Arizona-Day 5,6,7,8 and Ruby is 1!

 Saturday we met Michael's family at Mi Amigo's because it is my favorite and everyone is nice and humors me. Mecca and Mike were nice and helped out with Ruby so I felt like I actually got to enjoy the meal. Ruby really isn't the best for taking out these days. All my kids got non Mexican food entrees- chicken strips and hamburgers- except for Lucy. She still loves tacos. Afterwards I went to Seagulls and they have such cute dresses- some that would've worked for family pictures- but I just can't justify spending $45 on something I don't need. 

Our next stop was the Arizona Museum of Natural History. We met Keshia's family, Logan's family, Tyler's parents and Jezerea's kids there. I think the kids enjoyed all the various exhibits-dinosaurs,native american history, prison replica, mining for fools gold (which some kids were convinced was real gold)- but I just wasn't a fan of the museum layout- it felt a bit like a maze and it was hard for us to stay together and keep track of kids. At one point Tyler's parents could not find Jezerea's kids so that was a bit of a problem but they did find them after a bit. Penny started getting pouty about Reese not hanging out with her again so I asked Bradley (Logan's kid) if he would hang out with Penny and that was a good choice. He was more than happy to hang out with her and that cheered her up immensely. I spent some time with my nephew- Ryan- and he was a sweet kid. I enjoy my time with the nieces and nephews but none of them ever know who I am or remember me since they see me so infrequently.

After the museum we walked to a place close by that had doughnuts with ice cream inside. I just love that combination. However, we were disappointed to find out that it did not have indoor seating and was just a window to order from. With it being super hot outside, I could not sit down and properly enjoy my doughnut ice cream without it melting. Still it was delicious and it also turned my mouth blue so that was super fun.

Saturday night was a quiet evening at my parent's house. My mom was nice and cooked for us and I think all the kids needed a quiet night. Time difference and lots of people all the time can make them super cranky.

Sunday we went to church with my parents. It was funny that this one lady said that it was too bad we weren't moving in because their ward could use more people. Their ward was so big compared to ours. I appreciated that it was noisier and my baby wasn't the only baby making noise. Although Ruby did really well and slept for most of it. 

After church we had lunch, a good nap and Tyler made Ruby's amazing Baby Shark cake. 

For dinner my parents went with us to Tyler's parent house so we could eat and have an early first birthday party for Ruby. My brother's family joined us after dinner. The party felt like a bit of a bust to me. The Hatch's and Brady's did not really mingle and that always makes me feel awkward. When we sung to Ruby the Hatch's stayed far away at their table and some of the kids were outside and missed it. The cake eating was a flop. The high chair was a mess from another baby so I sat her at a kid table and tried to video tape her cuteness but then she fell off the seat. That was sad. Then I sat behind her and her cousin, Lennon, kept stealing her cake. I guess it just felt like she was more of a side note than the baby of the hour. But the cake and decor was cute and she really loved eating the frosting. Unfortunately that night she got really fussy as I tried to put her to bed and then threw up all over herself so I think that was a bit too much sugar for her.

Monday we spent the morning getting things ready to fly out the next day. Around lunchtime we met Keshia's family at Fat Cats. We had to wait a bit because she was running late which is just the Hatch family way. When her family got there we bought the kids each a token card and let them have some fun at the arcade. My kids were nice and let me play a few games with them. I had a lot of fun with the game where we had to knock clown pins down with bean bags but Tyler and Ben had more than just fun- they earned 550 tickets from a round of playing it. Too bad it happened when Ben ran out of tokens so they couldn't try for another 550 tickets. I also played a shooting game with Penny and I kept shooting the good guys- whoops. Steven spent most of his tokens on a Minecraft game. At the end, when we went into the prize room, Ruby grabbed an armfull of stuffies and was very bummed that her siblings hadn't earned enough tickets for them. Even with all of Ben's tickets, he still ended up just getting candy.

After we were done there, we headed to Chick-fil-a for some lunch. It was super crowded so Lucy, Penny and Reese got to sit at a table of their very own. The girls had a good time eating and chatting- Lucy was too tall for them to play at the play place there. But she wasn't too tall to wear the cute cow mask ;)

When we finished lunch we went to Mike's house to hang out and have dinner. It was nice to chat and let the kids play. The girls disappeared into Lillian's room for most of the time. We had a guest appearance from their tortoise Palmy- it was fun to watch him munch on grass. Ruby enjoyed laying down in their baby doll crib. The boys had some fun playing a Hot Wheel racing game on the Switch. Oliver was a pro at it. Then we all enjoyed some hot dogs and hamburgers to finish off the night.

