Mount Graham Trip for the Birthday

For Nicole's birthday we decided to head up to Mount Graham and let the girls play in the steams.

Here is Breanna striking a pose for the camera.

Ashley having some fun playing in the steam.

I saved the best picture for last.

Nicole was out in the middle of the steam playing around. All of a sudden she noticed a spider sitting on a log. She tried to run out of the steam but she saw another spider blocking her path. She turned to go up stream, another one. She turned to go down steam and yet another one. She freaked out. She was surrounded by spiders and couldn't get past them. She stood in the middle of the steam screaming. Ashley came to her rescue and tried to lead her to the edge. I kept telling her to run out of the steam as quick as she could and the spiders couldn't catch her. There was no logic sinking in, she was to scared. Finally, Ashley was able to lead her towards the edge and she bolted out of the steam and started down the path back to the car. She went so far down the path we lost sight of her. She must have realized we didn't follow her because she came back to where we were. This is when the photo was taken. She is still screaming at the top of her lungs because she was so scared.

I was worried about running into a bear, but after that I know they all fled. I'm very proud of Ashley for running into the spider infested area to save her sister.

After the steam we ate lunch by the Pursley's cabin and the girls swung on the rope swing. With so much snow this winter the deck on the cabin broke. You can see where the deck was attached to the cabin.

Nicole's 6th Birthday

Nicole woke us up first thing in the morning so she could open her presents. She has been counting down the days till it would be her 6th birthday. Well it's here Nicole, Happy Birthday!

Nicole with her favorite birthday gift, Jilly the Zue Zue pet.

Here is part of Nicole's birthday loot.

What a sweet girl. Your family loves you Nicole.

The day before

I baked Nicole's cake today. She wanted a doll shaped Belle cake. You can see the dolls top half on the table. The cake pan used 1.5 packages of cake mix. With the remaining mix I made this mini pre-birthday cake. We added a candle and sang Happy Birthday to Nicole a few times.

She felt so special.

We are moving

Brian had an interview with the district manager over the Chase lending in Mesa today. And guess what? We are moving back to Mesa!!! I'm so excited. I love and miss Mesa.
Now comes the NOT fun parts. 1) getting our house ready for sale, 2) selling the house, 3) finding a new house to live in, and 4) moving in the middle of an AZ summer to the capital of heat.

Wish us luck on this next chapter for our family.

Kindergarten Graduation

Today was Nicole's kindergarten graduation. Out of all my kids Nicole is the only one who had a kindergarten graduation. The school didn't put this on, the teacher did. Nicole was really lucky to have Mrs. Vining for her teacher this year. She is a really good teacher and loves her students, and Nicole loves her.

This is her after the graduation in the front office. The girl behind her is Nicole's BFF Mattie.

Hairdressing party

Bre had a hairdressing party for her little sisters to get them ready for church.

Last night Nicole got really sick. She was so bad she ended up sitting on the toilet while she puked into a bucket we put in front of her. When she would stand up she would scream that her belly hurt. Her face was as white as a sheet and if she drank anything, up it came. Poor girl, we didn't know what to do for her.

Socks and Cats

I ran across this scene tonight while I was checking on the kids. For some reason cats LOVE Ashley. Usually when the mother cat is in the house for the night she sleeps right next to Ashley. This was a first for a cat to sleep on Ashley. I wonder what it is about her over the other two girls they like so much. All 3 girls love the cat and kittens as much as their siblings. But there is differently something about Ashley that cats love.

I wonder if it's just cats or all animals. We don't have any other pets (other then a Betta fish) so I don't know.

I made Nicole 10 pair of decorated socks for her birthday coming up here shortly. This is a pair with frog ribbon. The girls love this frog ribbon and have several hair pretties made that will match it. Other pairs have white lace, beads, or different colored ribbon. Nicole is asleep in this photo, I snuck into her room to try the sock on and see how it fit stretched out a little bit on the leg.

When Breanna was young and it was her birthday I would buy her lots of toys. I thought she needed lots of toys to be happy. I learned over the years to instead buy a few select toys that you know they will actually play with. Their room is cleaner because they don't have an overflow of toys coming out of the toy box or shelves. Instead I made it a point to buy/make gift that are sentimental or that the child needs along with a few good toys, because they are still kids.

Temple Open House

Today I took the girls through the Gila Valley Temple open house again because this is the last week. This will be the third time the girls have been through the open house. I wanted to take them as many times as possible. The more they go, the more they will see new things and the images be imprinted in their mind.
When I was in the temple Celestial Room I got another confirmation that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. I also had the feeling that our family was to move to Mesa again. I had that feeling a few days ago after a prayer.

