Last Week in AZ

Our last week in Arizona went by quickly. On Monday I took the whole fam over to Rebekka's family home so all our kids could play together. Her daughter Grace ended up playing army guys with our boys most of the time and her little boy did whatever he could do to avoid me, ha ha! He had a super stranger danger radar so despite my attempts to get him to love me, I was unsuccessful. We had lots of fun and it made me wish that Rebekka and I lived in the same state and could get together more often.

After that we met my parents at Mi Amigo's, my absolute favorite restaurant. It did not disappoint! The food was amazing as always and I am already dreaming of going back there. I really wish someone could start up a restaurant here that actually serves good Mexican food!!

Monday afternoon Mecca and I went to Kneader's for dinner. It was nice to hang out with her kid free. It was also nice to go back to her house and hang with her kids. I miss those cuties and it makes me sad how much they grow every time I am away. The distance also makes me sad because I feel like I have to work hard to get them to love me each time I see them because they forget how awesome I am. Best part of the night was probably when I read to Oliver and Lillian. Loved snuggling with those cuties. 

While I was hanging with my brother's family, Tyler and the kids were having one last hurrah with Tara's family. I am glad they were able to make some time so the boys could hang with her kids. Our kids really miss those Bowman boys!

Tuesday mostly consisted of running errands- using my Kohl's cash and getting some books for the plan ride. For lunch we took Keshia out to Chick-Fil-A as a thank you for all the cleaning up after us she did (her family is living at the Hatch home currently). 

For dinner Tuesday we ate at my parent's home. My Aunt Ragena had left but my Aunt Irene and Uncle Charlie were now visiting. I enjoyed hearing Uncle Charlie tell stories of growing up on a farm and Tyler enjoyed talking with them about gardening. I really do hope he takes all of their advice and starts a garden this spring.

Tuesday evening we went to see the Mesa Temple Lights. We had some of my family (my mom, my aunt and uncle, my brother and his two oldest kids) and some of Tyler's family (his dad, Logan's family and Keshia's family). I hadn't seen the lights for 4 years and it was so nice to be there again- there is such a good spirit on the temple grounds. The kids also loved seeing the lights and they really enjoyed being with so many cousins. 

After the temple lights I met up with Karen at the Cheesecake Factory. The food and company were perfect! I really miss her friendship and will always treasure it, she was so good to me when I was going through those hard days of being a working mom with a husband who was hardly present. I was so lucky to have had her in my life.

Wednesday afternoon I had one last hurrah with my family. The kids had a blast playing tag at the park. Ben and Oliver seemed to be best buddies and Penny (who was "in love" with Oliver during Brady family pictures) seemed to have lost interest in Oliver. It was tough to hug all these people goodbye when I don't know when I will see them next. Hopefully it's not too far in the future!

We ended our last full day in Michigan by getting pizza with Tyler's dad and then going out to ice cream with him. It was nice for the kids to get some rare one-on-one time with him. With all his squishing and tickles, it's clear that Tyler learned all his fun parenting skills from his dad.

Lucy also really enjoyed the mirror at the ice cream shop in which she could see 3 other Lucy's. She was pretty funny to watch.

Thursday morning we flew back to Michigan. We had some nuances- security had to search Tyler's carry on, for some reason getting passengers into the plane took forever and then when it came time to pick up our luggage somebody pushed the emergency stop on the carousel- but all in all it was a good flight. It is seriously so nice to have kids that finally travel well. 

And now we are back in Michigan. The kids went to school today and seemed to survive. Now we just need to survive all the holiday fun and then I like to think that things will calm down :)