Raegan's birthday and first temple trip!!

 We thought it would be cool to go to the temple for Raegan's 12th birthday. Aubree was visiting, so it would be an awesome experience for Raegan to be there with her older sisters to help her through the process. Everyone got to miss school. :) They had 39 family names from Scott's side to do. So we went to the Gilbert and Mesa temple to get it all done.

 She also decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. She totally psyched herself out before they even put the earring gun to her ears. She was super nervous, so she talked more than she usually does, if that's possible! Aubree snapped the moment of discomfort. :) She made me stand in front of her so she could squeeze my hands if it hurt too much.  She said it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would.                                                                                                     

            Sunday selfie with Aubree. The gang's back together again!!

Canon's 1st grade music recital March 2016

 So...the theme of the concert was bunnies. :) They had a lot of cute bunny songs about bunnies eating things they shouldn't out of the garden and funny bunnies that had pickles for noses. Kim and I made the bunny hats for Canon and Lilly that day because Easter had just passed and none of the stores had anymore bunny ears. Paper plates....what a wonderful art supply. ;)

 I was so mad they moved Canon down to the first row right behind a taller kid with the biggest, most obnoxious bunny ears in the gym. I couldn't get any pictures unless this kid bent down or leaned over. :/

 Canon volunteered for a speaking part that informed the audience of what was coming up next. He was articulate, loud and clear. Good job, Canon!!

 This was a combination of the 1st and 2nd graders at Legacy Traditional School-Maricopa campus. I think they had to fit around 240 kids on the stage and risers.  The gym was packed with all their parents and siblings.

Battle of the Burbs!

A local radio station does a contest every year to generate publicity called Battle of the Burbs. It's a voting competition between suburban cities in the metropolitan Phoenix area. All you have to do is get on the radio's website and vote for your suburb. Maricopa has now won this competition for 3 years in a row. The award for winning includes a trophy, bragging rights and a free outside concert from an up and coming music group. This year they had Divided Minds open the show and The Summer Set were the headliners. They have a few songs that my kids like, so we came to see what there was to see. The stage is in the background behind us. It was a nice night to be outside and we got to see a lot of friends enjoying the show.

Powered paragliding

 We have a couple in our ward, Jay and Margie Kocherhans, who are retired and live out  by the Maricopa air strip. Jay knows my great uncle, Dwight, and likes to paraglide. They invited us out to their place for a paragliding Family Home Evening. We volunteered Rylee to go up first because she's the most adventurous of the group. She looks a little nervous here. :)

 The parachute is laid out behind them and the motor looks like a big fan. They roll forward to take off, gaining momentum until the wind fills the parachute and away you go. It was a little scary getting up in the air, Rylee said, but once you were up there, it felt like being on a roller coaster and she even told him to go higher.

 This was one of the passes they made after they'd been up in the air for a few minutes. They got as high as 50 feet and buzzed as low as 5 ft. You can definitely see the smile on Rylee's face as she waved and almost ran over us. :)

 Raegan decided she would give it a try. I told Jay not to go as high with her, so he stayed under the 30 ft level. Canon decided too late that he wanted to try it too. You can't land safely if you can't see the ground because the sun has gone down. Maybe next time, buddy. Beautiful weather, fun activity, gorgeous sunset. :)

Conference Legos!!

 It's a tradition in our family that when General Conference comes on, the legos come out! Even when we're away from home, like we were last year for Easter/Conference, there were still legos. We spread out some blankets, which makes for easy clean-up, and then we dump the legos out. Dad usually makes semi trucks, tanks or helicopters, and Canon and Raegan make RV's, houses, or apartment complexes with flower gardens for me. :)
This year, Dad decided to be the older brother Canon never had and incessantly run over his lego guys with semi trucks. So every time Dad ran over his guy, Canon would say," Dad!! Quit running over my lego guys!" And Dad would say, " Get your lego guy out of the road!" And then Canon would respond," That's not even the road!" Yep....sounds like a couple of brothers to me. :) So glad we're sitting around listening to prophets, seers and revelators talk about getting along, seeking forgiveness and the power of the Atonement. :)