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."

Graham Cracker Houses, Arizona

Sunday evening we had our annual graham cracker house making party. I even made a super fancy appetizer, a Christmas Tree shaped Bread Pull Apart. I should've taken a picture to document how fancy I was. Once everyone arrived, the kids took their time making their houses because they all wanted to win an award. It's always hard to pick winners but I try to get at least one from each family. Evan won most creative because he made cactuses and melting snowman- spoke right to my Arizona heart. Jacob won most ugluist house because his, was well, a giant mess. Lucy won the most beautiful house and Beck won the most festive for all his Christmas colors. The kids that didn't win were severely disappointed but that's just life.

After decorating houses we played the saran wrap ball game- where you wrap up a bunch dollar store things in saran wrap. I'm not sure if this was the best game to add to our party. The kids were really intense about trying to get something unwrapped in the ball and some kids got really upset when the ball moved on and they still hadn't unwrapped something. My own kids didn't spaz too much but there was still a lot of shouting and emotions. The parents claimed it was entertaining and said we should do it next year. We shall see. After that "Don't Eat Pete" was played, the kids ran around outside and then it was time to part ways. Everyone always seems to enjoy this annual tradition so that makes me happy.

Monday afternoon we had the Mays over. I am a gluten for punishment and decided to do the saran wrap ball game with them. Not sure why when the night before it had been so crazy. Peter did not appreciate the game at all. He got super upset and stopped playing so it ended up being just my kids and Andrea and David. The rest didn't get too emotional but my kids kept winning the "big" prizes (a gift card and some cash). I had not really wanted my kids to win. Ben ended up trading his $10 Chick-Fil-A gift card for a dollar store stuffie when it was over and David traded his cash for a dollar tree rubber chicken. These kids did not make very smart trades.

After the saran wrap game we played Christmas Jeopardy. Once again there was some emotions when they didn't get a question right (especially Peter again) but they all ended up getting some points and in the end Ben won first place, Peter won second place and Steven won third place. A funny moment was when Penny was called on to answer the question- Where does Santa live. Just as she was called on David shouted "South Pole!" so Penny answered with "South Pole"- it doesn't pay to copy. I love hosting games, I just really wish kids were better at handling losing.

Monday night for our Christmas countdown we were going to do our traditional drive through Christmas Lights at the Wayne County Lightfest. Unfortunately I found out they were closed Monday and Tuesday so I started Googling to try and find something else. I ended up buying a ticket for us to go to the Magic of Lights in Clarkston. This was a $30 ticket, we usually pay $5. Well, it was definitely not worth the price hike. The lights were cool but they really weren't any better and I feel like it was a shorter drive than the one we usually go to as well. But Jacob came with us and the kids still had fun and our tradition wasn't broken and we did hop out and take a picture with a cool Christmas crab so, not a complete bust.

While the kids were at school Tuesday I did some packing and then went out to lunch with Grace and Caroline. Actually we went to a breakfast place for lunch but the food was good and the company was nice. Wednesday was more packing and getting ready for the trip and that evening Lucy had her last volleyball game (parents vs kids) which I missed because I had to take Steven and Penny to the church for activities. 

Thursday morning was super frustrating because the kids left their final Science Projects at home and I had to run back home and get them. Normally I do not do such things but when a teacher calls and asks, I guess you are obligated to say yes. So that took 40 minutes out of my already busy day. Then when I went to drop off a few seminary gifts to students who hadn't come (I had bought cute mini Nutella jars and had attached a tag that said "spread peace") I had a mom talk my ear off. She is definitely in need of friends but she is a lot of drama that I don't really want to take on. After all that I was finally able to work on taking down Christmas, and getting all things ready for us to head out to AZ that night. Somehow I managed to get everything done.

After dinner we headed to the airport. Tyler dropped off me, Steven, Lucy and Penny- he would be driving to AZ Saturday with Ben so we could have a car and transport presents and homeschool books. Everything went really smoothly. We didn't have any bad lines, we arrived early enough that we had time to ride the tram to Chick-Fil-A and get some food and once on the plane we didn't have any problem finding a spot for our carry on and we didn't have any turbulence. The only drawback was that it was a late flight so we were all pooped. Penny was the only one who fell asleep on the flight and the poor thing got woken up when they came by for snacks a second time (surprisingly someone walking down the aisle and bumping her head hadn't woken her up). During the flight the people in front of me had their neck pillow fall back by me but apparently they were asleep because when I tried to hand it back no one took it so I had to awkwardly place it on them,

Friday I was tired from the late night and time change so we had a pretty chill day. Poppy took the kids to the library and Riparian Perserve. I stayed home and chatted with Grams and ordered some groceries. Then Grams and I went out to lunch and afterwards I went with her to her doctor's appointment. When we finished with her appt we picked up groceries and did a Target run so she could get some super expensive heart medicine that the doctor wanted her to get. I made dinner and after dinner we all watched "Love and Monsters." I forgot how many bad words were in it so maybe I should not have let the girls watch it but too late for that.

