking in the Northern Kauai rain forest, cliff jumping, shell searching, seeing the wild chickens everywhere (that was Libby's favorite thing), eating the local fruit (still don't know what half of it was), seeing all the lush beautiful plants and flowers and hangin with our buds.

Some of the highlight of our stay on Oahu... finally seeing the SUN, the beach, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Hawaiian Temple, shopping, breakfast buffets and our kids favorite... the hotel hot tub. Yes, we traveled across the ocean to spend half the day in the hotel hot tub. Oh well, kids will be kids.

Here are some shots from the trip...

From The Lee Family

The rain forest, can you tell?

From The Lee Family

Absolute heaven, so gorgeous!

From The Lee Family

Sea shell hunting

From The Lee Family

Our little Hawaiian dudes!

From The Lee Family

Here's Libby with some of those chickens, she loved them as long as they kept their distance.

From The Lee Family

Love these guys!

From The Lee Family

OW BABY!

From The Lee Family

The Smith's brought this awesome book that had all of the best things to see and do in Kauai. It was written by a local, so it had us going all of these crazy places that tourist don't know about. The book was dead on, everywhere we went was awesome. Here is me and Jenny laughing in the face of danger, after we totally ignored this sign and scaled the side of this mountain anyway. Totally worth it!

From The Lee Family

Here's my brave little London taking the big jump. She was the only kid that was brave enough to jump. Way to go London!

Then Jenny peer pressured me into jumping. Here we are, all ready to go when this local tour guide started scolding us saying we were on private property and we could get hurt jumping off of these cliffs. He left, so we decided to jump anyways. After all, London, Clayton and Steve had already done it, so we had to.

So I tell Jenny to count to three and we would jump together, so she does...1..2...3....

From The Lee Family

I jump in absolute shock and terror, then quickly realize...Where's Jenny?

A minute or two later and a lot of convincing...she jumped too.

From The Lee Family

YEAH BABY!!!

From The Lee Family

Libby decided she didn't like water or sand. So it made for an interesting trip to say the least. She did however enjoy picking up small rocks and throwing them. So that's what we did, alot.

From The Lee Family

The Temple, so beautiful

From The Lee Family

I've never seen a close up picture of the Hawaiian Temple, so I was bound and determined to get one. It is a beautiful temple, it remindes me a little of the Mesa AZ Temple.

From The Lee Family

Libby just being cute!

From The Lee Family

At the Polynesian Culteral Center

From The Lee Family

For some reason these 2 images reminded me of eachother

From The Lee Family

London and her new Samoan boyfriend... Here he is in action doing the most amaizing fire dancing show! So cool!

From The Lee Family

One of the beautiful sites from the trip.

From The Lee Family

2010-05-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Once again my awesome neighbor LaTonya, who does all the advertising for the AZ Museum for Youth, invited us to come down and be on TV. They just finished some major reconstruction and needed to show it off. We had a blast, and I have to thank all of the family and friends that came down. It was a huge noisy group, just like they wanted!

I discovered that my daughter London is a natural in front of the camera. She got to be interviewed and so did my nephew Easton. They did awesome! London kept asking me why we laughed after we watched her interview on Tivo. She wanted to know if she said something wrong. I told her we laughed because we thought she was so darn cute! She seemed very grown up. Check it out for yourself and see if you laugh too...
http://www.azcentral.com/video/#/International%20Museum%20Day%20Preview/86175386001

2010-04-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

From The Lee Family

For the most part we had a very nice Easter, right up until about 6pm. The kids were playing outside on the trampoline. I felt the need to go check on them, so I did. I had to warn them that they were being too crazy and needed to be more careful. I even went as far as saying to Hudson, "Hudson, are you OK with breaking your arm, leg, or neck, because if you keep doing that you are gonna!" They made a few changes to their game, but still acting too ruff for my liking. I went inside, and the next thing I remember hearing was screaming and yelling. I looked outside to see my husband drop what he was doing and run to the tramp and say "we're going to the hospital" I immediately start balling and yelling "what do I do?" I didn't want to see what had happened, I knew it was bad. London is screaming frantically "Hudson broke his arm, I saw it" She was loosing it. Clayton rushed Hudson to the car and took him straight to the hospital. It literally makes me sick just thinking about the whole incident. This is what it looked like...

