YW Morning Hike

I received a new calling . . . 2nd counselor in the YW presidency!!! 

I'm excited and a little nervous at the same time. Our ward had its boundaries redone and so with that, have more YW added to our ward. So currently I have 12 Beehives in my class. Word on the street is that I will have a total of 20 Beehives by the end of the year . . . . . . . yikes!

This morning our YW went on a hike in the White Tank Mountains. The girls are preparing for two upcoming events. YW Camp and for the older girls will be participating in Trek. Incidently, Randy and I have been asked to be a Big Brother and Big Sister on the Trek. I'm a little nervous about that and will keep you posted. 

I digress.

So thanks to Bro. Chapman who organized the hike, we headed out.

Those Beehives took charge and were leading the pack.

Laurels taking care of the rear.

A mile and a half in and we reached the waterfall. We stopped and took a few shots.

We made sure to get a hiking selfie!

After a few minutes of exploring the waterfall site and taking some pictures, we headed back. 

It was a much easier going back. It was mostly all down hill. Good job girls!!

Day Camp at the Railroad Park

Today was the first day of Day Camp for Micah. It's his last year of Cub Scouts, making this his last Day Camp. Our district held their day camp at a Railroad Park in Peoria (I think).

 Randy and I were asked to help be a chaperone for the 1st part of the day camp. 

The boys had different stations of activities that they did.  

 After going through all the stations, the boys were fed dinner ---- sloppy joes. Micah didn't care for it, but I was starving and loved it.

The last activity for the night was looking at the stars through telescopes at the GCC North Campus which was nearby the park we were at. The boys enjoyed but were ready to be done for the night.

Trip to the Dentist

Today the kids went to the dentist for a check up. They were all over due and was finally able to get them in during this Spring Break. The kids came out from their appointment one-by-one and was given the clean bill of health for the teeth --- no cavities, even Jace! Yay!!
Tyler was the last and the rest of them were getting restless and hungry. Leigh decided to take them to the grocery store a few stores down. I saw them walk back and park themselves outside of the dentist's office. I noticed that they were all eating doughnuts. I had to laugh.
When Leigh came in, I asked her if they were eating doughnuts and she said yes. It was their reward for having no cavities. LOL!

The Natural History Museum

Thank goodness for Cub Scouts!! Micah has been working on his Naturalist Badge in WEBELOS, so one of his requirements was to visit a Natural History Museum. Everyone jumped in the van and off we went, to the East side of the valley.

The fun thing is that the last time Micah had been here was when he was Jace's age, 3 years old.

This is always a favorite part of the museum, panning for gold.

Even the older ones got into it.

It was only fitting that we ended our excursion with a trip to Bahama Bucks, since we were in the East Valley.

Valentine Photo Session

 Randy and I were planning to go out to our usual Valentine's Day Dinner. Thinking about it during the day, I was feeling guilty leaving the kiddos at home to fend for themselves, so I decided to at least make them something they love for dinner ------SAIMIN! 

You could say it was a Saimin Bar. My kids love this kind of stuff. We splurged and got them some sushi to eat with it. We had bok choy, chopped up boiled egg and spam to garnish their noodles with.

After we came home, my kids asked me about the photo booth stuff I had bought (and forgotten about). We decided at the last minute to do a Valentine's Photo Booth Session. It was awesome! I was surprised that everyone (except Tyler) participated.

 Even my Valentine got into it : ) 

Hope you had an awesome and sweet Valentine's like I did.

Gilbert Temple Open House

Today, we were finally able to head over to Gilbert, to see the newly built temple there. We have seen a little bit of it's progression here and there, as we'd pass by it on the way to Uncle Paul's house. 

It is definitely a beautiful temple. It is pretty big. The tour guide stated that it was approx 83,000 square feet. We have a temple that's closer to us being built right now, the Phoenix Temple, which is approximately 60,000 square feet. We can't wait till the opening of that temple!!

We took a tour and it was just as beautiful inside as it is outside.

I love that my family has been able to go through more than one temple. We are so grateful for temples and the blessings that it provides us.

Ringing in the New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

This New Year's Eve, I was having to work again : ( Because of that, I wanted to make sure the kids had a fun time ringing in the New Year's without me. I saw this idea on Pinterest of course and set to work. 

I designed the printouts. Aren't they cute. I started from 6pm. Inside each bag was an activity for them to do.

Randy snapped some pictures of the kids having fun with all the different activities.

The last bag had silly string inside for the kids to spray each other with when it was midnight. I was shocked when I saw this picture because I got home this morning, the house was clean. I'm glad it was an easy clean up.

The reported that they LOVED the activity bag and hope we do it again next year. I'm so glad to hear that it was success. Hopefully, that's an indicator of our upcoming year.

In the meantime . . .