The Gila Valley Temple!

We feel so blessed to have a temple so close to us now. We are also so thankful for the opportunity that our little girls had to go inside for the tour and attend the cornerstone ceremony.

Our family took the tour of the Temple 3 times. The first time we went with some friends and Dani was navigating the whole time with her "map" (the brochure that had pictures of all of the rooms). When we would move to the next room she would say "OK, now we only have these rooms left" as she would point to  all of the room that we hadn't been in yet. We got to the Celestial room and as we were leaving she pointed to one more room and said "OK, now we only have this room left" I said "no Dani that was the last room" because I thought that it was. Sure enough, we still hadn't been to the sealing room! What a smarty!

I asked the girls what their favorite part of the Temple was and they both said "the cookies" and then Dani said that she liked the room with the beautiful light. (the Celestial room)

We went to the cornerstone ceremony. We were standing where President Monson was walking in to the temple.

HisPresident Monson's daughter Ann was with him. Her husband pointed Abby out to her and she came over and started talking to her. She is a member of the General Young Women's Presidency.

Then she asked my niece Leah how old she was and she had just turned 12 - 2 days before that! She told her that the most important thing that a Young Woman can do is to always be happy and to gain her Own testimony. What a neat experience for Leah to have!

Then President Monson came. He was so sweet and payed so much attention to the children. He grabbed Abby's hand and kept holding it for about a minute and he said "what a pretty little girl."

This is a picture from where we were standing for the dedication. There were a ton of people there so it was hard to see. Dani and Sophie went up to sit with Grandma and Papa Welker because they were up closer. President Monson started calling children up to help put mortar in the cornerstone and he picked the little girl with the yellow bow. Then he started saying "oh don't be shy, you can bring your mommy up with you" We knew that that must be Sophie. So Grandma and Dani went up with her as her support group. President Monson made sure that Dani or "the little girl in pink" got to put some in as well. When people ask Dani what she did at the temple she says "I helped President Monson."

There they are by the cornerstone.

Abby is our little singer. Here are the words that she sings;
"I love to see the tempo, we going dere some day, to holy feel the spirit, to listen and say prayers." She busts out with this song at least twice a day without fail!

Marvelous May!

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY to me! Can't beat breakfast in bed and sleeping in on a Sunday morning! I am the luckiest mom and wife in the world.

My mom had the great idea of setting the pool up under the slide! The girls are having a blast playing on their "WATER SLIDE!"

Grandma took the girls to the park several times while we were in Kauai. She took pictures for me too. How thoughtful!

My friend Connie and her family came to visit us one evening. They came up to go through the Temple tour. The kids had a blast playing together.

We brought my dad and Leah with us after we flew in from Kauai. They spent a fun weekend with us. We are so glad that you guys came! And it was Leah's birthday!

We all hiked "the tallest mountain" as Dani calls the hills across the street from our house. Dani or "Dora" has her map in hand and her backpack on! She is quite the little hiker. She left us all in the dust!

My dad spotted a Horny toad and Dani was fascinated with it. She was all over holding it. Then she let it go so it could find its mommy.

We stopped at "Grandma Palmer's" house on the way home to see their animals. They had baby rabbits! Dani was in heaven. Adeline gave the girls some lettuce to feed the bunnies too.

Tara, Jarom, Lacie and Sam were here for the temple dedication.

Jarom decorated Emily's headband!

Dani had her Gymnastics performance. She did a great job! She got a little flustered when the girl in front of her lost her bow. She refused to do any more somersaults until her bow was retrieved! So she held the show up a little. Let's just say, she knows the importance of not loosing bows!

Each class in the performance had a theme of different countries. Dani's theme was USA so we decided to be patriotic to show our support.

I had the wonderful opportunity to play league volleyball with all of these fun chicks and Jenni Bryce. Let's just say...it doesn't matter how many games we won, only that we had fun and that we did!

Olives!

Play Group!

We had a couple of extra kids this day. Little Chad Palmer was surrounded by 8 little girls that day!

Abby loves when play group is at our house because she gets to play too.

We have had the greatest year doing this little play group! These little girls are all so sweet and for the most part they get along very well. 

Dani and Abby love chucking corn!

Emily's new favorite trick is to climb in to the toy drawer, throw every toy out of it and then cry and scream at me until I come get her out!

Who's ready to plant the garden?

So, the other day I walked in to find Abby and Emily playing with the hydrocordisone ointment. They were both rubbing it all over Abby and Emily already had it caked all up and down her arms and legs! So I got a towel and wiped Emmies limbs off then I stripped Abby down and put her in the bath tub. Meanwhile, I took Abby's clothes and the towel to throw it in the wash.

 When I came back I found this!

Little Emily pushed the stool over to the bath tub and climbed on in fully clothed! She is definitely the climber of the family! These little girls are so much fun together but they are becoming pretty mischievous!