From The Lee Family

I looks alot better in the x-ray then it did in real life. My poor little guy. Clayton said he was getting all teary eyed sitting in the waiting area with Hudson while he was in such terrible pain. He told Clayton "I wished I never broke my arm" Clayton said, "I know bud, I wish it had been me instead of you" Hudson replied, "I wish nobody broke their arm!"

He was such a champ. The hospital got him back pretty quickly. They had to put him to sleep so that they could reset his arm. He's doing pretty good today. It just breaks my heart, he's such a sweet little guy.

I thought it was sweet that London was so upset about it all. She was seriously screaming and crying for 20 minutes before I could get her to calm down. She kept saying "I feel so bad for Hudson, he's the best brother in the whole wide world, he broke his arm and it's all my fault...(scream/cry)...etc...

Don't worry I let her know that it was just an accident. She feels alot better today.

You can bet your booty that I made this into a teaching experience. My children now know that they need to listen to their mother when I warn them about something and they also know that they need to be much more careful on the trampoline. Clayton is just mad that it had to be such an expensive valuable lesson.

Here's the pre accident shots. It was a beautiful day and our family enjoyed listening to General Confrence and thinking about our Savior and the blessing He is in our lives. Our kids also had loads of fun searching for eggs, eating candy, getting money, and playing outside.

Here's London, enjoying the spoils of the day.

Liberty became slightly obsessed with the candy... it drove her to robbery.

From The Lee Family

Hudson was not too happy about that. These shots crack me up. I am so glad I had my camera in hand. The black and white one is my favorite. Their expressions are priceless. (Libby is holding Hudson's basket)

From The Lee Family

How could you get mad at someone this cute?

From The Lee Family

??????

2010-02-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

You no longer have to wonder what it might look like to try on 23 pairs of underwear at the same time... Now you know. Not only are there 23 pairs of underwear on this boy, but also 1 pair of pants. Ouch!

Who knew that he even owned 23 pairs of underwear? (I guess I really don't like it when my kids run out of clean underwear)

From Portraits by Robin Lee

This is what happens when you combine a creative boy and a clean pile of laundry.

At first I was upset, but then quickly realized I needed to document this. Towards the end of our photo shoot he explained that it was starting to hurt. I swear his little legs were turning blue. So I began pealing away underwear layer by layer. It took forever. I just hope there's no permanent damage.

The most embarrassing part of me posting this is the fact that the last pair of underwear that he put on had to be those bikini briefs. I bought him those by mistake one day when we were at the mall and he had an accident. We rushed into the first kids clothes store we saw and grabbed the cheapest package of underwear we could find. We quickly realized why they were discounted, but by then it was too late. My husband yells at me every time he sees Hudson wearing those things. I've been meaning to throw them out, but the truth is it's always nice to have a spare pair of underwear at the end of a laundry cycle.

From Portraits by Robin Lee

(above) Looking a little more like his mommy.

From Portraits by Robin Lee

Much better!

By the way, those were the pants that were underneath all of those underwear.

Crazy kid.

Today I saved a life.

2010-01-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am a hero, OK, maybe not a superhero, but I feel like a hero because today I accomplished something I never thought possible. I donated blood!!! This may seem like a simple task to some people, but not to me. Let me explain...

All my life I've been the person that can't talk about gory, graphic or bloody things. It makes me sick, literally. I'll have to put my head between my knees so that I won't faint. I remember when I was young, having my ears pierced and trying to take out the studs for the first time. My mom said I turned white as a ghost, she had me sit down so I wouldn't faint.

It doesn't matter if it's happening to me, or to someone else. My husband recalls when we were dating, he and I were throwing the football to each other. He went out for a pass and hit some muddy grass and slid right into a short brick wall that cut his knee open. I quickly rushed to his side, only to realize that I needed to go inside and put my head between my legs. Clayton looked up in pain and asked my mom where I went and she told him I was inside with my head between my legs. I'm such a wimp!

