Santan Mall Splash Pad

We played at the splash pad at Santan Mall with Josefine, Noah, and Delilah last Friday.  It was super packed (note to self: don't go to the splash pad on Friday!) and super hot (considering that all of the good seats in the shade were taken.), but the kids had fun.  Caden had to fight some kid to get Noah's water gun thing back for him.  He should probably learn how to share better, but it was kind of funny because he took it from the kid and gave it right back to Noah.  I was thinking that he wanted it for himself.

Just Because

10 Years!

So I've been a bit of a slacker about posting the last few weeks, but Matt and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on May 18th.  I seriously can't believe that it has already been 10 years!  The time has just flown by so fast. (Seeing how young we look in our wedding pictures makes me believe it though!)  Looking back over the last 10 years we have accomplished so much together!  Matt graduated from ASU with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in business, and after a few years working he got his MBA at Thunderbird.  I graduated with my bachelor's degree in Finance.  We've bought 2 houses.  We went on several memorable vacations including Sweden and Denmark, Hawaii (2 times!), and Puerto Rico.  We were so blessed with the birth of our sweet little Caden! Really the list can go on and on, but I have to say that I am so thankful that the person by my side for all of these things was Matt.  He is seriously the most awesome, amazing, and wonderful person that I know.  Sometimes I wonder how he can put up with me all of the time, but I think that maybe we round each other out.  I love and adore you so much Matt!      

On our actual anniversary we went out to dinner at Flemings which was so yummy (and expensive enough that we probably won't go there for 10 more years!).  10 years is a long time, and we really wanted to celebrate by doing something special though.  We were thinking about going on a trip when we got and offer in the mail that we couldn't pass up.  It was for 2 nights at the Wynn in Las Vegas including 2 tickets to see the show Le Reve, and 2 free buffets for $300.  We ending up going there on Monday, and we just got home today.  The Wynn was awesome and probably the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed in.  We had so much fun!

Our Room 

 More of our room

The room again 

 The bathroom

More bathroom 

The view of the Wynn golf course from our room. 

Everything in the room including the lights, the air conditioner, and the curtains were controlled by this console. It was quite high tech! 

The hallway outside our room just because I thought that it looked cool. 

The indoor garden at the Wynn. Some of the plants were real and some were fake, but it was all very pretty. 

More of the garden 

 A huge waterfall that lights up at night.

Another waterfall

Le Reve was the first real that show that I have seen in Las Vegas, and it was so awesome!  The theatre actually has a huge pool with platforms that come up and down, and the show is partially performed in the water with synchronized swimming and also amazing aerial performances.  There were really good special effects, and the people were amazingly talented.  I loved every minute of it!

Keeping Cool

It's starting to heat up around here, so we've been playing in the water to cool off.  Caden got a fun slip and slide and a Spiderman sprinkler, so we can still play outside.



Gilbert Temple

The angel Moroni was put up on the Gilbert Temple yesterday.  I had heard a rumor that it was going up yesterday, but I never knew what time that it was going to be.  We went by yesterday evening to check it out.  It was such a good feeling to see Moroni up there, and I have to say that I am a little sad that I didn't make more of an effort to see it happen.  We took a couple of pictures from the car, but they weren't nearly as good as these pictures that I stole from http://gilbertldstemple.blogspot.com/.  It is so exciting to see the Gilbert Temple being built so near our home.  Every time that we drive by Caden gets so excited, and says "Look mommy. It's the temple!"  I know that he doesn't really understand what the temple is, but he does know that it is exciting and I'm sure that he is able to feel the spirit there.

Here are some interesting facts about the Angel Moroni Statues:

1. There are several temples including the Mesa Temple that do not have an Angel Moroni statue due to the design of the building (no spires) or building codes.

2.  The first Moroni sculptures were made of bronze, copper, or aluminum, and were very heavy. The bronze Moroni statue on the Washington DC Temple weighs about 4000 pounds.  Today they are made of fiberglass and covered with gold leaf and weigh approximately 300 pounds.

3.  In the scriptures, trumpets are used to sound warnings, proclaim news, and herald visitors. Moroni holds a horn to his lips with his right hand, symbolizing both the spreading of the gospel throughout the world and the long-anticipated Second Coming of the Savior, which will be announced by trumpet-blowing angels (see Matthew 24:31).

4.  According to scripture, at the Second Coming the Savior will come from the east (see Matthew  24:27). The Church’s guideline concerning placement of the angel Moroni figures is that where possible, they should face eastward. Sometimes, however, the angel Moroni figure may face another direction in order to align it with the orientation of the temple.

