We promised ourselves (and others) that we would return to Arizona in February, when the weather is gorgeous and Utah's is not. So we dusted off our summer gear and made the trek down south, breaking our journey in St. George. Taylor and Kaitlin were kind enough to settle in a perfect half way point for our trips. Our kids were so thrilled to see each other again that they had to be reminded that our goal was to leave Utah for a week.
As soon as we arrived, Arizona experienced a heat wave. We were pretty glad that the snow cone shops are open year round.
Princess Kate with my beautiful dad. Why can't everyone that we love just live by us? Maybe we should build a compound.
We bravely went "hiking" as a family (we are definitely more in the brainwashing stage than the successfully hiking stage), but Erik and I enjoyed our morning hike sans children far more. We took the same trail from our dating years and remembered that we are a couple as well as parents.
We were looking forward to fresh citrus again, but discovered that picking oranges a month later than our usual New Year's Eve tradition makes a big difference.
When Morgan was about Sam's age, my sister Becky took her to a shop called Girly-Girlz for a glamorous make over experience. Morgan has never forgotten it, and has talked fondly of it for so long that Sam started asking when Becky was taking him to "Boysy-Boys." Since no such place exists, Uncle Travis took him to Fat Cats and introduced him to the manly world of arcade games. Somehow Sam did very well, collected a pile of tickets, and traded them in for cheap prizes and candy which he called "loot." I love having indulgent younger brothers and sisters.
It's become something of a yearly tradition for my parents to take the grandkids to a pint sized amusement park in Phoenix. All the rides and roller coasters cater to juvenile sizes and thrill levels and the kids eat it up, while we adults roast in the heat and take way too many pictures out of boredom.
And of course no trip to Arizona is complete without seeing Rick and Diane. By the time we revisited everything we loved about our old home we were doubting our decision to move.
Kate's unruly locks were out of control, so we took her for her first haircut. If Kate had her way, it would be the last. See the red eyes and dejected look? She sobbed through it all and insisted that I be in reach, meaning the poor hair dresser had to work around me and cover us all with hair. Since regular hair cuts appear more vital to curly hair than straight, I foresee a lot more trauma in Kate's future.
Ready to come home, full of sugar and low on sleep.
Then I was sick for several days, took a pregnancy test just to rule it out, and surprise! Baby four is coming in October against all odds and definitely out of our schedule. I guess I should be grateful I didn't get sick until we finished our vacation.
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