Sara turns SEVEN and Phoenix Temple Trip

We planned our trip to Phoenix over Sara's birthday. This is our "off" year for friend parties, so each kid gets to do something special. Sara was excited to go. We opened the few presents we had before we left. Sara had also picked out a helmet, hers is a unicorn. She got that and a bunch of "soft pants" since she is our sensitive kid who refuses to wear jeans.Grandma Jane also sent a Kristoff doll to add to the Frozen sisters from Christmas. Sara continues to be our special girl with her own ideas and feelings about everything. She is a sweetheart who loves everyone. She hates cleaning and spends a lot of time pouting but she does hear what we say to her and when she is ready or motivated, she will do as she's told or make really good choices. She loves jewels, princesses, pink and sparkly. She loves that her name means "princess." She is really catching on to reading and is already way past the end of the year benchmark for that. It is so fun to see her viewing the world as a reader. She also writes in a journal at school every day and those are precious. I love 1st grade spelling, makes so much more sense, and I love how excited she gets about things. We love our Sara!

We left on the 5th after Parent\teacher conferences. The drive is around 7 hours, but the girls did well and we only had one stop for lunch and one stop on the side of the road for little Miss Tiny Bladder.

Monument Valley

After we got there, settled in, and had dinner, we went to the Mesa Temple which was quite close. The girls liked the flat top (no spire) and the fountains. Also the palm trees and cacti.

We went in the visitor's center which was really nice.This is the Christus statue.
The next day was Sara's birthday and Zoo day. We spent the entire day walking around there, it was a good zoo. We paid a little extra to get a pass that allows unlimited carousel rides, so we used that at least three times. Probably  their favorite thing,

Zebras

Sara's favorite, flamingos.

Sting Ray bay. Sara was nervous about it all day, but once we got there, she loved it. Whitney tried and did not love it. Everyone got soaked to the shoulders.

Some cactus.  After the zoo we went to dinner, Sara picked a Chinese buffet, it was good and close to the hotel. We had a fun time. After that we got to go swimming in the pool, and they all did really well. I think by the end of summer we will have 3 swimmers, it is such a relief. Abby and Isabel are already quite good, and Sara is fearless and just needs to improve her technique a little. I love it.

The next morning we had our tickets to the Gilbert Arizona Temple open house. This is when the public is allowed to tour a temple before it is dedicated and only LDS church members in good standing can enter. This is a chance for the girls to see the inside of the temple that they would not be able to see until they are older. The temple is very special to us, and this building was so well constructed and every inch of it was beautiful. I loved being able to see it. This is us outside on the grounds, the fountains were gorgeous.

Yes, we got a zillion comments on our matching outfits. These are the girls' Christmas dresses, I happened to match because this dress is comfy and travels well.  I love the cute girls together, but I always miss Lauren, I wish I had my fifth cute girl in a little pink dress. People can't see that space in our family, but I do. They did look very pretty.

All of us together, because of the temple we know that family is forever.

The decor had a theme of the agave plant and these flowers, they were on every surface and so pretty. The stained glass was amazing.

Sara finally got her cupcakes we picked up at Costco in civilization and brought home, she had princess candles and a sparkly pink number 7. In all a really good trip, awesome weather, good roads and good memories made.