Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery

Over the 4th of July weekend our family went to the White Mountains for some fun with family and to enjoy the much cooler weather.






Our first stop on the trip was to the Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery. The kids had never been to a fish hatchery before so it was a good experience for them all. I think the boys enjoyed it the most though. As soon as we walked into the building where they keep the smallest fish, Kayla said...."oh, something stinks". Having that many fish in a building does make quite a smell. After the boys asked lots and lots of questions we went outside to see the bigger fish swimming in the raceways.



The kids were anxious to get to the river so they could start catching some of those fish.

But first it was time to help set up camp. We didn't actually camp at the river in tents or this motorhome for that fact. My sister's family stayed and camped out while us weaker campers stayed in town in a cabin. I mean someone's got to do it. Right?



This was right up Kyle's alley. He has always wanted to climb to the top of a motorhome. He was in heaven.

A good laugh for today

A good friend of mine sent this to me today and I got a really good laugh out of it. Thought I would pass it along.



The Mom Test:

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 'Why?' my daughter asked. Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs' I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Momma, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart.' I was thinking quickly. 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom.'

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'OHHH . . I get it!' she beamed, 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad.' ''Exactly' I replied back with a big smile on my face.

When you're finished laughing, send this to a Mom.

Christi's Married......Welcome Daniel :)

Well it's official. Christi Larimore is now Christi Stone. The Wedding was on Thursday, June 5th and the reception was held in Tucson on the 7th. It was a beautiful wedding. We couldn't have been more lucky with the weather. It was the coolest day of the week. It was only in the low 90's for the actual wedding and picture taking at the Temple. It was so wonderful. The reception was also very beautiful. Christi wa so pretty in her dress. They are very happy together and we are all so happy for them. Good Luck Christi & Daniel as you begin your new life together.

One, Two, Three.....JUMP !

Yes that's our son. Kyle went on a day hike with the Scouts right before school got out. They went swimming or better yet....cliff diving. I'm so glad I didn't have to be there. When he came home he was so excited about the trip and had so much fun. I was really glad for him. Then he tells us of jumping off the cliff. That scared me a little....to be honest. Then the next day at church the leaders tell me that he was the 1st off the cliffs. No one else would go off, but sure enough Kyle was more than willing to demonstrate how it's done. I was honestly shocked that he went off first. That is not something that I would think that Kyle would have done 1st anyway, but good for him. He's got bravery in his bones I guess. Then yesterday at church I get a look at these pictures.....I'm glad they all broke it to me gently and slowly. First Kyle tells me of the event, then the leaders tell me he went first, and then the pictures. I just had to post them today. Kyle is growing up so fast and I can't believe it. We're glad that you had so much fun Kyle an

It's official......It's SUMMER

Well the kids went swimming today for the first time this summer. Yes the water was very cold, but they didn't care. They all jumped right in. I don't think kids actually know what "COLD" is. It hasn't been hot enough (did I just really say that ?) yet to make the pool warm. But time's a wastin'. So as for us here in the Branch Household.......yes, it's now officially summer.

I know....it's been a while

Okay, so it's been a while. I've been busy.....well more like playing. I've gotten myself into this Photoshop stuff and find myself spending hours working on learning all the in's and out's of the program. I'm having so much fun. But today I finally decided to get all the pictures off of both of the camera's from the end of the school stuff and get it posted. So here you go..... This is what's been up with us lately.

We can't forget Nathan

After all we can't forget about Nathan. He also had a wonderful year with a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Hunter. It has been one of the best years so far. Each one of our children had a really great teacher. Mrs. Hunter really made this year fun for Nathan. Nathan likes to write and Mrs. Hunter really helped in that area. They did lots of writting and she kept it all and made it into a book for the end of the year for each student. I love to read his stories and see things from his view. Good job Nathan. You're a great kid.

Kyle's Done......What?

I can't believe that our first child is done with grade school and ready to head to Junior High. That seems like such a giant step for me. Probably not so much for Kyle as he says he is ready to move on. I keep thinking that I can't really be old enought to have a child in Junior High, but sure enough come August 6th, Kyle will officially be a 7th grader. Wow how time has flown by.

This was at the awards assembly. Kyle did such a great job this year. He is really growing up and we are so proud of him.


This is Kyle's best friend Brent. They have been buddies ever since they were in Kindergarten. They are two peas in a pod. They are so much alike. They have had the best friendship and I'm so grateful that Kyle has had such a good friend for all these years.


We were also blessed to have such a wonderful teacher this year for Kyle. A big thanks to Mr. Ihns for making this year a GREAT year.

Kayla's Kindergarten program

Kayla's kindergarten program was so much fun. This is the first year that two of my children have voluntered for a speaking part. Nathan had a speaking part in his 3rd grade program and Kayla had a speaking part in her program as well. We are so proud of both of them.





I can't believe she's done with Kindergarten. The year went so fast. I can honestly remember the 1st day she went to school and the tears that were shed.....Mine mostly.

What a sweetheart

My dear, loving and every so patient husband spent the evening with me trying to capture a special shot for my photography class. We had an assignment using our flash and slower speeds on our camera. I had so much fun doing this. Robert was so patient and just kept drawing hearts in the dark for me. True Love. Today is our final day in class. Our semester project is due along with our last assignment "flash". I'm sad to see it coming to an end. I have really enjoyed every minute of it.

