Happy, happy birthday sweet Sunshine!

Today is a big day for you... double digits! You've been simultaneously excited beyond belief and hesitant and nervous for today to arrive. You weren't sure what to expect when moving to the double digits, but hopefully it has been a wonderful day! We started with your traditional birthday breakfast of beniets and ended the day with tacos and angel food cake... all your favourite things. You were showered with wonderful gifts, perfect for the grown up girl that you are- new clothes, some fun art projects, lots of new books to read and Harry Potter Wizards Chess. You've already played it a handful of times, and I'm sure it won't be long before you are beating your dad every once in awhile. 

This past year has been a challenging one for you. At the end of the summer, we made the very difficult decision to pull you from the school you had attended since Kindergarten and all the wonderful friends you had made there, and move you to a new school. It was such a scary decision that we all prayed about for months on end before making. It was a hard transition at first, but you were so brave and full of faith. You knew it was the right choice and even when it was most difficult, you have always had a great attitude and found the good amidst the trials. You've made new friends, discovered new interests like band and drama, you've excelled in your studies and been on the principals pride list two of the three quarters this school year. You are such a great example of thriving during difficult times. We know this change has disrupted your life more than ours, but you have grown so much and it brings us so much joy to watch you bloom.

You love church and are such a great example of Christlike love. You are kind to all you meet (except maybe your siblings!) and you often ask your church teachers some hard questions that they cannot always answer. Your desire to learn and grow is strong and we love when you bring us your challenging questions and let us help your testimony grow. You have a wonderful understanding of the scriptures and enjoy reading them alone and as a family. We hope your love of the words of the prophets never dwindles!

You are just as creative and artsy as always. You are doing a wonderful job learning to play piano, trying your hand at the flute in the school band and playing the role of July, an orphan, in your school's production of Annie Kids. The school play has been a huge time commitment but you are handling it with grace. Even the weeks when you have multiple days of practice, plus swim team, plus piano, plus before school commitments, you are smiling and happy and never say a word about quitting. You work hard and give all your extracurricular activities your best effort. Unless that extracurricular activity is cleaning your room... Ü We are working on that hurdle still. 

We are so blessed to be your parents and find so much joy in watching you learn and grow. We love you so very much and are excited to see what your second decade of life brings! But just remember, no matter how old you get, you will always be our baby... the sweet baby girl who entered our lives following a magnificent Arizona sunrise all those years ago, our own little bundle of Sunshine.

Love always, 

Mom & Dad 

Happy 9th Birthday, Sunshine!

Happy, happy birthday my sweet Sunshine!

Nine years old! As Nana informed you this afternoon- your last year in the single digits. We'd better make it count. Soon you'll be old, and have two numbers in your age. Ü You have grown and changed so much in the past year, though I can't quite put my finger on what is different. You've always had an "old soul" and been mature for your age, but lately you just don't seem like a little girl anymore. You are growing up and I'm not ready for it!

You are an excellent student who is eager to go to school each day. You love your teacher and friends, both at school and church. You are always willing to volunteer for things and it seems like you give the talk or scripture in Primary at least once a month. You are enjoying Activity Days and doing such a great job of memorizing the Articles of Faith. You enjoy reading, for fun and for learning, and are especially enthralled by the "Teachings of the Prophet" manuals the adults use at church. On a whim, I grabbed a copy of this year's book, "The Teachings of Howard W Hunter", and you immediately took off with it, eager to learn about this great man. You are excelling in math and spelling and take great pride in your school work. We are so proud of your hard work and effort.

You continue to be very kind and tender hearted... not always towards your siblings, but they know how to push your buttons! You are friendly to everyone at school and church and you are always thinking of ways to serve those around you. Your kindness and friendship have blessed the lives of many we come in contact with and a few months ago, you received a very sweet letter from a lady in our ward, thanking you for being so kind to her grandson and playing a part in his desire to come to church and be baptized. I know your sweet spirit will continue to bring others closer to Christ.

We love you so very much and are so blessed to be your parents. Enjoy your last year of single digits, but don't be in too big a rush to grow up! You will always be the precious little baby who made us parents.

Love always,
Mom & Dad

P52 | Week 5: Sunshine

Living in the Valley of the Sun, I kind of assumed that this week's photo would include some outdoor time, maybe a pretty sunflare. Instead, my sunshine photo features Sunshine, as she has lovingly been called since minutes after her birth. 

