Kailyn Turns 7!!! (6/10/15)

Today was Kailyn's big day!  She got an early gift Yesterday before Dad left for scout camp. Rollerblades are a huge deal for our kids and she has been begging for a while!  

This morning, she opened presents from her grandparents.

Card from Grandma & Grandpa Mullin.

Seeing what was on her birthday shirt.

She was excited to have her first non-pajama outfit with an elephant on it.

Card & $ from Kailyn's great grandmother, Louise Mullin.

Car and money from Grandma & Grandpa Richardson. Needless to say, she was one happy girl this morning!

She got to spend much of the day with her friend from school, Joell.  They went swimming and much more.

Then, when I asked her were she wanted to go eat for her birthday, she said, "Souper Salad".  That made it pretty nice because they gave a good variety and ice cream.

Love our birthday girl.

She got some ice cream on her nose, but wiped it off before I could get the camera out.

Hunter, in ice cream/sprinkles heaven.

Cutie Kinley!

My crazy, awesome girls!

Alton showing off his true colors.

He said he was soooooo cold! He sure loves attention.

When we got home, the kids got to give their own gifts they picked out to Kailyn.

Love how she is balancing the bag on her feet.

Book and Birthday M&Ms. Yummy!

She had quite the elephant party the following weekend. They played elephant games, swam and had yummy ice cones from Bahama Bucks.

Connecting up, trunks to tails.

Trying to pass the hula hoop around their elephant circle.

Cooling off with her friends.

Ice slushies by the pool.  Ahhhh!

Elephants, elephants everywhere!

Cute Birthday girl.

Kailynhas been friends with Will since preschool. She keeps saying she is going to marry him. She cracks us up!

Kailyn's 1st grade teacher came by to visit. What a neat surprise for all the girls. 

We sure love this sweet girl.  Se is so smart, talented and everything s parent could dream of.

Trek 2015

I was asked to be one of the medical personnel for our Stake's Trek this year.  I  was super excited to walk amongst the "pioneers" and get a tiny glimpse of their struggles.  We met at the stake center early Wednesday morning.

These five were to be the transportation up to the trail.  There were around 300 youth, which they then divided into three companies. Amazing!

Helping to make signs for the buses, so the families would know which bus to get on.

This is Brother Parker, our Trail Boss.  With the crack of the whip, that meant it was time to start moving. He did this throughout the Trek, just as was done for the pioneers years ago.

Once the youth arrived at Base Camp, they had to quickly put their handcarts together, ...

(This is how they came!)

And load up their belongings, which had to fit in a bucket and bag.  Such amazing youth!

Here they are finishing loading up their carts.

Here we are, the medics.  (Me, Sean -an ER PA, and Chris -a paramedic). Great group!

In this picture, we have left Base Camp and have 14 miles to hike this day.

This was their first taste of a true trail.  There were so many rocks that they decided to get a running start. They were all so strong, at least at the beginning of Trek!

As we ventured a little further on this trail, an axel broke!  

This was a big event for the Trek because about the spot were the axel broke was near our turnoff to a new trail (though only the Trail Boss and President Lambert knew where to go).  The trail boss was way in front of us and Pres Lambert decided to stay with the broken axel group.  This led the rest of us (about 18 handcrafts) to forge on, missing our turn (though not realizing it, and getting pretty lost. We finally pulled into the designated lunch stop around 2pm!  Lunch was half of a dry sandwich, a chocolate chip granola bar and questionable fruit snacks.  President Jensen have a talk on the "Bears" in our lives and how to put a guard up against them and then we got back on the trail.  We ended up hiking in the dark, with one potty/Apple stop along the way.  We pulled into camp around 10pm, hungry as really tired.  They gave us chicken broth soup which was nice to at least have something warm.  We slept out in the open in our sleeping bags and I stayed super cold most the night. Turns out it got colder than predicted that night. Even the water on the jugs got iced. So crazy!

The next morning, they served up oatmeal packets and hot chocolate.  Being cold is one of my least favorite things (hence why we live in Arizona)!!!  This day we hiked into a pretty steep ravine (which was trying for many of the families) and met up with some Indians.  We finished off the day with pioneers games/crafts and a jubilee.  

The final day started out with the women's pull. Such a great moment on the Trek.  The girls were so strong and I think some of the boys had their eyes open to the strength of these girls.  After the

Hunter Wolfs It Down

IOn Tuesday, May 26th, Hunter earned his Wolf Badge!!! They had all of the boys "wolf down" and Oreo covered in cool whip without using their hands.  The boys LOVED it and I must say, it was pretty entertaining to watch.

Just getting started!

I'm sure he was wishing he had hands, or maybe not!

Cute boy!

Oh man! This is Lisa Aurich, one of his scout leaders.

Looking at a job well done.

So awesome!

He also received multiple other belt loops that night including: music, bowling, gymnastics and good manners.  We are so proud of him and what he is becoming!!!  Great job Hunter!!!!

Zoo Time!

Recently we had a treat and got to go to the zoo with Dad.  Before heading into the zoo, we hiked up to the "hole in the rock" (right there by the zoo). We had promised the kids we'd take them hiking, but Steven and I had just hiked the Grand Canyon two days prior and our legs were pretty toasted, so any big hikes were just not happening.  They still loved it and had fun taking pictures.

Hiking around to the back of the rock.

Love these kids!

Hunter & Kinley.

Of course, Mr. Elephant came for the adventure and then to see other elephants like himself.

Handsome Altonator!

We met up with Brian (Steven's brother) and his family at the zoo. We all rode the carousel before leaving.

Hunter was not exactly thrilled to ride the carousel, but I had already paid for him, so he "got" to join us.

Cutie Kinley!

Silly Hunter!  Brian is holding down the fort with Grant and Owen at his sides.

Beautiful Kailyn on an elephant.

Oh, Hunter! He was pretty bored, but a good sport about it.

Cool man Alton. He cracks us up sometimes!

Love these smiles. Sometimes they are so hard to catch!