Hoskins Family ...forever and ever amen: Show Low, Arizona

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Show Low, Arizona

While we were all sad to leave our Rochester home, the sting of the move was somewhat lost in the fun of visiting family and exploring new places. For the first three weeks we lived it up in Grandma and Grandpa McArthur's White Mountain home located in Show Low, Arizona. The kids enjoyed all sorts of activities while we were here, including:

*Madison's creative adventures in cooking. Grandma gave her free reign in the kitchen and she invented her very first recipe--Cinnamon and Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies.

*Spencer's male bonding time with his favorite Grandpa. Grandpa took him on the father and sons outing and gave Spencer an extra special thrill by taking him out to shoot Grandpa's BB-gun.

*Many, many trips to the Torreon swimming pool.

*Many, many trips to the Torreon Kid's Club House, including the annual Kid's Club House Cook-Out and Fun Day.

*A trip to the annual Show Low Days Festival where Grandpa was decked out as a cowboy and working at the Chamber of Commerce Booth.

*And a family fishing outing where I was reminded of the fishing trips I took as a kid and all of my kiddos fell in love with the sport.

*And here is round two of fishing and "hunting," this time with just the boys.

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Madison Elizabeth--10 years old. Maddi is growing into quite the little lady. She is like a mommy to her little brothers and sister--who she can now babysit for under two hours--and she is truly mom's greatest helper. She still loves dancing--she scored a part in the Bismarck Nutcracker this year. She took a year off of Gymnastics to try ice skating--which she has thoroughly enjoyed. She added violin to the list of instruments she can now play quite proficiently--her piano gets better and better every day. And she continues to do private art lessons, Spanish lessons, and Activity Day Girls. She also gets paid for writing phonics appropriate stories for Mason, spelling worksheets for Emma, and helping Spencer with his math lessons. She is a busy little girl and we love her with all of our hearts!

Spencer Hinckley 8 1/2 year old. Spencer is my tender-hearted, thoughtful, perceptive little boy. He was baptized this summer in the Susquehanna River and takes his promises to the Lord so seriously. If he is ever being naughty, I can simply remind him of his accountability before God and he is like a totally different boy on the spot! I love his sweet spirit and desire to be good. Spencer is also my careful, technical, handy little man. When Nick is not home, he is the go-to boy when it comes to fixing things and solving mechanical problems. He even shows the workers around the mechanical room when they come to work on things! He will surely work with his hands some day to earn his keep. This year, Spencer has continued playing golf, soccer, and basketball, has joined Maddi in art, Spanish, and piano lessons, and is loving his new role as a Boy Scout. He is a joy to have in our family!

EmmaLee Adelin 6 1/2 years old. Emma is our sensitive baby girl and her mother's little angel. She has grown up so much this year and is continually perfecting her position as the family peacemaker. She doesn't like to see anyone fight and won't let her cherished baby brother ever get upset. This year Emma has continued to dance--also scoring a part in the Bismarck Nutcracker, she also traded in gymnastics for a year of ice skating, and she has joined the older kids for a unique art and art history course her mommy helped develop with a local art school. She loves her activities, is becoming an excellent reader, and is ever our social butterfly. (She even talks the ears off the cleaning ladies when they're here!) Emma is counting down the days until she will get to be baptized and is now starting her early morning Book of Mormon reading time with mom. We love and cherish this sweet little girl!

Mason McKay 5 years old. Mason is the baby of our family and continues to be the glue that holds us all together. Even though he promised me that he would not grow up, he can't help but be blossoming into the most handsome, happy, brilliant little man ever. He officially started kindergarten this year (at 4), and is so bright he is already almost caught up with Emma in his reading and math. I'm not sure how to reign him in! In addition to school, he also shares his big brothers critical thinking mind. He can build the most complicated Lego sets, be a genuine help to his big brother in figuring out their X-box levels, and is better on the I-phone and I-pad than anyone else in the family! He is precocious to boot! Despite growing up to be such a smarty, he still loves snuggling up with mommy whenever he gets the chance. We are enjoying every minute of our littlest and last baby love!