this pretty much sums up eden lately

fall colors, az pallet

While Autumn colors are blooming on trees elsewhere, Phoenix undergoes its own special transformation. Fields and plants that have been on the verge of shriveling away to dust come back to life. Lawns are overseeded, and the winter rye sprouts up bright green. The Texas Sage bushes (pictured above) that are planted prolifically through out our area fill up with lavender blossoms at the same exact moment. It is like nature's way of apologizing for these final hot days.

blessings

The Church World Wide Day of Service was this last Saturday. A member of our ward organized a HUGE project to beautify both sides of a 1 mile stretch of road that leads to the new temple grounds. This project has been a year in the making and full of little mercies and big miracles. In a stake meeting today, the project organizer said that by his estimates, if the job had been bid out, the work and supplies would have cost $400,000. Countless hours along with 10's of 1,000's of dollars worth of materials were donated. The project was organized so well. Trees were trimmed. Thousands of tons of new crushed granite were spread. Miles of roadside brush was weeded away. Tractors, dump trucks, and water sprayers worked all day long. It was so neat to be a small part of it. I couldn't help but contrast the feeling of driving down this street yesterday to that of driving down the street during the days of the black balloon protests. Or to the days when the protesters had their sign outside the church and cars would honk in support of them as they drove by (and we were in sacrament meeting). The feeling yesterday was peace. Joy. Friendship. Members of the community who had raised their hands in protest to the building of the Temple raised their tools and worked with us. We have heard of individuals who had adamantly opposed the building of the Temple that expressed gratitude for the Church at the end of this project, and who told members that they were glad the Temple was going to be in their neighborhood. Service is so amazing. My heart is full of gratitude for a loving Savior who lived his entire life this way.

the end of the birthday season

Gracie's new 6-year-old smile. It is hard for her smile in such a way that does not show things off.

I mentioned how I was wanting to make our children's birthday dreams come true after our low key celebrations last year. Grant wanted to keep things simple. Grace saw the green light and started running. Her plans were to start at Pump it Up (a party place with lots of large inflated bouncey things and obstacle courses) and then finish up at Peter Piper Pizza. The guest list included her friends from school, dance, and church. After crunching a few numbers and a reality check, Grace and I compromised on another plan.

Her real birthday was on a holiday weekend and a few of her friends were out of town, so we celebrated the day family style.

   

The birthday kid always gets to choose what we eat for the day. Grace chose McGriddles and the play place for breakfast. Lunch was hot dogs and pesto. Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs with the missionaries. 

That night, we opened up some gifts from Grant and Eden.

Her birthday party was the following Saturday. It was a puppy themed affair. Once everyone was there we had 12 kids- a nice cross section of church, school, and the neighborhood. A couple of the moms stayed and I was so glad for their help. Even with the extra hands, I didn't get many pictures taken. We started out with a little face paint.

We decorated puppy cupcakes.

And all the kids took a timed run through a doggy obstacle course. 

And then we had hot dogs with home made mac and cheese and pesto (again - her choice!) for dinner. The crowd spent some quality time playing with the dozens of balloons we added to the 40 or so that were still remaining from Grants birthday. And then all the little puppies went home with doggie bags filled with bracelets, pencils, stickers and chow (muddy buddies, which have always looked like dog food to me). Grace was a happy girl that night.

The birthday season isn't officially over for us until we make our pilgrimage to the doctor for the big birthday check up. The kids' birthdays are all close enough that I make their appointments for the same day. Everyone gets weighed and measured and checked together. Everyone gets his/her flu shot in the same sitting. It is a lovely thing. Eden had had her appointment earlier, but finished up her immunizations. The G's are looking good. Grace's measurements are all around the 50th percentile. Grant's measurements put his height in the 75th percentile and his weight in the 50th. 

new portraits on the wall

firsts and fairies

Poor Grace was starting to worry that she would be the last child she knew to loose a tooth. She was ecstatic when the tooth started loosening up while we were on our little Fall getaway. But that excitement wore off quickly.

The tooth came out October 5. I was away on a Church assignment and missed all the action. But reportedly, Grace was tired of the wiggly interference being there and asked Cori to pull it out. He tried with his fingers, then with a tissue, then with a pair of tweezers all to no avail. Grace continued to complain. Cori told her the only thing left to try was a pair of pliers. She said, "No way!" and Cori was glad because he didn't want to try that either. But then five minutes later she changed her mind. She really wanted that baby out. So Cori had her lay on the couch and before she knew what happened the deed was done! And because Cori is so awesome, he thought to take a picture.