Saturday Steven and I went to see the latest Spiderman with Mike and Mecca. It was super entertaining but I personally think he could have saved a lot of heartache and pain for everyone involved if he had just pushed the dang button. Dad took us to Seagulls that afternoon and they had a lot of great books that could help with teaching the Old Testament in 2021. I had a hard time picking just one so the kids got pretty bored. Should've left them at home ;) Then we hung out at Mike and Mecca's house and I got to work on a puzzle with Mecca, it's been awhile since I have just sat and puzzled and chatted with a friend, it was nice.

Saturday evening we met up with the Hatch's at Melissa and Logan's house. They have a street in their neighborhood that goes all out with lights. It was a typical Hatch function. A lot of waiting on people with a gaggle of kids going crazy in the meantime. I wasn't super impressed but the kids had a blast and the weather was really nice so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I took a grand total of 1 picture.

Santa, Graham Cracker Houses

Monday morning I took Lucy to the dentist to fix some fillings that had cracked (due to her ice eating) and she also had a lovely black spot appear on another tooth after her dental check up that we wanted to get checked out. Thankfully they said the black spot was just filing composite, probably from the ring she had on the tooth for a spacer. We had one of the new dentists at the office fix the broken fillings and he was quite the character. Apparently he is very into using weird conversation to distract from the uncomfortableness of getting teeth fixed. He talked to her about all the things- how Johnny Cash is the man, that he became a dentist in fourth grade, he pretended to not know how to count, he told her how he hates the dentist and that he painted his nails once....She thought he was a hoot and I really think this technique worked well for her. She squirmed and complained some but she never spiraled like she tends to do.

Monday afternoon I took the kids to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. I had been hesitant because I thought they had that weird plastic sheild up (because of Covid) but they didn't. They just had the kids sit on a bench in front of Santa. We had to reserve a time online which was awesome because then we had a very short wait. Afterwards we lucked out because there was no one in line behind us so Santa had the kids turn around and chat with him. They talked about Christmas decorations and the gifts they wanted. Santa said he should leave some bubble wrap with a bike for Lucy so she doesn't get hurt and he also told the kids not to leave any Lego's on the floor that could hurt his feet. They enjoyed talking to Santa.

Tuesday I attempted to find gifts for our seminary students so we can do a little gift exchange but that was quite the challenge. I don't think there are many things that teens like that are actually cheap. I mostly ended up just getting junk food. Tuesday night I had Bunco. Bunco in December is always fun because we shake things up and don't actually play Bunco. This year we did a sock exchange and played the saran wrap ball game. For the sock exchange, everyone stuffed a sock with a goodie and then we put them on a table and took turns picking (or stealing). I ended up being last to pick which was a great spot because I had my choice of everything. But the embarassing thing was that the socks I had bought were literally the last ones left on the table. They did sort of look like men's socks but they felt super comfy. I ended up stealing someone else's socks because I didn't want to end up with my own, that felt weird. The Saran Wrap Game is always fun but it kind of felt like it was super long- I was feeling extra tired that night. I ended up unwrapping a few fun things to take home (nail polish, hand sanitizer, hot chocolate...). Afterwards we had some dessert, took some pictures and headed home.

Wednesday Lucy and I got our hair cut. Well Lucy just got at trim but I actually cut off a good chunk of hair and got some layers- not that anyone noticed. I am not in love with the haircut but it does feel lighter and that's kind of nice. 

Thursday after dinner the kids went and bought Christmas gifts for each other. I took the girls to get gifts for the boys and Tyler took the boys to get gifts for the girls. The girls were insistent on getting Ben a Beanie Boo so we went to Joann's because they have a good selection but we ended up in a long line with only one cashier on duty. One cashier who was sooooo slow. We waited in line for 30 mins just to buy one Beanie Boo. This left me pretty aggrevated and I didn't so much enjoy the rest of the night.

Friday the kids and I delivered gifts to neighbors and friends. This year we gave puzzles/games- more than I usually spend but I hate giving food gifts and I am running out of fun ideas. For the most part I think our gifts were appreciated, Caroline just acted a little funny when we came to drop ours off. She did not seem to want us to linger at all...oh well...

Friday night was Lucy's volleyball game. I have really enjoyed volleyball night because Jenna is on Lucy's team and her whole family comes as well. It's been nice to hang out with them and watch Lucy's serve improve. Next week is the last week and that makes me sad.

