Canadiangeese need to go home

Hiking and Shooting and Kayaking... OH MY

I love Loren and his sense of adventure, he finds places and ways to enjoy this beautiful state of ours.  He had a few days off, and it was spring break for some of us (Taylor's is not until next week and she is in Flagstaff and Ty's was suppose to be this week but his school opened late so they took this week away from him, I didn't feel guilty when I pulled him out early one day for an "appointment") which means perfect weather to get out...

We headed out to "our" shooting area, Loren needed to sight-in Ty's 30.06 he got for Christmas and it is just fun to shoot.  Ty and Kyley both shot the 30.06 since Loren put in for elk hunting this fall, I hope one of them gets drawn, it will be a good time for sure.  I am a bit of a sissy when it comes to guns so I like to shoot the 22 - but it is fun and I am becoming a better shot.  We made peanut butter and honey sandwiches, man those taste so good when you are hungry and we drove to the "creek" I put quotes since there was not water but we hiked a bit of the Arizona trial  - 760 miles through AZ from Mexico to Utah, how fun it would be to hike it all one year, camp a bit, sleep in hotels see all this state has to offer.  We have been going to Picket post since 2008, we have several pictures of us exploring this area,

so of course when I get home I have to to go find them,  I can't believe how fast time has flies...

I wish Taylor was here and we had a tripod so Loren could be in the picture, perfect family picture spot.

 After recovering from shooting we headed out to Canyon Lake to try out our new kayak.  We got a good one, big enough for two of us.  I haven't been to Canyon Lake in probably 8 years, (when we had our boat we went all the time) - I had forgotten how beautiful it is.  I enjoyed the drive down to the lake, the little spot by the brushes and just hanging out with Kyley, Loren and Wyatt.  It was windy and it looked like rain so we cut our trip short, we are going out again Lorens next day off.  I didn't  think I would like kayaking as much as I did, Loren and I went out in the ocean and believe it or not I got sea-sick, even puking over the side of the kayak, but the lake was so nice I could paddle out to the middle of the lake, close my eyes and just bask in the moment - I love Loren and his love of Arizona!

Monday Loren had to work (someone has to ...) so I called my sister Dyan and we made plans to hike Usery Pass - Wind Caves.  I grew up doing his hike but we have been "south-siders" for the better part of 20 years and Usery Pass was not close, so it had been at least 20 years since I have made the trip.  It was St. Patrick's Day and at noon Fountain Hills turns the fountain green, so we planned our hike accordingly.  I was surprised when I got to Dyan's house to see my dad, I shouldn't have been he loves to hike  - it was so fun to spend some time on the trail visiting with my Dad, Matt and Dyan.  It was low key, Kate set the pace,  and I can definitely keep up with a 6-year old.  The boys, Ty, Wyatt, Jack and Jay immediately took off their shirts and wrapped them around their head to be ninjas.  I am pretty sure we made everyone on the trail laugh.   There are a lot of twist and turns on the trail Wyatt was ahead and found this little nook and was just sitting in it  when I walked up, it looks like it was carved out just for him.   Dyan comments how Dad talks to everyone on the trail, well Dyan is just like Dad and she talked to everyone coming down, I laughed and laughed.  I love hiking and being outside I love this time of year because we can be outside, in a few short months we would never be outside at noon on purpose...

 

 

Culture Celebration

Kyley is on the left hand side, in the black rain jacket, Ty is in the front right hand side.

Our ward provided us a CD with pictures of our kids at the culture celebration, I was so excited I came right home and scrolled through the pictures looking for my kids...  I found a few, I was hoping there was one of Kyley and Ty together acting like they love each other, no such luck, but there were a few and  I will take what ever I can get to document this event. (see earlier post for more)

Kyley - Megan Moore, and Maquel Chapman (I have Maquel in my zero hour class - cool kids)

The celebration had a little bit of everything, it started with...

