Balch Family Blog

Since Spring Break in Sedona and Carsten turning 8….
Carsten earned an Academic Achiever Award!

The boys and I went to Tucson to visit my mom, Aunt Traci and Uncle Lee.

We went camping with the Scouts and Cam completed his crossover from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

Carsten and I went fishing with the Cub Scouts and visited a police station.

We celebrated Easter with Mark’s family and Gavin, Jess and Logan who came all the way from Canada!

Cam had a field trip to the AZ Challenger Space Center, and he had such a great time, Mark went on a space mission with Cam the following day.

I celebrated my 39th birthday eating a LOT of free food!

I had a small medical procedure to remove some cells that were at risk for cancer, so we got them out of my body before that could happen!

Cam had an end of the year band concert and played several different instruments.

The boys finished second and fifth grade at San Tan.
I went out to see Desi graduate from high school with the boys, my mom, and Aunt Traci. We had a staycation at the AZ Grand Resort.

We went with Mark’s parents to a AZ Diamondbacks game that they one in the bottom of the 9th!


My sister, Jocelyn, and her family came out to visit. We played together all week!

My dad and his family came down to join the rest of the Lafferty Clan to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday.

I wish I could add all my favorite photos, but there is a size limit on the photos, so I had to settle for what would post. Enjoy!

During this Spring Break Carsten celebrated his 8th birthday. Instead of having one big party we celebrated with different friends on different days. It was a great break and a super fun birthday for Carsten!

On Monday, his actual birthday, we went to Krispy Kreme, the Park to play with friends, the movies to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman and out to dinner at Logan’s.

On Tuesday, we played at home.

On Wednesday, we visited with GG and went to Toys R Us to spend both Christmas and Birthday money.

On Thursday, Carsten had some friends come over for a small party. He took four friend’s to Xtreme Air Park where they jumped on trampolines till they were exhausted. Then it was back to our house for pizza, cake, a soak in the hot tub and presents!

On Friday, the boys went swimming at our friend’s house.

On Saturday we celebrated a birthday with a friend of Camden’s at Flipside. Then Carsten had a sleep over with the birthday boy’s little brother.

On Sunday, the boys got to play with the Reed’s while Mark and I went out to celebrate our 12th Wedding Anniversary. They had so much fun, they went back on Monday afternoon. The four boys got in the pool for a swim, but it quickly got too cold for them.

Her are a few photos from all of our adventures!

We started spring break with a mini vacation to Sedona. It was a great trip that involved hiking and a jeep tour. We loved it!

We are very excited about our new purchase…A HOT TUB!! We decided to get serious about getting a hot tub a couple of weeks ago after talking about it for some time. We went with the Rhythm from Hot Springs. It was delivered today and we are about to go take a dip!

We have survived another February without major illness. I was the only one who really felt bad this month. I got that nasty cough that doesn’t let you sleep. Overall, not bad. I can’t believe it is March already. This month the Lafferty side of the family celebrates many birthdays! Carsten’s is one of them! He will be 8 on the 10th! Yikes! Our boys are growing up too quickly! Mark and I will also celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. I love that man more each year! Here are a few pictures with what we have been up to these past few months!

We had a fun New Year, but missed the Reed’s! Thankfully our neighbors were able to join us so we had a mini-party!

On New Year’s Day we went to the airfield to have a potluck and watch the planes. It was fun!

Here is a peek at the newest member of the Balch Bunch: Leo the Red-Eared Slider Turtle

Carsten informed us tonight that he plans to change his name. He said that Grandpa Carsten doesn’t sound good and he needs to change his name to George. I asked if we should start calling him George now, and he said not until he is older. Too funny!

As we start the month of November, we all reflect on what we are thankful for. Our family is abundantly blessed and we thank the Lord for all we have. We made a Thankful Tree and add leaves of things we are Thankful for. It is a good reminder of how good we have got it.

October was a blur! Where did it go? We had a mellow Fall Break, spending it mostly at home. We did fun things, like go to the movies, Bass Pro Shop, the AZ Science Center, and down to Tucson for a quick visit. The boys had the Space Derby at Cub Scouts, and while we didn’t bring home a trophy, we did have fun. We went back to Tucson for a quick day trip for the annual block party at my mom’s. That was fun for all of us. Mark and I had our first Sonoran Hot Dog. We had a quite Halloween at home and just hung out with the neighbors.

November is going by too quickly! We celebrated Mark’s birthday and he got to spend the day at Nascar. He really enjoyed that surprise! This coming weekend in my 3 Day Walk in San Diego. I am very excited and can’t imagine how much this experience will impact my life.

Here are a few pictures from our latest adventures!