5.   The four tallest figures of the angel Moroni are:

       1. Jordan River Temple: 20 ft
       2. Washington D.C. Temple: 18 ft
       3. Los Angeles Temple: 15 ft, 5 in
       4. Salt Lake Temple: 12 ft, 5 in
Interestingly the Gilbert Temple statue is 13 ft, 8 in, so I guess that it knocks the Salt Lake Temple out of the top 4.
6.  Since gold leaf is a perfect conductor of electricity, and because the figures are often placed high above the ground atop a temple’s tallest spire, they are frequently hit by lightning. Today’s figures have a copper rod running through them vertically, which extends several inches above the figure’s head at the top, and attaches to a grounding cable at the bottom. This serves both as a lightning rod and as the mechanism for mounting the figure on the building’s tower.
7.  Adverse environmental conditions such as humidity, pollution, and extreme temperature variations take their toll on the figures, so they have to be periodically re-gilded and repaired. Sometimes, the figure is removed from the temple for maintenance work. At other times, scaffolding and tenting is set up so that the work can be done in place. Temple maintenance crews also must periodically clean bird droppings off the figures.

How is Potty Training You Ask?

Well it started out on a high note as you can see from all of the stickers on Monday and Tuesday.  Monday was really good with no accidents, but I had to keep making him go to the bathroom all day.  He would never tell me that he had to go, and it was pretty stressful.  Tuesday was pretty good too, but then it got to be a fight to make him go to the bathroom.  He didn't want to go, and it honestly wasn't worth it to me to fight about it every hour.

Over the weekend we ended up buying this humongous box of diapers from Costco, so I guess that you can say that potty training is on hold for a little while.  We are encouraging him to use the potty if he wants to, but not really forcing the issue.  I figure that he will eventually be ready.  Hopefully sooner rather then later, but this works okay for us for now.  On a high note Caden thought that the diaper box worked really well as a drum, so we got a free toy. :)  He actually loves watching the show Little Einsteins which is a cartoon that teaches about music and art.  Maybe they are trying to make little kids more cultured, and Caden is always " making music" (as he calls it) and turning things into instruments.

Happy Mother's Day!

I was so blessed yesterday to be able to celebrate mother's day as a mother and with my mom, grandma, and mother-in-law.  I am so grateful to have the influence of so many mothers in my life

 Matt made a yummy breakfast of french toast, bacon, and hash browns.

 Matt said that Caden picked out this card for me all by himself.

Caden is forever having Matt and I trace his hand on things, so this is so sweet.  (No he can't write yet, but Matt helped him write his name.) 

 I was so excited to get the red Kitchen Aid mixer that I have been wanting forever.  I actually got it a few weeks ago, and I have been LOVING it!!

My parents and Grandma Shobe came over for dinner.  The moms got to hang out while the dads cooked dinner. :) (They cleaned up too!)

We had fettuccine, salad, and garlic bread. 

My mom was excited to get the Ninja blender, 

and Duke really liked the wreath that Grandma Shobe got for her front door. (My mom made it. Isn't it so pretty?!) 

Caden and Grandma Shobe working on a puzzle. 

Me with my mom and Grandma Shobe plus Caden snuck in too.

We also celebrated with Matt's mom, but I forgot to take any pictures.  I found this picture from 2009 with all the grandkids that were around then (there have been 3 more born since!) 

I love this picture of Jolene and Caden!

Swimming

It's getting pretty hot around here, and we actually went swimming for the first time this year on Saturday at Matt's dad's house.  The water was a little chilly, but was okay after you were in for awhile and got numb.  Caden loved it even though his lips were quivering from the cold.

So Sweet

I won this cute little pink bear from one of those claw machines yesterday. (I got it on the first try too!) Well Caden loves his new pink bear.  He has been carrying it around ever since, and it has to go everywhere with us.  Tonight he kept kissing the bear and saying, "You're so sweet."  He is so sweet, I just want to eat him up!

Potty Training

So I guess we decided that we are going to start potty training Caden.  To be perfectly honest I have been dreading this day, but I'm pretty sure that Caden is ready.  I just hope that it isn't as bad as everyone says that it's going to be!  

 This morning I decided that I would take Caden down to Target to pick out some underwear that he likes so that he will be excited to wear them.  As a side note we do already have some underwear, and he usually wears them for an hour or so in the evening which really has not been too challenging.  We just set the timer and take him to the bathroom every 20 minutes.  Anyways back to my story.  When I told Caden that we were going to the store and he could pick out whichever underwear that he likes he told me "No!  I wear diapers!"  I have to admit that I was a little surprised at that because he usually likes wearing underwear, so I said  "It'll be fun, You can get whichever ones you want."  To which he replied, "I told you no!" (I guess that maybe I say that to him sometimes.)  We headed to Target anyways, but really I was thinking Yes! He isn't ready!  Maybe I can just buy another pack of diapers and put this off a little longer! As soon as we got to the underwear section he was really excited to look at all of them.  He picked the Toy Story ones and he told me that he wanted to pay. (It makes me happy that he knows that you don't just take things from the store!)  After we paid he insisted on carrying the bag too. 

When we got home Caden insisted that he wanted to wear the new underwear right away.  Unfortunately it was nap time, and I'm not up for no diaper while sleeping just yet.  After a bit of a battle he went to sleep with the promise that he could wear them as soon as he got up, and I had to open the package so he could look at them before he went to sleep.  As soon as he woke up Caden came out of his room carrying the underwear because he was ready to wear them.  This was only a couple of hours ago, and he is already wearing a different pair of underwear (yes an accident.) I wonder how long this is going to take . . .