in the lovely month of may

Our anniversary often falls within a couple of days of Mother's Day.

It is a great arrangement.

Last week, Cori and I celebrated 9 years together. We met up after tee ball practice and took the family out for Chinese food. We couldn't manage to get anything more exciting planned with our calendar (and pregnancy) as it is this month. There were flowers and gifts. I love Cori so much. Though I had no qualms with our simple celebration, we've already started talking about the big 10 year anniversary as a type of compensation. 

A couple of days later, it was Mother's Day. 

Cori and the children gifted me 120 glorious minutes with a massage therapist on Saturday morning.

Cori and I had a date at the Temple that night. 

And Sunday was a huge treat as neither Cori nor I had a single extra meeting to attend.

I am one lucky girl being a wife and mother in this family. So grateful!

***UPDATE***

 Last night, I dreamt about the Temple. It was on my mind when I awoke, hence the little post earlier today.

Something else that happened last night- Grace woke us a couple of times. She had a flaming fever and was not feeling well. So I kept her home from school today. We were getting ready to have lunch and get Grant off to preschool and Eden down for her nap when the texts started buzzing away on my phone. The crowds were gathering at the church. Angel Moroni was going up!

We grabbed our shoes and loaded into the car for the short drive to the Temple site. We got there just as they were placing the stone piece upon which the Moroni statue would rest (pictured left).

The Temple grounds were semi-accessible and Moroni was on display and made available for photographs. After we took our turn with him, we retreated to the shade of the church building to watch the progress.

 This photo! Oh, I wanted it so badly. My hands were shaking, and my heart was ready to explode.

It took a while, but at last, the statue was attached to the crane. It began what we thought was its ascent to the top of the Temple.

 But then it was lowered again for a photo op with all of the construction workers. They all removed their hard hats and cheered as it started its way into the sky.

Again, it took a while to get things into place. The workers made at least two attempts threading the grounding wire down through the tower properly. By this point, the sun had moved so far across the sky that our shade was gone. It was hot. My little crowd was pretty restless and my braxton hicks contractions were turning into one giant contraction. So we loaded back into the car to head home. 

 I drove through the neighborhood on our way out to catch a glimpse of the finished work. And just like that, he was up! Hurray!

This afternoon was a little dream come true and I was SO grateful that Gracie was home with us.

all the panels are up

The Phoenix Temple is coming right along.

We are all anxiously awaiting the Angel Moroni's arrival.

Grant and Eden and I paid a special visit one breezy morning.

I love that our children get to see this building every Sunday when we go to Church.

The dedication is still a year out, at least.

Can't wait!

Gymfest

Gracie's gymnastics studio holds a gymfest every year. It is a gymnastics meet where the kids get to perform little routines on all of the apparatus and are adjudicated by members of PGA's competition team. Everyone gets an all around medal, and a ribbon for each routine (white-good, red-better, blue-best). They also get a shiny team leotard. This was most exciting to Grace. 

Grant and Eden went to a friend's house to play so Cori and I could go. This was also most exciting to Grace. Oldest children don't get this kind of time with both parents very often! 

The gymnasium is pretty big and there were lots of people there. We did our best to get some good pictures, but the distance made it a little tough. 

She came away with a blue ribbon on bars, vault and beam and a red ribbon on floor. Grace has almost passed off all of her level 1 requirements. She still loves it so much. 

They marched the gymnasts into the gymnasium in small groups. I think the girls were instructed to smile and wave. Grace owned it like an olympian. Smiling and waving in front of a crowd of applauding people is right up her ally.

Saluting after her routine on bars

The only place she needed a little hands-on help, hence the red ribbon on floor. Kick overs are tricky. :)

Running to the vault

Finishing up on beam.

Medal salute!

field trips

Grace and Grant both had field trips to the Phoenix Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium in the week after our Disney World trip. This field trip has always been a huge highlight for Grant. He was so happy being there with his friends. Eden was pretty happy being there too. The day was hot and dusty. We got to do all his favorite things before we headed home: Carousel, log ride, and feeding the giraffes. He wore his preschool shirt from last year. It was oversized on him last time, and barely kept his tummy covered up this time. Hard to believe how fast things can change.

...with his best buddy Parker...

Grant's trip to UT with Cori put me in a very unique position to be able to go with Grace on her field trip at the end of that week. I couldn't be a regular chaperone because I had Eden with me. But I was able to be a part of her group. There are always plenty of parents on these trips, and Gracie's 'group' consisted of one other girl and the girl's mom. We had a great day. The chaperone mom and I became fast friends, and Grace and her partner were very like minded in the things they wanted to do. This made zoo trip no. 3 in the course of one week for me and Eden. So I let her chill in the shade of the stroller with my phone for entertainment for most of our time there. Grace and her partner worked quickly on their worksheets and we got to do a few things I've never done at this zoo including the boat tour and bird feeding. I also had some time to visit with Grace's teacher, and I always love seeing my girl with her friends. People make her so happy.

green grass and soccer jerseys

Grace completed her second little soccer season at her school. The first season had a couple of rained out practices and Gracie was sick the weekend of the tournament. So we were happy for another shot at it. She looked forward to her Friday afternoon practices and it was fun watching her at the tournament. Her team won their match. The final medal round was based on point differential and Grace's team just missed out. Maybe next time!