Cinnamon & The Family

We spent this past Saturday at Granny's house. This time we were all fortunate enough to have Ben let us ride his horse named Cinnamon. She is a gentle old horse and the boys just thought that was so much fun. They could have done that all afternoon, just taking turns riding Cinnamon. Either Robert or Uncle Craig would lead the horse on a short walk and then someone else would take a turn riding. It's quite an overwhelming feeling being up on the horse and kind of out of control. I mean the horse only goes where you lead it, but if you're not used to leading a horse then it's quite hard. I don't like it 'cause there are no breaks that I can slam on. I just don't like that feeling. Kayla took some persuading to get her on the horse just to take a picture. She was wearing one of her new dresses she got for her birthday and she kept saying...."I don't want to get it dirty". Now there's a girl for you. She was really quite timmid about getting on the horse. Compared to her I know it must look like a giant. She got on only long enough for us to take a picture or two, walk Cinnamon in a cirlce and then she was done. But all in all it was a lot of fun and something the kids don't ever get to do.

Happy Birthday Kayla

Kayla is about 7 days old in this picture and still in the NICU at Desert Samaritan Hospital.


Kayla's first day home from the hospital. We were so happy to finally have you home where we could just love you all the time.


A sweet 13 months old and loving every minute of it


Thank heaven for a brother who was so willing to share his sucker with his sister, and anything else that comes along with sharing suckers.


This is when my love for taking pictures started to develop. Who could resist her and all of her smiles.


Oh no !! Not the shark. I love her facial expression, like it's really going to eat her.







When Kayla woke up this morning Robert and I said Happy Birthday Kayla, you're finally six. She looked at me and said "I'm not six yet. They have to sing Happy Birthday to me twice before I can be six." I wasn't sure what that meant so she proceeded to tell me that the kids at school have to sing Happy Birthday to her and then when she comes home and we have her birthday here tonight then we will sing Happy Birthday for the 2nd time and then she will be six. Boy oh boy, these things get harder and harder each year. She has been asking for weeks...."when am I going to be six?" A lot of the students in her class have already turned six and so she has been anticipating this day for a while. We let her open one of her presents this morning so she could have a new birthday outfit to wear to school. She was happy about the present, but a little dissapointed that it wasn't "Candy Land". She is really wanting that game. She will be pleased as pie when she finds out tonight it is waiting for her to unwrap (thanks to Mrs. Shafer).



Happy, Happy Birthday Kayla. We all love you so much. Your cute smile, your happy personality and the way you make the house feel so alive.

Kindergarten Field Trip

Today was the Kindergarten field trip to Schnepf Farms. This was my first time going to the farm. It was a lot of fun.



This was my group of kids to keep track of today. They were so good for me. We all had a wonderful time together. Me, Kayla, Becca, Tristin & Jayan.



This was Kayla's first trip on a school bus. She thought it was a lot of fun. When Robert asked her today how the field trip was she said, "the bus was a lot of fun". Nothing about the farm, just the bus. Go figure.


Schnepf Farm was nice enough to give us bags to let us pick some fresh lettuce to take home. Everyone thought that was a lot of fun.


We also got to go see some of the animals that live on the farm. There was a donkey, horse, cow, lots and lots of goats, ducks, and a new mama pig and her 10 little ones. They were so cute. We all wanted to take one home with us.




But of course the only ones we could go home with were the ones we came with. This is Kayla's Class. Mrs. Shafer's Kindergarten Class. We had a blast at the farm. I think it would be a lot of fun to go back to for the peach festival. That's not until May though.

Fun, Fun, Fun....

I had a wonderful time taking pictures this past weekend of my oldest niece's children. They are so cute. Thought I would just post them for the fun of it. Aren't they just adorable kids. Thanks Shanna and Brian for letting me have so much fun with the kids.

I'm so glad it's April

I am glad to see March finally be in the past tense. March was not a good month around the Branch household. Between myself, Kyle and Nathan we have racked up the doctor office visits. I had a sore throat almost the entire month and on antibiotics twice, allergic reaction, canker sores, Kyle had ear infections, Nathan had a sore throat and then we ended the month with Kyle having the flu bug. That was enough for me.

But on a happier note April is here and as Kayla would say "finally". She has waited very paitently for her birthday to arrive. She is the last one in the family and the last one to celebrate a birthday each year. We have a stretch of birthday's starting with mine in February and then exactly 3 weeks later is Nathan's birthday with Robert's birthday following only a short 9 days later, and then there's Kyle's birthday exactly one week after that. Then we have a little bit of a break before Kayla's comes around, April 16th. The countdown is on. Every day she asks "how many more days till my birthday?" She is really looking forward to being 6. She tells me often all of the kids in her class who have already turned 6. I can't believe that she is already going to be 6 and will be in 1st grade next year. She is growing up so fast.

As I've mentioned before I am taking a photography class and having so much fun. Today was really exciting. We had an open lab day to work on some of the photos we took for an assignment that is due next week. I had some extra time so I took advantage of it and had my teacher show me some fun stuff on photoshop. I am so excited about that program. There is so much to learn and not enough time to do it. Anyway, here is a picture that I played with today. I thought it was really fun.

This is the origianl photo and the next one is where you mask out some color and leave the rest.



This is the picture that started my inquiry into "how'd they do that?" This is my neice Shelly and her husband Rob. They were married last August and now we're having another wedding this June. My neice Christi is getting married and we're so excited for her. I got to spend Saturday with Christi and Daniel taking some pictures of them to use on their wedding announcements. Now I know how they do that and I can't wait to play around with this effect. Here's one picture out of the over 300 pictures I took of Christi and Daniel. Thank heaven for Digital Photography. There's no expense of developing film, just click away to your hearts content. Thank's Christi & Daniel for letting me have so much fun with you this weekend.