The Grand Canyon!

Summer has arrived!! Bring on the summer vacations and road trips!! The last day of school we took the kids out early and headed south to Arizona! It sure was hot down there but we did have a lot of fun in the heat!

We drove a good 8+ hours straight to the Grand Canyon! It was a long drive and we made it to our campground just after dark!! Nothing like setting up your tent in the dark!

We woke up ready to hit the trails and hike the next day!

This is our second time to Grand Canyon, however our first time camping and we were able to see much more of the park while camping for three days. 

It sure is a beautiful place to visit!

The kids' favorite thing about The Grand Canyon was probably all the trees to climb! We had several good climbing trees by our camp sight and the kids were in the trees the majority of the time!

Here we are at an overlook!

A funny Ty story: He packed his own back-pack for the hike and took with him not one, but three pairs of binoculars! I guess he wanted to take a pair for his siblings but it sure was a heavy backpack!

You can see the rain clouds behind Caleb, we had great weather however a storm snuck up on us one day and we were just about to get out of the car and have lunch when it just started to pour! So we ate our lunch in the car, then the kids went and ran around in the rain for a minute and a few minutes later the storm was gone and it was hot again! Crazy weather!

There's nothing I love more than spending time like this with my family!

This was an Indian tower of some kind and we climbed to the top of it inside! 

This is what it looked like inside on the ceiling!

It was so super hot inside I thought I was going to die of lack of oxygen! Nate and Mara on the third floor! 

Caleb climbing the stairs leading to nothing! 

It was a fun place to explore!

We left Carder and Nate in the car for a nap and came and explored this area, we looked down from the balcony and saw them coming in too!

This just was spectacular!

I just can't help but think how awesome God's creations are!!

One little lonely hill standing straight up in the middle of nowhere!

Just enjoying the view with my little sweetie!

We saw several Elk in Grand Canyon, even right by our campground!

Love that hiking T-y who is the best hiking buddy I know!

Carder didn't like going in the back-pack so much this trip! He felt big enough like the big kids to hike on his own! :(

Yes this picture does make me nervous of crazy kids climbing on the bars! But they were safe and immediately came down after the picture!

The thing I'll remember most about Grand Canyon besides the awesome scenery was listening to Bob Marley most of the drive and hearing the kids sing along! It was pretty dang cute to hear coming from the back seat: "Don't worry about a thing cuz every little thing is going to be alright!!"

Speical Fireside with an Apostle!

As part of the pioneer trek for our ward all those participating had the opportunity to meet with Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was amazing! Definitely an experience I hope to never forget! The spirit was so strong. It was so neat to sit in this small room of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and hear him speak just to our little group. He is a mighty man, full of the spirit of God and conveys such a powerful testimony. He shared with us a few thoughts about the pioneer trek. One thing he said was "This pioneer trek does not start with the pioneers coming to Utah, it begins with the story of Joseph Smith and will continue on forever...(something like that)" After he spoke to us he opened it up for questions and who ever wanted to ask a question could. That was pretty awesome too! I didn't ask any questions, we left that to the youth! But he had wonderful answers for all the questions!!

 At the end of the night when it was time to go we were able to shake his hand! I'll never forget the feeling I had as I shook an apostle of the Lord's hand! His light just radiates and beams! I am so grateful to have leaders of our church on the earth to lead and guide us! I am especially grateful to have had this opportunity to meet Elder Ballard!

We had refreshments after the fireside and I not only enjoyed eating the tasty doughnut but I loved seeing this beautiful temple! I love all that the temple symbolizes: hope, faith, eternal families, exaltation!! The gospel of Jesus Christ is true! It is upon the earth in these Latter-days and I am so grateful to be a part of it! I am grateful for life on this earth and the knowledge of eternal life to come! I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who made eternal life possible for everyone!

Great American Award!!

