A SPECIAL WEEKEND IN PHOENIX

I was so excited this summer for August 1st. My cousin Monica and her family had chosen that day as the day they were going to be sealed in the Gilbert, Arizona temple. Saturday morning, Monica and Shawn had to go quite early for their endowment session and so I watched all of the girls. We had a very fun morning together. They played hide and seek and played with the Kindle together. We had several hours to kill, but they managed to have fun even though it was obvious that Annabelle and Shannyn couldn't wait to be sealed to their parents.

When we finally got to drop off the girls at the temple, I made Stella walk around while I took a few pictures. It was HOT and also HUMID. I had never been to Arizona when it was humid and it was quite a shock. Stella was like: "Mom, why am I all wet?" She was a trooper, but she wanted to be inside the temple so we went in and waited. I had decided to leave her by herself while I was gone for the sealing. She was very nervous but I knew she would be okay, and she was.

The sealing was seriously amazing. The sealer was very tender and as they finally were able to kneel at the altar together I was almost smacked by the spirit. It was really neat. I even mumbled under my breath "woah" because it kind of took me by surprise.

After the sealing everyone let me take some pictures to commemorate the day. The Gilbert Temple is a really beautiful temple.

That afternoon after lunch everyone rested while I watched the kiddos. We got pretty creative and those girlies had a good time. Then we went and had something to eat and drive by the temple to see it at night. It was really pretty but I had my "cheap" camera so I couldn't get the pictures I would normally want.

For the next few days we stayed at the Haywards' house. They weren't there for most of the visit so it was pretty quiet. Stella had the best time hanging out in the fancy pool. I had a good time doing a little shopping and hanging out in Scottsdale which I always love. It was a fun little trip.

One of the beautiful desert nights we spent in the pool trying to play a little water tennis. Of course I was trying to capture the perfect action shot, so what I ended up with was too many pictures. But it was such a nice, lovely night I don't mind all the photographic reminders.

KICKIN' IT AT LAGOON

We decided, kind of last minute to enjoy the excitement of Stake Lagoon Day with Asher and Lindsey. We got there a little bit later in the day and we had tons of fun. Stella doesn't remember the other time I took her to Lagoon, so for her it was all new. I get a kick out of the nostalgia factor of Lagoon, and bless that park I love how much they have kept the same for years.

Of course we go on the ride that scares Stella the most first thing. We went on this spinning dragon ride, a ride not unlike one I've been on many times so I thought it would be no big deal. Stella hated it! As it spun around and around we were both getting sick and then it stops, only to start going backwards! By the time if finally eneded we were all a bit queasy. And for the rest of the day Stella was pretty freaked out about the rides, although I have to hand it to her...she was incredibly brave ALL day!

I love taking Stella on all the classic rides that I went on as a kid. I have pictures of me on all these old favorites and it tickles me to see her on them. I also love that after all these years they are still using the same gross arrow hand stamps that end up looking like giant blobs of ink on your hand. Seriously, it is the same stamp from when I was like 10 or even younger!

Stella my brave girl even went on rides I WOULD NOT go on as a kid. Like the Terror Ride! She went on it, and I didn't go on that thing until I was like 14. She was so sad when she wasn't tall enough to go on Wild Mouse. She really wanted to try all the rides, even though like, the umbrella ride...she didn't like them all. Of course I was the most scared of the chair lifts that go accross the park, did I mention my extreme fear of chair lifts? :)

We had a fun day and we stayed until the park closed. We thought we had another hour and then bam! All the rides were closing. We were bummed, but we were pretty tired and we headed home. It was a fun day!