Genevieve Coffelt
I can't get enough of this time of the year in AZ. The weather is beyond perfect. For a sun lover like myself. But also, the orange blossoms. They are every where and they smell heavenly. And this year... they are in our backyard. Look at my first blossoms. Matt picks up the fallen flowers and puts them on the table for us to all enjoy. No oranges... but that was never the goal. I really just want the blooms.
I don't think they will make the easter day cut off... but these easter lillies are on their third year of blooming. I love to watch them grow.  It started off as one bulb and this year it divided into two!
Finally, the jasmine. Reminds me of life in San Diego, where this flower is out all year round practically. My flowers are just about here.
More important than Spring flowers however is the awesomeness of the Resurrection and what that means to us who believe. Praise God for a savior who is real, who died for us, died for me and rose again, just as he said he would.  I don't deserve such love. I pray I don't loose sight of that.
Genevieve Coffelt
We had another successful pod camp out/ movie night. This is where James brings the TV outside to our front lawn (common area) and plays a movie for the kids. Plant 51. Everyone in the pod brings out their chairs and popcorn was made by our neighbor Cindy.
The perfect night ends with camping out in a tent. All of course in the front yard. Yeah, we are pretty lucky we have the worlds greatest neighbors to put up with all the activities and noises.
The night was cold, and I know some boys that retreated to the house late and then returned to their tents early in the morning. I don't blame them.
Genevieve Coffelt
One of our spring break adventures was to head to the Salt River and spend the day throwing rocks and fishing. The desert is beautiful right now because of all the rain. Its actually green, and flowering. So the Salt River is full and flowing rapidly. We packed up, put the sun screen on and made a day. It was a blast. The kids threw rocks, fished for 10 seconds and discovered all sorts of treasures.
One of the challenges we made for the boys was to build a dam. So they did. I'm pretty sure we will hear about this on the news at any point. "Citizens destroy the natural habitat of the waterloo bird because of rock dam build, where is the common sense?"

Genevieve Coffelt
So we hit a spring training game this spring break. The idea of sitting out on the lawn, enjoying good ol' fashion baseball with the boys... sounds delightful huh? I will say it was really cool seeing the players so close. But the kids.. well... they lasted 3 innings. And that only happened because there was snow cones provided.
Genevieve Coffelt
Matthew finished his third quarter of first grade! And the report was................ GREAT! So of course give us a reason to celebrate... and we take the chance. To celebrate the good report card we decided to check out Smeeks candy shop. I had read about it in one of my favorite blogs, and had seen it advertised in Phoenix's best magazine. So... we picked up matt a little early from school and headed out.

IT DID NOT LET ME DOWN......... i'm already trying to figure out how to return :)

matt thought he could figure out the surprise.
He was given a coin purse with change for his gift. Candy money.
Grandpa found the Sky bar.
we enjoyed our candy and some dutch bros. coffee. What a perfect afternoon adventure.
Goodbye gnomes.. I'll be back soon.
Genevieve Coffelt
We have been blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Coffelt hanging out with us these past two weeks. We have been enjoying wonderful meals, arizona sun and just hanging out.

My favorite part about family visits is just sitting, talking, doing the usual things of the day. Its fun to share life with loved ones. So thats just what we have been doing!


We celebrated their 10yr anniversary!


James did a myth busters for us. "Are his flight charts really fire proof?
BUSTED



matt was our personal musician for dinner one night. I was told by matt, "go ahead and make my plate, and I will eat after everyone else is done. I want to play for dinner". So there you have it. Indian Lament over and over and over again. Its a very sad song. 

Aunt Melissa was able to join us for a few days. 
And, as luck would have it. The coldest days here in Arizona were the days Melissa was here. Typical. I  think there was one successful tanning day however.

We are having a blast. If only we could convince them to become "snowbirds".
Genevieve Coffelt
This is the addition to our kitchen that didn't cost anything. Its a moving garbage disposal. One might think that we are a very clean  family, but don't be fooled. Because we have a garbage disposal unit that is on the move at all hours, we can never leave ANYTHING on our counters. So, yes.. the kitchen is always clean. Because to the left is the scene in our kitchen. She is always waiting..... hoping..... something will get just close enough to the edge. And when you turn your back to put something away, your peanut butter and jelly sandwich that you just made... is GONE.
LOOK at her rolls.
Genevieve Coffelt
We called a snow day this week. Flagstaff just had a little fresh snow, so we took the opportunity. Matt did drive the two hours up to the mountain with his ski goggles on. It was hilarious, I wished I had a camera. That night, he did sleep in his boots. Do you think he was excited?

We drank our coffee and hot chocolate in the morning...

 and we hit the slopes. It was blast. Perfect weather, perfect day. James helped matt down the hill for the first few runs, but then he was off on his own. I loved it. My first run with skiing. I will never snowboard again. It was wonderful not worrying about falling off the ski lift, no un-doing, re-doing the bindings. It was freedom.



 The boys were awesome. By the end of the day, I was doing my best to keep up. 
Matt did tell James on the ski lift that he was "addicted to skiing". He started pleading to come back before we left the slopes. The following morning during breakfast, Matt made a frowning face with his ketchup and said he was sad because he was not skiing. 
I don't blame him, however, I think it might have been more to do with a free school day.