Phoenix Temple Open House

We just couldn't find a weekend that we didn't have prior commitments so we decided it was really important to us to give our kids the opportunity to see inside of another temple while they are young. Therefore we had a ditch day!!! Monday we took the kids out of school and drove to Phoenix to go to the Open House.

I LOVE this family of mine with all my heart!

It was a wonderful experience!

Since it was going to be a super fast trip we decided to leave Ella with Grandma and Grandpa Cluff for the day.  Kind of hard to leave her even just for a day but it made the trip so much easier!

What a beautiful temple the Phoenix Temple is!  Such gorgeous art work.  The oval baptismal font is breathtaking........I loved it!

I am so grateful for my eternal family!

I love that we've been blessed to take the kids through 3 open houses of Temples in Arizona.  It's been a great experience each time and memories that I will always cherish!

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am thankful to have the knowledge that I have a loving Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for the opportunity I have to become better and clean through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful and thank my Heavenly Father nightly for all that I have been blessed with.

After the Temple Open House we decide to let the kids have a couple of hours to get their energy out.  We took them to Extreme Air in Chandler.

They all had such a great time on the trampolines and especially on their new obstacle course

I kind of wish I had paid to play cause it looked like a fun time!

Logan kept doing the perfect belly flop onto the air pad.

It really is a cool obstacle course and there weren't many other kids there so that was nice.

The kids all had a blast and were thankful to get to play for a bit.

It was a great day!  It was filled with a beautiful spiritual side to it and then just enjoying being together as a family!  Perfect day in my book!

Fall Tradition with The Pryor's

For the past several years we have had the Pryor family over for a Halloween night of pumpkin carving.

This year we decided to try painting our pumpkins because last year it was super hard for the kids to carve the pumpkins the way they wanted.  So I thought this might be a good alternative.

The kids did enjoy painting but the paint didn't end up turning out as good as well had hoped.

So I don't think painting our pumpkins will be our new tradition.

The boys and I had spray painted the pumpkins first with glow in the dark paint.  It ended up not really glowing very well and kind of made the other paint not stick as well.

Mac was smart and they just did the traditional craving of the pumpkins. Of course if you don't have any kids that your going to have carving then it's pretty easy.

Justin and JP did great on baby duty!

The kids did enjoy getting messy with the paint!!

Mac and Jackie, JP's sister

I love Mac so very much!  She is one of my greatest friends!

So glad I have her so close!

After the pumpkin carving we went to the Pryor's house for s'mores and some football!

Everyone enjoyed JP's hammock.

Deke broke his right foot just a few days after I broke mine.  So him and I are twins!

Love these girls of mine!  Kiersten is a wonderful big sister.

These boys really like JP's hammock.  They helped him put it up months ago.

Grant really took to Jackie!

They became buddies right away.

We really enjoyed our evening of fun, friends and visiting!

Eating S'mores makes anything better!

It was fun to watch the kids play some football.

Jackie was a great coach!

It was a fun filled evening.  And it's a tradition we look forward to every year!

"You'll Make a Great Lawyer!"

Funny, we have been saying this for years about Hunter!

Tonight as we were sitting around the family room Hunter was trying to talk Kiersten into playing football with him outside.  Kiersten told him that she didn't want to "play outside."

I walk by and Hunter says, "Mom, Kiersten wants to play football in the house!!!"

Then Silvio says, "You'll make a great lawyer!"

So it is confirmed!

We explained to Silvio that we've said that about Hunter for a long time.  It gave us a kick to hear Silvio say it and explain why he thought that.

I didn't know the whole conversation at first but yes Hunter would make a great lawyer!  He is quick witted and can turn anything around to fit what he needs it to.  Not a bad quality to have I'd say!

Logan's School Play

Logan did a fantastic job in his school play!

He was one of the sssssnakes and even had a speaking part.  He nailed it!

Two peas in a pod these boys are!

We adore Mrs. Rubecava!

She is the best music teacher ever!!!  She is so very sweet with the kids and makes learning fun!

Came Home to Experience Tears

While we were gone our sweet pet, Spike, the bearded dragon, died.  Somehow the light that is suppose to turn off at night stayed on the entire week and never shut off.  So it was sad to know that the light kind of cooked him.  It was really heart breaking for Hunter and actually all the kids.  I did indeed shed a few tears myself.

Hunter had a good cry and I just held him and rocked him in the recliner as he got it out.

Spike has been such an easy pet and the kids have really enjoyed having him.

It was a tender moment to see no life in such a great family pet.

The kids all took turns digging the hole for Spikes grave out behind our back wall.

The kids covered Spike with flowers.

Then they took turns again to cover his grave up.

We marked his grave and left flowers on top.

We all went around and said a little something about Spike or a fun memory we had of him.

It was sad to come home to find Spike dead.  Sometime down the road I'm sure we'll get another bearded dragon.  They are such easy pets!

Biking the Boardwalk

We ended up keeping the bikes for the following day as well.

It felt much, much better to travel the boardwalk with a broken foot while riding a bike rather than walking!  I'm sure I was quite a sight riding with my boot on...hahaha.

We even got Ella Jane a baby seat and she was pretty okay with that!

We enjoyed a bike ride down to the fishing pier where we watched these oriental people catching sardines.

The kids had a fun time trying out the two seater bike.  It's harder than it looks.

Logan and Grant both were pretty excited that they had bikes small enough for them to use.  I was happy Grant can ride a bike so good!  Maneuvering through the crowds of people sometimes was a little nerve racking but Grant did awesome!

If we ever get to rent a beach house on Mission Beach again we will rent the bikes for our full stay.  We enjoyed them that much!

Little Italy

On our last full day in San Diego we decided to go to Little Italy of the down town area.

I am not sure Silvio believed us when we told them there was a little area in downtown San Diego that was known as Little Italy.  

But here is proof that there is!

I jokingly asked him if it reminded him of home.  He said "nope not really!"

We had brunch at this Cafe which was good but nothing too amazing.

Grant enjoyed having "shoulders" while we walked around Little Italy.

Hunter had to have a turn as well.  Silvio is a great sport to tolerate these silly kids of ours!

I thought this was a funny quote on the ground.

We tried a few Italian pastries but nothing that was too memorable.

It was fun to show Silvio that area of San Diego.