Good Morning from the Desert!!!

THIS is the amazing scenery I woke up to this morning!  Can you believe it?  Stunning, right?

I really think that Arizona must be one of God's most favorite places He ever created.  Why else would he repeatedly and OFTEN paint such glorious pictures for us to wake up to?  I mean...I lived in Texas for nearly three years and never experienced anything like this there.  Don't recall a lot of it in Florida or Georgia either.  Never saw any of it while visiting North Carolina.   I'm telling you....God loves him some Arizona!

THAT much is clear.  I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be able to live here.  To be able to witness the breathtaking scenery time and time again and be left utterly breathless, each and every single time.  I may not ever have mentioned this before...but I LOVE the desert.   I passionately and totally CRAZY love the desert!!!

Thank you, God for another glorious sunrise.  For the experience of being left breathless by yet another of your amazing masterpieces.  

Life is good in the desert!

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday, dear Ben!!!

I can't believe it!  Remember yesterday?  No?  Well.  It just happened, like yesterday.  It was Wednesday.  And my kid... looked like this...

Oh yeah!  NOW you remember.  Right?!  Yep.  Benjamin looked like this just yesterday.  Yes.  That was just yesterday.  I could swear that it was.  I went to bed last night.  Had a good sleep.  But then, this morning...apparently...that sweet, bright, snaggle toothed baby boy in the picture there, turned SIXTEEN!!!  Can you believe it?!  I know, right?!  Total craziness.  I don't know how it happened.  But it did.  And so...with great sadness (and confusion over how it happened overnight), I bring you...Ben.  The overnight turned 16 Benjamin.  Sweet, happy, responsible, lovable, always ready with a hug or snuggle Ben.  Sigh.  I love this boy!

This really, really BIG, tall boy!  With the killer smile.  And sparkly blue eyes.  (Can you believe I created this stunning, handsome creature?)  And the size 14 shoes.  Oy!  But the kid has some big old feet!  And he's taller than me.  By several inches now.  And outweighs me.  By many, many pounds.  Even in my advanced state of fluffiness.  Yes...this is a big boy.  A big, beautiful boy.  With a smile that lights up the room and melts your heart.  What a blessing!  Who knew how this little guy would end up rocking our world way back when when we were surprised with him and his unplanned, but definitely impending arrival?!  We sure didn't think we were ready for another baby.  But God sure did!  And I couldn't be more grateful or thankful than I am today for this sweet, sweet gift.  We are truly blessed!  Happy, happy birthday Benjamin Harrison Roberts!  Thank you for being the awesome kid that you are.  You definitely make our family a better family because you are part of it!

Happy November!!!!

Okay, so I totally skipped October.  I had the best of intentions.  Really!  And actually had new pictures to post and everything!  But then...dang it all...life just kept creeping up and getting in the way.  That...and I find it harder and harder to get to my computer when there are any children here in the house.  But...just because I didn't get them posted in real time, so to speak, doesn't mean they can't be posted NOW!  And so...on this first day of November...I bring you...October!  A month in review!

October brought us fall break.  Which is one of the things I love MOST about living in the desert!  Texas doesn't have it.  But I think it's SUCH a well timed and wonderful break for our kiddos!  For Fall break this year, we went to California.  And by WE, I mean myself, Chris and Clara.  And her little friend.  The boys had other things to do here in town, like work, and Cars N Coffee and Lacrosse practice.  And so...for the first time ever...we left them behind.  At home.  Alone.  YIKES!!! It was totally 100% nerve wracking for me and I was not a fan of it.  They did fine.  Absolutely fine.  I, on the other hand, worried through most of it.  Not exactly relaxing.  Anywho...here are some shots from our beach getaway!

I love this shot of her cartwheeling her way across the beach!

Clara and her friend, Lux

Have I mentioned she's growing up WAY too fast?!

The girls also went to California Adventures and I think I have some shots of them...but they are on my phone and I will have to e-mail to myself to get them on here! A task for another time!

There hasn't been too much happening besides fall break...EXCEPT for Halloween!  Another milestone for us.  Clara spent her first halloween without us.  Spent the night and trick or treated with a friend.  And we weren't invited along to participate in the festivities.  Sniff sniff.  But I DID hold her captive before she left long enough to snap a few pictures of her!  Here's my beautiful little witch!

Tell me she isn't the cutest little witch you've ever seen?!

A very giggly witch!

Help me Rhonda, she's just SO gorgeous!

Did I mention she's gorgeous?

She seriously melts my heart!  Don't you love her witch "bling"?  She was working the spiders!

Of course...she can't be too serious for to long!

She's ready!

Seriously...total cuteness!

I could eat her up!  Sweeter than ANY candy she could possibly collect in her trick or treat bag!

And THAT is about all I have for October.  I wish I had tons of really exciting things to post...but alas...life just isn't quite that exciting.  Oh...and we DO have two other children.  They are just terribly camera shy creatures that I have a rather difficult time hunting down for pictures.  You will simply have to make due with the little one featured here.  She loves the camera!  Thank goodness!  Happy November!!!  I'll be back SOON!  (here's hoping anyway!)