4th of July

For the 4th of July our family travelled north and played in a river near Payson, AZ. As usual the kids had a blast. On the way there Hilaree told Brandon about the craw dads in the river and it scared him. He asked if he could show them his teeth to scare them like the Dinosaurs do. He is always making us laugh! Later that night we were able to watch the fire works from a near by show right from our home. We had a wonderful time together.

Dress up day

For school today the kids could dress up like a person in history, that they have been studying. Scott chose President Abraham Lincoln, and Hilaree chose Susan B. Anthony. Brandon was feeling left out and asked for a mustache and at the last minute Michael chose not to participate.



They have also been studying for a fundraiser for their school and for every ? they got right they received a certain amount of $ depending on the pledge. There were 100 ?'s plus a bonus and Scott got 104 right, Michael got 85 right, and Hilaree got 63. Not bad for Hilaree considering she didn't study until the night before. They all did great and helped support their school. I am proud to be their momma!

Anniversary

For our 16th wedding anniversary Duaine borrowed his cousins car and took me out for dinner. The kids had to have a ride too. We had a so much fun. I just can't believe it's been 16 wonderful years.

Our kids

My sister in law asked me to take some pictures of the kids for a project she is making for Mothers Day and I thought they turned out cute. So enjoy!




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Easter Weekend

Over the Easter weekend our family piled in the car and headed down to Tucson AZ to visit Suguaro National Park. We had a great time together even if our kids think it's torture to lock them in the car for any distance.

Soccer

Michael made the school soccer team this year and is loving every minute of it. He is doing so good. It has been since we lived in Pennsylvania since he has played, but you would never know. He's a lot of fun for everyone to watch.

Work Trip With Dad! :)

Duaine was going to work in California for the week and it just so happened that the kids were on spring break so we all packed up for the week and went with him. We had a lot of fun seeing where Duaine grew up and going on the tour of his past. We had a few hours of sunshine and swam when we could. We really enjoyed our time together as a family.

Siblings

We were lucky enough to have all of Duaine's siblings here for a visit. We had a wonderful time creating memories. We will have to make a habit out of this and get everyone together more often.

Hilaree's Baptism

Hilaree was baptized on February 12th 2011. She was so excited to have a lot of family there for her baptism. Both of her grandparents were there as well as lots of cousin's and aunt's and uncle's. We were so grateful to have all of the family support in this event.

Pine Wood Derby

We had our Pine Wood Derby a week or so ago. It was Scott's last one before he goes into the 11 year old Scouts. He had a lot of fun and his car did pretty good. He was really excited that his car came in first place in the backwards contest. Scroll down to see the pictures.

HoLlOwEeN

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween. Scroll down and you can see a picture of the kids all dressed up for Halloween. Brandon was a dragon, Hilaree was a witch, and Mike and Scott were skeleton's.

Arizona Bound!

We are happy to report that after putting our home up for sale it sold a week and a half later (thank goodness, because I was wearing out fast keeping it perfect for all of the showings). We feel very blessed and are looking forward to being closer to our families. There will be a lot of things we will miss about PA, we have a lot of great memories here, but it will be nice to be back in the west and say good buy to the dreaded humidity. Now we need to start packing. I am not looking forward to that at all, because we have accumulated a lot since moving here, but it will be worth it to be able to live near of families. We hope you all enjoying the nicer weather that spring brings. Take care.

Pine Wood Derby

Last night we attended Scott's Pine Wood Derby race. He didn't get 1st place, but his car did very well. Brandon had the most fun of all. He raced Lightning McQueen down the track and enjoyed it tremendously. It was a fun night!

Snow Days!

Well we are in the middle of being pounded by the 2nd snow storm since Saturday and we are having blizzard conditions outside. I haven't seen this much snow since February of 2003, after Hilaree was born in Colorado. We had at least 3 feet, but it was nice because Duaine was able to stay home from work for about 3 days and help out with the new baby. He also stayed home today as well as the kids. They went outside for a while, but with the wind being so powerful they could only stay out for a short while.

I also wanted to mention that Michael received his Arrow of Light badge last Wednesday. It is the highest rank in the Cub Scouts that you can earn. We are very proud of him and his hard work. I forgot to take my camera with me so a friend let me borrow hers, but I wasn't able to get them to open on the blog for some reason.

We also had Hilaree's 7th birthday on Tuesday (and Saturday). She is growing up very quickly. We love her so much. She brings a lot of spice and love to our home.
She has always hated to get her hair done, but we found a hair blog that we have been getting ideas from and that has helped our hair problems improve. Hooray!

