San Tan Flat

Monday evening we went to San Tan Flat.  We made sure to leave early so we could beat the crowd.  It wasn't nearly as crowded as it was on Friday night. 

We haven't been here for a few years, but Keith really wanted to go this trip.  I'm glad we did, it wouldn't be fun in the summer, but it was perfect this time of year.

We pushed two tables together so we had a kids table and an adult table.

It is such a fun atmosphere.  The firepits and the country music playing make it really fun.

Wyatt and Hallee were excited to get wood for the fire.

The kids played card games while we waited for our food.

The food was so good!  

After dinner the girls and boys split up and did a scavenger hunt, they had to go around and find different things and take pictures of them.

After that we roasted marshmallows and made smores.

We love smores, but they sure are messy!

We stayed for a few hours and just enjoyed visiting and listening to the music.

It was the perfect way to end a great trip.  The time went by way too fast!  None of us were ready to go back home the next day.  We had so much fun!

American Ninja Warrior Park

Lori looked up cool parks in the area and we went to one in Queen Creek on Sunday. 

They have the American Ninja Warrior course throughout the park. Wyatt was so excited when he heard about it.  He loves that show.  I think this was his favorite obstacle.  Caitlyn and Elena worked so hard on it and made progress, but just couldn't get up the speed to make it through.  Me and Lori loved watching them work hard and encourage each other. 

I love seeing the teenagers have so much fun at the park.  They turn into little kids again.

For some reason I didn't take pictures of the other obstacles.  The kids loved trying them over and over and seeing how far they could make it.

Lori and I were dying laughing watching Caitlyn on this.  She stood up while they were spinning it and she ended up smashed against the side.  It made it even funnier to hear her laugh and then scream.

Matt played monkey on the ground with them.  He found a great spot where they couldn't reach him! They had a little lake at the park.  Matt, Lori and I walked around it.  It was really nice, but Lori and I talked about how nervous we would be with the water right by the park when our kids were little. 

On Saturday Keith took these guys to a park while we took the girls shopping.  We wanted to get outside as much as possible and enjoy that gorgeous weather!

Valentine Extravaganza

Lori is so good at making holidays special and coming up with fun activities.  Elena loves it too and is also really good at it.  Lori was working every night on a different treat or activity for Valentine's Day.  Caitlyn and Elena wrote out the schedule with all of the activities. 

They started out trying to hit hearts on the garage with little balls.  Hallee and Wyatt were so excited about every activity.  Hallee was a little sad that she was missing her class Valentine party, but this more than made up for that!

After that we all wrote our name on a paper and then passed it around and we each wrote something we love about that person on their paper. 

Lori decorated the house so cute!  Matt used his Traeger to smoke pork, mac and cheese, garlic bread and asparagus.  It was so good!

After our early dinner Lori had the cupid shoot outside for the kids. Wyatt loved shooting the bow and arrow.  

It took Hallee a minute to get the hang of it, but she hit the target a few times after she figured it out.

We all had fun shooting for a while.

Matt was a great teacher.

After that Elena, Wyatt and Hallee drew with chalk outside. Elena drew a peacock, Wyatt drew a penguin with big muscles and Hallee drew a sloth. 

Later the kids decorated sugar cookies.  They loved that and they were so good.

We also had chocolate fondue for dessert.  Lori had lots of treats to dip in it.  We all loved that!

Elena and Caitlyn made this heart piñata and it held up really well.  All of the kids got to hit it a few times before Cody finally broke it open.

The last activity of the night was the heart drop.  They dropped conversations hearts from upstairs and tried to make them in the cups. Lori sure knows how to make things fun! Thanks for all of your hard work Lori!

Tempe Town Lake

 

On Friday we went to Tempe Town Lake.  It is a reservoir right next to Arizona State University. It was beautiful and so fun!  We rented scooters and rode around the reservoir.

Keith and Hallee didn't want to ride the scooters so they just walked around the water and had fun chasing birds!

