Arizona fun

I was reminded the other day that I forgot to post about my trip to Arizona. I was going to go back to Arizona with my mom back in January when she went home so that my dad and the rest of my family could see the baby before he got too old but because Alex was so young I couldn't take him on an airplane yet. I had planned to go when he was about 6 or 7 weeks old so when my parents came to Utah for his blessing I asked if I could just ride back with them and then fly home since he would be old enough for the flight now. It was planned and yet not planned at the same time but everything went so well it was wonderful. I was able to stay for one wonderful week.

On the way to Arizona we stopped in Las Vegas for lunch at a Hawaiian BBQ place in a little strip mall. We were almost done eating when the fire alarm went off. The staff kept apologizing for the alarm. They said the Fire Dept. was in the parking lot and they were turning everyone's alarms on to test them so it would turn off in a minute. No big deal I thought. I looked at Megan to see how she was handling it. She just sat still holding a half eaten french fry trying not to move because she didn't know what was going on. I thought I would be funny and mess with her so I said, "Megan, what did you do?" That was it, she just started bawling. I felt so bad. I didn't mean to make her cry. I forgot that she doesn't understand "just kidding" yet so I picked her up and cuddled her. The alarm turned off and she stopped crying so I tried to get her to finish her lunch. The staff brought her a sucker to make her feel better. I offered her a french fry and she absolutely would not take it. I took a bite out of it to show her it was not hot. She immeadiately looked up to see if the alarm would go off again. Apparently she believes that she set off the alarm when she took a bite of the french fry. That's why she reacted so strongly when I asked her what she had done. It was so funny! Okay, maybe you had to be there, but it really was funny to see her reaction everytime someone at a fry. We kept eating them to show her that it was not the eating of the french fry that set off the alarm. Eventually she trusted fries again and did eat a few more before we left.

I wanted to see all of my family in Arizona before we left so I thought we would all just get together for dinner one night and play games or something like we used to do before we moved. Turns out that someone different had something going on everynight so getting everyone together on the same night (especially with such short notice) was impossible. So instead of us seeing everyone on one night I went to see everyone on the night they were available. It made for a very busy trip but I was able to see everyone and spend good time with each of them.

Tuesday we spent the day with my brother Matt and his family. Jennifer and I sat and caught up and then we ate dinner and played games while we watched a video of one of the theatre performances their children were in. I can't believe how much their children have grown.

While Jennifer and I were catching up Megan was playing with Lauren and Lexi upstairs. While we were talking the subject of Megan's obsession with painting with tooth paste and nail polish came up. Not 3 minutes later Laren came down to tell us that Megan had found some nail polish. I went quickly to assess the damage. She had actually done rather well at not making a mess. There was one spot on their toy couch, some on her clothes, and the rest was on her toe nails. Nothing like a 2 year old giving herself a pedi.

After giving herself the pedi she decided to continue her girl's day out with her cousins.

Wednesday was the only day with my brother Aaron and his family. We talked for a while then Aaron BBQ'd some awsome ribs and made his famous cesar salad. After dinner we played games until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore.

My sis-in-law Tami with Alex.

My niece Heather is living with them right now so I got to see her as well. She was so awesome with Alex. She held him and kept him happy for almost the whole night even while taking care of her own two kids...one of which is 17 months...all without skipping a beat. She is an awsome mother.

Heather's daughter Sydney was so sweet. She has the cutest little smile. She just loved Alex and had fun showing Megan her toys and movies.

Thursday we met my brother Dave his and wife Sharon for lunch. My brother had just got back from a two week business trip to Russia so it was fun to hear about his trip. Although we weren't alowed to know how his mission went. He said that if he told us how it went he'd have to kill us. I didn't press any further. We did make plans for dinner on Saturday though. My mom is in the Relief Society presidency and this was the night of their Visiting Teaching dinner. I went to the dinner with my mom and really enjoyed the messages that were given that night. I thought the night was very well done. They also had really awesome cheesecake for desert that was a perfect topper for the night.

Friday was our free day where we didn't have any plans so I worked on a project that I needed to get done that week and just took on the trip with me. I thought the project would just take a few hours and then I would take Megan to the park. Unfortunately it took many hours and I never got to take Megan to the park.

Saturday my sister came over for lunch. It was a short but very nice visit.

Later that night we went to my brother Dave's house for dinner. We watched the Olympics while the kids played. Max just loved to play mommy to Alex. She was so cute with him. She also played some songs for us that she wrote and composed. This girl has some serious tallent!

They have a play room that is a child's dream so Megan had a blast.

It was really hard to leave knowing that I probably won't be back for a really long time but I am so grateful that I was able to go.