Arizona Vacation

We took a trip to Arizona with my parents and Dustin, and Chelsey and Heather and her kids met us there. As I looked through the pictures, I realize that I hardly have any pictures from when we were actually in Arizona, that just shows you how much I was enjoying myself :)

The picture on the right says everything you need to know about Macy. We left about 5 in the afternoon, Macy took a short 1 hour nap immediately, and then she didn't fall asleep the rest of the way. This picture was at about 11:30: all the other kids were asleep, but you can't slow Macy down. She watched Sleeping Beauty twice through while everyone else slept :) The picture on the right shows how happy Kate was to get out of the car for a little break :) We stopped at a couple of indian ruins along the way. It was a great time for everyone to stretch their legs while we saw some pretty neat ruins.

I like this one because it shows how Kate was determined to do everything all by herself :) I'm sure people wondered why I was carrying my toddler and making my baby walk :) At least it wore her out for the rest of the drive.

Chelsey just finished up hairschool, so of course we needed her to show us her skills :) Macy got probably 5 treats in an attempt to have her sit still but that didn't work out. We were satisfied with an "almost straight" finish. Like I told Chelsey, she'll never sit still long enough for anyone to see it so it's all good :) By the way, Chelsey cut my hair too and all I can say is that she is AMAZING and she better come back every couple months to do it again :)

I had to throw these pictures in of my brother Dustin. He is a fairly reserved and private man, so most people don't know how awesome he is. But he is amazing. He puts up with a lot of noise and chaos from all our kids when we get together. And he is the kindest uncle ever. Every single one of our children have been in love with him at some point in their life because he is so patient and kind, he lets them examine and explore things on their own time, he encourages and helps them do things that other people would tell them they're too little for. He is just a stud and I love him. And besides all that, he never lets me take a picture unless he's holding a kid and thinks I'm taking a picture only of the kid :)

Kate was funny on this trip what with plugging her ears on the drive (you'd think she hadn't grown up in this loud crazy family her whole life :) , and her utter excitement when she first got in the pool :)

We went swimming everyday and our kids worked really hard learning how to swim. Of course Macy was the most willing to try everything (she was out there in her floaties kicking her legs and dogpaddling as fast as she could-she'd just step right off the ledge and would get mad at me when I'd hold on to her when she didn't have her floaties- "LET GO! LET GO OF ME! I CAN SWIM!"). Avery followed next and could have jumped off the ledge to her daddy for hours. I trying to get the earplugs to stay in. Dang tubes. Carston of course was the cautious one :) He did pretty good by the end though, and he loved playing with the water bat and ball from Chelsey. Thanks Cho!

This picture is for you Todd. This is THE Denny's. You know which one. The one you slept in with John. Thank you for making it a priority that we eat some nasty food for the sake of keeping the memory alive :)

It was a great trip (aside from the driving-which really wasn't too bad). I love my family and I love spending time with them. We missed you Jordan!