I love palm trees!  They have a beach area near these palm tress.  It isn't the ocean, but it is a great place to spend the day!

Wyatt just eats up all the attention that Uncle Matt gives him.

The kids were great sports about stopping for pictures. 

Wyatt said he has always wanted to break dance on a bridge, so he did that!

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful area!  I loved being outside and soaking up the sun.

We loved the scooters, they were so fun.

Cody and Jonah asked if they could go around the reservoir one more time because they had to keep slowing down for us.  The rest of us rode the scooters around a little more before we turned them in.

The town was so cute.  It would be such a fun college town.

Lori snapped this picture of all of us! It was so much fun!

Arizona

We were all so excited to go to Arizona!  Caitlyn and Jonah have been dying to see Cody and Elena. When we planned the trip the kids weren't going to school on Fridays, so I figured we could use the long weekend and stay through Tuesday and they would only have to miss one day of school.  Our schools started going to school on Fridays a few weeks ago, so they ended up missing two days of school. Oh well, if we have learned anything from this last year, it's you have to take opportunities when they come, don't put it off!  We checked the younger kids out of school a little bit early and got on the road about 12:45 PM Thursday.  I was worried about getting in that late, but we wanted to have all day Friday, so we decided it was worth it.  Usually I sleep in the car, but I stayed up with Keith to help him stay awake.  We listened to some podcasts and had fun talking about them.  I got hotspot on my phone so all the kids could watch shows on their phones.  This world is crazy and scary sometimes, but it is also a great time to live.  Technology is amazing and makes some aspects of our lives so easy!

We got in around 11:15 PM Thursday night.  We all stayed up and visited for a while before we were off to bed.  Keith and the older two were able to sleep in for a while the next day.  I took Hallee and Wyatt for a walk (luckily I slept in too) when I got up.  We were so excited about the warm weather and sunshine! We loved seeing green grass everywhere.

Wyatt thought it would be funny to hug a cactus! 

When we got back Matt and Lori pulled out bikes and pumped up tires.  Wyatt loved riding Cody's old bike around.  He was so excited when Matt wanted to go on a bike ride with him!

My kids were excited to see Maizy.  We tried to go to San Tan Flat on Friday for dinner, but it was packed so we picked up Cafe Rio and went home instead.  We played games and watched a movie that night, it was really fun.

Caitlyn and Elena had fun crafting, walking to Star Bucks, going for a walk, shopping and watching shows. They always have a great time together. 

We had fun riding in Matt's new Tesla. It is so fun and has a lot of cool features. Our favorite feature was to make the fart sound when we drove by people. It was funny to see people's reaction.  The kids thought it was funny, but I think us adults might have had more fun with it.  The four of us would find people to drive by just so we could have a good laugh.  We are very classy!

On Saturday us adults went and got pedicures.  Matt was a little nervous because he has never had one.  Keith went once with me and was excited to get one.  It was nice and very relaxing.  After that we went to a really good Mexican restaurant. It was so good and so nice to be able to just sit and visit without any interruptions. It ended up being windy and rainy that evening so we stayed in and watched another movie.

All the kids like to play brawl stars on their phones and they got Matt and Keith to join them.

On Sunday I sat in the back yard for a while and just enjoyed the perfect weather and the view. 

We had church at home.  It was nice to have Cody and Jonah administer the sacrament to us.  Cody and Jonah have so much fun together.  I love that they call each other every day and play video games with each other online.  It's so great that they can stay connected even though we live in different states. 

My kids gave Maizy lots of attention.

I was glad Keith got a nice, relaxing vacation.  I think he did a little work, but for the most part he was able to just enjoy the break from work!

Hallee sleeps in the guest room with us.  There is a perfect corner for her at the end of the bed where she is out of the way.

On Monday Keith and the littles enjoyed sitting in the hot tub. I will do separate posts about the activities that we did, but one of our favorite things about visiting Arizona is hanging out at Matt and Lori's and just visiting and hanging out together.