March 2015

TRIP TO ARIZONA

My brother needed someone to help take care of his kids in Yuma while he worked and his wife was at Phoenix Children's with their daughter who was injured in a bike accident.  Since I homeschool, it was pretty easy for us to drop everything and go.  It was a great experience for our family.

The kids were super excited about riding on a plane.

I was nervous about traveling by myself with 4 kids, but the kids were really well behaved and there were a lot of helpful passengers that tried to make things easier for me.  Unfortunately Texas got some freezing rain so our flight was delayed and I missed our connection and got stuck in Dallas. They told me that they had no flights available for 2 more days.  Luckily I found another ticket agent who was able to send us to San Francisco where we spent the night before flying to Phoenix the next day.  The kids were real troopers throughout the whole ordeal.

I bought Audrey this cute kitten toy attached to a pacifier. She loves it and it kept her entertained as we traveled.

The kids all seemed to do fine with me except Dane who had a hard time seeing me replace Grandma. On my first day he went in the master bedroom and locked me out.  After several failed attempts at picking the lock I started to get worried, especially after he got really quiet.  Finally Joseph told me where the metal pick was and I was able to get in.  I found him asleep like this on the floor.

He finally warmed up to me, and the kids had fun playing together in the warm Arizona sun.

They were excited when they caught a lizard while playing with a neighbor girl (in orange).

Since I was busy taking care of kids and cleaning, I had less time to hold Audrey. This ended up being a good thing because with all the extra tummy time she finally learned to roll over.

The girls had a lot of fun playing together, and on Friday night we had a pajama pizza party.

After Elle's recital the kids had fun eating at Firehouse Subs.

None of the boys would smile or pose for a picture, except for Dane who lifted up his shirt and said, "Cheese."

My sister Ruth came down to help and visit for the weekend.  Audrey sure loved her Aunt.

It was a wonderful trip, and I was happy that my kids had time to really bond with their Donaldson cousins for the first time.  I got to see Chloe briefly before we flew out of Phoenix, and it was wonderful to see how much she has improved from her initial diagnosis.

AUDREY

Audrey trying solid food for the first time.  She wasn't too impressed.

NEW TRAMPOLINE

We promised the kids that we would get them a trampoline once we got out of debt.  Jared got them a super safe leaf spring trampoline and our family had a big "We're debt free!" jump.

EASTER FUN

Our ward had a fun Easter egg activity.

Waiting to hunt for eggs

A three legged race