Memorial Day in Gila Valley

When we first moved to Arizona we said we would like to explore every corner of our new home. Life happens, however, and it's taken us longer to see all of Arizona than we planned. So, when Jeremy suggested we travel to Eastern Arizona and visit Gila Valley we jumped at the chance. The boys are usually game for trips like this, especially when it involves a hotel with a pool and complimentary breakfast! We stayed at the Springhill Suites Marriott in Safford and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Just down Church Street from our hotel was Spencer W. Kimball's boyhood home. It was fun to think about a prophet as a little boy! There is a nice historical marker in front of the home that tells how President Kimball's father helped shape the thousands of adobe bricks that were used in the construction of their home.

After Jeremy spent some time photographing some properties that Copperstar Bank owns in the area, we went to an old catfish farm called Dankworth Pond that is now part of Roper Lake State Park. We hiked two miles round-trip in flip-flops and without water in 100-plus degree heat. Not a smart idea, but we saw some really cool stuff.

There is an artesian spring on the property and the temperature is always around 90 degrees. That was neat, although it did not help us cool down at all! We walked out onto the boat dock and saw how beautiful the pond was.

At the halfway point of the hike they have reconstructed some Indian structures and artifacts common to the area. The boys had fun exploring the different areas, being very careful to watch for snakes! (Really, did I mention we should have been more prepared for this hike?)

Spencer finally found some shade inside one of the Indian dwellings, but all too soon it was time to head back into the heat and stumble and stagger back to the van.

We cranked up the A/C in the van and drove straight to Golden Corral for lunch and all the drink refills we could handle (and ice cream!). On the way out of town, we stopped in Thatcher to see the new Gila Valley temple site where ground was broken earlier this year.

Our last stop on the way home was in Globe to visit the Besh-Ba-Gowah archaeological site. It was really cool and used to be a ceremonial center as well as a storage site for the redistribution of goods from all over the Southwest. We are going to use this as one of Spencer's Archaeology Merit Badge requirements (always seeing the Scouting angle is a gift of mine).

We made it home safe and sound with good memories of another fun trip in the great state of Arizona!

Happy Birthday Noah!

My sweet Noah turned 11 years old today! He got to choose most of how the day went. How often do you get to say you don't want to go to school and have that wish come true? The last day of school was yesterday! Noah chose the meals for the day, too. He chose Puffy Pancakes for breakfast. He wanted to have Panda Express for dinner but we had to do that last night because tonight was a family-style wedding reception for a sister in our ward. But we did have leftover Panda for lunch! Noah's party was today, too. He wanted to take his friends to go see "Night at the Museum 2" so we went to the 2:00 showing this afternoon. What a fun show! We all loved it! Then it was home for presents and cake & ice cream (triple chocolate cake and quadruple chocolate ice cream...see a theme here?). Noah received some fun presents: magnetic building sets from Granny Paula and Grandpa Tom and mom and dad, his new Boy Scout uniform from Nana and Papa, Bionicles, a backgammon set, money, and some new headphones. Thanks everyone for making it a great day for Noah!

Touchdown!

Jacob worked his tail off all season long and finally made a touchdown in their final game! The thing is, Jeremy and I were so excited watching it unfold that we forgot to get video or pictures. Jacob is such an amazing player. His mind is totally in the game and you can just see him working out his game strategy while he plays. He can run so fast and catches the ball with incredible accuracy. His team has come so far together this season. Congratulations, buddy!

The PAPA Award

Last week at Taylor Junior High's end-of-year band concert, Spencer was presented with yet another award: the PAPA (Positive Attitude Personal Achievement)! Only five students out of all of Taylor's bands were given this award. We are so proud of Spencer! He has served as his section leader and was accepted for both the District Honor Band and Orchestra. He has always been willing to fill in for an absent percussionist (like he did for the Preparatory Band on the night of the concert!). He really deserved this! Awesome!

F'Oscars

Our ward mutual has been working hard the last few weeks. They divided into groups and were assigned a topic from the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. They were to produce a short movie about this topic. Spencer's group had "Education". So, they wrote a script, searched for costuming, filmed, and edited until they had their finished product. Last week for mutual they all dressed up in evening gowns and suits and walked the red carpet. Then they had an awards ceremony and viewing of the movies. What a riot! Spencer won a F'Oscar (fake Oscar) for his portrayal of Darth Vader (don't ask me how that fits in with Education).

National Junior Honor Society

Last month Spencer was invited to join the NJHS for Taylor Junior High. Boy, things have changed since I was in honor society. He had a major application to fill out with a required letter of recommendation. He will have to log his service hours to remain a member, etc. But what a great honor...good job Spencer! We attended the induction ceremony at the school last week and I was so proud of him!