The second time the girls went through was May 6th. They went through this time with the Daley family, Grandma & Grandpa Mayberry, Seth, Rachel's family, Gib's family (minus Jace).

The first time we went through as a family on the day the open house opened, April 30th.

I wish I would have taken them more. I hope they remember the beauty of the temple. But mostly I hope they remember the sweet feeling one receives when entering the temple. And the feeling is going to be even stronger after it's dedicated to the Lord.

Brian's surgery

Today was Brian's surgery for his torn meniscus (knee). This photo was taken with a cell phone so it's not the best. I just had to capture Brian with a blue bonnet on. Actually when I was taking this photo we were cracking up. I had to keep telling him to look serious. I took a few photos and this is the only one where he isn't laughing.

His surgery went really well and he was able to go home an hour after his surgery. He wanted to walk out but I made him use the crutches. Now he's off to bed and catching up on some sleep.

Cast Pictures

Saturday night cast pictures of The Jungle Book

Ashley is the monkey flashing the peace sign with tan pants in the front row.

Nicole is in the back row with the striped pants.

They had their cast pictures before the show.

After the show was the cast party, which means lots of sweets for children at 9:00 at night.

Tonight Ester, Claire, Allison, Anna, Aunt Suzy and Grandma (Lavee) Mayberry came to the show.

The Daley's were in town most of today because Breanna, Amy and Beth had Temple Cultural Celebration (TCC) practice at the EAC football field. When this play was going on they were able to participate in a 6 or 7 stake dance on the football field. Breanna met some cousins for the first time and there were many there she didn't meet. Breanna had a really good time and didn't want to leave.

Help me sew

Grandma Mayberry helped Ashley sew a small bag with some cat fabric she has been saving.

All the sewing of the bag Ashley and my mom did together. Ashley sat on my mom's lap while my mom controlled the foot pedal.

In this photo my mom is putting on the button. Ashley didn't help with this step.

And because tomorrow is Mother's Day I gave my mom and Brian's mom their gifts today when they were at my house. I cut out the Gila Valley Temple in vinyl for each. I discovered a website that had all the LDS temples in SVG formats available to buy for around $8.00. Brian wouldn't have let me spend that much money on another SVG file, but the temple he said go ahead.

This is the vinyl with the backing still on ready to go home to it's new house. Looks really nice. Ester and I are ordering 10 yard rolls of vinyl in different colors. When I get that vinyl, I will cut myself a temple like this and place it in the corner of my large black mirror that hangs in the front room.

Ashley's Track Meet

The Thatcher Jack Daley Primary School had their annual 1st grade track meet today.

Each child was able to participate in 3 activities.

Notice above how Ashley gets whacked in the head with the baton during the trade off. I didn't notice it at first because I was looking at Ashley, the boy handing the baton to Ashley is holding his pants up.

Catching some air.

She participated in the jump rope (6th place), 50 yard dash class relay (seen in photos, her class won) and the backwards race (2nd place).

She wanted to wear her softball shoes so she can run fast. I was against it but, Brian said let her do it if that's what she wants. He's right, it doesn't hurt anything. I do wish she would have let me put her hair in a ponytail. She told me she had done her hair pretty the last three days and she wasn't going to do it today.

OK, I get the message.

And yes, she picks out her own clothes she's going to wear to school. Most of the time I let her wear her sense of style unless it's just really bad, then I have to intervene. 

After the meet I took her to Denny's and Brian met us there for lunch. She had a fun day.

The Jungle Book opening night

For the spring semester of the children's theater at Eastern Arizona College they preformed The Jungle Book.

Ashley is a monkey.

Ashley danced on center stage in front of all the monkeys for one song.

Ashley's line, "we're tired of monkeying around".

Nicole is a flower.

 

I had a lady (who I don't know) that Nicole was the only flower that she and her husband could hear and understand her part.

Nicole's line, "I wonder where Baloo went".

Brian, Breanna and I were there on opening night.

It was a very cute play. If we move back to Mesa I will miss being able to watch my kids perform, they love it so much.

Gymnastics photos

 Today is gymnastics photo day. Nicole was trying to get me to take a million photos of her. Ashley was busy playing with her friends and didn't notice me. And Breanna didn't want a photo taken.

Their gymnastics class is held in the indoor garden center of the old Walmart. Gymnastics used to be located in downtown Safford, across the street from the post office. I"m glad to see something else go into the old Walmart so the building doesn't sit empty. Sparks Home Store is on the other side of the building, next to Bashas. There is nothing in the middle at this time. A few months ago they installed a new glass door in the middle of the building so another tenant can rent that space. The tire & lube shop has a fitness gym.