•  The Children of Abraham and an Israelite Folk Dance
• "We'll find Zion in the midst of Babylon, *'Courage Strong!' will be our guide* The light of promise will shines upon us* We trust our God, we're in His hands* For we're the Children of Abraham"
• Let This Be Known - Fiery Furnace and Fire Dance
• This dance celebrated the heroes Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego   - they didn't compromise their values, even with the threat of being thrown into a fire, they stayed "true to the faith"
• True to the Faith was Kyley and Ty's dance here they are, well the back of Ty's head as they donned  their costumes and waited for their part. Captain Moroni rallied his people with the Title of Liberty,  each had their own title of liberties that they wrote their
  
  "personal declarations to Live True to the Faith".   Ty's said "keep the commandments"  Kyley's said "Tune my heart to sing thy grace".
• Pima Basket Dance celebrated our Native American Heritage.
• Pioneers and a Hoedown  - talked about when Brigham Young sent them to Arizona and they sang "This can't be the start of something good."  I'm sure it felt that way 100 years ago with no a/c and running water but it was the start of something good.
• Toma Mi Mano - (Take my Hand) celebrating our Latin American Heritage
• The Lucky Ones - "Their banners on Mt. Zion are shining like the sun- We're built upon their dreams, we're the Lucky Ones."  We are so blessed to have the temple in our mist, we.. me I am so lucky.
• How Can I Be - this was my favorite song,  400 ukulele pose the question  "How can I be like Abinadi, Samuel the Lamanite, Benjamin the Wise, Jesus Christ."
• They ended with I Choose This Day... I hope my children will always choose the right, choose to follow the prophet and Choose to live as Jesus did.  Here is a picture of President Thomas S, Monson and Henry B. Eyring applauding and giving the thumbs up,  how cool that my kids could say they were there...

Fishing

Loren has always loved to fish, and he has instilled that love in our children - he recently discovered Discovery Park (no pun intended, we all knew that park was there, apparently Loren didn't.) It is close to work and he stopped a few times to cast his line and he caught a nice bass.  Wyatt was home sick in January so Loren stayed with him and taught him how to cast and Wyatt and Loren spent hours outside casting into the pool.  Loren recently went through all his fishing gear, and set up a tackle  box for Ty and Kyley, got all the kids their fishing license and organized all his poles, we are good to go.




Wyatt had his piano recital for his birthday, he did awesome, - but not the most fun way to spend your birthday.  So the day before for his birthday we headed over to Discovery to fish and open some presents.  Ty and Kyley caught a fish, but not Wyatt,  he was bummed but opening his presents made it all ok.  It is just a beautiful setting the sun was setting and the the temple in the background (it is where the culture celebration was held.)  I can't believe Wyatt is ten, I can't believe all my children are now in the double digits.  Wyatt is the wittiest, smartest most kind child - I am so glad he came to our family.

Last weekend we all headed to Discovery again and this time the fishing was fantastic, Ty caught 4, Kyley caught 4, Wyatt 1 fish and 1 turtle, I don't know how many Loren caught.  The kids can cast, reel in the fish, take the hook out and throw it back, I guess the next step is teaching them how to gut the fish.  Twice, Loren asked a kid to hold his pole and twice they hooked a fish just like that.  It was so fun watching them get excited and see how much they have learned.  Loren has been teaching them knots and weights and when to use what lure and bait, they are getting so good.  All of the kids like fish so when we do keep it and have a fish fry they all eat well. 

Gilbert Temple

Yesterday the Gilbert Temple was officially dedicated and all all the events leading up to the dedication which was all we seemed to talk and think about came to an end, now the real work begins.   I never thought I would be a part or see a temple being built in my mist, we have the Mesa Temple and that was so close - 30 minutes in good traffic - but when the presidency announced a Gilbert temple at Greenfield and Pecos and we were living at Greenfield and Queen Creek - 2 miles away I couldn't believe it.  We drove by it regularly, saw when then finally broke ground, saw when the walls started to go up, saw when the Angel Moroni was put up, saw when fencing went around, the plants went in, waiting and waiting waiting while they finished the inside and finally when they announced the open house and dedication.

