I Love to See the Temple!

We had to wonderful opportunity to tour the new Gilbert Temple with Caden and some friends and family that would not have otherwise had the opportunity to visit the inside of the temple.  It was so beautiful, and we are so excited to have this temple so close to our house.  

I was talking with Caden about visiting the temple, and he told me that his favorite thing was the baptismal font.  He also said that he wants to get baptized there, and he is definitely planning on going when he turns 12.  I asked him how it felt when he was inside the temple.  He told me that he can feel the spirit there, and that it made him feel good.  The next day he wanted to know when we could go back again.  I am so grateful that we were able to have this experience, and I know that Caden could feel what a wonderful the temple is to visit.

More Science Experiments

Caden and I have been working on a few more science experiments lately.

We put an egg in a glass with vinegar, and the vinegar is supposed to eat away the shell but leave the yolk part intact. 

Day 1 

Day 3 

Day 7 

The egg felt a little squishy, and Caden squeezed it a little too hard resulting in a bit of a mess. 

We put white flowers in colored water to see what would happen.   We actually used roses from our garden, and I wasn't sure how they would work.

It only took a few hours for the flowers to change colors.

Playing at the Park

The weather has been so perfect lately, so we have been trying to do more things outside.  Caden loves to play at the park!

Soccer

Caden started playing soccer a few weeks ago.  He is having a lot of fun chasing after the ball, and he looks super cute with his new cleats!

Science Experiments

Caden and I have been working on some fun science experiments lately.  We made "snow" which was just a bar of ivory soap and some food coloring that we cooked in the microwave for a minute.  It got all big and puffy which was cool, but it deflated really fast.  Caden seemed to enjoy this experiment, but I thought that it was a little anticlimactic.

I was also watching Caden's cousin, Grant, the other day, and we made some glow in the dark slime.  That was a huge hit, and Caden is still playing with his today. Although the glow in the dark part doesn't work that good.  I think that we are going to make this in some more colors.

Hiking

On New Years Day we went hiking at Hieroglyphs Trail.  We brought along Caden's cousin Cannon too.  The hike was 3 miles round trip, and the boys got a little tired of all of the walking.  The area with the hieroglyphs was really fun though, and the boys loved climbing around on all of the rocks.

 

Happy New Year!

The Cole's and Bart came over to ring in the new year with us.  We played games, ate yummy food, sat around the fire in our fire pit, and set off fireworks of course!  Caden even made it until midnight with no problem!

 

Christmas with Grandma Mendonca

Next we got to celebrate Christmas with Matt's mom, and we got to eat a traditional Christmas dinner with turkey and all of the sides.

 

Christmas with Grandma & Papa

Next we went to my parents house to open presents.  Caden loved everything!  Then my mom made Flautas, bean dip, and tamales.  It was a good change from the usual Christmas dinner and so yummy!

 





Maddie liked the Cabbage Patch Doll that we got her. :)

Christmas Morning!

A big truck was the only thing that Caden kept asking for.  Before every present he said "maybe this is my big truck," so it's a good thing that Santa delivered on that!

Santa may have gone a little overboard this year.

Christmas with Grandma Shobe

On Christmas eve we celebrated with Grandma Shobe.  She always gets lots of good stuff, and this Bat Cave was definitely the highlight!

Visit from the LeSueurs!

We were so happy that Sarah, Steve, Max, and Madelyn got to come for Christmas this year!  Caden was especially happy to see Max, and they had so much fun playing together.  Max even spent the night at our house one night.

Christmas with Grandpa & Beth

On the 23rd we celebrated Christmas with Matt's dad and his wife Beth.  Caden always loves to be able to play with all of his cousins!

 

The next morning Caden came out dressed like this, and said that he was ready to play soccer.  He wants to wear his soccer socks all of the time!

Railroad Park

We went to the McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale.  They have a train ride, and the park was decorated with Christmas lights and blow ups as you rode on the train.  It even snowed as you came out of the tunnel.  

 

Santa and Mrs. Claus

We ran into Santa and Mrs. Claus at Tempe Cinemas when we went to see a movie on Christmas eve.

Christmas Lights!

We drove around and looked at Christmas lights one night.  There is this cul de sac in Chandler where every house on the street is decorated.  One house even had a walk though Nativity scene in their backyard.  We also went to this cute house in Chandler.  They had tons of lights, and they showed a movie by projecting it on their garage door.  They even had popcorn, hot chocolate, and space heaters.  It was so fun!  

 

Santa!

We went to Bass Pro Shop to get Caden's picture with Santa.  They always have lots of fun stuff to do there!