The O Clan

The end of May, U's parents, his sister Allison and his brother Christian came to visit for a week. They were here for Sarah's birthday which made for an even bigger celebration. We went to a Memorial Day service. We managed to squeeze in a few games. U and I were able to go to the temple with Christian and Allison.

Sarah enjoyed staying with grandma and grandpa at their hotel one night and then going swimming the next morning.

U's family saw many of the sites in Phoenix while they were here and some beyond, like the Grand Canyon and the Apache Trail. We were able to join them on a few of their expeditions, such as the trip to the Musical Instrument Museum.  That was really cool--they had lots and lots of musical instruments from all over the world and they had a lot of music/video that showed music in the different countries. In addition, they had a hands on room with lots of instruments to play. This was a big hit with the kids.

Christian and Allison jamming on the Steinway piano.

Drummer Sarah

Perfect form!

Play those drums!

Our musical family

Harpist Sarah

How do I reach the strings???

Pluck or strum?

Rock Star U. Or something like that :) 

We loved dancing to the music of the Nickelodeon.

Matthew and Sarah investigating the Nickelodeon.

The last morning they were here, we spent some time outside in our backyard. It was pretty comfortable outside. There were lots of chalk drawings. And a little too much water.

Grandpa and Sarah

U drawing his family pedigree. Pretty impressive as his mom is one of 11 and his dad one of 5. Matthew is drinking water (this isn't the "too much water").

Sarah and Megan drawing.

Grandpa spraying Matthew with the mister while Allison looks on. Matthew loves the mister. (This isn't the "too much water" part either.)

Grandma O swinging.

Trying to comfort Megan after she turned the faucet on and got herself REALLY wet. (This is the "too much water" part.) She was quite upset that she got soaked.

Sarah's Birthday and Party

Sarah is now 7! Wow! How time flies! (Especially since I'm only now getting to writing this and her birthday was over a month ago....)

She celebrated as much as possible, taking full advantage of being the birthday girl. Since Grandma A was here right before her birthday, they took a trip to the store for Sarah to pick out a birthday gift. She had a pajama party with her friends (more on that below). On her actual birthday, Grandma and Grandpa O, Aunt Allison and Uncle Christian were here so we had a big old party. A few days after her birthday was the last day of school, which was even more reason to celebrate. Yes, I think we may have just been celebrated out around here.

Opening presents on her birthday. She got lots of nice stuff including many of the items on her list. Gifts included a map, hand sanitizer, Polly Pockets, a placemat, beads to make jewelry, a subscription to National Geographic Kids, a leotard, a book with posters of baby animals, paper dolls and a guitar.

Blowing out the candles.

A few days before her birthday, Sarah had a party with some friends. She said she wanted pancakes for dinner so we thought a pajama party would be a good theme. Everyone came dressed in pajamas and brought a stuffed animal. Some people even brought a pillow! We started the festivities by decorating eye masks with puffy paint and stickers. We then did a "get to know you" since some of the girls were from school and some from church. Then came the yummy pancake dinner with all sorts of fruit toppings--strawberries, mixed berries, peaches, bananas, applesauce. The girls then played a bunch of games: First they played musical pillows which is just like musical chairs. Next, they were blindfolded and had to find their stuffed animal in a pile of stuffed animals. They then had to put the teddy bear on the pillow (pin the tail on the donkey). The last two games were pass the parcel, where they passed a gift around and unwrapped a layer every time the music stopped (there was nail polish inside), and a stuffed animal toss. Sarah then opened her gifts and then we had muffins and ice cream. Overall, it was a very fun evening!

The eye mask decorating station (photos by Sarah)

Yummy apple muffins

Back row L-R: Alyssa, Erina, Allie, Avery

Front row L-R: Alexis, Angie, Sarah, Emily

Did I mention your name had to start with A or E to be invited to the party...Actually, about half of Sarah's school class had "A" names so it's not surprising there were so many As.

Silly girls!

A photo with grandma

We love you! Thanks for visiting!!!!

Grandma Loves Megan and Matthew

While Grandma A was here, she spent a lot of time playing with Megan and Matthew. She also enjoyed them watching them play. She happily chronicled her time with lots of photos of our two toddlers. Here are a few of them.

Megan loves her baby doll!

Yummy peg people!

Sliding with books

Sliding--no books needed:)

Megan showing off her bike.

Look at me!

Who is hiding???

Peek a boo!

Matthew showing his new hair do. Thanks to Grandma for cutting it!

Going to the temple

When Grandma A was here, we went to see the Gilbert temple. They had just put the angel Moroni on top the week before so we were all excited to see it. We also learned a lot about the temple in the little visitor's center that they have.

Our family at the Gilbert temple. See Moroni?

Grandma A was there too!

Sarah and Megan's preferred method of movement.

Matthew on the trip home.

Playing with Grandma A

My mom came for a few days in the middle of May. Sarah loved having grandma here! She took every opportunity she could to play with grandma. One of her favorite activities was playing dolls with her.

Hard at play

Pausing for a picture

Mother's Day Breakfast

Yum!

A trip to the zoo

For our 12th anniversary, we went as a family to the zoo. We had a good time as usual.

One highlight of the trip was all the roaring. Some was from the lions and tiger (it was around feeding time). Some was from the O clan (the littlest ones in particular love roaring these days--lions, dinosaurs, sheep and zebras all roar in our books these days).

Fascinated by the roaring tiger.

Big sister Sarah helping Megan and Matthew.

Finally food!

Another highlight was petting the sting rays in Sting Ray Bay. We have often talked about doing this but never actually done it before. It was really cool!

Waiting for them to come around.

Gliding by. It was really fun to watch them swim around.

The obligatory picture of Megan and Matthew in the stroller at the zoo. We actually did get them out and had them pet the sting rays.

Playing Outside

Megan and Matthew LOVE to play outside. They must get that from their big sister who would probably live outside if we let her. Here are a few photos from a recent morning outside.

Matthew loves playing with the watering can

Sarah got Megan and Matthew apples to eat from our apple tree one day. Now they'll get them all by themselves (although this often involves picking very unripe apples from the ground under the tree).

Megan loves that she can get on the swing all by herself.

Enjoying the nice weather!