We waited to visit the open house until Taylor could make it down, the last weekend it was open- February 14th - Happy Valentine's Day.  It was crowded but I didn't care, Taylor was down and we were all together we can visit sitting at home on the couch or waiting in line to see the temple. Kyley had the opportunity to work at the temple the night before and most of my colleagues and students Mormon and non-Mormon had seen it before me and I had heard a lot about it, but the beauty can not be described in words I  had tears in my eyes as I walked into several rooms.  I am looking forward to when Loren and I can go and spend more time in there and make that temple "my temple."

•  Side- note, Taylor cut her hair, she did not tell us and when she came home bam there she was my short hair little girl I screamed and had a few tears she was home all weekend and I'm still not use to it, I am sure when I see her at Easter it will be a shock again...

 While the finishing touches were being added to the temple the youth was preparing for a culture celebration.  All youth in the Gilbert Temple District  was invited and encouraged (12,000+) to participate   - that means Kyley and Ty.  Now Ty was not too excited at the beginning since the first few practices were singing and really what 13 year old boy gets excited about singing and dancing.  I had to do a bit of  "selling" ...this is a once in a life time opportunity, you will get to sing and dance in front of the prophet and apostle of the Lord, you can tell your children... I guess it worked because I never heard him or Kyley complain once the hard work began.  They met with our ward, then our stake then our region, Wednesday nights for 3 hours, then the week before they spent 14 hours at the park as a dress rehearsal with all 12,000 youth. The regions were broken into color shirts and the theme was "Live True" - Live True to their faith and our region was "light blue" I loved that my children got to participate and I loved being a teacher and listening and talking to all my students that also participated. Perry is located at the edge of 4 districts Gilbert, Chandler, Higley and Queen Creek so we had most shirt colors represented and students participated  in many of the "big" parts and most dances. 

The day of the performance arrived with a 100% chance of rain. It was all anyone could talk about will the show go on?  It was at Discovery Park a retention basin that when it rains it fills up with water, a little rain will be good, the week of the rehearsal it was so dusty many kids had asthma and allergy attacks so a little rain will settle the dust.  Well it rained all right and not just a little, it poured buckets, cats and dogs, now growing up in the desert my dad taught me that we can never complain about rain, so I didn't complain about the rain,  but I did worry about Kyley and Ty out there in the cold wet rain performing for thousands, Thomas S. Monson and Henry B. Eyring to name a few.  The next day we went to the dedication and at the last session the speaker said I want to talk to the youth  - he said something to the effect that many thought their prayers might not have been answered but let me assure you they were, we live in a desert and we were in a drought we needed the rain and the Lord poured out his blessing on you.  Kyley says it was like the wise man and the foolish man, the wise man built his foundation on the rock and when the rains came his house (testimony) stood firm.  The rain held off for as long as it needed too, if it would have started sooner they would have canceled it but it didn't start unit right before the performance.  My kids will always remember performing in the rain, they can do hard things and I hope they will forever keep their eyes on the temple.  I am so thankful for the opportunity the Church continues to provide for my family to grow - I am truly blessed.

I copied Kyley and Ty's post from instagram, Kyley shows how much it was really raining.  I asked then if they would put on their light blue shirts so  I could take a picture and they didn't say anything but their look said it all - (no picture:)

The Rest of the Break

I love Christmas Break - not just for the holidays but for all the other"stuff". Our good friends have gotten us Buffalo Wild Wing and Fiesta Bowl tickets for the last few years, it is our anniversary, Loren usually takes a few days off and the weather is usually perfect - recipe for good times.

Buffalo Wild Wing Bowl - dubbed "chicken wing bowl" by Wyatt was a blast, there were lots of extra tickets so Jody, Kurt, Kendall, Brye and her family, Matt, Dad, Joe, Cassie, Dyan, Ryan and of course Matt and Dad attended.  Kansas State and Michigan played we were cheering for Kansas State even though our tickets were in the middle of Michigan fans (we decided on the way over)  the atmosphere is so fun and festive I love it.  We had good seats close to the end-zone so they  were awesome when the action was in front of us - kind of sucky when the action was on the far end of the field but good times good times.   I love this picture of Jody and Kurt especially the classic photo-bomb by Ty in the back ground I laugh every time I see this.  Taylor had gone back to NAU since she had to work  - that was the only one missing from this fun fun night.