I can't believe Ty finished 5th grade, nor can I believe he finished elementary school! He is officially in middle school!! (That just makes me want to cry!) As part of the 5th grade curriculum students have the choice to earn The Great American Award. This is not required. I thought it would be great if Ty wanted to do this, but I did not think he wanted to nor did I think he had the motivation! Boy was I wrong! To earn the Great American Award students must: write the pledge of allegiance in cursive, memorize the states, capitals, memorize the Gettysburg Address, Memorize the Preamble to the Constitution, memorize the presidents of the United States, memorize the Star Spangled Banner, and take a citizenship test (over 100 questions). Ty not only completed all requirements but was the 2nd person in his class to finish!! I am so proud of Ty! What an amazing accomplishment!

The 5th grade students had an award ceremony for all those who earned the Great American Award and they also had a fantastic patriotic program. The students sang songs, repeated some of the requirements for the award, and played a song on their recorders. It was amazing! I was very impressed with the talents and abilities of the 5th graders!!

I think Ty would agree with me on this: but the best thing about 5th grade was all the awesome friends!! I just love these boys! We could not have asked for a better group of boys! I am so grateful Ty has so many friends his age and can head off to a big-new school with a good group of amigos!!

I can see!!

Ty has never complained about seeing far away. His teachers have never mentioned a problem with his eye sight and he has always passed his eye exams at school. So how did we know Ty needed glasses?! Well, two reasons: 1) we noticed he couldn't see the clock on the stove when we asked him what time it was and 2) his grandpa took him on a 'papa and grandson outing' and noticed he couldn't read some of the signs!!! So we took him to an eye doctor and....

the new and improved Ty!! Sure enough he needed glasses! He picked out his glasses himself and I must say he looks dang handsome! When Ty walked out of the doctors office wearing his new glasses for the first time he couldn't believe the difference! He kept saying "Everything looks so clear and less blurry! Then he said "Have I been missing out on this my entire life?!" I sure hope not! Actually I think it was a recent thing, we had just had his hearing and sight checked at the end of 4th grade and he was fine! I'm so grateful we were able to get glasses for Ty and help him see!

Arrow of Light & Webelos Award!

Ty has been working really hard in scouts to earn his Arrow of Light and Webelos award especially since the Boy Scout program is changing he wanted to finish it up early! With help from his leaders and lots of help from his parents Ty earned both these awards at Pack Meeting! Now he is looking forward to 11 year old scouts!

Ty's biggest fans--his parents! We are so proud of Ty and his hard work! This is a great accomplishment! 

As a tradition in this award when a boy receives his Arrow of Light he gets his face painted by his parents!

 

Nate did a great job on Ty's face, but if you know Ty you'll know how much he dislikes face paint!! Besides pack meeting it was also pinewood derby! Ty was a little disappointed that his car didn't take a place this year, but that's ok he is still a winner in our book!

 This is the arrow of light bridge the scouts get to cross which symbolizes a boy leaving cub scouts and entering boy scouts with the scout master on the other end to welcome the new scout! Just one more month and Ty will no longer be a cub scout!

Funny picture of Ty and terrible lighting, but it does show what he received for earning his Arrow of Light--this cool arrow on a board with an eagle. He is definitely on his way to be an Eagle Scout!

Friend Reunion at the Park!!

I can't believe how fast one year can fly by! After moving away from dear friends down we sure did miss them! We were able to have a party in the park with a few of the families from our old ward. It was just like old times of play group: moms sitting around visiting and catching up on all the news and the kids playing at the playground. Soon however the kids got tired of playing at the playground and they ventured off down the hill and found a stream of water to play in!!

Carder had the best time wading his feet in the water and cooling off!

My kids were so excited to see their old friends again! They all had fun playing in the water together! 

Fun times and great memories, I think we need to plan a reunion once a year! 

The boys all worked together to make a dam in the water! They sure had fun--and got all muddy!! 

I was quite surprised Caleb wouldn't get involved in the water adventure! He just watched from the side!

It was fun to meet new friends too! Some of the moms had babies since we moved away! 

It was most surprising to see how big the kids were and how much they had grown! Some of the friends we hadn't seen for a few years!