We left 10 days ago on our two week family trip to Utah and Arizona. It has been fantastic! Our visit with Ashley and her wonderful family was quick but we maximized our time and were able to do some fun things with the kids. We went to an indoor bouncy castle warehouse called Kangaroo Zoo. There were probably 15 castles that the kids jumped, climbed and slided on for an hour or so. We went to Pirate Island (like a Chuck E Cheese, but better) and the kids were in heaven with all the games. If only they could pick which toys they wanted to redeem their tickets for a bit more quickly. It is hard to explain to a 2 and 5 year old why they can't get the foam gun, worth 350 tickets, when they only have 75 to spend. I don't know how many times Justin kept the man behind the counter busy by asking him if he could have this one, or that one...each time the response was "You don't have enough tickets" Finally they got it and picked from the smaller items in the showcase and we left with each one holding a cheap 10 cent sucker in their hand that we spent $10 for in tickets :)
I enjoyed walking and talking with Ashley and catching up on her busy life. We went to a park and our friend Emily, whom I haven't seen in maybe 9 years came with her son. It was so good to see her! Thanks for taking the time to come Emily.
We were also able to meet our good friends, the Noltes, at a park and see their 3 beautiful children and find out how life is going. It felt so good to be able to chat and talk about our kids.
We then headed to Zions National Park where we stayed for a day and a half. It was beautiful and there were so many memorable moments with the kids; climbing steep rocks, playing in the sand (Olivia eating the sand), Justin so fatigued from our day that he lost it on a hike and cried most of the way back, Austin tripping multiple times (even when there seemed to be nothing in sight to trip on, the poor kid), Olivia not making a peep-just smiling and Madeleine claiming that a multiple mile hike up a steep cliff was right up her alley (the short 1-2 kilometer hike was about all my kids were really up for).
Now we are in Arizona staying in a beautiful home and loving the warm weather. We were welcomed to Arizona with snow, in Flagstaff. You should have seen us trying to make our way into the fast food restaurant holding our arms and shivering as we were all in shorts and a t-shirt...hey it wasn't my fault I thought we were going to the desert! The wind was the next natural element to meet us in Phoenix. My brother Bryce reassured me that this was not typical and the normal warm calm weather would arrive shortly which it did. Upon arriving we enjoyed a nice night without all of our kids sleeping in the same room with us. We had all been in the same room for 5 nights. And though they did amazingly well, there is much to be said for a bit of privacy and freedom to not go to bed at 7:30 when the kids do b/c hey where do you go when you are in a one-room hotel room? Olivia is sleeping soundly in the closet though she has not realized there has been a time change so at 5am she is awake and chatting. The boys wake up at 6:15 no matter what, and I think Madeleine would give anything to have her own room and wake up when she wants to.
We've been able to visit with the Harbertson cousins twice and it is amazing to see how within minutes a friendship can be built with someone you've only seen twice in your life, but they are your cousin so you can hug and hold hands and laugh like you've known each other for forever. I love it. We'll see them again this week before we go.
We've been hanging out here at the house today and playing in the pool for hours. I think we are all tuckered out. I put the four kids down at 6:15pm while the house was quiet. Eric and another one of the husbands who is here (we are sharing the house with two couples from Lethbridge) are at the Phoenix Suns game tonight and I think the other two gals are out shopping. I am going to go to bed, yes it is only 7:30pm, but I begged Eric to get Oliva this morning (at 5am) and promised him I would get her the next two mornings if he would so I need to get my sleep. When we get back to Lethbridge I will get some pictures on here.
Hadley joined us.
