Family Camping Vacation

The kids were on fall break so we decided to take a family vacation to Flagstaff where the weather is much cooler. On the way we stopped and took the kids to Legoland Dicsovery Center in Phoenix.

They loved riding on the rides and Easton and Chad's favorite was the car building and testing area. They were in heaven.

I am not sure who had more fun Chad or the kids. He built them an awesome playhouse.

Then we headed to our beautiful campsite and the kids favorite was the creek! Actual water outside! Not something they are used to in Tucson. They could have played there all day everyday.

We found a chunk of bark that was the perfect boat to float down the creek and catch downstream. We spent hours doing this.

They also were fascinated by all of the fall leaves and had to walk in them every chance they got.

The next day we went to the Lava Tube Cave.

They did so good and made it all the way to the end and back! William shocked us all and walked a majority of the way he thought it was so fun to walk with flashlights.

Then we headed to the Flagstaff Pioneer Museum.

The next way we went to Walnut Canyon to check out the cliff dwellings. The kids Love doing the Junior Ranger Programs at the State and National Parks and on this one they had to count how many stairs down into the canyon. 440! And William the little trooper did all of them.

They all did amazing and we got only one complaint on the way back up the stairs. Lydia was tired but a promise of ice cream and that girl ran back up. She definitely earned that ice cream.

The following day we went to the Aquaplex and went swimming. They had a fun park/splash pad and water slides. The kids had a blast. Afterwards they went rock climbing. Sophie got all the way to the top. Lydia was a fast climber up the wall. And Easton climbed for a really long time and tried several hard courses. He got 3/4 of the way up on one of the medium courses we were so impressed!

To end our trip we visited Montezuma's Well and Castle. They kids did the Ranger programs there and we learned a lot about how they watered their crops using the natural well water that pumps thousands of gallons of water out every day. It was cool the see their irrigation lines still running.

We had a such a great time camping and enjoying the forest we didn't want to come home. We loved learning new things and discovering our kiddos are quite the troopers!

 

The Past Month

The Pima Air and Space Museum had a activity night for kids that we took our kiddos to. Grandma and Grandpa Clayton were volunteering there so we got to see them too. They had to complete a list of activities and then they earned a prize.

We also took them to a back to school event at the mall hosted by the Tucson Police Department.

They were especially excited about the free candy cane sticks at the candy store.

August 3rd was my Grandpa Miller's 91st Birthday. We all visited him and had cupcakes.

On the 12th we were able to go to the Tucson Temple Cultural Celebration. We got to see Logan, Nate and Brianna perform. Chad was a General and led the kids on and off the field. It was such a great show the kids did an amazing job.

Sophie got to come with Chad and I to the Temple Dedication. She was so excited to come and it was fun to be able to bring her with us.

We had our first scary desert visitor a few weeks ago. We have had a ton of quail, bunnies, road runners, cardinals, great horned owls, and coyote. But this was a Rattlesnake! Yuck!

I feel like William is growing up so fast. He wants so badly to be one of the big kids that he just thinks he is one. He likes to try and dress himself and refuses to drink out of sippy cups. He his constantly pushing a chair over to the counter and climbing up to help himself. The other day he got on the counter, pulled a plate out of the cupboard and placed a large stack of cookies on it. He also thinks he is a great little helper.

Chad was installing a faucet and William would climb up and get a tool for him and climb down and hand it to him. 

Tonight he was building with his blocks and he built a train all by himself. He was so proud!

First Day of School

A couple of weeks ago the girls got to meet their new teachers at their new school. Lydia is now a first grader and Sophie is in third grade.

They were pretty nervous about going to a new school this year but their teachers are so sweet they were all smiles after meet the teacher night.

Last Monday was their first day of school! 

They had a great first day and they love that they get to go to school with our neighbor who is the same age as Lydia.

Summer Activities

We had a nest of baby Desert Finch on our front door this spring/summer. It was fun to see the little birds grow up.

Out of the 3 babies 2 survived. We are not sure what happened to the other. But it was fun since all of us got to see them take their first flight! We walked out our front door and they flew past all of us to their mom and dad in the yard.

We have been enjoying going to library story time with Aunt Sarah, Jackson and Gavin. 

After we head across the street and visit with Grumpa Miller. The kids enjoyed playing cards with him and he even gave Lydia a hard time since she won the game. He claimed she was cheating haha. 

For a couple of weeks in the summer Aunt Kimberly and Aunt Aimee came to visit and the kids were so excited to play with their cousins! We went to the International Wildlife Museum.

 

They had fun sleepovers and the boys enjoyed hanging out together.

No baby was harmed in the making of this photo no worries,

And William thought pedicure night was so much fun he just had to help Aunt Kim.

We were also able to volunteer at the Tucson Temple open house and we took all of the kids on a tour as well. 

Lydia lost her first tooth! She was so nervous about someone pulling it out but ended up pulling it out all by herself! She lost her second one a couple of weeks later when Sophie accidently hit her with a toy.

Sarah and I did summer movie passes so we got to take the kids to the theater every week. The kids loved it but Gavin and William were a bit a of a handful. We had to wrestle them a bit.

On Fourth of July we went to Grandma and Grandpa Miller's for yummy food, homemade ice cream, and swimming!

And for the last night of summer break we went to Golf and Stuff with Grandma Clayton.

We had such a fun summer!