We also were able to go see Aunt Geri and Dianna at Jenny and Daves in Pottstown over the week end. It was fun to see them again and watch the Super Bowl together. Some how me made it to see them twice even with all the snow. Next time mom you should come with them too. We also went to Valley Forge with them. We saw a ton of dear. Madison (Hickman) said she wishes she had a gun so she could shoot them. We thought that was pretty funny. I guess that is what happens when your dad is a hunter.

Take care everyone. I hope the snow has missed you because I don't think we will be going any where any time soon. Love ya all.

Potty Traing

Well it is that time in my 2 year olds life when it is time to potty train him (my most unfavorite part of parenting). So far we haven't done so well. At first Brandon wanted nothing to do with wearing underwear, but now we are over that, but he still wants to be a baby and wear diapers. He even told me to eat the M&M's (his potty treats) and that he didn't want them, which is very unusual for him he loves M&M's. This past week we tried again, but he has been very sick and had too many accident's. I did find him wearing his potty seat around his neck like a necklace YUK hu! So I guess we will try next week when he is feeling better. Wish me luck!

Our Trip to Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown VA

After Christmas our family took a trip to Virginia to see Colonial Williamsburg and other surrounding sites. While we were there we walked along a street that is a replica of how it looked back in the early 1770's. There are also actors dressed in period clothing as well. It was a neat experience!

While there we also saw Jamestown, the very first settlement, where the Pocahontas and John Smith story started. We also saw Yorktown, where the last battle in the Revolutionary War was fought (Where Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington).

We really enjoy visiting historical sites as a family, it really brings the history to life. We hope that our children will value these trips for a long time(even though swimming at the pool was the highlight for the children).


On our way home we took a longer route that Duaine and his dad had travelled after Duaine's high school graduation. The highway travels under the Atlantic Ocean, for about 20 miles. The older kids expecially enjoyed this stretch of the highway.

Happy New Years to everyone and we hope you all have a wonderful 2010.

Love,
The Horlachers

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, it all started a few days before when we found out that Duaine was getting his old boss back at work (which is a HUGE answer to our prayers). We also celebrated Michael's 11th birthday. He has grown up so fast, he is such good kid and we are so grateful to have him in our family. The children all had a great time opening presents and eating, eating, and eating some more.
After all of the morning fun and the birthday celebration we went to Pottstown, PA and had dinner with our cousin's and met up with some old friends (The Matheson's). We really enjoyed the company as well as the yummy food.
We hope you all had a great Christmas. We miss you all.
Love,
The Horlacher's

Amish Country

We had the opportunity to go to some friends home yesterday and see Santa Clause and visit their historical home in Gap, Pa. Their home was built in 1720, where they now give tours of their home. We spent some time in their renovated barn that is now a craft store, where they sell their home made candles etc. It was the first snow of the season and the kids had a ball playing in it(that is before they turned into ice cubes). We had a wonderful time together as a family and we wish that the week ends wouldn't go by so fast. We also really enjoyed seeing the Amish buggies drive buy, that is always a highlight of visiting Lancaster County.

Don'd blink or you'll miss it!

It is so hard to believe that Halloween and Thanksgiving are behind us and Christmas is only a few weeks away. This year has really flown by.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with our cousin's, the Hickman's and also Emily, Jenny's sister. It is so nice to have the Hickmans' so close to us.

We are getting ready to go to Michael's Christmas choir concert tonight. He has been working hard to prepare for this.

As always there is an excitement in the air and the kid's all seem to have more energy this time of year. They can't wait until Christmas, in fact, the 3 oldest ones started making their lists yesterday. I guess that means I better get shopping. I'm not really one for crowds, it's to bad I'm a procrastinator.

We hope you are all doing well. We miss you all.

Love,
The Horlachers

Our Busy Lives!

We have been very busy with the 3 oldest children starting school on August 26th (my birthday). Michael started the 5th grade. Scott started the 4th grade and Hilaree started 1st grade. Leaving Brandon and I home during the day. It is much easier having only 1 home. No fighting is proboly the best part! I really enjoy my time with Brandon. He is a sweet little mommies boy.
We took the kids to New York City with our cousin's the Hickman's and also Nate Guymon, our cousin as well. We had a great time riding the subway and seeing so many sites that we usually only see on tv.
Over labor day we visited the Indian Echo Cavern's that are less than a half hour from our home. We went with the Gagon's. Our friends from the ward. It was neat to go on the tour of the cave and I think we make it with out any melt downs. Yea!
We also celebrated Scott's ninth birthday on September 15th. He is growing up so fast. He is enjoying 4th grade and being in the same school as his brother Michael.
We were also lucky enough to have Grandpa Horlacher and Uncle Fred come and visit us. We had so much fun with them. We were so sad that it was such a fast trip. We look forward to having visitors in the future.