Sierra vista

Every now and again Michael has to go work in Sierra vista. This last weekend was one of those times. He worked both Friday and Saturday so we decided to make it a family trip.
I've been interested in visiting ever since we turned down a possible job there. And Michael wanted to be able to take Alden to the Fathers and sons camp out but with his work schedule it would be hard...being here made us just a little closer to the camp out.
We drove down early Friday dropped Michael off at work and then played at parks and the mall until we could check in at the hotel.

After work Michael took Alden to the camp out. Calvin, Benson, and I stayed the night at the hotel.
The next day Michael and Alden were back bright and early so we could get Michael to work on time. Then after getting everyone fed and ready we checked out of the hotel and went to find things to do.

 The town was having a public transportation activity. You could get in any truck, police car, helicopter, or any other vehicle that there was. They also had activites and hot dogs and drinks.!
After we left there we went to a recital in the mall. We finished the day at the other park they have there and then went and got Michael. It was a great trip but I can now say I have had my fill of Sierra vista!

Gymnastics

We have been wanting to find a gymnastics class for the boys this summer.  We decided to find something inside for the summer because of the heat.  We went to a free trial class at a place by us, the boys loved it!  My only problem now is I realize that gymnastics is what my boys do all day at our house... Jump, flip, tumble, climb, ect.

Mother's Day

 Well I am almost all caught up on this blog which is good for lots of reasons. One of those reasons is pictures tend to get deleted sometimes on my phone. And that is what happened to all of my mother's day pictures.
I've posted a couple pictures of Benson. So nice to have a little snuggled especially one with such a cute smile. I've been wanting to get one of Benson's teeth, he has his two bottom teeth, they make for a great smile!

 Anyways back to Mother's day. It was a wonderful day. Super relaxed with all of my boys around. Alden and Calvin came in my room in the morning bringing me flowers and cards. Then for breakfast Michael had made a very yummy baked oatmeal.
Church couldn't have been more perfect. Then had a nice relaxing afternoon after that. Michael made an amazing dinner, and an amazing dessert. The brownies I have a picture of I made a few days earlier but Michael made a cookie cake from the same blog. (It's one of my favorites now called chocolate covered Katie)
They are healthy desserts. It's easy to eat no sugar when you can eat such yummy treats! I did cheat on the chocolate chips. They are normal chocolate chips...but they're mostly no sugar which is good enough for me.
Getting back to Mother's day it couldn't have been any better. I was treated like a queen all day long. So grateful to be a mother of such sweet boys and to have such a great man at my side through it all.

saguaro national park

 Another one of Michael's days off. We went to the park planning to go biking. It turns out they don't allow bikes on their trails. It worked out though we went on a little walk, learned more about different cacti, and then had a wonderful lunch!
After we left we went to Tucson river trail and did our bike ride. It was a great day!

Temple trip

 Almost every first Thursday of the month we have our temple trip. The boys love these trips. They get to play at the park, we usually get to eat out, and they get to have a sucker something I never let them have except sometimes on these trips.

These are pictures of the boys playing at the park. I've noticed a number of places in Phoenix water the lawn this way..I assume that less water is lost not using actual sprinklers. Also it is probably the one of the only ways to keep grass to flood it frequently. Whatever the reason is my boys love having massive puddles to play in!

Now we are back at home doing our day to day things... Alden and Calvin love being on their bikes and we all love going swimming! (We swim often but are not quite making it every day...but the temperature is rising so we might be there every day soon.)

A town by us celebrated it's 40th anniversary.  We made tie-die t-shirts and played on a bunch of these blow up things.  The boys loved it!

Easter

 We made it back just in time for Easter. Aunt Tara sent us these Easter shirts. It was perfect to help the boys get excited for Easter! Usually we've been talking about the holiday coming for weeks but being gone it snuck up on us.
Once they had their shirts on that was all they talked about was Easter coming. I love how excited my kids get over the holidays makes it so fun!

 Easter was a beautiful day thinking about our Savior. We were blessed to be able to serve a family that day which was a perfect way to help us remember Him who gave all.

The boys loved every minute of the day with finding eggs, baskets, and having lots of yummy food!

Easter pageant

 After St George we stopped in Vegas where we spent the night then got up and drove to Phoenix where we met up with Michael!
We watched the Easter pageant together and spent the night in Phoenix. The next day we drove back home which finished our trip.

 We loved our Utah trip and loved seeing so much family but can't express how much I missed having this handsome guy by my side. We were all excited to be back with him.

End of Utah

 My Dad came back with us to St George. So again I had help driving.  So nice to have him with us. We stayed a couple days there. So we got to go swimming at the community pool and visit some fun places there.
The pictures below are all from the children's museum, which was a great one and is free to go to!

 Becca was at the pageant on her birthday but the next day Sunday we sang to her!

  In the afternoon the boys got a hold of my phone and went around the house getting everyone to make silly faces. They were laughing and having a great time with that most the afternoon!

 Swimming at Fairmont Swimming pool. Grateful for uncle Austen who came with us!

 Becca did the days of 47 patent so she was home for a little while. So nice being with her!

 While in St George my aunt gave me the book Heaven is Here. I feel in love with it and had a hard time putting it down...so you could find me frequently sitting here trying to read a little bit.

 Visiting temple square while Becca did the pageant.

Utah trip continued

 Wednesday started with a visit to the school I taught at last year. So many wonderful people and memories there. It was fun to see everyone and see that they are still doing great things there.

 After lunch we went to visit grandma great and uncle Gordon. We always love visiting them. The boys know just where the toys are and go straight to them. Grandma has some great toys!

  In the afternoon we headed up the canyon to roast marshmallows with uncle Austen. So grateful for uncle Austen, my boys love being with him and he always makes sure to give them lots of play time with him.