The Fiesta Bowl was on New Years Day - Kyley and Wyatt were a little tired of football so Loren, Ty, Trey (Ty's good friend) and I went.  The Fiesta bowl is in Glendale so we left early went to Cabella's, got something to eat and were planning on getting to our seats early.  Everything went as planned until we got through security twice (we had to run Ty's football back to the car - you can't bring footballs into football games - who knew) and we were all ready to go in and Loren couldn't find the tickets, I knew we had them I saw Loren grab them, he said he checked several times patting his pocket on the walk to the stadium we searched pockets, jackets Loren went back to the car, the tickets were gone.  I called our friends they had extras but they were quite a ways away then I ran into a co-worker told her my situation and she says "oh I got 4 extra tickets right here do you want them" wow - it all worked out.  We had a ought time convincing the section "guard" that we were really suppose to sit in section 103 row 13 seats 1 - 4 and that our tickets had been lost or stolen (Loren thinks it was when we went through security)  they finally let us in which was good since the Maclemores, Augustins, Matt and all the rest of friends were in that section.  Well about half time someone came up to Loren and said " I think you are sitting in our seats" they had our tickets - if it would had been sooner Loren might have punched his lights out - but en ought time had passed and Loren said no these are our tickets, took then gave them the free ones we got from my friend and that was the end of that.

The next day was our anniversary 22 years and boy how time has flown, we went to lunch at Longhorn Steak House - delicious and then just napped and relaxed recovered from our late nights.  Loren was off but he was fighting a ear infection so we spent some time taking it easy.  I love this man of mine - we have had our ups and downs but I love him more now.  He is my best friend we totally get each other I just love him. We haven't changed at all :)  I feel like I haven't changed but looking at the pictures we clearly have .


 The weather was wonderful, we hiked the San Tans one day, I walked most days the wash by our house - I love winter in Arizona!

I had to take Taylor back the Friday
after Christmas because of her job, since Loren was off we went up Friday to spend the day hanging with Taylor.  The day before Taylor told us she had Sunday, Monday, Tuesday off so we brought her home with us and spent a few more days with her - love it I will take all I can get.  I had to work Monday and Tuesday but the kids all stayed home and bonded with Taylor.   When we were in Flagstaff, we went to Oak Creek my new favorite place and hiked where we went last time by the apple orchard, this time we went farther and explored an old burned out hotel.  The hotel was built in the 1920's and had guest like Clark Gable and Walt Disney, it burned the 1980's but the foundation, chicken coop  and such was still there.  It was so neat and the background - wow!  We hiked a bit got to the 1st creek to cross and it was all icy and slippery so we turned back, it just makes me want to go back and explore some more. The kids laughed and joked and took a thousand pictures, they are such good friends I  love being with them - they all have such good sense of humor, Ty posted that picture (top right) on Instagram  - he hates pictures unless it is of just him that was why that picture was so funny.  They are goofy and I love every second with them. I hate that they are growing up and moving on - although that is what we raise them to do - I love that they get our humor and are adding to it -so much fun.

Christmas Season 2013

I was excited for the "season" this year and I did not go all out with decorations or presents  but I decided I was going to chill and I really felt peace this year.  I thoroughly enjoyed this hectic time, we didn't look at lights (unless they were in our neighborhood) we didn't visit Santa, we didn't go to any parties (unless your count Ty's end of the season football party) so it would look like I shouldn't be in the spirit but  I was and I loved it.

The first two weeks of the month were crazy busy with my children's end of the semester stuff... Kyley had winter formal she took Caiden looked beautiful and had fun I am so glad she has a good group of friends.  She had end of the semester projects so she was quite busy but she finished strong straight A's (we hope 89.6% in Spanish 3 hopefully he rounds) Wyatt had scouts (close to getting his Bear), piano and a choir concert, he sounded great.  Ty had a guitar concert and two football  playoff games.  We had a cold cold cold front move in it was crazy cold.  His team finished the season 3rd in their league, they wanted to win it all so 3rd place was a let down, but he learned a lot and bonded with these players and I really liked the parents which was an extra bonus.

