Trek to the temple

Yesterday the youth of our ward went on a "Trek to the temple".  Since our ward is going on trek this summer they wanted to have the kids start walking to get ready for trek.  They started at our church and walked 5.5 miles to the Oquirrah mountain temple.  Even though trek is only for kids 14 and older, our trek to the temple was for the whole youth.




Here are some of the youth on the way to the temple



They are almost there.  I love this picture!

 This is my favorite picture.  The leaders asked families to meet the youth at the temple for a devotional.  I got there early because I wanted to take pictures.  This picture reminds me of the pioneers.  Even though this trek was much much smaller it still represents getting to the much desired destination.

This is everyone right when they got to the temple.  It was such a beautiful day and the temple looked so pretty!

 We sat on the grass while our wonderful bishop gave a short devotional.  He is such an amazing man who always has the right thing to say.  The spirit was very strong there and I sure hope it meant something to our youth.  I hope they always stay on the right path that ends at the temple.

Kierra's 13th Birthday!

I can't believe that I have 2 teenagers in my house now! Kierra turned 13 this week. Wow! She can officially see PG-13 movies now. Funny that she hasn't even asked to see one yet. Now that it's ok, it's not quite as strong of a desire I guess. She chose to go to Panda for her traditional birthday dinner. After that she went to Young Women's for 80's zumba. She said it made her sick to try and exercise right after eating at Panda. After she got home, we had her dessert choice which was ice cream with strawberries and blueberries.

In our house, we don't give our kids a birthday party every year. She had a huge birthday party last year so I told her no birthday party this year. She came up with an idea of how to have a party. She wanted to do an outdoor picture scavengar hunt. I told her it was ok on two conditions. It wouldn't cost any money and she told everyone not to bring presents. She thought that sounded fine. On the invitation, she put "instead of bringing a present, bring a treat to share". It worked out great! I should have taken a picture of the treat table. There was tons of treats on our table. After the scavengar hunt, they all came back to the house to hang out and pig out. She told me a few days before the party that she invited boys. I had no idea that she was doing this. I don't know if I'm ready for her to be friends with boys. It turned out that 3 boys came and 18 girls came. They had a great time! I'm so glad that Kierra has so many good friends. They are all really cute kids. We are so lucky to have such a great daughter. Lately I've heard some stories of problems with teenagers and I am so thankful that we haven't had any with Kierra. She can get in a bad mood sometimes but for the most part she is a happy girl that is so easy to get along with. She is such a wonderful big sister! Katie, Kyson and Jake all love to play with her. I love that she has no problem playing dolls, barbies, pet shops, house,legos, make-up games, crafts and coloring with them. They love it when Kierra is home because they are never bored. Kierra is a great student who get's all A's. She is very independant and rarely requires any help from us with her homework. She is incredibly talented when it comes to drawing and art. I love what a strong testimony she has and how she has set high morals for herself. I am very proud of her! She is a wonderful happy girl and we love her very much!