Saturday morning Tyler and I went to the temple. I was feeling super anxious about it because it had been awhile since I had been and I felt like I forgot how to do everthing. So the anxiety prevented me from feeling the spirit as much as I usually do. I really wish it wasn't so difficult to get into the temple these days. I feel better about it when I go more regularly. While we were at the temple some crazy wind blew a tree into a power line and started a fire in our neighborhood. Thankfully we have a fire station across the street and only a couple sheds were damaged. Also thankfully the fire was not near our home. But that lovely accident did cause our power to go out. We were going to do graham cracker houses that evening with friends but decided to reschedule because we weren't sure when the power would come back on. Of course, right when we rescheduled the power came back on. But we decided not to change it again. Instead, Saturday evening, I had Caroline and Melissa over for a puzzle night. It was a pretty good evening and we had a lot of laughs over Caroline commenting that "The squirrels are getting fat". It had to do with the crazy weather but it came out so random. Pretty sure that will be a catch phrase in our friendship for a long while. 

Snow, Getting Crafty, Christmas Show

Sunday the kids seemed unphased by having such a late night. They all woke up energized after only 4 hours of sleep and then they spent the whole day outside building snowmen and rolling giant balls of snow and just having all kinds of snow fun. I personally feel like there has already been way too much snow before winter has even started.

Monday we got back to life, starting our day off with Seminary again. Tyler was teaching the first few days of this week and his lessons were a bit slow moving and the kids were a bit inattentive. I even struggled a bit. In addition to the slowness, I have noticed cell phones out more. We have one kid in particular who is always playing games on his phone. On Tuesday when we met with the Seminary Coordinator, we asked for advice with cell phones and he just suggested positive reinforcement. We tried it on Wednesday. I set a timer for an unkown amount of time and I told them when it went off anyone who wasn't on their phone would get 5 tickets (we will be having an auction using the tickets before we go on break). Well this kid got off his phone, proceeded to count what tickets he had and then went back on his phone. Obviously he decided he didn't need more tickets. Whatever. Honestly these tickets only seem to work on the kids that are already good. The others just don't care. It's a struggle.

Tuesday was a really awful day for Michigan. At Oxford High School, about an hour from us, there was a school shooting. 4 students died, 7 were injured. Since our school program partners with Oxford Public Schools (basically Oxford provides our funding), I recieved the emails that day stating that there was an active emergency and then it came back clarifying an active shooter. I can't even with how scary that would've been if my kids attended that school. It has made me really anxious about sending Steven to high school next year. I really wish this hybrid program continued into high school. 

Wednesday there was still school and life went on as normal. Lucy had volleyball practice and then her church activity where she made some ornaments. Steven did a cooking activity. These were both at seperate locations which made life difficult for us since we only have 1 car. I really wish they would just hold everything at the church again.

Thursday morning, as I was trying to get myself out of bed for seminary, I noticed a bunch of missed text messages. Apparently due to some threats of violence school was cancelled and people wanted to know if we would be having seminary. I quickly sent out a barrage of texts cancelling seminary, with my half awake brain, but apparently 2 students still showed up. Thankfully they saw the dark house and left but I feel pretty badly that they made the effort for nothing. Hopefully I will do better at alerting everyone next time. Pretty much every school in Michigan was cancelled Thursday, except for my kids' school. Maybe I shouldn't but I just feel so much more comfortable sending my kids to this hybrid homeschool. You just know that most of these kids have great parental support and with the smaller class sizes, it's easier for teachers to know the students. Maybe I shouldn't feel so secure with their school but I do.

Friday school was cancelled again for our seminary kids so we ended up cancelling seminary again but this time there was a much bigger heads up so we were able to alert everyone Thursday afternoon. Friday afternoon I took the kids to a homeschool craft day that we had signed up for. It wasn't a super long activity but I think the kids enjoyed their crafts. Lucy made beaded pens and a wooden nativity. Penny made a tissue paper Christmas tree and a wooden nativity. Steven and Ben both made a string art ornament and a glass bowl snowman. I only took one picture there so I tried to take a few more when we got home of the crafts they made.

Friday evening, in an effort to get over my issues with baby related things, I went to a baby shower for someone in my ward. I didn't view us as super good friends but somehow I made the invite list. It went ok. I worked on focusing on the 4 healthy pregnancies that I have had and I worked on enjoying the really good food they had there. 

Saturday our neighbors took us to their church's Christmas Show- The Glory of Christmas. When we got there an elf stopped by and took down our kids' names and what they wanted for Christmas. Later Penny's name was mentioned in the show as one of the kids on Santa's list. She felt pretty special. The first half of the show was just holiday songs and the second half was the Christ part. The whole thing was wicked extravagent. There were dancers, amazing singers, people wired down from the ceiling, fire juggling, ice skating, live animals, flashing lights, confetti and snow coming down from the ceiling...so much show to it. It sort of kills the specialness of the Christmas story but it was most definitely entertaining and memorable. It was really kind of our neighbors to not only invite us but pay for our tickets. She always talks about how she feels like she owes us for all that we do but I feel like we owe them for all that they do. We are really blessed to have such great neighbors.