Air Show

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At Luke Air Force Base there was an air show for all the community to see and hear. Since we live like five minutes from the base we decided to go see these spectacular jets flying everywhere. As you can see it had several other events set up for the kids to see and do. The day was long and hot, but we had such fun seeing the different aircrafts around the base.

Frankie and Ana shooting guns..

More jets to see....

Such beautiful Clydesdale horses trottin around for all to see. I love to hear their hooves while they walk. They are amazing....

Utah adventures

For spring break we decided to take a trip to Utah to see the SLC temple. The kids and I have never seen it, so we decided this was a good time as any to finally see this beautiful place. As we arrived on temple square we were amazed at how many people were already there. We toured the Joseph Smith memorial bldg and rode the elevators to the very top to see the view of Salt Lake City itself. I couldn't believe the several mountains peaks around this area that were covered in snow still. We also were able to tour the actual conference center so my kids could see where they broadcast it on tv. They were excited to see the place where our prophet Monson will be speaking to us next month. The tour of this bldg is rather long but we learned alot of history about it. We also saw inside the tabernacle bldg too, and was surprised how the acoustics are inside. We had a great time, but our feet were sure tired by the time we left around 9 pm that night. I can't wait until we can go back, because there is so much more to see and do there that I didn't realize until darkness was upon us.

Visiting Family

Oh we had so much fun going to visit our Aunt Nomi who was down from Pennsylvania to see us. While we were there we were delighted to be able to see our other aunts (Sally&Sandra) too. My grandma Louise was happy to see us and to show us her new place that she is living in now. Many things have changed since we have seen these relatives, but we had a good time chatting and catching up on our different lives. It was a quick trip, so we are quite exhausted now. It was just such a great opportunity to get out of the Phx area for a few days to go visit our old stomping grounds where we grew up in York Valley. I like taking my kids to see where I grew up and know that its a special place to me. We were sad to have to leave and not be able to visit more, but had a wonderful time seeing everyone. My kids were glad to see their cousins again and even camped in the backyard of my moms house.

(above):

Aunt Sandra, Sally, and Gramma Louise

My newest Niece....

Kleeopatra Ezabella Whipple was born on Feb 24, 2009 @ 4 am to my youngest brother David and Autumn. They are stationed in Ft. Carson, Co right now, and sadly we rarely see them. These are just some of the photos of my newest niece that arrived this week. I love all my nieces and nephews, but I wished they lived closer so we could see them more often. We are so blessed.......

My Neices: Vanessa and Alex

These are my neices Vanessa(11yrs) and Alex(7yrs) who belong to my older sister Priscilla. I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with these neices of mine the past couple of days. We decided to head to the Cave Creek area to go exploring and these are some photos of our adventures throughout our day. We did some hiking and found a stream to wade their feet in. They loved getting their feet all muddy and collecting pretty rocks along the way. I love spending time with my neices and being able to make some crazy memories with them.

Heard Museum

This past weekend on Saturday the Phoenix Heard Museum was having a hoop festival. We like going to these Native American events so we went as a family. We were able to visit the grounds of the museum and thats is where these photos were taken. In the first photo Frankie is happily sitting on a piece of petrified wood being displayed. He liked the softness of this rock and just had to sit on it for fun. The next photo is Sabrina also sitting on a piece of petrified wood, but is not to thrilled to have her picture taken on it. In the last photo is Ana using a grinder the Native Americans used to make cornbread and she is holding a big rock to crush the corn with. I like to take my kids to experience their culture every now and then to enhance their knowledge of Native American artifacts. Despite the heat, we all had alot of fun seeing the hoop dancers perform amazing tricks and make interesting hoop designs.

He's off to Iraq now

This is our good family friend Sgt Brinkerhoff who is currently serving in the Air Forces at Luke. He is being deployed to Iraq this week and we were invited to see him off at the airport this week. Along with being sad, but grateful for his service, we were able to join his family to say goodbye... Many of us have family members who serve in the military and we are so thankful for their time they give to our country.