Taylor was still at NAU she didn't get done until the 21st Loren was off so we made a day trip out of it and we all went up to get Taylor.  She had to work so we found snow (not hard) and a hill and did a little sledding.  We didn't get home until 2:30 am Sunday but we were home my family was all together all was well in my world.  At church I looked down the row and we were all together the first time since July and I had tears in my eyes, and with the choir singing and the narrator reading the Christmas story I was over come with emotion - I felt at peace. 


Sunday night was the Chesley family party at Maren's house we were a little late becasue the Arizona Cardinals were playing  topped ranked Seattle SEahawks and it was close game - Cardinals won it sure is fun having a winning football team, better than a winning football team is family and most of the family was at the party.  It was genuinely good to see everyone, again it just seemed all is well.

Kyley, Taylor and Kendall home from BYU

count the decorations - our pretend to sleep picture

Monday we cleaned and "decorated our tree" quotes because we only put 15 decorations top.  See we didn't even get the tree until the 17th and we got it from our good friends the O'hares.  They are from England and they were going back to spend it with their famlies.  We were at their house for Ty's football party and I complimented her tree and she asked if I wanted it.  She got one to help her get in the spirit but they couldn't leave a live tree up until they got home in January.  I said sure - not really certain if they would really, but sure enough Tuesday I get a text, "tree outside our house looking for a good home" they had left the lights up and it was still in the stand so Loren and I threw it in the back of our truck and bam -  we had a tree. Since it was so close to Taylor coming home we decided wait but by them it was so close to Christmas so we did minimal  decorating and I loved it. 


Christmas Eve is still the longest day of the year for Wyatt.  W opened our O.C.E. (open Christmas Eve) presents by 10:00am, robe for Taylor, now she matches Kyley and sweats for the rest of the kids kind of like pajamas.  It was nice and relaxing for me, made some banana bread and waited for my mom, dad and Matt to come out for dinner.  We had great grilled chicken thanks Loren and great conversation.  My mom told the kids about how her and my dad first met and how their first date was on  Tuesday December 12, 19667  which is why we decorated our tree on the 12th every year growing up.  However during dinner the truth came out, their actual first date was on "Friday" according to mom which we figured was December 8, 1967, they met at MCC and went to Bob's Big Boys for lunch which  dad drove them to and  paid for.  Mom still says it wasn't a date, sounds like a date to me - Matt immediately sent out at text alerting all my siblings of the deception we had been living - crazy what comes out at the dinner table Christmas Eve.  I love having my parents over - it is a fun tradition.  Wyatt had prepared by staying up until 11:00pm Monday then waking up at 6:00am Christmas eve day so by the time my parents left, he had hugged us his requisite 3 times and was asleep pretty early.  Ty hung out in Taylor and kyley's room for a while waiting for Santa to arrive.

Our kids must have been great because they all got good stuff - Taylor and i-pad, Kyley speaker system, Ty - gun 30.06 Wyatt a Wii-U and lots of little stuff, but I can tell you it wasn't the stuff it was having my family home.  We headed out to Loren's mom (now Grandma Cook since she got remarried) and had a wonderful breakfast with more visit time.  Home for a nap then off to my parents house for Mexican dinner more cousins and gifts.  The cousins are all growing up so fast, and the are all such good friends I hope it stays that way through high school.   Taylor and Kyley were old enough to participate in the white elephant gift exchange it is crazy to me to see how adult my kids are, time marches on,  next year Taylor will most likely be on a mission, we even started Taylor's mission pool (she hasn't' even started her papers yet).  If I thought too long about Taylor being on a mission I would start cry, since that means she wouldn't be with us next year and I would become one of those mothers that post on Facebook  "best present ever." referring to a phone call from their missionary.  So many friends and family have missionaries out I feel like when we pray for the missionaries it has new meaning since we know so many.   We visited with my brothers and sisters laughed and laughed, stayed longer than we normally would and I loved it - all is well!

                                      *Boys with their knifes* Karrie, Dyan, Mom and Me (Laura had left)*                                           *Tthe Original 4 Cousins, Ryan, Kyley, Taylor, Austin*  Girls with their dolls*