Taliesin West

 In all the years I lived in Arizona I never went out to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Talesin West, so this time I did it! If you've never been that interested in FLW you should read Loving Frank. It's a really good book. I've always loved his architecture so it was great to see this place.

 I just wish this was my house and my backyard

 and my pool. There were even cute little bunnies hopping around out here!

 It was a hot day, about 110 degrees. It's hard to believe he built this place and didn't have any air-conditioning when he stayed there!

I love this breezeway. It seems so chic and 60's ish.

 This is outside the studio where there are actually on site architecture students who are doing the FLW Master's program.

 Love these red doors outside the theater/chapel.

It was a fun outing with my mom!

Arizona fun

 Having all the cousins eat together at Grandma Gwen's house is fun, we just cram them all around the table and keep passing the food!

 I stood on the island to get an aerial shot

 Another fun activity around the table is playing Uno.

 Thanks to Netflix the kids discovered the series H2O and it became a marathon to watch all 72 episodes before we left. This was a frequent sight whenever we were at the house, a bunch of couch potatoes!

 One day we drove out to Maricopa to see Austin and Nicole's new house and go swimming with them.

 Swimming at Brimhall pool was fun too because they had diving boards and water slides.

 Carson got up the courage to go off the high dive after a few failed attempts. He was so proud of himself!

 We went to a Diamondbacks game

The ballpark was getting ready to host the All Star game so it was neat to see the signs up

Swimming

 We had fun swimming in Arizona AFTER we got the scorpions out of the pool
! Creepy! We would have thought scorpions could not live under water, but there they were walking along the bottom, crazy!

 Madeline with Thatcher, Berkeley, and Maddox

 Playing Dibble Dabble and watching for the stick to pop up...

 Madeline with baby Kate

Baby Kate loved floating

Slide Rock in Sedona, AZ

Right after school ended we flew to Arizona to spend time with our cousins. We were so excited to finally meet baby Kate! She is such a cutie! Madeline and Zoe just loved holding her and Kate was so happy and smiley.

Our first adventure was driving up to Sedona to go to Slide Rock state park. It was so much fun to get in the river and slide down the smooth and slippery rocks like a natural water slide. Here is Zoe and Elle getting ready to get in the water.

Jensen, Zoe, and Hayden on the rocks

Keeping baby Kate happy in the shade

Zoe goes for a slide

Hayden slides toward one of the whirlpools

All the cousins

The whole group of us after spending the day at Slide Rock

Sedona is beautiful with it's red rocks and cliffs! The trip was definitely worth the drive!

Last day of school!

The last day of school is finally here! Zoe is happy but also sad to say goodbye to her teacher Mrs. Hillyer and Mountain Meadow.

Carson's class wore pajamas on the last day of school which is why he has the funny checkered pj shorts on.

Zoe's 5th Grade Banner

 Zoe loved 5th grade in Mrs. Hillyer's class.

 Grandma Gwen created the banner for the 5th grade class. It turned out awesome!

 There was some really neat detail on it including jewels, burnished edges, and a sea monster. It looked like a real pirate map!

 Every 5th grade student's name was on it. Grandma Gwen did an amazing job. They unveiled the banner in the assembly and afterward a lot of kids had their picture taken by their names on the banner.

The Circus comes to Buckley

 A little circus came through town so we took the family to see the show. It was a little one-ring circus called Culpepper & Merriwether's and they set up on the grass beside the Buckley Eagles. It was totally cute with tigers, a clown, a hula hoop girl, a family on unicycles, performing dogs, performing doves, a juggler, and an acrobat.

 Getting ready for the show with some cotton candy.

Madeline and her friend Jen.

Sweet Bunnies

 I really don't think there is anything cuter than a baby bunny. These little babies, Nigel and Emmet, are the sweetest things ever! It seems like someone is always holding them and they just sit there so sweet and cuddly :)

Zoe's 11th Birthday

 Zoe celebrated her 11th birthday with her friends, Alex, Ariel, Hannah A, Nina, Hannah F, and Chloe

 Blowing out 11 candles!

 Playing the Candy Bar game is always fun. Zoe got a big chunk here!

Zoe just wanted a pretty party so we decorated with big tissue flowers and a cute banner. She wanted a simple white cake with tall candles. It all turned out really cute.