Even after having kids my weakness has yet to subside. I remember when I had 2 kids, my oldest was 5, I cut my finger pretty bad, so bad that I knew I couldn't look at it. I hurried and wrapped it in paper towels and lied down on the floor. My sweet little London took care of me. I had to hurry and remind her about 911 and all the other emergency techniques that she might need to know. She took care of Hudson, who was 2 at the time, while I lied on the floor for 30 minutes trying to get the strength to stand up and drive myself to urgent care.

I have lots more stories like those, but I'm going to get to the point here.

I was the type of person that thought that I could never give blood, the thought of it made me sick. On top of that, I've been anemic my whole adult life and I have to take iron supplement daily, another great excuse for not donating.

But for some reason or another I decided I needed to stop making excuses and hiding behind my fears. I... was going to save lives. I was going to donate blood.

So I signed up for our Stake Blood Drive and went down this morning. I was nervous! Luckily there were some familiar faces there giving me pep talks. Someone mentioned that I would probably get sent home because of my anemia. I thought, GREAT! At least I tried.

So they call my name. I answered all 10 million of their questions and signed my life away. Then it was time to check my iron level. I wasn't too happy about it, because they had to do a finger prick. Of course my eyes were closed, but I survived. My iron level was at a 12.1, I asked the lady what that meant, she said that it needed to be at a 12.5 So I thought, GREAT, I'm outta here! Then she said, "What we can do is prick another finger, test your iron level again, and if it's at 12.5 then we can still draw your blood." So I agreed. We did another finger prick (ouch!) and we both watched the little machine anxiously waiting for my number to pop up, when what do ya know...12.5! Immediately I said loudly"Oh crap!" There was no turning back now.

So they walked me over to the donation station, which was harder then it sounds because everywhere I looked I saw blood, and stuff to do with blood. I started getting queasy, but I kept telling myself that I could do this.
The lady started doing her thing and I before you know it the donation had commenced. I can't go into too much detail for fear of me having to put my head between my knees. I did great! Right up until they pulled the needle out of me. I didn't like that so much. I spend a good 20 minutes hanging upside down their chair so I wouldn't faint. But after my juice box, pretzels and cookies, I felt like a new woman. I did it!!! I conquered my fears!!! I was a blood donor!!!

So here is my reason for this blog post. I hope that by me sharing my story I can at least inspire someone to get rid of their excuses, and just donate! Save some ones life! If I can do it ANYONE can do it. YOU too can feel like a hero!

Go Blood!

From The Lee Family

(I'd love to hear any good blood, or blood donation stories, please share) (not too graphic please!)

Look Daddy, I pierced my ears!!!

2009-11-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

From The Lee Family

I couldn't wait to show them off to you...

From The Lee Family

I tried calling you with no success...

From The Lee Family

Then I tried texting, but quickly realized I can't spell...

From The Lee Family

I'm so excited, WAHOO!!!

From The Lee Family

p.s.-Don't be mad, OK?

11 years and still going strong!

2009-11-07T22:53:00.000-08:00

When Clayton and I were first married we had no money. I really wanted a wedding video, but it was out of the budget. So I thought for our anniversary it would be fun to gather all the photo's that we had and all the home video's of the day and have a wedding video made. I had to use "Shoot me Films" -my good ol friend Nathan Foster's wedding video company. They did a great job, I am so happy! Now I have something I can treasure forever. Thanks again guys.

So making it's web debut... (click on the link below to watch the short video)

http://www.shootmefilms.com/weblink/movie.php?shootmefilm=RobinClayton%20Wedding%20Montage.flv

(Amy, I know you're the only one that will watch this, so I guess this one's for you)

2009-11-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

Somehow we managed to break away (without kids) to Sedona for our anniversary this weekend. I love Sedona. It is so beautiful! It was so relaxing and rejuvenating. We got a great deal on priceline, plus when we got there we mentioned it was our anniversary, and they upgraded us to a suite for free. The guy at the front desk told me to comment in the comment box next time we use priceline and request a suite or let them know about special occasions so they can fix you up. I thought that was a useful piece of advice. We had an enjoyable trip eating, relaxing, sleeping, hiking and shopping. Here are some incredibly posed photo's taken on our beautiful hike to Bell Rock.

From The Lee Family

Chill'in with the redrock

From The Lee Family

Clay at one with nature

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I'm... to sexy for this bolder...

