Shotguns in the desert!

A few months ago we spent a fun day in the desert! I just found the pictures.  Trenton, Eric and Sara came with us that day and it was a lot of fun!

 We all tried to take turns throwing the clay pigeons, but I couldn't figure out how to do it!  Eric was really good at it and Sara got pretty good too!

 Dale is an awesome shot!

 Everybody had a chance to shoot. It was a friendly competition.

 Maura shot the little .22 hand gun a few times, but spent most of the time just watching.

 

A fun day!

Easter Egg Hunt

While cousins were here we planned to go to the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt...that morning we realized the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD was going!  The park was overrun.  So, we decided to do our own hunt in the backyard.

 Big kids hid the eggs and the little ones searched.  Maura's choice of footwear on this warm day makes me laugh!  She just has her own sense of style!

 This little one is so cute! He had such a great time finding eggs.  The bigger kids were careful to leave the 'easy eggs' for him.

 Success!  A fun egg hunt in the back yard.

Cousins Damien, Adell, Brannen and Maura

 Easter weekend and other events...

The kids didn't have any school the Friday before Easter.  It was a GREAT day!  We spent some time hanging out together and enjoying just being home.

I learned an interesting formula.

If you get one of these...

This will happen!

 Dallin invited his cousin, Kylen over for an afternoon, and then one of the neighbors came over to play as well.  They went down to the basement to play ping-pong and I went about my business cleaning and helping Maura with stuff.  After a while I heard some noise from the basement and I went to check.  I'm not sure how it happened, but there were 6 teenage boys in the basement playing ping-pong.   It was so much fun!  What great kids they are!

 The only way I got them to hold still was that I promised them snacks!  I may need to stock up for the next time...it's amazing how much they all ate!  

Maura also had a friend over and we decorated Easter eggs.  They wanted to be with the boys, but the boys were a little bugged by younger sisters tagging along.  I'm sure this will be a recurring issue....

Other fun activities as of late...  Maura and I made a fun wreath for our door! "M" stands for Mullenaux and Maura she said!

 I'm happy to have a little decoration on our house.  I really want to make the house something we think is beautiful and comfortable...it's just taking time and it's hard to figure out what we want!  I was happy with the way it turned out and it was a super fun project with Maura!

 And, after many many years, her front tooth is FINALLY growing back in!  It had to be removed after she fell on some stairs when she was 3.  It's been a looong time since we've seen a tooth in that space!

One night, for no reason at all, Dale brought home some beautiful flowers.  How special he makes me feel!  He's pretty awesome!

 The mookster has her own sense of style.  She loves skirts and will rarely wear pants or shorts.  She's also fallen in love with high-tops.  Her cousin sent her these and they are too big for her, but she wears them almost constantly!  I've tried getting her to wear others that are her size, but she refuses.  I guess they are special because they belonged to her cool cousin Reese!

We are happy and blessed and life is so good!

San Tan Mountain Regional Park

While the big boys went golfing and Dale had to work, we took the younger ones to explore the desert.  We discovered a great preserve near us with plenty of hiking trails and things to see.  The goal was to catch a lizard-the one thing Brannen couldn't leave Arizona without doing.  We came prepared!

 It was a beautiful (and warm) day, and the flowers were blooming!

 Success!! We caught a horned toad!  Actually it was Damien (the youngest of them all-only 3 years old) that caught it!!  He stopped and we all looked at him urging him to keep walking but he was using his net to try and catch something.  We thought he was trying to pick up a rock, but there it was a little lizard in his net!  

 Maura was wishing Dale was here to give her a piggy-back ride.

The ranger station had a little habitat area for other lizards and tortoises.  They were out and eating so we all had a really good look at them.

It was a fun time! Dallin was a little disappointed he didn't come with us.  Now that we know the park is so close, we will have to come back to visit often!

Makutu's Island

This is a bit of a blast from the past!  When Dallin and Garrett were little, this was our go-to place whenever we had friends or family that wanted a day of fun.  It's indoor, air conditioned, and a super fun play place!  We hadn't been here in YEARS (I think the last time we were here was when Gina was in town) and it was so much fun to go back! I have some great memories of this place and hanging out with adults while kids had a great time.  Garrett love this place and called it

 Ma-coo-coo's island!

It was a little scary for them at first.  It's a big place and you can get turned around in the tunnels and the slides are super fast, but once they got the lay of the land and warmed up it was hard to tell them it was time to go!

I have terrible photo habits!  I really should bring along my big camera when I do things like this!!  I just don't think of it because my phone is so convenient.  My phone camera just doesn't do a very good job in low light.

Everyone had a great time climbing through the tunnels and exploring.  This is not a place where adults just sit and watch! We had a great time with the kids.

Katie, Damien and Kevin

Climbing to the top of the tree to go down the super fast scary slide!!

Love this little girl!

This is what happens when you say "Here, hold my phone for a minute."

More selfies

A new addition to Makutu's Island is the bungee jump!  Maura thought it was worth spending her own money to do it and she loved it!

Getting ready for Maura's turn.

Way up in the top of the tree is a rope walk.  Super fun and a little scary.

Totally conquering her fear!

It was such a fun time!  We will have to do it again soon!

Making good memories!