Sunshine is growing up so fast and this picture captures just that. How is she old enough to be styling her own hair already!? This is a typical part of our Saturday night routine. All the time Sunshine puts in at the pool each week takes a toll on her hair. Between the gobs of conditioner we use to help keep her hair from breaking under her swim cap to the inevitable chlorine build up, by the time Saturday rolls around, Sunshine's hair is in need of some TLC. It has become our tradition that I wash her hair for her, using baking soda and vinegar to remove the build up, then we hang out together and style it. Sometimes I blow dry it, sometimes she does, and while it may not seem like much, I treasure this little bit of girly time with Sunshine each week. I'm not the best girl mom... I can't French braid or do fancy hair styles, my sense of fashion is lacking, but this little bit of girl time each week is fun for me, and hopefully for Sunshine. 

I know the tumultuous teenage years will be here before I know it, but I hope Sunshine will always need my help to wash her hair. 

Celebration With Friends

2015 has been the year of no birthday parties. And it has been nice! Beebs opted for a trip to Utah to stay with Nana and Papa instead of a party, and while we did have a little get together following Sunshine's baptism, there was no friend party. Instead, the Monday after her birthday, I took Sunshine, Beebs and Man Cub, along with Sunshine's two best friends from school out for a movie and ice cream. It was a fun afternoon. Sunshine decided she wanted to see the movie Home and afterwards we all went to Baskin Robbins for a scoop of ice cream. The kiddos had a great time and I enjoyed the stress free celebration. We might have to do this whole no birthday party thing more often!

Sunshine's Baptism

The entire week after getting home from Hawaii was a crazy one, but we knew that would be the case. We arrived home late, late Monday night, Wednesday was Sunshine's birthday and Thursday my family began to roll into town for Sunshine's baptism on Saturday. By Friday night we had a full house and things were a little crazy as we tried to get everything in order for Sunshine's big day.

Sunshine was baptized on Saturday March 28th. She was one of 4 children from our ward alone that was being baptized that day, with the total number from the stake was somewhere around 11 or 12. It was a little bit insane. In my 4 years as Primary President, I had never seen a baptism with so many children participating. Considering the large amount of people at the baptismal service, it went really smoothly and I couldn't be happier with the entire day!

Before leaving for her baptism, Bruce and I took Sunshine aside so we could give her a final birthday/baptism day gift. Bruce had chosen a strand of real pearls for her and he gave them to her explaining that they were to be worn on her baptism day, and then again on the day when she is sealed in the temple. Of course, she can wear them on Sundays and special occasions until then, but we wanted her to have something to link the covenants she made on her baptism day with the covenants she will make when she is one day sealed to a spouse for time and all eternity. It was a really sweet moment when he gave them to her and I definitely cried. Darn pregnancy hormones.

After giving her the necklace, we headed to the church for the 2pm service. Sunshine wore the dress that I was baptized in 22 years and 1 month previously. She looked so beautiful in it and I love that our baptisms are connected through that dress. So many people came to support her, including a lot of non-member friends and even her school teacher! Of all the people who showed up for her special day, I think having her teacher there meant the most to Sunshine. It was incredible to see how many people took time out of their busy Saturday to be there for her. She was grinning from ear to ear as she hugged and greeted everyone.

The baptism went great and the confirmation portion of the service ended up being really neat. With 4 children from our ward being baptized, I was really unsure of how to handle dividing up the responsibilities for the confirmation part. I wanted to involve every family, but didn't want to ask one family to provide a talk and the others to just pick a song or say a prayer. After a lot of thought, I decided to have one of the 8 year old Primary teachers give the Holy Ghost talk, then invite each of the other three families to ask someone to bear testimony of their experience with the Holy Ghost. I knew I would be doing the welcome from the Primary, so I kept that our family's contribution to the program and had my second counselor give the closing prayer. It ended up being a beautiful meeting. I truly enjoyed each of the testimonies that were born and the Spirit was so so strong. Each of the children were given beautiful blessings as they received the Holy Ghost and while I can't remember what was said in any one of the blessings, including Sunshine's, I remember thinking how amazing it was that each child was given a distinctly different, yet truly incredible blessing. Each blessing was so personalized and beautiful without any of them saying the same things.

When it was my turn to speak, and give the welcome from the Primary, I struggled. I knew I would. I had been told by the bishop several weeks earlier that I was going to be released, and this was to be my last act as Primary President. I'd served with these sweet children since they were little Sunbeams, fresh from nursery and it was difficult to stand before them and say all I wanted to say. But I made it through and hopefully did not disturb the spirit that had been brought in by all the others who participated on the program.

After all was said and done, Sunshine got lots of hugs and congratulations before we headed home to celebrate with family and a few friends who stopped by. We enjoyed a huge dessert bar and eventually decided to have dinner as well. It was a really wonderful day and I loved watching Sunshine make her first covenant with her Heavenly Father. She was absolutely ready to do so and it has been wonderful to watch her continue to mature in the gospel over the past few months since her baptism day. Bruce and I are truly blessed to be the parents of such a sweet girl who is so close to the Spirit and wants so badly to do what is right. She is most certainly a choice daughter of our Heavenly Father and it is such an honour to be trusted to raise her.

