Christmas 2012

The Robles Family Christmas dinner was held at the Jensen's home this year. The menu included ham, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, brown rice, asparagus, meatballs, Sarah's Super Salad Creation, rolls made by Brent and many, many delicious treats! Our guests included the beautiful Amy & Julie.

The kids loved being in the backyard. They could eat whenever they wanted plus they could play with snowball game that Aunt Brenda brought.

Many of the "grown-ups" chose to eat indoors. I think everyone at this table has a mouthful of food.

This seems to be the almost "grown-up" table. Seated around the table are Bradly, Mitchell, Perry, Jack, Brandon & Austin. Grant must be away from the table for a moment getting more food!

After stuffing our faces for a long time, we finally opened presents. Aunt Brenda was Santa Clause this year. She had an assortment of gifts for all of the kids. Plus, she had pink scarves for the ladies and decorative Christmas stars for each family.

Ember is such a CUTE little girl. She loved her new Barbie doll and carried it everywhere. The only time she let it go was to trade it for a necklace. Despite having 3 brothers, she is a girlie girl!

The snowflake on Joseph's head blinks a blue light. Joseph is so creative that he attached the snowflake to his hat to light his way.

After opening presents, we headed off to the Mesa Arizona Temple to gawk at the mesmerizing display of lights. Jack is such a great cousin, he carried the appreciative Madison around.

Mom & I were sporting our matching black coats.I was even able to get a pretty good picture of the temple with the Christmas lights glowing all around and the temple reflected in the pond. Lastly, on December 31st Dad and Mom will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary! Congratulations on a wonderful 40 years together! We love you!!!!

Grandma turns 79!

On Tuesday, July 19th Grandma turned 79 years old! It is always fun to go and celebrate Grandma's birthday at her 2nd favorite restaurant, Swenson's. :) Grandma ordered the grilled chicken sandwich, french fries, side of ranch dressing and then a HUGE strawberry sundae. Yummy!

Haley and Grandma after the incredible meal!

Julie and Grandma as we left the restaurant. Take a close look; their eyes are the same color.

I can hardly wait until Saturday, July 21st, 2012 when I get to host Grandma's 80th birthday party! It is going to be an incredible event that you won't want to miss!

Campout 2011

The Robles Annual Family Campout was held at Airplane Flat on the Mogollon Rim near Canyon Creek. Jacob & Natalie were the first ones to the camp and reserved a nice large campsite for our family. As each family arrived, the kids quickly took off to play on the "swings" just outside the campsite. Grant is being wildly swung in circles by Mitchell. All of the kids ventured to this area throughout the camping trip.

Once kids were bored with the swing, they would head a quarter of a mile down the road to Canyon Creek. During their first afternoon here, Cayden & Colby both caught a fish, gut it, cooked it and ate it! Pretty amazing. No one had to help them at all. They are excellent fishermen!

Mom, Max & I at the creek checking out the fish and the kids.

Mitchell was a popular cousin; he always had one or more cousins following him around and wanting to do what he was doing. Mitchell is always fun to hang out with. Joshua doesn't know I snapped this picture of him. He tried to hide from all of my pictures :)

Since the swing and the creek were off limits after dark, the boys piled into the hammock and had their fun there.

On our second day at camp, Camber caught her fish at the creek. She says she just reached into the creek and grabbed it.

She had Colby gut it for her. Later on Mitchell cooked it and Camber ate it up! Yuck!

If your stomach can handle it, watch the video of Colby gutting the fish.

The afternoon at camp was spent sitting in the shade and shooting the breeze.

To our surprise, Sarah and her kids showed up! We were so happy that Andrew was well enough to spend the day at the campsite.

We played the game "Guess Who." Bearett had to guess that he was a worker.

Justin had to guess that he was a clown.

Joshua had to guess that he was a baby. Gramps had a hard time guessing he was a peacock!

Once Amy & Bob arrived, we headed up the road to the fish hatchery. Mitchell's accomplice at the hatchery was Bearett!

There were thousands of fish in each runway. Many of them were jumping out of the water and splashing us.

Sarah ended up having a handful of quarters. She was the favorite aunt as she helped the kiddos buy fish food. The fish would go crazy as the food was dropped in the tank.

Back at camp, Andrew let Uncle Bob tie him to the tree. Joshua is telling him to not untie himself.

All of the kids, including Jordan, decided to build a fort in camp. Mitchell and Jordan carried all of the big logs to the fort location. The rest of the kids brought a variety of other sticks to reinforce the walls. They even had pine needles on the roof.

All of the fort builders!

Julie & Jordan are still Joseph's favorite aunt & uncle. He loves to wallow on their laps.

Late in the day, David, Jacque & Macy arrived at camp. With their arrival, the party was complete! Here is Natalie with cute baby Logan. He is such a good camper and enjoys being outdoors.

Amy and Annie walked around camp Saturday morning. We ended up having 6 dogs at our campsite: Max, Annie, Duke, Bear, Maverick & Pepper. A Saturday morning wouldn't be complete without throwing the football around.

Joe is the expert camper. He's been camping almost a half a dozen times in the last month! This morning his family was treated to a pancake breakfast. I wish I had some! It is official, Ember loves to camp. She wanted to be down on the ground running all over camp. She wouldn't stop to pose for a picture.

Jana and her favorite son, Duke, had no problem posing for the camera. So cute!!!

Payten climbed on the big stump so she would be safe during the football game.

We're not sure if Madi was giving Grant a back rub or if she just loves her cousin! She is so sweet!The girl campers: Heidi, Camber, Madi & Payten. Cayden & Brent tried to wiggle the log to make the other person fall off. Sorry Cayden, Brent has pretty good balance!

What a fun campout! We can hardly wait for the next one. Any volunteers for organizing it?

Alapaca Adventure

Today's day after Thanksgiving adventure was to an Alpaca Farm.
The farm had a variety of alpacas. These animals are raised for their very soft and very warm fleece (similar to wool).

Can't you tell from this picture that their fur/hair/fleece is super clean, and soft? Grant loves all animals and started a trend of kissing the alpaca.

William followed Grant's lead.

Jessica, an animal lover too, also kissed the alpacas. (I wonder if their mouths are cleaner than humans like a dog's mouth is supposedly cleaner???)

Brittney was the last one to kiss the alpaca.

Mitchell liked petting the pig. I don't know why he was fascinated with this creature.

The farm was also home to three very large marina dogs. I've never heard of this breed before but the dogs were HUGE. Thankfully, they were very friendly.

Camber takes a turn feeding a hungry alpaca.

Justin and Joshua find plenty of hay to give to the animals.

The baby alpacas in this picture are two months old and very curious of their visitors.

After checking out the interesting alpacas, we went inside the small gift shop. Inside the shop we were able to feel how soft and warm the alpaca fleece is.

Brent ended up purchasing me this lovely alpaca hat. It has super soft baby alpaca fleece inside and extra warm adult alpaca fleece on the outside.