Visiting Page and Great Grandma and Grandpa Moore

C'mon Grandpa! I said this was the "crazy pose" picture!

Thanks for your hospitality, Grandma and Russel.

We told the girls they could tell their friends we went to Utah over the weekend because this little dinosaur museum is actually in Big Water, UT, near the AZ/UT border. Quite a few universities and conservation groups have done digs in the Staircase Escalante Nat'l Park. They've found lots of different dinosaur fossils, and some of them are on display at this little museum.

I had never been in Lake Powell prior to this trip. I've driven by it many times, but we never stopped to play. The water was a little chilly, but bearable and there were TONS of tourists around. We went an hour without hearing anyone else speak English. And even then, it was with a British accent!

We visited a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Moore. We did a "movie at the park", the dinosaur museum, lots of card games, and a BBQ with Uncle Darrell and Aunt Lena.

Good times, good memories!

Sunset Crater and Wupatki Nat'l Monument

By the time we figured out where we wanted to be at the crater, it started pouring down rain. Not usually a problem for us Arizonans who are rain-starved. But this rain was accompanied by some pretty severe, too-close-for-comfort lightening. This was the only picture I got outside the car because some of us (you know who you are :) were scared! We did get a chance to go through the visitor's center and learn a little about the volcanoes in the area. Very interesting.

Seriously...check out the size of those drops! It got to the point where we couldn't see 25 ft in front of us and the windshield wipers were full speed.

We got out ahead of the storm and were able to stop at the Wupatki Indian Ruins. We didn't learn too much about these ruins because we knew the rain ( and lightening ;) wasn't too far away. We ran through the ruins snapping as many pictures as we could and figured we could learn about it on the internet, right?

Hard to believe these ruins are just out in the middle of nowhere.

Here comes the rain! Hmmmm...is that Dad already in the car? Poor Raegan was left to fend for herself. :) We had a little more time at the other ruins to read and explore. It was a great side trip on our way up to Page to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Moore.

Montezuma's Castle

We took a few trips this month before the girls had to go back to school. We always pass so many national parks in a hurry to get where we're going. So this time we decided to stop along the way and visit these places we always see the turn off signs for, but never visit.
Our first stop was Montezuma's Castle, which was on our way to Flagstaff. It was named for an Aztec chief, but the Sinagua Indians were actually the ones who built it and lived there. And it's not really a castle, but a multi-level dwelling for several families. These aren't the only ruins, just the best preserved.


We called this the camouflage tree because the bark reminds us of army fatigues. :) Everyone wanted their picture in front of it, I'm not sure why.

Beaver Creek- Neither Canon nor Dad was ready for this photo op.
We have to be the loudest tourists. It was such a peaceful, quiet place until we got there.

Through this whole trip, it was amazing to see how many foreigners there were visiting these sights. I never realized that people who live in England would want to visit Montezuma's Castle like I want to see Stone Henge.

We like to learn about past cultures and people because it helps us realize that the world is a lot bigger place than our immediate surroundings and keeps things in perspective. What will they say years from now about us?

Camping

This past weekend, we escaped the heat and went camping on the Mogollon Rim. Our campsite, which was near perfect, was by Kehl Springs and Milk Ranch Point.

When we camp, we do the true camping: tents, tarps, sleeping bags, and homemade swings. We also have a lot of fun. We like to bring card games and sit around and make fun of eachother (in an endearing way :) We went with my family, which is fun because most of the kids have someone near their age to play with. Good memories!

We got some rain while we were up there and it cooled everything off nicely. This was a beautiful view from the top of the rim looking down on Camp Geronimo.

Isn't this one of the cutest pictures? I think Canon was getting tickled on the homemade swing.

Now that all the work is done, it's time to sit, relax and have a snack!
We did have one night where it rained most of the night. The ground wasn't too wet when we woke up, but after a rousing game of soccer, there was enough dirt on the kids' shoes to make me think we would never get it out!

Awwwwww! He's so cute. Canon carried that hammer around and hit things like he'd seen Dad do when he pounded the tent pegs into the ground. In this picture, he's trying to figure out what kind of force field is protecting Aubree.

Being sick is NO FUN!!

Guess who we had visit our house this past week? A Strep Throat bug! I'm not sure where we got it, but Canon came down with it first and it's been moving it's way up through the family by weight. Canon suffered with it for 3 days before we figured out what it was. He started on Sat last week, then Raegan got it Tues morning, Kiesten Tues night, and Rylee got it Thurs night of last week. Everyone who's had it is feeling better, although we still have to take medication until Fri. Aubree, Scott and I haven't had it yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. :(

Everyone threw up with this bug, so Canon felt like he needed to carry around a pot. Poor guy!

Memorial Day

We had a pretty mild spring this year. Temperatures were in the low eighties until the end of May with just a few really hot days. Memorial Day was one of those hot days. We were creeping up on the 100's. So we cooled off by running in the sprinklers. :) I love the smile on Canon's face in this picture!

C'mon Canon...you're going to love it! I promise!

Canon was a fraidy cat at first. It took a little while for him to warm up to the idea that being sprayed in the face with cold water was going to be fun. But we won him over in the end.

Medals and certificates for everyone!!!

At the end of the school year, Legacy has an awards ceremony for the jr. high and the elementary school. We knew Kiersten would be receiving an award because she'd been working on getting straight A's all year. But we were pleasantly surprised when we started hearing our other girls called up for various awards or certificates. :) Aubree was awarded a certificate for her service on student council as the secretary and a medal for honor roll.
She also maintained all her Lion's Pride points throughout the school year. This is the point system that qualifies you to participate in Lion's Pride days at the end of each semester. Points are taken away for chewing gum or talking in class, etc. And it's the second year she's kept all her points the whole year.
WAY TO GO AUBREE!!

Kiersten was also awarded a certificate for her participation in student council as class representative and going "above and beyond" her duties by volunteering for projects and being at every meeting.
This is her medal for Principal's Pride which meant that she maintained straight A's through every grading period. She also tested into Algebra as a 7th grader, which she is very proud of.


Rylee surprised us by receiving a certificate for her work on the student council as Historian and going "above and beyond" with her volunteerism. Only one boy and one girl were chosen from each grade for this honor, and we got the girl from 4th and 6th! AWESOME!! The picture is a little blurry, but you can see Rylee 3rd from left and Kiersten in the middle receiving their award.
Rylee was also awarded the medal for Principal's Pride. They all worked really hard for their grades and Dad and I are super proud of them!



Here was another surprise: Raegan got Honor Roll??? Huh? I was shocked when she, too, was called up to receive a medal for her grades. We were just trying to make it through the first year with her, and she pulls off something like this! Honor Roll means you maintained A's and B's the whole year. She had some B's in math at the beginning of the year, but by the last quarter, had pulled up every grade to an A!! You know what that means? ICECREAM!!