Phoenix Temple

Thanks to my dear friend Allison Barry we were able to see the Angel Moroni go up on the Phoenix Temple!!  She just happened to go grocery shopping that day and the kids wanted to drive by the Temple to see if he was up yet.  She called me 1 hour before he went up!  What an amazing experience it was.  I'm so grateful for Temples and so excited for the Phoenix Temple!  We will move before it is completed, but there are so many people I love who will be using it regularly!

 What a cool surprise!  We were able to take pictures with the Angel Moroni before he went up.  How special for the kids and I was especially grateful Nik was off school that day and could be there with us!

 Mollie and Kamryn.  These girls are so cute together!

Sam and Ian.  These wild and crazy boys love being together!

Sweet baby Taylor.  We all love baby Taylor!

My friend Allison Barry.  Don't know what I would do without her!

By the time the Angel Moroni actually went up we had quite a group from our ward!  So fun that so many people got to see this event even though they didn't announce it!

I love to see the Temple!

We love camping!

At this point in our lives my favorite way to go camping is at the Ward Camp out!!!  The reserve a spot, start/extinguish the fires, provide entertainment, and provide breakfast!!  I love watching the kids be kids and not have to get mad at them for anything!!  They can throw rocks, get dirty, explore, yell, run around like crazies and I can just sit back and relax!

 This is our Mansion Tent!  We take up about 1/3 of it.  We love it though!  When we have more sleeping bags and sleeping mats we will use the whole thing!  

 The kids loved the tire swing.  

 Catching grasshoppers.  Ian got really good at it and at one time had 4 or 5 grasshoppers in his hands (poor things).  He was helping the other kids find them too!  When we got home he told Nik he wanted to start a company where he catches grasshoppers and sells them to people who have lizards.

They were wiped out!!  Kamryn didn't believe us that we were going to sleep in the tent.  She was up the latest out of all the kids!  I never sleep camping, but I don't mind.  I stay up really late talking to everyone around the fire and I'm usually one of the last people to go to sleep.  Then I'm one of the first people around the fire in the morning.  I just don't want to miss anything!  So happy we could go camping with our wonderful ward before we move to Klamath Falls, Oregon!

Happy Mother's Day

I was spoiled rotten on Mother's day (and actually the day before too!)  Ian took charge and took care of me real good!!  On Saturday he told me he "needed to get some stuff done."  He gave me the option of taking a nap, resting at the park, or having office time.  I chose office time and worked on my blog!  He then told me he wanted to make me breakfast and asked if I could get some bacon from the store.  Of course I did!!  And it was worth it!  Sunday morning I woke up to the best breakfast in bed ever!  Nik helped a little (a funny story about that below), but Ian told him what to make!  Ian made the toast all by himself... and even gave me extra butter because he loves me so much!  I had a sippy cup of chocolate almond milk, a sippy cup of regular milk, a water bottle, eggs, bacon, strawberries, banana, and toast with extra butter!  Seriously so spoiled!

 Nik made a wonderful dinner:  pork roast, watermelon, rolls, and broccoli.  It was delish!  I loved not cooking or cleaning all day!  After dinner I got to choose what I wanted to do.  I chose a walk around the block and then watch Funniest Home Videos together!  It was really warm so the walk wasn't that fun, but it was nice to walk a little after eating so much!

 Notice Miranda's attire... a Tinkerbell dress with high heel dress up shoes.  She insisted and we let her. She was a trooper and didn't complain about the pain we told her she would be in until the very end.  She kept up and enjoyed her decision to wear the shoes!  I love her for that!  She makes her mind up about something and sticks to it!

I had a sweet moment with Nik.  He has never been very good at gift giving or special occasions.  He tries really hard, but just doesn't know what to do.  On Saturday he apologized and told me he wanted me to feel special, but he didn't know how.  He said Ian does a way better job than he does and isn't sure where Ian learned it!  He decided to just let Ian be in charge and he would take orders from him!  I felt very loved at that moment because he was sharing his heart with me.  He wants me to feel loved and special and important, but doesn't always know how to show it!  Ian was amazing at the whole thing and Nik was glad!  It was a sweet funny moment!  Nik wrote me the sweetest letter though.  It melted my heart and made it worth doing all the things I do!  I am very blessed!

Say goodbye to Pokey and Em-Lem

The kids blankets were getting really old and dirty.  Miranda's blanket especially because it was white.  Well not anymore, but it was supposed to be white.  It had holes in it and the edges were falling apart.  It was well loved.  Nik convinced her to cut it into pieces for a prize out of the prize basket and then she could choose another blanket to be her favorite.  She accepted (whoa really?) and the cutting began.  It was really hard for me to watch her.  She loved her Em-Lem for a really long time.  She was so little when she started picking that blanket over the others.  This definitely tore at my heart strings!

  

 Nik had offered Ian the same thing... A prize out of the prize basket and a new blanket (from the many we already have).  Ian was so emotional.  He loves his pokey one.  He had a very intense and emotional inner struggle.  In the end he decided he wanted to cut his pokey one up too.  This was even harder for me because he really does love that blanket!!  He tickles his face and hands and arms at night to fall asleep with the corner that is falling apart.  When he is sad or hurt he just smells his blanket or snuggles with it for a minute and then he is all good.  It gives him courage and strength to press forward.  It calms him when he is upset.  I really didn't know if he could live without that blanket.

This is what is left of the Em-Lem and the Pokey One.  Ian wanted to keep the tag to remember how much he loved his pokey one.  Both chose new blankets and Ian was very excited when I showed him a fuzzy brown Noah's ark blanket that Grandma Garner had made for him when he was born.  He named it the "Bumpy One".  He has still had a hard time not having his Pokey One and will still have a moment of grieving that it is gone.  Miranda on the other hand calls her new blanket her Em-Lem and loves it just the same.  She has not had any emotional breakdowns and did not have a hard time transitioning!  My heart has mostly healed.  I think it was just hard to have them grow up right then.  I'm sentimental like that.  

Phoenix Zoo / Cool Mom

I found a really good deal on Zoo tickets!  I bought them!  I planned an amazing day!  I'm awesome!

 We went to one of the animal shows.  It was a small one and we were the only ones there until right before it started.  The kids liked it.  They got to see a few animals do tricks and it was fun to watch them watch!

 Miranda was asked to help with the show.  She had to hold out the watch and let the snake smell it.  I'm pretty sure she was in heaven!  What a brave girl!

 Cool mom points:  One of the things I did for the kids (because I'm so cool) is bought them tickets to pet the sting ray!  It was the best $6 of the whole day!  They loved it and I did too!

 Miranda got splashed by a couple of them and she thought that was pretty funny!!  BUT then she was wet and cold and wanted to go home.  It was beautiful weather (one of the cooler days) and a perfect day for the zoo, but my kids were cold.  And I thought we could live in Alaska.  They would have turned into ice cubes!

 Cool mom points:  Cotton Candy!!!  It was a big hit!

 Sticky, messy face.  So cute!

All in all it was a very fun day!  The zoo is really big and there is lots of walking.. so there was lots of complaining, but the fun made up for all of that!  They loved it and I loved it!  I think they will have more fun when they are older!