When Sunshine Turned 8

After arriving home from Hawaii, we quickly moved into birthday mode. And not just any birthday, but Sunshine's 8th birthday! Just 24 hours after getting home from Hawaii, Bruce and I celebrated our baby becoming a big girl!

Sunshine's birthday ended up being a really busy day. Sunshine went to school and I taught preschool. Then Man Cub, Beebs and I went down to Sunshine's school to have ice cream sandwiches with her and her class in celebration. After picking her up from school, Sunshine was able to attend her first Activity Days activity, which she was beyond excited about. We did have to get her early from that as her birthday wish was to celebrate by attending the Mesa Temple Easter pageant that evening. My father in law met us at the house, we loaded our picnic dinner and Sunshine's birthday presents into the car, then picked her up from the church and headed across town. As this was the first time we'd all been together all day, Sunshine opened her birthday gifts in the car. She got a colouring book from Beebs, a few new swimsuits from Bruce and I and Bruce's dad got her a basketball and a CTR ring. Bruce and I had also gotten her a new dress for her baptism, but gave it to her early so she could wear it for her birthday photos in Hawaii.

Once we arrived at the temple, we walked around and enjoyed all the beautiful flowers throughout the grounds. Then we settled into our seats and enjoyed our picnic dinner. At the birthday girl's request we had Goodcents subs and a variety of snacks. Then we just waited for the show to begin. As always, it was a fantastic performance and helped to get us all in the Easter spirit as we remembered the great life and sacrifice of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I absolutely love that this is how Sunshine wanted to spend her 8th birthday. I can think of no better way to get in the right mindset for her baptism that was just 3 days away at the time.

Once the pageant ended, we got back in the car and headed home. With that, Sunshine's actual birthday had ended, but the celebration was far from over!

Aloha From Hawaii | Days 3 & 4

After a relatively low key Sunday and Monday in Hawaii, Tuesday was Pearl Harbour day. We knew it would be on the draining side as it was lots of time on a tour bus not to mention the fact that we would be visiting an extremely emotional place. Bruce and I spent a lot of time talking about how we wanted to handle going to Pearl Harbour with our crew of small children. At one point, we even discussed going to the USS Arizona Memorial in shifts and not taking the wee ones over there at all. But ultimately, we decided that it was important for our children to see the Arizona, even if they could not fully comprehend the significance of it.

We started to prep them for Pearl Harbour before we did most of our other trip preparations. We talked about what had happened at Pearl Harbour and why it was important for us to go there. We checked out a childrens book on the topic from the library which Sunshine read bits and pieces of, then sharing what she had learned with the rest of us. I think our prep work helped a lot. The kiddos were absolutely amazing at Pearl Harbour. I am still absolutely blown away when I think about how well behaved they were. They showed such reverence and respect throughout the entire visitors center as well as when we went to the actual USS Arizona Memorial. They sat quietly through the video depicting the events of that dreadful day and sweet Beebs shed some tears as she watched. She asked a lot of questions as her young mind tried to piece everything together and I was beyond speechless when, after arriving home from Hawaii, Beebs shared some thoughts about Pearl Harbour with our preschool class. Her words were "You guys, we didn't even laugh when we were there. It's a special place. Lots of people died there, so we didn't even laugh." It was very touching for me to hear her recount our visit to Pearl Harbour as experienced through 5 year old eyes.

While at the USS Arizona Memorial, I didn't feel right taking photos. I saw people around me treating it as you would any tourist attraction- smiling and posing for photos. While it is great that they were capturing those moments and memories, I myself did not feel comfortable with those sorts of photos. Instead, I just soaked in the reverence of where we stood. I did snap a couple of photos to help the kiddos remember a few significant things about the memorial. I took one of the wall engraved with the names of each serviceman killed in the attack on Pearl Harbour and another one of the oil that is still coming to the surface from the sunken Arizona. 

One thing I found so interesting at the USS Arizona Memorial is that even the survivors of Pearl Harbour have the option to be entombed with their fallen comrades. When a survivor dies, they can be cremated and then a special dive team takes their remains down and put them into the sunken ship. I just thought that was really incredible and what an honour to be a part of the dive team that performs that task. 

After touring Pearl Harbour we headed to the USS Missouri. The spirit there was much more upbeat and we took lots of photos. We did a little guided tour and the girls ate up all the information they were being taught. Sunshine asked so many insightful questions. Our tour guide pulled us aside after the fact and said Sunshine had the makings of a history major. She couldn't believe that she was only 7 (almost 8!) years old and was so interested in all that was being shared with her. 

