Grand Canyon

This past weekend was Devon's fall break, so we took a trip to the Grand Canyon. I had never seen it, and it didn't disappoint, absolutely amazing!

This is when you wish for a better camera- right Devon?


Can you see the trail? I really want to hike down to the bottom of the canyon someday- it would be so amazing to see from the bottom.
This is what happens when you feed the animals. We didn't feed it, but the squirrel was so friendly it probably would have let Spencer pet it, we were the ones that prevented that.
We had to eat some ice cream. James loves ice cream- you just mention it and he goes crazy!
They have a bus that you can ride around to different view points. The bus and the hotel were Spencer's favorite parts (the hotel was not my favorite part). James kept singing "The wheels on the bus" and then laughing- he thought it was great.
This picture just look kind of cool. I am glad we could see it, but now i just want to see more like the sunset, and the bottom. Someday.

funny boys

Here are some cute videos of the boys. James loves singing songs lately. He is so cute when he tries to do the actions.

Spencer is currently afraid of any movie with a villain, which is just about every Disney movie. This is his explanation of why Snow White is scary.

Spencer's new favorite primary song- warning- you will be singing it all day if you listen!
If you listen closely Spencer says "Mother hens tackle the whole day long" I guess to him tackling sounds a lot more fun than cackling.

Isn't it ironic that James is screaming during the Happy Song- I guess he didn't get the message.

Monument Valley Chapel Groundbreaking

There is a new chapel being built here in Monument Valley. We are very excited. Right now we go to church in Mexican Hat which is about 20 miles away, it will be so nice to have a church here. They had a ground breaking ceremony at the beginning of October. Ironically, they had already worked quite a bit on the foundation, and this is not really by the foundation, but it's the idea, right?
In case you didn't know Devon is in the branch presidency now, so he got to sit on the stand for this (and every sacrament meeting). I am glad that I only have 2 kids to sit with by myself- and thankfully a lot of nice people who help when needed.
Devon is the 4th from the left- right next to the empty shovel.

Spencer said his favorite parts were the digging and the treats.




I will take about 6 months, but we are so excited to have a chapel here!

sunrise

I mostly wanted to post this picture because I took it- isn't that a great shot?

preschool

This is Spencer and James on Spencer's first day of preschool (James was pretty sure he was going to school too.) Spencer is a "model" student at the special ed preschool at the new school. Don't let that fool you, he's still the same crazy Spencer. Actually, the preschool is a little crazy too. They can't decide if they should do 2 sessions or weed some students out- so right now- and for the last 3 weeks there are more than 30 kids in the class. I don't know how much longer I can wait for them to make that decision. Spencer loves school though, and it's a nice walk over everyday. It's in the afternoon, so i actually get a break during naptime, which is good because I starting this week I will be taking 4 credits of college classes in 6 weeks!

ribbon cutting

There is a new elementary school here in Monument Valley. It is a pretty fancy building and nice to have the school close enough to walk to (and much better than a 45min bus ride). The district put on a huge celebration "ribbon cutting." There are tons of free food, games and a pretty long fireworks show.
Face paint- you can't really see James' but he has a cougar paw
James is such a friendly guy. He walked right up to anyone who looked familiar and started talking. The thing is James doesn't speak a language that anyone else understands, but it was pretty funny!
The whole night Spencer kept yelling "balloon" everytime one of the helium balloons floated away- which was a lot.
Devon and Spencer chopped wood. They are very rustic fellows.


Spencer loved the "instruments." He was literally dancing in the isle the whole time.
They also had some pretty amazing fireworks with I hope were donated considering our current budget cuts. Spencer thought they were too loud, but James kept saying "wow! Wow!" It was a fun night!

PS- the name of the new elementary school is Tsebiinidzigai- with lots of accents that i don't know how to put in. try to say that 3 times fast, or at all. It's in Navajo, which I think is pretty neat, but no one says the real name, they just call it TES.