From The Lee Family

The happy couple

From The Lee Family

Clayton reaching the summit of Bell Rock... or at least it looks like it

From The Lee Family

A dead tree

From The Lee Family

Awe... how cute!

2009-10-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

Some people may read this post and think that I'm completely ridiculous, some people probably think that without reading this post. Nevertheless, I am one of the happiest girls in the world tonight because my long awaited wish has come true, I am an official owner of a Vespa Motor scooter!!! AHHH!!! Yes, I am 30, and yes I have 3 kids, but that doesn't mean I can't have a scooter does it? I just might look a little ridiculous, that's OK, because it is so much FUN!!! If you don't believe me, just come over and take it for a spin. You'll be hooked.
Anyhow, I found an amazing deal on Craigslist and I just couldn't pass it up. By no means is it in perfect condition, but the price was right.
So if you see a woman in her 30's whizzing by you on a red Vespa, don't laugh, just know that some one's childhood dream has been fulfilled. Ciao!

From The Lee Family

2009-10-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but before I do that, I just want to let everyone know (that doesn't already), that London is getting baptised this coming Saturday. AHH! I can't believe it! I can't believe we are at that stage in life already. It flew by. We are so excited she has chosen this, and we would love anyone and everyone to join in this special day with us. Here's the official invitation. (don't feel bad if you didn't receive a hard copy, it isn't because we don't love you, it's just because they are all still sitting on my kitchen table)

From The Lee Family

Please come, and just so you know, we will be having a celebration lunch immediately after the baptism at Peter Piper Pizza on Gilbert and Williamsfield, all are welcome!

Hudson's birthday/ 4th of July

2009-08-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, he's my Yankee Doodle Dandy, born on the 4th of July! And what a fun one it was this year. We were on our way up to a family reunion in Utah, so we decided to spend the 4th of July weekend with our family from Utah. A special thanks to Sandra and Carter Lee (and kids) for letting us crash at their house and throw a big party there. It was a blast. We had presents, cousins, a blow up water slide, BBQ, and tons-o-fun. I realized that this was the first time in my life that I had been somewhere other then in my parents back yard pool for the 4th of July. I have to admit, watching fireworks in Utah's weather is a lot more enjoyable than Arizona's.

Uncle Carter started the weekend off with a bang by giving us our own private fireworks show, thanks Carter!
The birthday boy with his babes (aka-cousins: Sydney, Mykee, Kennedy, and Alexandra Lee)

Happy birthday to you.... before the cake.....

After the cake.... Doesn't he look Chinese? What a goof!

From The Lee Family

My baby is 1!!!!

2009-08-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe she's so big. She had a very fun 1st birthday. We spent Liberty's birthday at the mall where we rode the carousel for free, ate lunch, and played at the play place with our cousin's Easton, Drew, and Corbin Wilson. Later we had the best of the best show up for her huge birthday bash. As you can see, we had some great cake. It was quite a day.

Waving hello.

From The Lee Family

Good stuff! Notice the eye infection, poor kid, she wasn't feeling her best. At least she put on a happy face.

15 minutes of FAME!!!

2009-06-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

So we are feeling pretty special today. Our awesome neighbor LaTonya Smith is one of the head haunch-o's down at the Arizona Youth Museum in downtown Mesa. She called us the other day and invited us to be in the background while Fox 10 morning news filmed part of their show from the Museum. We said heck ya! So here we are live on TV struttin our stuff. It was so much fun! And I have to say, Cory McCloskey was SO nice and so friendly. He even asked me if he could hold my baby. We got a picture, I'll have to post it later. Here's the clip from this morning's news broadcast. When you click on the link, go down and click on the "My Favorite Monster" segment.
One more thing, if you happen to be watching Fox 10 Friday morning around 8:15, check out the dancing segment, apparently we are gonna be on there too.

AZAM Page

2009-04-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

Some people post intriguing questions, some post inspiring stories, others offer spiritual thoughts........not me...

Does this onesie make my butt look big?

From The Lee Family

2009-04-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

A true act of service?