We really wish we'd had more time at the USS Missouri. We would have liked to have climbed to the top of the ship and spent more time reading all the information posted throughout the different areas. One thing I found so fascinating about the Mighty Mo was the set up of the ship's interior. It truly was a small (though large!) floating city. There were sleeping quarters, a dining room and industrial kitchen as well as places to hang out and relax, but there was also a post office and a bakery and a butcher. There were so many areas that I had never even contemplated a need for on a battle ship. It was really neat to see, especially when we were able to share with the girls that their Great Grandpa Noel had worked on a similar type of ship during his years in the Navy. We all really enjoyed our day at Pearl Harbour. And even as we returned to the hotel and enjoyed our first true Hawaiian shave ice, the girls were continuing to talk about the things they'd seen and learned, asking more insightful questions as they processed the intense history they had encountered that day. And the entire day just wore Man Cub out. Not only did he fall asleep on the bus ride back to our hotel, he also conked out on the floor after we returned from shave ice. It was a great day all around. I was and still am blown away by the maturity they all showed during that day of our trip. It was more than I had hoped for. I have the best wee ones! 

Wednesday was the day I had most looked forward to, though it sadly did not go as I had hoped. We rented a car and headed to the north shore area to go to the temple. I don't know why I thought that Bruce and I would be able to attend the temple together... not with three children who would need entertaining while we went in. I sat outside and attempted to enjoy the visitors center with the kiddos while Bruce and his dad did a session. All was fine until Beebs had a meltdown that ended up with us sitting in the car while we waited for them. When they came out, I knew I couldn't even almost ask Tom to sit with them while Bruce and I went in, so I had to go to the temple by myself which was so not what I wanted. I really wanted to enjoy the Lai'e temple with Bruce. Pregnancy hormones got the best of me and I sat on the steps of the temple crying for a good 45 minutes before I could compose myself enough to go in. Not my finest hour, but I'm chalking it up to all the hormones with a dash of exhaustion from traveling and all the excitement of our first few days.

Eventually, I did work up the gumption to let go of what I had wanted so badly and go in by myself. I ended up thoroughly enjoying my time spent in the temple. While I was inside, Bruce and his dad got the kiddos fed and Bruce made sure the kiddos touched the temple and he even took a photo of them doing so. When I was done, I took some time to do Sunshine's baptism/8th birthday photos on the temple grounds. It was the middle of the day so lighting was less than ideal, but I got some beautiful shots of my beautiful baby girl. I still can't believe just how grown up she has become. I call her my baby girl, but she is so far from it. She's hardly even a little girl anymore... she's maturing so quickly, it almost breaks my heart. 

After the photos, we piled back into the car and headed farther north. We hit up a little market area where there were some food trucks including Giovanni's shrimp truck which I had heard so much about. Beebs and I split some lemon butter shrimp and shrimp scampi. The girls also got a shave ice and I enjoyed an ice cold coconut. And I truly was the only one who enjoyed it... everyone else thought it was gross. But at least they were all willing to give it a try. 

The market area also had some fun little shops where Beebs and Sunshine each got a hand carved necklaces (turtle for Sunshine, dolphin for Beebs). Sunshine also bought a purse made out of a coconut. I got my souvenir from the trip- a family protection tiki man who now hangs in my living room. There was also a fresh fruit stand that had the most amazing pineapple I've ever eaten. I miss all the fresh pineapple in Hawaii. I'd move there right now, just to be able to enjoy that every day. 

After eating and shopping, we headed out to find a beach, hopefully with turtles. And guess what we found!? Basking turtles. It was incredible to see them just lying on the shore, sunbathing. Bruce kept telling the girls- "I hope you know how special this is! You are {almost} 8 and 5 and you are seeing sea turtles in the wild. I'm 31 and this is the first time I'm seeing something like this." We may or may not have said that to our girls a lot on the trip. We wanted them to realize just how special an experience this entire vacation was. They got to do and see things that many 8 and 5 year olds do not get to experience.

As we walked back to our car to head home, Man Cub picked me a hibiscus flower. He was so proud of himself when he presented it to me. There are no words to describe how much I love that little guy! It was the prettiest flower and I wish I could have kept it forever... so I took a picture of it to remind myself. I just wish I could've gotten a picture of his big grin as he handed it to me.

Despite it's rocky start, Wednesday was a wonderful day and I'm grateful for the opportunity that Bruce and I had to serve in the temple while in Hawaii. Even if it wasn't together. And the wee ones were able to add another "touched temple" to their list. It may not have gone as planned but it was still one of my most favourite days in Hawaii.