Arizona Fun

Sunday we went to church with my parents and then that afternoon Tyler and Ben arrived, just in time for dinner with my parents and brother. Their drive to Arizona had went quickly and smoothly and it seems that Ben did well holding his pee (he had been practicing before they left). After we ate dinner we had some fun at the park. I played with Matilda and she said I was her "best friend"- I felt special even if she says that to everyone. Later on when it was dark we drove to a house in a nearby neighborhood that had a pretty cool light show. We got a little lost trying to find it but finally did and it was worth the effort. The lights were a lot fancier than the one in our neighborhood, the music was cool and their was a creepy Santa in one of the windows.

Monday morning my mom, my brother and Lillian joined us at the new Mesa Temple Visitor's Center. The kids all hung out in the Visitor's Center with Mike and Tyler while my mom and I scanned in scrapbook pages at the Family History Center that was upstairs. Then we wandered the newly remodled temple grounds.

After wandering the grounds we walked over to Pete's Fish and Chips for some lunch and then did a quick stop at Deseret Book so Tyler could pick some things up for his dad. 

Our next adventure Monday was a hike with part of Mike's family near the Superstition Mountains. I'm so out of shape and felt winded hiking up and over the hill to get to the trail. It was all fun and games until Lucy was climbing up a rocky incline and stuck her hand in a pile of cactus needles. She then began screaming bloody murder and claimed that she couldn't move. Tyler had a heck of a time getting the needles out of her hands as she waved them around wildly. It took a long while to get them out and calm her down and help her hike back down. It was not my most favorite hike because of that drama and I am sure Lucy will be less inclined to explore because of that.

Monday evening we ate at my most favorite place, Mi Amigo's. I got smart this time and emptied out one of the kid's water cups and filled it with the salsa we hadn't eaten and took it home. It was so yummy to eat throughout the week, although it gave me some major heartburn, I think it's even more spicy after it sits a few days.

As if our Monday was not full enough, as we were leaving Poppy Hatch called needing some help picking out a Christmas gift for Grams Hatch so we met up with him at Costco (and then Best Buy) so Tyler could help him pick out a computer screen and speakers. This was hard for the kids who were tired and crabby but at Best Buys they discovered phones that were out on display that they could play games on and this made things somewhat better.

Tuesday morning Tyler took Lucy and Ben ice skating with Mike, Oliver and Lillian. Ben got the hang of it after a bit but Lucy never really did. She still says she loves it but apparently she fell down... a lot.

Tuesday evening we went to Schnepf Farms with Logan's family and Keshia's family. The kids had a blast just hanging with their cousins. I was less impressed. It was a lot of waiting in lines to do not that great of things. We did start out with no lines and got to do a big slide and ride a carousel with no real wait. 

But then we waited forever to see Santa and he wasn't that good of one. They only took a quick pic and then he asked what they wanted and that was that.

Then we waited in another huge line so that we could go on a hayride to feed deer. The deer were probably a bit full of grass because they were not that interested in eating. 

After that was probably the best part for all the kids- a blow up obstacle course. This, of course, cost extra but they played there for a good long while. 

When the kids finally got tired, they went and decorated some pinecones with glitter (which we hung up on a tree there, I was not bringing that glitter into our car) and it was time to head out. While leaving, the craziest thing happened, our suburban had moved parking spots. It was clearly not behind the semi truck trailer where we had parked, instead it was over by a fence. We still don't know how that happened. Maybe one of his siblings played a trick on us? Maybe the towed it because it was blocking the trailer? It sure was weird.

Wednesday the kids went to Elevate (a trampoline park) with Mike's family. They had a blast until they started getting hungry. My favorite part was when Tyler threw Penny into a pit of soft blocks upside down and she got stuck- he had to help her back out. 

When we were done there mom, Ben and I went to my favorite place- the Broken Yolk. Everyone else went to Chick-Fil-A. The wait for food at Broken Yolk ended up being pretty long but they were nice about it and gave us a free meal. Ben made some angry eyes with his pancake.

Wednesday afternoon Ben and Steven had a sleepover at Logan's house. They had a blast with cousins playing video games, watching "Karate Kid" and playing at a nearby park. The rest of us had tacos for dinner and then we went to a Churro place for dessert. They were pretty authentic Churros according to Poppy. The dark chocolate sauce Tyler got to dip his churros in ended up upsetting his stomach though so I am not sure we'll go back. Afterwards we stopped by the house with the cool light show again and then watched some Holey Moley- miniature golf meets Wipe Out.

Thursday I spent the morning baking cookies and making frosting then we picked up the boys from their cousins house and headed to Mike's house to decorate the cookies. My kids are doing a little bit better at not just dumping sprinkles all over their cookies but they still love to taste the frosting.

That evening we left the kids at Mike's house for a sleepover, did a quick Walmart run and watched "Sherlock Holmes" with Grams. It was nice quiet evening without all the kids for us. Not so much for Mike and Rebecca. The kids had a lot of fun with them though, they walked to a house with a bubble machine, painted fingernails and watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas."