Spring Break! Whoooo!

So, for those of you who don't know, we spent last week in sunny Arizona, visiting family and friends. I will discuss this trip... now.

Tuesday, March 17th we set out on the open road at 5 am, I took the first shift driving out of Utah. My iPod kept me company for the first 2 1/2 hours, then it died. Tracie tried to sleep, having only gotten an hour or so of rest the night before. Nothing that noteworthy happened on our way down there, the weather was nice, the company and visit with my queen was well (she was only borderline grouchy- practically non-existent when you factor in her lack of sleep and 6 months of pregnancy). My favorite part of the drive was having Tracie drive a little of it. On our road trips before, I've done all the driving, as we used to take my car, which was a stick shift. I loved sharing the driving responsibilities, particularly because this car is devoid of cruise control. So my right leg was really sore by the end of our journey. (Which translates into me walking with a double limp--quite the sight if you haven't seen it.)

Around 5 pm we arrived in Tucson at Heather & Ryan's place. (Heather is Tracie's sister.)

We were greeted with lots of hugs and cheers from their kids, Seth, Cade, Leah, and Matthew. We really do have the cutest nieces & nephews in the world. (and the are 1/3 of them).

Tracie predicted Heather would make tacos. And she did. And they were delicious.

Most of the trip consisted of visiting, napping, hide n seek, and going to fun places in Tucson. I'll address each... now:

Hide N Seek- I like being the fun uncle. I think it suits me. So we played a lot of hide n go seek. The house has a lot of nooks and crannies, perfect for hiding in. I'm not sure if it was the excellent hiding abilities of Seth, Cade, Leah or Matthew, if it was the many places to hide in that house, or my absence of glasses,-- but there were a few times I looked right at one of the kids and didn't see them. It was a lot of fun, even though I've grown a little bigger since my last hide n go seek marathon, and had trouble squeezing into my hiding spots. Once in particular I tried hiding under the guest bed where we were sleeping, and I got my butt stuck on the outside with my top half hidden by the bed.
BUT, I learned first hand the old adage: "Even if you can't see them, they can still see your butt."

Our first full day in AZ began with a trip to a butterfly garden. (Tucson Botanical Gardens). I was a bit skeptical, as is my right, but I thought the kids would enjoy it, so I tagged along.
It was AWESOME! The butterflies were everywhere! I even got a few to land on my hand. We took pictures and played with butterflies. The place had a bunch of beautiful flowers and trees and places to take pictures also. The kids found a kids play area, mostly consisting of bugs to dig up and play with: namely worms, grubs and roly-polys. (I never learned their real name. Did you?)

A good time was had by all, we'll probably post some pics about it. Or you can check out Heather's blog if you get bored waiting for me. Tracie took some amazing pictures. She photographs well too.


The next day we went mini golfing. I got a couple holes in one, but I balanced it out getting a couple 6's and 7's. I mostly helped the younger kids golf, and by help I mean hit the ball with their clubs while they were holding onto them.

Sadly, they did better. Gladly, it was a lot of fun.

We went to a really good sandwich place called Eegee's, with real fruit slushies and delicious fries.

That night we went to a little league scrimmage (skirmish? When the kids play a real game but it doesn't really count or something.) featuring Seth at 3rd base. It was fun, we went on a lovely walk in the park, (Tucson is greener than I thought. Though, to be fair, a lot of the grass is astroturf.)

They also served us awesome grilled hamburgers, (thanks, Heather & Ryan) we visited, played and had fun.

Our friends Heidi & Aaron moved to Mesa awhile ago (about a year-ish, I think). So we visited them as well.

Heidi and Aaron tried to make it abundantly clear that Mesa was voted one of the most boring cities in America, but we had a blast with them.

(Of course, the first night with them we went to Cheesecake Factory, which always helps :))

We went to the mall with Heidi & Aaron, which is where that picture below came from. We visited and watched TV and played with Heidi & Aaron's little boy Will. We now have Heidi & Aaron to thank (or accuse) of being the ones who finally got us hooked on "The Office." I've been told for years that I would love that show, but never got around to it. I had other ways to waste my precious spare time, like World of Warcraft. Now that we've cancelled our accounts (to make way for the baby; also because it was getting boring) we have something else to occupy our time when we should be cleaning, doing homework, etc.

We also went to the Mesa temple grounds where we got some beautiful pictures and again enjoyed Heidi & Aaron's company. Thanks again you guys for letting us over and giving us a wonderful end to our spring break Arizona getaway.

the drive home- or Movement in Weather pt. IV

Not much to say about our drive home, except the weather differences were tremendous. We went from about 80 degree, with lots of sunshine, to dust storms so bad we had to drive about 10 mph, to rain, to snow, to freezing temperatures greeting us at home.

It's been nearly one week since we got back and I finally finished my post. Now if you'll excuse me, it's back to the Office.