Visiting Great-Grandma

Saturday we went to visit my grandma, aunt, uncle, and visiting cousins and had a blast. My grandmother is getting older and it has been a while since we have seen her, so when we heard that some of my other cousins would be visiting her this weekend we jumped at the chance. 
The weather has been a bit crazy here...storming one minute and sunny the next, so in between storms the kids got to swim in the pool. When the weather was bad we went to the gym that my aunt runs or played Wii dance. We made a lot of memories. It was a great day. 

Ari and Virginia

Aunt Sue introducing Ari to "Hey Mickey"

Deven and Cousin Mike

The gangs all here! (Ari had some foam in her eyes)

 I love this picture it reminds me of all the stories my grandma would tell me :)

Pictured are 2 of my Grandma's 3 children, 5 of her 10 grandchildren and 4 of her 9 great-grandchildren, along with 2 spouses and one taking the picture :)

Dear Arianna, (5 years)

Dear Arianna,
This year has been incredible. I think we have have entered the realm of memory. I think you will start to remember parts from this year. We said goodbye to a foster brother and sister this last year, so have gone from being an older sister to having an older sister to being the only sister :) 
You have started piano lessons and love to sing and dance. Music has always been a huge part of your life and you use it to entertain and comfort yourself and others. 
You have also been doing swimming lessons this year. You are such a fish and have no fear of the water. You have had a hard time being away from me at times, but you have gotten over most of your separation anxiety. 
Sleeping has been a hard thing for you this year. You have had a lot of fears that we have had to combat. The current combination that works is listening to Magic Tree House, music from the baby monitor, 2 nightlights, and your closet light on. In the past we have had to switch your beds, blankets, lights, toys, and other wonderful thingy-ma-jigs :) 
You have continued to homeschool along side Deven. You can add and subtract numbers up to 10 and count to 100 by 1's, 5's and 10's. You can read at a beginning 1st grade level and love learning and experimenting. We have been learning about simple machines and your favorite is a wedge...I have no idea why...but it is. 
We have traveled  a lot this year. We have been back and forth from St. Louis and Kansas City multiple times. You have loved the children's museums in both cities. We have also gone to Nauvoo and Normal, Illinois, and our big trip out west. You love to travel and are great in the car...we have discovered audio-books and Magic Tree House is your favorite. 
You dress yourself every day and as part of getting dressed you pretend to be something...a character from a tv show or an animal. Every day you pretend. Every day you create stories to act out. Every day you throw your non-stop energy into being something else. 
You love animals...more than anything else, you love animals. Any kind of animal, you love to learn facts about them and pretend to be them. The other day to came to me with 2 baby dolls in your arms (a rare occurrence because it is always stuffed animals in your arms) and asked me to watch your baby foxes and proceeded to make them "growl". I guess the baby dolls were the closest you could find to a fox ;)
I am so excited for this next year. Every year has gotten better and I love the little girl you are becoming. You have a kind obedient heart and are quick to love and serve. We cherish you. 
Love,
MOM

Trip Out West (Part 2)

For most of the rest of the trip the pictures are self explanatory. We drove to San Diego and stopped at the temple there. We had hoped to be able to go inside, but it was closed for renovations. Then we met my mom and her brother on Coronado to start a real vacation...The kids saw the beach for the first time, got to pet a dolphin at Sea World and just hang out and relax. We were able to spend Friday and part of Saturday with my mom's sister and her family. We also went to the USS Midway and the kids got to climb in all types of airplanes.   We then tackled the 27 hour long car ride home...straight from San Diego to Springfield with a small detour to drop my mom off in Las Vegas. The kids did great, Ben drove through the night and we switched off...I would definitely do it again!

Love my girl

Ari called these the "nibble fish" they eat the dead skin off your hands