Snowflake, Az trip

This past weekend my kids had a four day weekend break from school, so we decided to take a trip up north to Snowflake. We traveled with our good friend Becky who luckily enough has her parents who live up there so we could stay with them. While on our way up we decided to play in the snow on the side of the road, but the snow was not soft at all. Despite the hard snow we managed to throw a few snowballs at each other and get cold enough to call it quits for the day. Becky's son Daniel loved the snow and followed Frankie everywhere he went. We were able to visit the LDS temple up on the hill too, and it is a magnificent sight to see. We had a such a good time up there that by the time we had to leave we were so sad to say goodbye to her parents who are like grandparents to my kiddos. Snowflake didn't even have that much snow either, which was a surprise to all of us. Anyway we had a great time together and can't wait to go back to visit when there is more snow on the ground to play in.

Sweet Memories

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Our Christmas week in Safford

This year for our Christmas we decided to head to Safford, which is where my mom lives. My younger brother David was able to be there to visit too, so all the more fun with them. Christmas morning was filled with excitement of opening gifts and having David over for most of the morning. Later on in the day I took all seven children to Mt. Graham to play in the snow. Crazy? probably but we had a blast until they were so cold that they wanted to leave. The wind was blowing fierce, so that caused us to only stay for about an hour and half before we left down the mountain. For the rest of the afternoon they just jumped on the trampoline and watched movies while I rested and recooperated from our adventures. Least of all to say we enjoyed visiting with David's two young children Malaysia & David Jr. who we rarely see anyways and they had fun seeing all of us too. My kids were sad to say goodbye to their cousins by the end of the week, but had a great time together while it lasted. By the time we ended up leaving Safford it was snowing outside and it was a beautiful sight to see all the snow falling as we drove back to Phx.

Just us.....X-mas fun

Today we finally put up our tree and had fun together on a Sunday afternoon. Decided to get the camera out to take some silly pics of us while we were in the mood. Not the best ones, but thought we would share what we have so far. Now that Christmas is getting nearer my kids are getting into the spirit and love putting up their art projects made at school on the tree. So to all who have their trees up, well don't you just love all the homemade ornaments from your loved ones. I know I do when I see how proud they are of their creativity just hanging there for all to see. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.....

APS Light Parade

The annual Phx downtown APS light parade was a spectacular sight to see. We enjoy going to this festive event where there are literally thousands of lights to lite up the cool night skies. The kids loved all the entries that were displayed for the hour and half that it lasted. I liked the float of the soilders myself and below it is shown to honor our servicemen. The train float reminded me of my mom who just loves trains, and it was very beautiful as it past by us as you can see. There were so many floats that were amazing, but I posted just a few to give you an idea of what we were able to see last night. Happy Holidays.......

Our Thanksgiving Day...

Our Thanksgiving Day was spent with friends and family nearby this year. The kids loved to help get the side dishes ready for our meal by peeling the eggshells for our potato salad. We started our day out by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in the morning, which was so fun to see together with our friends Becky and Daniel. Later on we headed over to my sister's place to join their family feast. The kids played with their cousins there, and then walked over to the park to play flag football, while we cheered them on. So our day was so fun with those we loved....Hope everyone had a great turkey day.

Mesa Az Temple

For our family home evening night we headed over to Mesa to see the nativity displays inside the visitors center. These are just a few of the beautiful nativities they had from different countries around the world. They were amazing to see how many they had laid out around the room. The temple grounds are also decorated now in their Christmas lights and let me tell you it is a sight to see. My kids and I go see them several times during the holidays and its always fun to see every time we go. They also will be having their nightly concerts, which is such a special way to feel the awesome spirit on sacred grounds. So if any of you have a chance during this busy time a year to take your families to the nearest temple near you for an opportunity to remember our savior.

ASU Sundevils

The past few days was ASU's homecoming week and we tried to show the spirit by attending their parade in Tempe. We caught the tons of candy they threw and we even got a couple of T-shirts to proudly own.
We sadly weren't able to attend the football game saturday, but we had fun just the same. We even tried some delicious navajo frybread, which is my favorite. YUMMY!!!
Anyways, they had games for the kids to play and win free ASU gadgets. So if there are any sundevil fans out there, you missed an awesome block party and parade....