Time to Catch Up!

It's been a month, where do I start? My surgery went fine, though I had an allergic reaction to the adhesive they used on my skin and I itched for a week. Labor Day was great. My brothers flew in from Idaho, and we had a "family reunion" at my parent's house in Queen Creek. We took the girls swimming for the first time. Savannah had a blast. Summer didn't know about the non-bath-temp water, but she eventually got used to it and had a good time as well. We didn't stay the whole weekend, as I was recovering from surgery, but it was great to see everyone. On the 14th, Grandma Owens received an award at the Diamondback's Game for her work on the school board. Roger, Blake, Brandon, and I (the twins got dropped off at my mom's) went to the game to support her, along with other family members from the valley. We lost to the Reds in the 10th inning, but we had a great time anyways.

Last Friday, my grandma took me out to lunch and to get my birthday gift a few days early. I spent the day in Taylor visiting family and friends. My sister Katie had come up from the valley for the weekend, and she stayed with us on Saturday. We took her up to the in-laws to see the house they are building, then we drove up to the Rim Road to listen to the elk, and she left Sunday morning before we went to church. It was great having her, we wish she would come up more often! (Hint, hint!)
The 22nd was my birthday. Brandon told be to be ready by 4:30 to leave somewhere and I couldn't know where we were going until we got there. My mom, dad, and sister Cami were on their way to Denver, and stopped in to visit on their way and to give me my gift. Then we loaded the girls up in the car and took them to Laurie's house. At first, I thought Brandon was taking me up to Black Canyon , but we went the opposite way. We went towards Snowflake, then turned left towards Holbrook. I had a million guesses in my head where we were going, but none of them were right. He took me to the Despain Ranch to go horseback riding! Apparently he had been planning this for a while with one of his Deacons. I had never been on a horse before, and had told him since we met that it was something I wanted to do before I die. Frank Despain took us on a 3mile ride as the sun was setting. It was so much fun. We saw a heard of elk, as well as some antelope. I know it isn't that great of a picture, but had I known what we were going to do, I would have brought my real camera...
I want to thank my hubby for thinking of this. He is so thoughtful and LOVES to surprise me. I love him more and more every day.
The girls have been doing great. They go to the Dr. tomorrow for their 6 month well-check and more shots. I swear if you sit and watch for a minute, you can see them growing. It seems like everytime they even wake up from a nap they have changed.