The tooth fairy had her work cut out for her that night. Grace is so pragmatic about make believe things. She asks us very direct questions about what is real and what is not. We decided before we had her that we would answer honest questions honestly. And, for the most part, we have. (Not giving up on Santa Claus yet) The truth is always given with the clear explanation that we want to keep the fun alive for other children and that she is part of it now too. We had talked about the tooth fairy some time before. Grace had asked the direct question. We asked her what she thought. She said that she knew fairies are make believe, so she didn't think the tooth fairy was real. And the idea of a tooth fairy didn't make a lot of sense to her. I told her that the tooth fairy is a fun tradition to keep up and wasn't she curious to see what would be under her pillow after she lost her first tooth? To which she responded, "Yeah, but I know that the tooth fairy isn't really real. Just so you know."

Fast forward to October 5th. Cori and I gathered up a dollar bill, a bag of gold glitter, and the precious little tooth fairy pillow my mom gave me, and headed into Grace and Grant's room. We felt under Grace's pillow - where she had been instructed to leave her treasure laden envelope - and found nothing. We searched her covers, under the bed, inside her pillow case. Still no trace. I was so sad. Just before we tucked in for the night, Cori found the envelope in Gracie's jewelry box. The tooth was put in a special bag and tucked in the pocket of the tooth fairy pillow with the cashola. Under her pillow it went, along with a generous sprinkling of sparkles. She was sufficiently surprised in the morning. Grace had put her tooth in her jewelry box because she wanted to keep it. You know, so she could put it in the mystery bag for school the next time it was her turn. She wasn't interested in trading for money. So she was very grateful to have the tooth back. And maybe a little impressed with her "tooth fairy."

In our NP Passports: Tonto Natural Bridge and Montezuma Castle

 Just a very short drive from Strawberry is the Tonto Natural Bridge National Park. We ate our picnic lunch...

 peeked through the peep hole at the top of the bridge...

 and headed out for the little hike that leads to the base of the bridge.

 The stone arch is "believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world." So says the official website. It was certainly the largest natural travertine bridge we've ever seen.

 We climbed around the super slippy rocks inside the cavernous bridge for a while. The ascent back up to the parking lot was a lot more work than hiking down, but we all made it! I was especially proud of Gracie who carried a water pack the whole afternoon.

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 We took the long way back to the cabin and enjoyed a few miles of the Mogollon Rim. 

 No stamps for the passports here, but in our explorations we found a ranger fire lookout tower. The woman working there has been a fire lookout ranger for over twenty years. She let us climb up to her treetop office, pet her puppy, look through her binoculars at the column of smoke she had just reported, AND gave the kids some Smoky Bear gift bags. It was pretty hazy that day, but the tower still offered quite a view!

 The rim is mostly unpaved which made for a very leisurely drive. We were driving slow enough to spot a tarantula crossing the path. Cori offered to secure it in the bug catcher so we could bring it home. I offered to throw the bug catcher out the window if it had a tarantula in it. Grace got really brave and followed it down the road for a few steps.

 There are hundreds little dirt roads that split off from the main trail, all leading to pockets of campsites. One campsite was right on the edge of the rim. We made a little note of it. It would be an amazing place to spend a few nights. You know, once all the little ones are about 15 years older...

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 Our last National Park visit was the Montezuma Castle National Monument. It is a twenty apartment cliff dwelling that was built by the ancient Sinagua people over a thousand years ago. 

 We spent about an hour walking the 3/4 mile loop, reading the signs and trying to spot all the other little cliff dwellings we could.

Eden took advantage of the open space and the limestone amphitheater to run and yell like a wild banshee child. It was close to closing and the crowds were on the way out, so we let her. 

fall getaway 2011: Strawberry, AZ

For as long as we will live in AZ, I hope we will make this fall trip happen. Both times it has been perfect timing for cooler weather and a little break from the everyday falderal. This year we went to a little a-frame cabin in Strawberry. Here is a look at what we did around the lodgings:

 Serious Uno competitions

 Lots of reading

 A birthday celebration. Cori is splendidly easy to shop for.

 More games

 Quiet listening activities during General Conference

 Fun at the playground

 S'mores

And general enjoyment of the perfect weather that happened that weekend. We also went out to dinner, watched a football game, and left the windows (and the front door for a while) wide open. It was such a treat. Next up: the new stamps in our National Parks Passports.