2009-02-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

The other day, London and her good friend Jenna decided, all on their own, that they really
wanted to raise some money for the "Jump rope for Heart" fund raiser(to fight Heart disease) that was going on down at school. They're motivation: All they had to do was raise $5,000 and they would get a Wii. Apparently the best way to raise $5,000 is to go in the front yard, turn on some loud music and dance for people driving by. They also decided to sell some old Halloween candy. Soon all the neighborhood kids had joined in. They made posters, literally stopped traffic and begged people for money. After all was said and done, they made about $25. Not too bad for a recession.

Jenna's dad was good to remind the girls that when they got older, they probably shouldn't dance for money. -Thanks Jeff!
After the whole ordeal, it just so happens that the ice cream man came tooting down our street. The girls were ecstatic, they suddenly had loads of money to spend! Don't worry, I set them straight. -Heart disease girls, heart disease, that's our motivation!

My sweet little baby

2009-02-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

OK, so I've had about a million huge things happen over the last month or two. A few highlights were... mine and Clayton's 10th anniversary, Christmas was a biggy, I turned 30, we went Disneyland, went to the snow, I did a bunch of photo shoots, I met the Mayor at my brother's birthday party, we watched the Cardinals make it to the superbowl, and then sadly, we watched them loose. There was a bunch of other stuff in their too, but instead of focusing on any of that, I thought I would post a cute picture of my baby. I know I'm lame, but hey, this is my blog and I'll do it my way.

I don't post every picture that I take of Liberty, but this one just captures the sweet disposition that I adore about her. I swear I am so spoiled, she is the easiest, happiest, most content little baby in the world. She's probably going to be a terror of a teenager. So when that happens, I'll be able to look back at this picture and remember how sweet she once was. By the way, Liberty at her 3 month appointment was 90% for her height, and 50% for her weight. I just took her in (a little late) for her last check up and she is no longer tall and average weight, but now she's average height and chubby. (50% height, 90% weight) I love my chunky baby bear!

Christmas Cookies!!!

2008-12-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight we got together with the Price family for FHE and then we decided to pig out! We had loads of goodies, but the best part was making our awesome Christmas cookies. The kids had so much fun, and Sheba and I couldn't stop laughing at our own little creations.

My masterpiece was Pippi Longstocking and Sheba's was Mr. Bill. The kids did a great job too!

Merry Christmas!!!

Coldplay Rocks!

2008-11-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

To kick off the holidays my family decided to go to the Coldplay concert on Wednesday night. It was Clayton and I, Scott and Tiffany, Brent and Alycia, and my 2 nephews, Jake and Carter(who stole their mom and dad's tickets because they have a better appreciation for Coldplay)
It was soooo awesome! I have come to the conclusion that I always have a better appreciation for a band after I see them live. This band was no exception. It was a great concert, full of amazing music, and some really neat affects too. One of my favorite parts was when the band ran through the audience towards the back and actually played 2 songs from the middle of the crowd. We were only about 50 feet away from them, so it turned our semi-good seats into great seats.
Another fun thing about the night was that it was my 2 nephews very first concert. They are 16 and 17 years old, and like most teenagers, are very into music. It was fun to go and experience the night with them. It made me think back to my first concert back in High School. It was Chris Isaac and I thought it was amazing. I've actually seen him twice now.
Then, my husband and I started naming all the different concerts we have been too. That was so fun! Between the two of us, we have seen a whole slew of concerts at all ends of the spectrum. Here are a few to give you an idea of how diverse I'm talking... Air Supply (how old is my husband???), Josh Groban, Matchbox 20, Guns n Roses, Celine Dion, U2, Van Halen, and our favorite, The Refreshments (aka) The Peacemakers.

So here's the challenge, to anyone willing to take it. Name the first concert, or the best concert you've ever been to. I think it will be fun to see the variety we come up with. Good luck.

Excuse the low resolution photo's, my brother took these with his blackberry. Because I'm the photographer that never carries a camera.

My Dad got a Pony!!!

2008-11-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

Yes that sounds ridiculous but it's true! I had horses when I was a kid, and I LOVED them. In fact, only those of you that truly know me, know that I use to be The Black Stallion. Yes, it's true. I can still gallop like a race horse on all fours. Trust me, you've never seen anything like it. Anyways, us kids have been trying to convince my Dad (who owns an enormous alfalfa farm) to get horses. It just makes sense. My brother even went as far as giving my dad a bridle and reigns for Christmas, just a subtle nudge. Well London was asking me one day if we would ever get a horse and I told her, all she had to do is tell Grandpa and he will get one for her. I knew this because my Dad would do ANYTHING for his grand kids. So London begged her Grandpa and sure enough, a few days later this pony shows up at my parents house in Tempe. My Dad is using the Pony, like bait, to get his Grand kids to learn the piano. They've all agreed and now we have Sugar the Shetland Pony.

