Friday, December 1, 2017

First days in Arizona

A week before Thanksgiving we headed to Arizona. My mother in law booked us a super early flight- it left at 7 am so we had to be at the airport at 5, which meant we were up just before 4 am. It was horribly early but I can't complain too much because #1- she paid for it and #2- everything went so smoothly. We had a nice friend who woke up early to take us, check in and security went without a hitch and the kids behaved so well. It was seriously the best flight I have been on since having kids. I feel like I can finally stop stressing out about how the kids will behave on a plane. And one perk of an early flight- the view was amazing!


Tyler's mom picked us up and then spoiled us by making us some homemade grilled cheese sandwiches. After visiting with her, we paid a visit to my parents. They have some giant outdoor Jenga blocks that they decided to use as building blocks indoors. Tyler had fun stacking them and the kids had fun destroying them. I was a bit frightened that they were going to break something (or someone) every time they fell.


On Friday we went to the McCormick Railroad park with Tyler's mom, Keshia and Reese. I went to this park all the time when I was a nanny in Scottsdale so I feel slightly sentimental towards it. The kids had a lot of fun at it. They especially loved the Western themed park area and riding on the train. I think their cousin Reese was really enjoying having some girls to hang out with.



I had Steven attempt to take a "selfie" of us all. It was a valiant attempt but he totally left himself out and only got Ben's eyeball.



Friday night we got professional pictures with my family. I was lucky enough to have Keshia do my hair and the girl's hair. We looked super fancy and the desert background (that I requested) looked super nice. I am really happy with how they turned out. I am also really happy with this candid shot I got of Penny and Poppy. Also fun fact- Ben decided that the girl's hair looked like meatballs and referred to the meatballs on their head for the rest of the night.


A sampling of the photos that were taken, we had a hard time getting our kids to do "natural" smiles but they are still adorable and way more cooperative than they have been in previous year.



Saturday morning Tyler and I were able to sneak out and do a session at the Gilbert Temple with my mom. Tyler forgot his recommend but he decided to go ahead and see if he could get in anyways, thankfully he got in without a hitch. It was nice to have a calm morning and it makes me wish it was easier to get to the temple more frequently. It also makes me wish my mom was close by, I enjoying being able to sit with her in the temple.


After doing a session we went out to lunch with my mom at Costa Vida. So so yummy! There are so many food places that I wish Michigan would get. 



After lunch we met back up with our children who were watching the Bowman boy's football games. By the time we got there the kids had already been watching football games for 3 hours. They were getting antsy so we only stayed a little bit longer to cheer on Breenen and then we headed back to the Hatch home.

That evening I went to Kneader's with the Mother Hatch and Keshia- this is yet another place Michigan needs. I had a nice visit with them, even though it mostly involved me just talking about myself to fill up awkward silence, ha ha. They are both a little introverted which for some reason makes me feel the need to be extra chatty...

Sunday the kids helped Poppy Hatch count his change. This was quite the endeavor considering he had over $300 in change. Even though the boys didn't get to keep it all (although he did give them each a half dollar), they still seemed to have a lot of fun organizing it and putting it in coin rolls. I think they may have inherited my organizing gene, although it rarely shows itself at home. The girls, on the other hand, tuckered out pretty quickly from counting his change. 


We ended up going to Logan and Melissa's Ward for church since she was giving a talk. It was a good talk about gratitude and she told a good story about how one time she let pride get in the way of gratitude and the regret she had for that. 






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