Tuesday we got up and at it quickly so that we could be packed and ready for our morning flight back home. Mike was nice and took us to the airport. I was feeling very anxious that morning because the flight to Arizona had been so tricky with Ruby and because we had been assigned seats and only 3 of us were together and the rest were spread apart. I was so anxious I felt like puking. I told Tyler this when we got to the airport and he was really good at being calm and getting me through everything. Thankfully we had no big problems with checking in luggage and going through security. We also had plenty of time to grab some food and take bathroom breaks. When we got on the plane, I was relieved to find out how empty it was. It was so empty that we ended up with 3 rows of 3 seats all to ourselves in the back of the plane. That meant that Ruby had her own seat on 3 different rows. We started out with her between Tyler and Penny and she ended up falling asleep really quickly and slept for over an hour. After she woke up she spent a lot of time on my row with me and Steven but the nice thing was that when she got a little fussy/bored I could pass her somewhere else. She "watched" some Baby Shark and "Dora the Explorer" and I watched "Boys in the Boat"- that was a good movie. She also played with her toys and ate lots of baby teething cookies and food. It turned out to be a really good flight. I think the fact that she slept in the beginning and woke up happy helped. I also think her having the ability to be in her own seat helped a lot. 

Getting off the plane we had some issues with getting things. First the stroller wasn't by the door when we got off and when the pilot saw me looking for it, he jumped off and went and got it. He was a really nice guy. Then when we got to baggage and Ruby's car seat was no where to be found. Turns out they put in a separate place for oversized luggage. That would have been nice to know. After everything was found, we only had to wait like 5 mins and then Caroline was there to pick us up. I was so glad to be back home in my own space. I love traveling, I do, but I also love the comfort of my home and my routines. I was worried how Ruby would do with adjusting back to Michigan time but she did really well. I put her down around 9pm and she woke up around 8am. All things considered, she does really good with traveling.

Wednesday I had a bazillion things to do but Grace sent me a text asking if I wanted to meet up at the beach and that sounded really nice so I went. It was a good break from all the things and really nice to catch up with her. She is a good listener and a good friend. 

Thursday was Ruby's real first birthday! She had one present to open that morning (since I had given ours to her early and the Hatch's had given her some fun books at her early party). The present was a fun little backpack with snaps and buckles and things. I think as she gets older she's going to love having her own backpack to carry things in and I love that it doubles as a toy as well! She had a lot of fun opening it and playing with the tissue paper. Since her early party had felt like a bit of a flop we did a redo with friends that evening. To prepare I went and got some balloons at Kroger's. I was going to do Ruby Red and Gold (it's her golden birthday) but they didn't have gold so I ended up with rainbow colors- she is my rainbow baby too so that worked. She loved playing with the balloons. 

We also decorated the house with some rainbow streamers (Lucy hung them up like a curtain into the kitchen) and I ended up running to Hobby Lobby and getting her a rainbow colored banner there. For her party that evening I decided to do shaved ice since the frosting had made her sick. The shaved ice was a hit with everyone and it did not make her sick so that was extra awesome. We had the Mays, and Bloomfield's over and Cherish and her 3 girls and Mia and Renee. It was a real party with lots of people who smothered her with love. Unfortunately, that love was a bit too much and she ended up in tears at the end of the birthday song- she is definitely a Hatch.

After shaved ice, the younger ones played with water balloons while the olders played on the Switch. I tried to get Ruby out and playing with the littles but as soon as she got wet from a water balloon she decided she was not a fan and wanted nothing to do with them. That's ok, I had fun snuggling her and talking with my friends. Even though Ruby was pretty emotional throughout the celebrations it still felt like a success because I felt like she was most definitely the center of attention. Steven's friend Renee even got her an elephant beanie boo which was so sweet of her. It was fun to watch Steven interact with his 2 friends that are girls. Renee and him seem to have a lot to talk about when it comes to gaming. He even did some pull ups in front of the girls- I was impressed ;)