The best part of this story is the fact that all that week prior to getting the horse, no one was allowed to walk on the newly planted winter lawn. Thursday we got the OK from my Mom to walk on the grass and Friday the horse shows up to trot all over it too. My mother was thrilled.

(In the backyard of my parents house, no, it's not horse property)This is London's very first time ever riding a horse. She rode like a pro! She made sure that she had her boots on. Apparently you can't ride a horse with out boots on.Hudson did awesome too. No fear! And then it was my turn.....

Look how enormous I look! The poor pony. Hey, I did the math and I made the weight, it just doesn't look like it.

Watch out world, here comes the next Gilbert Days Rodeo Queen!!! Yee Ha! (By the way, do you like the swing set in the background, I feel it really sets the tone)

A Tribute to Audrey Hepburn

2008-10-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

Audrey Hepburn is by far my favorite actress of all time. So exquisitely beautiful and poised, and the most feminine woman to ever hit the silver screen, in my opinion. Some of my favorite movies... #1. My Fair Lady #2. Roman Holiday #3. Breakfast at Tiffany's #4. Charade. I hear that Wait until Dark is a good one, it's supposed to be scary(I don't like scary!!!) Another cool thing about her is that she is a timeless icon that, unlike most others, didn't die at an early age.

So I am dedicating this blog to her, and I have created a living tribute to her by dressing my baby in this Audrey Hepburn style couture. (O.K., so maybe this was an elaborate scheme to show off Liberty's freakin' cute outfit, so shoot me!)

I hear that Audrey had a 20 inch waistline, so she and Liberty have that in common too!

Just chillin'

2008-09-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I think this is so funny. My sister-in-law Chelsea let me borrow this Bumbo chair today. I put Liberty in it and I couldn't stop laughing. I guess it just seems odd to see a 3 month old sitting up! (She just turned 3 months yesterday) She loved it, as you can see, so I guess all there is to say is Bumbo is the bomb-o. Thanks again Chels!
"That's right, I'm cool"
"What the heck are those things?"

Why I love Chick-fil-a

2008-08-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Chick-fil-a is one of the the coolest restaurants of all time and here's why...

1. great ice cream

2. free diapers

3. yummy mints

4. fun play place for the kids

5. free balloons

But the best part about it is Family night every Thursday! The kids get to do some sort of fun craft project to take home. They also get a free balloon animal (you don't even tip the guy!) and the kids all get free ice cream! Sometimes they even let the older kids come back and fill their own cones! This last Thursday we went and the activity they were having was face painting. Hudson was transformed into his favorite superhero of all time, SPIDERMAN!!! (the kid has never even seen the movie, oh well, I guess it doesn't matter)It wasn't long before he was in full gear... Look at those moves!

Aren't boys great!

2008-08-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

I took some photo's of Liberty today, this one made us laugh.

Lee Look-alike Meter

2008-08-05T14:50:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Our Blessed Baby

2008-08-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a special day for our sweet little Liberty. It was her blessing day. She was 1 of 4 babies being blessed in our ward, needless to say, it was packed! The 2 babies that were blessed before Liberty both cried through their blessings, but Liberty was perfect, in fact, all the men told me how through the entire prayer she just starred at Clayton and smiled. (Apparently no one was closing their eyes) Clayton claimed that it was because he told Liberty that he would spank her if she cried like that, isn't he sweet. It really was a wonderful day and a beautiful blessing. We all feel incredibly blessed to have this sweet little angel in our lives.

Our very first pet!!!

2008-07-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, yesterday was a big day for the Lee household. We got our very first pet! I know, Clayton and I are the meanest parents ever. My children have always wanted a pet. Unfortunatly London has allergies, darn. Plus, all the animals that she is not allergic to poop, so they are out of the question. Yesterday all of our prayers were answered.

