Halloween Wreath

I've been dying to make this Halloween wreath ever since I saw it last year, so I finally did!  I love the way it turned out! So cute!  We may use it for my ward's Super Saturday craft day coming up in September.

 

Captain America

We've been trying to get Caden to practice writing his letters, so for a little motivation I decorated a jar that Caden gets to put a marble in each time that he writes a good letter.  When the jar is full he gets to pick out a prize.  He finally filled the jar, and he picked this Captain America costume for his prize.  He actually ended up wearing it for two days including to bed.  He was very happy with his prize!

 

We went to my parents house and Caden was Captain America while my mom and Grandma Shobe were the princesses.  It was too funny!

Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic

We went to the Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic on Saturday, and Caden made this cute Dusty airplane from the new Disney movie Planes. (Actually Matt mostly made it :)).  We went to see the movie on Friday too since Caden saw the commercial and kept asking to see it.  It was really cute, and made this project especially fun!

Camping

We went on our annual camping trip up to the Mogollon Rim near Woods Canyon Lake with my parents.  It was awesome weather! So nice and cool.  I could almost forget what it was going to be like when we went back home!  We did exceed my one night limit, and we stayed for two nights.  It was fun, but I was definitely glad to come home and take a shower!

 

We spent a fair amount of time sitting around the camp fire and making smores. Yum!

We used Mikey's canoe to paddle around the lake a little.  Caden was not really a big fan of the canoe because he was scared that we were going to tip over.  I will admit that our rowing technique could use a little bit of improvement, and we did almost collide with a couple of other boats. (maybe we did actually collide with one of them . . .)

Caden thought that he would prefer this method of canoeing, but it was still a little too unstable for his liking. 

We waded around in the lake a bit. 

 We hiked a little bit. (and tried to balance on fallen tree trunks.) 

 



We also visited the Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery where we saw trout in various stages of development.  Eventually they are released into the lakes around Arizona.  We paid for the privilege of feeding the fish.  

Go Dbacks! (again!)

Caden's dentist had patient appreciation day on Friday, and everyone got free tickets to the Diamondbacks game!  Best dentist ever right, plus he is also our Bishop!  The Diamondbacks killed the other team 10 to nothing, but we had to stay the whole time because there were fireworks at the end!

 

Being silly.

Jumpstreet

We met up with my friend Cassie and her two kids Reagan and Kade at Jumpstreet last week.  We hadn't been there in ages, and Caden loved it.  I think that he definitely falls in the intended age range. 

 

First Day of School

Caden had his first day of preschool yesterday.  He is going 3 days a week for 2.5 hours.  He was super excited, but it made me a little sad.  He is getting too big, and next year he is going to be going to school for real!  I may enjoy the free time though. :)

 

Homemade Play Dough

Caden had so much fun playing with the play dough that he made at his class, so I decided that we would make some of our own.  I remember my mom making it for us to play with when we were kids, and it's fun making some of the same memories with Caden.  I also remember that the home made kind tastes better ;)

 

Las Vegas

Our friends Janie and Mitch recently (by recently I mean 3 weeks ago) moved to Vegas, and we decided to pay them a little visit.  At least we gave them some incentive to get everything unpacked. :)  We brought Caden along, and it was really fun to see all of the cool Vegas stuff from his perspective, and he loved it!  Prepare yourself for a few pictures . . .

 

We went to the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.  Matt actually had to work this day, so just Janie, Caden, and I went.  I think that it actually worked out well because Matt has sworn off of going to aquariums because I'm pretty sure that we've been to almost every one in the United States and the one in Rocky Point, and he never even really liked them before that.  Caden thought that this crocodile was really cool.

 He also loved being "underwater" with all of the fish swimming around.

 



The shark tank was his favorite of course. 

This tunnel is in the shark tank, so there were sharks swimming all around.  There were actually divers cleaning the shark tank while we were there.  They were wearing protective metal suits, but the sharks didn't even pay any attention to them.  I guess that they must've already been fed. :) 

We also went to Circus Circus where we played some games, and won some stuffed animals.   We also saw some performers do an acrobatic show.  If Caden tells you that he went to the Circus this is what he is actually talking about. 

We saw the Sirens of TI show at Treasure Island.  Note to self that it is not really appropriate for children, but I don't think that Caden understood that stuff.  He was excited about the pirate ships though. 

We also saw the volcano erupt at the Mirage. 

Waiting for the volcano which Caden was mesmerized by.

Every time that we drive by Lake Mead on our way to Vegas, it always looks so nice, and we always think that it would be fun to go there.  We actually did go there this time, and we even rented a boat.  Caden had to sit at the front the whole time because he was looking for treasure. 

We swam quite a bit.  The water was the perfect temperature, and it was crazy how clear it was.  It was definitely better then the lakes that I've been to in Arizona! 

Caden was super excited when Mitch let him drive the boat. 

We weren't expecting to see any wildlife, but we did see a Ram on the shoreline.  It blended in really well with the surrounding. 

We also cruised over to check out the Hoover Dam.  Janie and Mitch said that rumor has it that there are catfish the size of Volkswagen bus at the bottom of the Hoover Dam where the water is super deep.  I did keep thinking about that when we were swimming around there.  The water was way colder over by the dam I guess because it is so deep.

Matt took a turn as captain. 

We also zonked out on the ride home except poor Matt had to drive. 

This cracked me up that Janie put out some framed pictures of us in the guest room to make us feel at home.  They are truly the best hosts!  Personally I think that she should leave them up all of the time . . .

Caden got his picture with the bear at the Coca Cola Store. 

We also went to the m&m store.  They had a cute 3D movie, but I'm pretty sure that those are some of the priciest m&ms that I have ever seen.  It was 4 floors of m&m merchandise.  Who knew that they could make so much m&m stuff?

Caden found some cool sunglasses. 

Waiting for the water show at the Bellagio. 

It was super hot, but 

worth the wait.