Arizona

So it's only been like a month since our Arizona trip.  Seems like high time to blog about it.  Unfortunately, I am a worse photographer than blogger so the pictures are few and far between, but you'll learn to deal with that I'm sure.  Mom and Katie and Karson and I headed out after work on Wednesday, February 9.  The goal was to be in Mesa with Todd and Nicole for Rory's second birthday on the 10th.  I got off work at 6 and we headed to Costco for some dinner, car snacks, and Grandma Sycamore bread.  They don't have it in Arizona so we needed to pick up a few (10) loaves for the freezer.  We stopped at my house for one last bathroom break and headed south.  I drove the first few hours, then Mom took a turn, then me again, then Mom got us into Mesa.  We dropped Katie and Karson off at Katie's mom's house and continued east to Todd and Nicole's arriving about 7:00 am.  None of us slept at all on the drive down, and Mom and I caught about 15 minutes later that morning, but we all stayed awake about 42 hours.  After Nicole took Andrew to preschool, we went to Target to get Rory's pictures taken.  She was about as cooperative as any two year old should be expected to be and after Nicole chose the pictures she wanted to keep, we headed home.  Nicole took Rory to Andrew's preschool Valentine party and Mom and I grabbed some Jack in the Box and our 15 minute nap.  When the kids got back, they went down for naps and when they woke up, we headed to the mall.  Rory's big present from mommy and daddy was to get her ears pierced.  She was pretty good.  The pen marking the spot on her ears freaked her out more than the actual gun did, and she only cried for a few minutes after it was over.  My favorite part was when she thanked the lady for piercing her ears midst the wails.

The before shot...

Pretty little pink pearls 

After taking video of it for Todd, who was working, we headed to the Disney store.  I'm not sure who likes that store more, Andrew and Rory or Mama and Meemaw (Nicole's mom), but it was fun for all.  They were having a sale on stuffed toys, buy one get one free.  I hadn't found much to give Rory for her birthday so I let her pick two stuffed toys.  She picked a Rapunzel doll and a Tiana doll.  After spending some time and money in the Disney store we went to this spot in the mall where they have all these animals and junk that the kids can climb on and around.  This is where most of my pictures were taken.

Andrew playing in baby Jaguar

Cheese it up kid!

Andrew wanted to make sure I got in on the fun, so he took the picture!

Rory and the groundhogs

After playing for awhile (and a quick run to Payless for mom and I to take advantage of BOGO), we left the mall and much to our surprise found Todd in the mall parking lot.  He took the birthday girl in his car, and we headed back to Nicole's mom's house for some pizza and crazy bread.  We got home in time to put the kids in bed an hour late, and then Nicole's primetime TV shows were on so we watched those and turned in early. Friday morning we woke up and hung out for the morning.  We took the kids outside and they rode bikes around the neighborhood and then we grabbed the sand stuff and played in the sandbox until lunch and nap time.  Sorry, no camera....While they napped Mom and I headed out to the Mesa Temple to take in a session and the pictures of us at the temple are on Mom's camera.  When we got back Nicole's mom and sister were watching the kids while Nicole went to do activity days.  When she got back, the kids wanted to dance so we went to the kitchen and Nicole turned on some music and they danced on the counter.  It was epic.


When Todd got home from work, we headed out for Girls Night Out while Todd stayed home with the kids.  We went to downtown Mesa where on every second Friday of the month they have booths and demonstrations and stuff like that.  We wandered up and down Main Street, just admiring the paintings, crafts, jewelry, etc.  I had been looking for some time for a ring, that was small and tasteful and was lucky enough to find one for $30 there.  An Indian woman from Page area was selling turquoise rings and I really liked this one so I bought it for my Arizona souvenir.

Ignore the dry cracked Utah hands!!!!

After we were tired of walking around we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  I don't know about everyone else (well I know Nicole wasn't too impressed with her food), but my Stuffed chicken tortillas and chocolate coconut cream pie cheesecake were amazing.  (I am still craving it!!)  We got home pretty late, and went to sleep.
Saturday was Rory's birthday party.  Todd and I took her to see Tangled.  She's two.  It's long.  I still haven't seen it all the way through.  We ended up getting our money back and going home to put the tired child to bed.  I spent some time outside, just sitting in the sun catching up on my Jesus the Christ reading for Young Women's and got a bit of sunburn.  It was great!!  Mom and Meemaw spent the morning setting up the birthday party on Meemaw's screened in patio.  It was an awesome place to have a party.  Todd drew a chalk race track for the kids to ride bikes on and we got rotisserie chicken from Costco and Nicole made Rory's favorite pasta salad and zucchini.  After dinner, Rory opened up all of her presents. (Again, no camera!   I know, I'm amazing!)  We ate Tangled cake and Rory got the huge piece with the plastic Rapunzel doll, and did much better this year than last year.  After cake Todd and I took the kids home to put them to bed while the others cleaned up.  After the kids were in bed, Todd needed to do some work at home, so the girls went to Nicole's mom's to hit up the hot tub.  One of the great things about Mesa in February is the pool is nice too.  We swam for a few minutes and then hit the hot tub.  We sat around chatting and enjoying each other's company and then went back to Todd and Nicole's for some Wii Party. Sunday morning we had told Katie to meet us at 10 so we could get home at a fairly decent hour, so we loaded the car and she got there.  We had said goodbye to the kids before their naps so it was a goodbye to Todd and Nicole and out the door.  It was an awesome time and a big shout out to Todd and Nicole for letting us crash their house for a few days.  We really had a ton of fun and I hope I can go back soon... well next year, when I have vacation days again!