It all started with Hudson screaming for Clayton to come save him from the "wiggly ant" that crawled out of nowhere while he and London were playing Legos. I thought he had cut off his arm or something. Clayton goes upstairs to save the day. Next thing I know London and Hudson had made this little earwig their own. They build it a lovely lego home, where he slept all night, and then this morning they made him this car.

We thought all our dreams had come true, finally a pet we all could love. The best part was that if it did poop, at least we couldn't see it.

Unfortunately, about an hour ago our sweet little London Hudson Liberty, (that was it's name) ran away. He slipped through a crack in his Lego mansion. We are offering a hefty reward for his return.

(Obviosly taken before the escape)

Arrrrrr matey!

2008-07-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

Birthday boy Hudson turned 4 on the 4th of July, yes, He's our yankee doodle dandy, but as you can see, on this day he was nothing more than a swash buckling pirate. Arrrrr matey (as he would say)
Captain Hudson and the crew on their pirate ship. (Given to him by Grandma Pat) AHOY THERE!
On the hunt for buried treasure...
The crew looking for the loot. Captain Hudson's holding the treasure map, He loved being the center of attention.
Don't touch me cake or I'll chop off yer head!

He was actually quite a sweet little pirate. All he wanted to do on his big day was to have a "big swimming party at Grandma and Grandpa's house" which was very easy for mom to do seeing as we have a big 4th of July swimming party at Grandma and Grandpa's house every year, so I just brought the cake. When I asked him what his favorite part of his birthday was he said, "eating my chocolate cake." Maybe next year I'll skip the decorations, the presents, the huge swimming party, the fireworks, and just get him a chocolate cake. Happy birthday Huddy buddy!

She's finally here!!!

2008-06-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been a while since I have written, but I've been busy. I have been busy going insane waiting for this little girl to arrive. I don't have to wait any longer, SHE'S HERE! Liberty Kay Lee was born on June 11th at 12:35 pm. (2 days late) My doctor was nice enough to induce me the day after my due date. 14 1/2 hours later, out came Liberty, my nurse said that she was taking her liberty at coming out. She is a sweet heart, she's very quiet and well mannered. London and Hudson are loving their new little sister, and they are great helpers. Life is great, we all feel so blessed to have her in our lives. I am especially grateful that I am no longer pregnant, HALALUYA! I took these photo's yesterday, to celebrate that Liberty was 1 week old.

It's FINISHED!!!

2008-04-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

I have to explain myself, I decided a little while ago that I was going to attempt to sew a baby bed set for our little girl due the beginning of June. The only reason why is because I couldn't find one I liked, and the ones that were pretty cute were $500-$600! AHHH! So I had an idea in mind and I decided to go for it. No pattern, no nothing! My husband thought I was insane, nothing new. So I found all of these adorable fabrics (except 2) at Walmart for $1 a yard! I was so excited. I began... everything was going great, I was nearly done when all of the sudden my 20 year old featherweight Singer sewing machine broke on me! I couldn't believe it, just my luck. Well I decided to change my luck so I treated myself to a brand new Viking sewing/embroidery machine. Oh My! It is nice! I'm feeling very spoiled. Anyways, so after all of that I finally finished the bed set late last night. I told Clayton he couldn't go to bed because he was gonna miss the huge party I was gonna have once I finished. He didn't listen. I celebrated all by myself. But NOW all of you can join in my celebrations! Yippey!. Unfortunately the rest of the nursery still needs some work. Oh well, I'm going to enjoy this moment. Thanks for listening.

Easter- snowbunny style!

2008-04-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Cousin Alex and London, don't these two look alike!
Eating snow, don't worry, it's white
Hudson, as a small green Martian, and cousin Sydney
London getting a ride from uncle Brent on the Snow mobile

The kids and I joined a number of my family members in Utah for spring break. We we're lucky enough to get invited to my brother's in-laws cabin. WOW! It was amazing. When we got there and were getting the grand tour, all I could do was laugh because it was VERY nice! The kids had a total blast. I invited my sister-in-law Sandra, from the Lee side, to join my family for the week. We all had so much fun. A special thanks to the Zoll family for their generosity. Here are some shot of the kids in the snow, which they had not seen since Hudson was about 6 months old. They loved it.

2008-02-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

Here we are!