Pavlova

I finally got these pictures and had to share. Our family was invited to an international progressive dinner last month and we were assigned to bring a dessert from another country. I immediately thought of New Zealand (hello. the only other country we've ever been to.) and the Pavlova Olivia makes. It is their national dessert and named for the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who toured New Zealand in 1926. It is a meringue cake topped with mountains of real whipped cream and lots of strawberries, blueberries and kiwi (for the Kiwis!). It wasn't too hard to make and got rave reviews.

Fathers and Sons

It was the annual Fathers and Sons Priesthood Campout in our ward last weekend. Isaac was finally going to get to go with his brothers, but Jeremy chickened out and left him home with me. Ha! Actually, we lose him everywhere we go and decided it was best not to let him have a chance to wander all over the Mogollon Rim. So he stayed with me and had fun anyway. We went out to dinner at Mi Amigos with Wendi and her girls and then came home to set up his Indian teepee to camp in. I watched "Yes Man" (interesting, but I don't really recommend it) and he watched "Monsters, Inc." and then we got to sleep in late on Saturday morning. Awesome! Spencer, Noah and Jacob had fun with Dad, too. Noah had a few requirements to finish so he could earn his Outdoorsman badge and his Arrow of Light, so he helped pack, set up the tent and cooked breakfast in the morning. Jacob had fun playing Capture the Flag and riding the zipline. Spencer just hung out with his friends throwing pinecones at each other. In the morning the battery on the van was dead but a good neighbor jumped them so they could come home, filthy, tired and happy.

While I was away...

My goodness. I'm gone for a few days and look what Nana did to my BOYS!

BYU Women's Conference

When my friend Michele's husband got a job at BYU and they moved to Provo, we promised we'd come to Women's Conference to see her and stay at her house. So last week Wendi and I made a road trip to Utah. When we arrived at Michele's address, we were just stunned by her beautiful three-level home nestled right up to the gorgeous mountains above the Provo temple. She even gave us each our own room and took such good care of us. We had so much fun! We participated in the Instant Choir, walked our legs off from one end of campus to the other, ate famous BYU fudge and mint brownies, learned and cried and laughed, and even found time to visit Heap's Brick Oven (mmmmmm....)! It was awesome to be back at my alma mater. I was reminiscing the entire time, about Young Hall, Campus Plaza, the Pueblo House, the Cougareat, the SWKT where I took my nursing classes, the Lee Library, tap dancing classes, etc. I wandered through the new Hinckley building and saw Sister Hinckley's "chair" (love that story) and was privileged and inspired to take classes from both big names in the Church, and the regular Joes like me. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Can't wait to do it again sometime...anyone else interested?

BSA Family Award

Do I ever mention we are a hard-core Scouting family? Oh, yeah. We love to do all the fun things Scouting provides for us as a family. If you were not aware of the BSA Family Award, you are now! Look it up! You can get the new, revised booklet at the Scout Shop. I love how Scouting is all about family activities we should be doing anyway, and with the Family Award you get a little bit of character education along with the fun. We earned our award at our last Pack Meeting (monthly theme "Jurassic Pack" no less...so cute!). Check it out.

Build My Testimony!

One of the last things I was involved in with my ward Primary before I was released recently, was helping with a fun Quarterly Activity. We had four rotating stations where the kids made props for a Family Home Evening around the theme of "Building Testimony." At one station they received gameboards and played the game "Build My Testimony!" (Don't Eat Pete! with a gospel theme). At another station they learned about the five parts of a testimony and made a handprint with pictures of the "five" to velcro on each finger. I just sat and bawled in testimony meeting the next day when many of the children stood to bear testimony of real gospel principles instead of just the standard "I love my family" testimony. The third station was making a song-leader's wand to lead the music in FHE (that's Isaac's girlfriend McKenzee in the photo above). Finally, my station was helping the kids decorate a FHE box to store all of their lesson manuals and loose FHE lessons in. An awesome brother in our ward made all the boxes for us and they were perfect!

Over the Hill

Jeremy's mom and dad came to Arizona for Jeremy's 40th birthday on April 23rd (but they aren't old enough to have a son that old, of course). Jeremy took the day off work so he would have time to collect all the free stuff for his birthday. He went for his free short stack at Denny's, his free sandwich and meal at Joe's BBQ and his free dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. He shared his root beer cake with me and the doughnuts with the boys...what a good man. I had planned a surprise birthday party for him and invited 40 couples (!) to our home on Friday night. Naturally, I was the one who ruined the surprise, but sweet Jeremy let me think I had pulled it off. We had a fun time visiting with our friends and family and feasting on ice cream sundaes and banana splits with all kinds of toppings. So many people brought cute gifts: an adult bib, senior vitamins, an ear phone, a bald man's hair comb, a "40 sucks" lollipop, etc. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and neighbors. Happy Birthday, Honey!