New Years in Arizona

On Monday Tyler and I did a little bit of after Christmas shopping, there wasn't much left in the stores but I did get a few good things for Christmas next year (a few Christmas prizes and things for our Christmas countdown). That afternoon Tyler and the boys went shooting with his dad and the Bowman boys. My dad was going to go but he decided against it because it was cold outside and was during his nap time. Ben really enjoyed it but Steven says that he doesn't enjoy shooting. I think he is like me and just doesn't appreciate the loud noises. 

While they were shooting the girls and I met up with my mom and Mike's family at Signal Butte Park. It was pretty chilly outside so we didn't last super long but enough to get some good wiggles out. 

Afterwards we hung out at Mike's house for a long while. His wife is always good to us and feeds us. We are very spoiled.

On Tuesday we spent most of the day in Scottsdale. We met up with Mike's family at the McCormick Railroad Park. It was sprinkling when we first got there and started to sprinkle again when we left. Dumb weather was supposed to give us nothing but sunshine while we were here. I also would like to think that I'm tough because of Michigan and can totally handle the cold in Arizona but I'm not. It's still cold to me. I'm dreading going back home this week where the highs are in the 20's. Going to be a shock to the system.

The first thing we did at the park was get tickets and then the girls rode on the carousel. It was sort of lame since it didn't have any music playing.

Then we all went for a ride on the train. Thanks to the rain, the seats were a bit wet so Tyler was nice enough to wipe them off with his coat sleeve. They still had their Christmas lights out so even though they weren't on, we could still see them. The best was the cactuses with creepy faces on the back- probably repurposed Halloween Decorations. 

After the train ride the kids played Lava Monster with Uncle Mike and Tyler. It was fun to watch them get thrown into a prison without doors, that prison definitely needed some better funding. Although at one point a toddler sat down right in front of the empty door frame and he made a pretty good "door". While the kids played, Grams sat on a bench, huddled underneath all the kids' discarded jackets, trying to keep warm.

Before we left the park we checked out the model train. I had never seen that building with the model train before and thought maybe it had been built after we moved to Michigan. But actually it came a few years before we moved so I must have just been out of the loop. I think the best part of the model train was the Wizard of Oz city built out of Lego's.

Our next stop was lunch at Wendy's. Our huge order with Mike's family, my family and Grams totally broke Wendy's. It took them a long time to get our orders out and the customers that came after us probably weren't super happy about their long wait. The cashier was really nice though and complimented our beautiful families. 

Our last stop was the Sugar Bowl. Tyler and I had gone there on dates once upon a time so it was fun to reminisce. However, it took a bit for our huge group to get seated. In the meanwhile we had to wait outside and we pretty much took up the whole sidewalk. I think Scottsdale is not meant for large groups. They ended up sitting us in a back part by an arcade so our kids could wistfully stare at the games we weren't going to pay for them to play. But they all got an obscene amount of yummy ice cream in the end so I think they were happy.

Tuesday night Reese spent the night. Wednesday I had plans to do a fun morning with the kids and her but then tragedy struck. Lucy woke us up crying that her earring front had broken off. She went to hand me "it" and in my tired state I dropped it and then I couldn't find it. Looking at her ear we definitely couldn't see the front part of it and her ear was a swollen mess so we assumed what she said was true. Tyler tried to pull the back out but had no success. It was stuck good. We were going to take her to a doctor but he decided it would be just as painful so with some lidocaine. neosporine and pliers he got to work. Lucy actually did really good at staying still but oh did she shriek and cry. And when he finally got it out we discovered that the earring top had not actually fallen off. He had pulled the whole earring backwards through her ear. Poor Lucy. This whole earring experience has been so traumatizing but we have certainly learned a lot.

After we finally got the earring out and Lucy had watched some "America's Funniest Home Videos" to help calm down and she had taken some advil to help with the pain, we could now have some fun. We went to Gilbert Regional Park. We brought Lucy's bike so she was finally able to ride it, and Tyler brought his drone so he could get some more practice with it. I rode my bike with Lucy for a bit, while the kids played at this massive park and then when we were done riding bikes, Tyler went off with the boys to play with the drone. As I sat and people watched I realized how old I am getting. I am not the young mom I used to be. Also Ben coming over complaining he was bored helped cement that. I really don't have a whole family of kids who like the park anymore. Although his real complaint was the park was just too crowded which I totally get.

Wednesday afternoon while Tyler went out to dinner with my brother and dad, I hung out at Rebecca's house. Once again she was nice and fed us all and she even had a fun craft for the kids to do. They all made shrinky dink necklaces/bracelets/etc. They also lined up all their Beanie Boo's for a picture because they all just love them so much.

When Tyler came back from dinner, we left the kids so they could have another sleepover at Mike's house and then I had a meet up with my friend Karen. I totally misremembered the time and got their a half an hour early but there was a Barnes and Noble next to where we were meeting up so I hung out there for a bit. Then I headed over to Creme and Chocolats. Their dessert was super yummy- raspberry ice cream with white chocolate sauce in a waffle cone- and it was really nice to catch up with Karen. She caught me up on things happening in our old ward, we talked about her husband being the new bishop and we just talked about all the things. It was a good chat and nice to feel like someone in Arizona still cares about me. I also managed to drip ice cream all across the floor when I went to get a bowl for my cone which was embarassing but I am basically a child in my eating habits soo...

When I came back from meeting Karen, Tyler's Aunt Jacque was at his parents house so we stayed up late chatting with her about politics and life. We had thought she was going to be staying all the next day but it turns out she was leaving that next morning. We felt bad because we would have totally shifted plans with my family and me with my friend if we had known she was leaving early. Then we could've spent that whole evening with her but alas. In the morning Tyler picked the kids up early from Mike's house so at lesat they could see her before she headed out.

Thursday after lunch we went with my parents and my brother to go see "Ghostbusters:Afterlife." Tyler stayed behind to clean his dad's guns. After the movie we dropped by a nearby "Barnes and Noble" because I had seen a good deal on Lego Mario sets and Ben wanted to get one. This was located at the San Tan Mall and it was so crazy busy that just parking was an ordeal. I let a "damn it" slip out at one point and Lucy was quick to point out that I had just said a bad word. Awesome.

Thursday evening we went to Mike's house for a little party. Lots of yummy appetizers (including a great salsa) and we played some games. We even got Poppy to do a "Just Dance" song, it was pretty great. We also had to get a picture of all of us in our jean jackets- we're all so hip, just like Poppy! 

Friday morning I attempted to do a little bit of school with the kids while Tyler went shooting again- this time he went with my family. Our kids are officially supposed to start school next week but with some plans we already have and traveling home, I know they're not going to get much done so I wanted a head start. Then that evening his family came over to celebrate New Years Eve. It was rainy but they still managed to light the fireworks and one of the fireworks exploded at the end like we were all being shot at. Our kids thought it was great, their younger cousins not so much. The kids also played the "quarters" game. That was probably the most fun part. In the end Navi won but Ben got pretty close to winning.

Sautrday morning they had a surprise birthday party for Jezerea. Her husband had the breakfast food catered and the pineapple pancakes with vanilla sauce were real delicious. The party ended in sadness for my girls though because one of the littles had gotten in their room and destroyed their LEGO sets. Me being a great mom, put them back together (look at me becoming a lego expert). The annoying thing is that they still have to be transported home so they'll probably need to be rebuilt yet another time. The rest of our Saturday consisted of Tyler working on his car (trying to fix a couple more things before he heads out next week) and me being fairly lazy while the kids complained of boredom. Just your typical Saturday.