A few days in Phoenix...

The kids and I were home for just a couple of days before we headed back out on a trip to Phoenix. We were headed to my parents house (even though my dad is in Idaho for the summer) to go through some of my mom's belongings. Things like clothing, sewing things and crafting items.

We headed out on Wednesday. The kids with tablets and movies to keep them occupied and I put in ONE headphone and listened to and audiobook of Sense & Sensibility as well as Pandora. We made decent time and got to the house in about 7.5 hours. Pretty normal. Luckily my sister had been there a few days prior and had turned the AC on, I just had to turn the water on. Since the water had been off, this is what welcomed us in the bathtub-meet GECKO!

While my sister and went through things the kids stayed busy swimming in the neighbors pool and playing dress up!

We also sent them out to weed the front flowerbed by bribing them with Popsicles!

One afternoon we did head to Costco for lunch and the kids loved trying out the furniture.

In the evening my sister, niece and I watch the newer BBC version of Sense and Sensibility. It was awesome!! I highly recommend it!

On Friday afternoon it cooled down slightly and the humidity left, so the kids headed out front and made a chalk city! They hope it's still there when we go in December.

It was great to visit with my sister, it was a good thing to get things taken care of at the house. Now we're planning on staying home for a while!!

New Years 2011

2011 started out with a bang! We headed off to Phoenix to stay with my parents and started things out by going to dinner for my parents 47th wedding anniversary!

The next day a group headed off for a hike. It was Camelback mountain, which is in the middle of Phoenix.

On Wednesday it started out with a bit of rain and ended with even more rain! But in the middle of it all we headed over to my Aunt Julie's house. She, my Uncle Andy and cousin Courtney were gracious enough to allow us to come to their house and ride some of their horses! The kids loved it and didn't even care that it was cold and rainy.



On Thursday we went over to my brother's side of town and took the kids ice skating. Bud got the most improved award and everyone had a great time!

After ice skating we went to Joe's Farm Grill which has been featured on Diners Drive ins and Dives from Food Network. They had the best onion rings that both N8 and I had ever had!!

For New Years we headed up to my sisters house in Payson,AZ. Snow isn't totally unusual for them, but for a good amount to stay is. We lucked out and got 2 good days of sledding, playing and snowman making!



It was nice to have extra hands to hold Henry:

We came home last night to snow! Crazy, but true. This morning at 5:30am the phone rang. It was the school district letting us know school was canceled due to hazardous driving conditions. N8 decided to take a snow day himself! Now, this afternoon, the sun is shining and the snow is melting. The Christmas decorations are all still up, I'm mid-laundry and the house is a wreck! We had a great Christmas and a happy New Year. Now it time to get to work on 2011. Tonight for FHE we'll probably make our annual goals for the year. Let's see what we can accomplish!

Hopping into the heat...

We decided to take one last trip before the baby comes next month. N8 and the kids hadn't seen my parents (in person thanks to Skype!) for over a year and a half. So we made the trek over to Phoenix. Who knew it could be even hotter than Ridgecrest! Seriously, it was HOT! But we had a great visit. Here's a little recap.

N8 and my dad took the kids on a very brief hike. It would have been much longer, but Emma had a tummy ache. While they were out the kids got to see a saguaro cactus up close and personal:

Thanks to my parents next door neighbors N8 and my dad took the kids swimming. I watched and my mom thought about getting in, but decided to enjoy watching too!

The kids spent enough time to turn into raisins!
On Saturday N8 and my dad took Bud and Emma to a Diamondbacks game. The Oscar Meyer Wiener truck was there:

This was their first MLB experience. Too bad the D-backs have the worst record right now and lost the game 1-14! They still had a great time snacking on popcorn, peanuts and candy corn. After the game they did a big fireworks show as well!


This was my moms good week. She has her next round of chemo next week. So she felt up to going to sacrament meeting. This was her first time wearing her wig. It looks great!

We decided to sneak some sparklers into the state so the kids could have their own fireworks experience. It took them a bit to get used to idea.

My mom helped Bud and Emma with theirs by having them conduct hymns.

Mo and my dad preferred to just watch.

This was as close as Mo would get, doesn't he look thrilled :)!

It was a great visit. We got in some great time visiting, some shopping and some relaxing.
Happy 4th of July!