Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Negative, ghost writer, the pattern is full

There's my little Top Gun. Canon wanted to look just like Dad. It took us a minute to figure out what he was pointing at, and even when we gave him the glasses, he had a hard time getting them on right.
Luke Days happen once a year when Luke Air Force Base opens it's gates to the general public. They park planes out on the runway for spectators to walk through. The line to get in snaked back and forth like we were at Disneyland. The stunt shows were the best and I love the loud thunder of a jet engine racing faster than the speed of sound. Canon was totally worn out.
These planes are huge. The wheel is as tall as Kiersten. We got to go inside quite a few of them, although the lines for the cockpit were rather long, so we didn't wait for that.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Everyone is enjoying the show except for Raegan who refuses to give her attention to anything that hurts her ears that much. You can see Kiersten and Aubree don't enjoy the deafening engine noise either. Although Canon and Dad don't seem to mind. :) At the end of the day, we watched the synchronized jet-flying team from the bed of the truck in the parking lot as we feasted on tacos and beat the crowd getting out.

Since the airforce base, Canon insists on dragging someone outside to look everytime he sees a plane or can hear the engine.

Tombstone and OK Corral


We decided to stay in AZ for Spring Break this year and find some interesting things to do.

We visited Tombstone to see the sight of the famous gun fight between the Clanton/ Mc Lowry gang and the Earp brothers. I guess the reason it was famous was because Wyatt Earp was already well known for upholding the law in Kansas City, and during this gun fight where two men died and 3 more were injured at such close range, he didn't receive a scratch. There is also a conspiracy theory that one of the men who was killed wasn't armed, and that the Earp brothers were "hired" by the local politicians to clean up the "undesirable" cowboys who had a hard time obeying the law. Guns were prohibited from being within the city limits unless you were employed by the law, which the Earp brothers were. There was a lot to see of the history. Most of the original buildings are privately owned now and the owners have to make a living. Just walking inside some buildings requires a fee.

Here we are standing outside one of the original buildings that has been restored after nearly the entire block had been destroyed by fire twice. This bar used to be 3 times bigger and had a fountain in the middle of it. It was the "the" place to stay in it's hey day when the booming mining town of Tombstone was the county seat.

Colorful characters roaming down the boardwalk of the main street in Tombstone. This macaw belonged to a biker that was visiting with his Harley group.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

May the Force be with you

It was too cute to not take pictures. Canon learned how to sword fight from his Grandma Morris while we were at the temple one day. Now anything, and I mean anything, that resembles a sword is used to play fight...straws, pencils, dowels, vacuum attachments...you get the idea.
Scott made this capote in his young men's group for the Mountain Man Adventure. But we've used it for a lot of other costumes as well, obviously. :) Imressive...most impressive. But you are not a Jedi yet....

Canon's strategy is to bash your knuckles so you give up and he wins. It works every time. :)



Let it snow!

We had to go up to Payson to find snow deep enough to play in. Drive 2 hrs, play 15 minutes until the kids are frozen because we don't own snow gear, then drive 2 hrs home. But we got pictures which makes it all worth it, right? Thanks Aunt Krissy and Uncle Marsh for loaning us the beenies and scarves. Canon had a lot of fun just kicking the snow at everyone else. Aubree took him sledding down the hill once, but when they hit the bottom, he went rolling. She was freaking out because she thought he was hurt, but we bundled him up so well, he just bounced. Even dad got into the action. He was a big snowball by the time he hit the bottom, just like in the cartoons...honest! I didn't want anyone laying in the snow until we were ready to go because then we could change them in the car and they wouldn't be wet. There's nothing worse than being cold and wet. Brrrrr!!!



A man came up to us while we were playing and asked if we wanted his broken sled. He was just gong to toss it, but if we could get some use out of it, that would be ideal. So we definitely sucked what little life that sled had out of it, and then passed it on to another family that was having fun.

Raegan had the best time because she was so light that when she hit the bottom of the hill, she kept sliding right through the parking lot...almost knocked some guy over. :)

Rylee's 11!!!!


Rylee had a quiet birthday since we had just gone back to school. She invited her best friend, Katie, over for banana splits and opened her package from the birthday fairy.
Here she is showing off her jack-o-lantern cupcake. She'll be in Young Women's in a year...neither she nor I can wait!

Chrstmas 2010

This is the traditional first present we open on Christmas Eve: Pajamas. The tradition started in my family when I was young and Grandma and Grandpa Littlefair came to visit every year. They always brought us pajamas, McDonald's gift certificates and a LifeSaver storybook. Grandpa passed away in 2008, and Grandma just last Oct. I'm happy to be able to carry on this tradition with my children and tell them where it came from. We also wear them to dinner and Christmas lights, which is a tradition in Scott's family. That way when they fall asleep, we can just pour them into bed. Crazy Raegan...The anticipation is just killing them, isn't it? Not really...they all know they are getting pj's that they have to wear to dinner. Aubree is really the only one that's embarrassed. Such a teenager... Here we are sporting our new Christmas pajama pants. Bring on the visions of sugar plums!