Goodness In Arizona

During my last trip to Arizona as a carefree childless woman, I got to do some fun things with my fam.

Side Note: Waiting in the airport to fly to Arizona, I looked out the terminal window and saw a gentleman grilling up some grub...

It was 9 a.m., a little early for burgers, I would say.

Jordan and Elyce flew in on the same night. The next day Jordan went camping with his friends overnight while the rest of us got ready for my baby shower .

Once Jordan got home we all drove out to the new Rudy's in Chandler.

{Remember we fell in love with it here & oh, how we wish they had one in Tulsa.}

{Be sure to look allllll the way down the table...those are little Shillipeppers at the end.}

It was the perfect place to go and eat together with 8 kiddos under the age of 8, but not be too disruptive to others.

Mmmm...Good Eats!

Is this vintage-esque Charlie Brown shirt not the cutest thing?!?

The next day we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum.

Heather & I supervising the kids at the "car wash" - the kids ride trikes through the car wash.

(Earlier that day I went swimming with Elyce, Lucy, and Nora - - that is why I am sportin' a sunburn.)

There is always room for one more on an elevator. NOT, I will take the stairs, thank you!

Drool face...Drake, not my mom.

This room had felt words with Velcro on the backs and the walls were also lined with Velcro so you could create funny sentences. It was pretty clever.

Grandpa supervised / took a nap.

The Noodle Jungle...I want one in my house please!

Not sure what this was exactly, but it sure looks like it must be fun by the look on Mom's face. :)

Break time for the adults. Loading up on some caffeine, I believe.

These guys were shopping in the grocery store...they push their kid size grocery carts through the aisles of play food and then check out at the cash registers. It is one of the favorite areas.

The crown jewel of the museum was not pictured for whatever reason...there is a mega cool jungle gym. {Like McDonald's Play Place on crack.}

Norie liked sitting with her best bud {Grandpa} in the reading area while he read.

Thanks Betty for getting us all in for FREE! Fun was had by all!

Later that night we had a very nice dinner, game, and video presentation (pictures from the last decade) with the Rogers. It was very rare that we were all in town at the same time.

It was fabulous to be in Mesa for Mother's Day!

Jordan got me 'Pre-Mother's Day' Roses before I left for Arizona,

and I get this lovely necklace

once Baby Boy is born.{Since he is due at the end of July, we don't know if the birthstone will be a ruby or peridot for August.}

Anyway, everyone came to Mom & Dad's to celebrate.

Wow!

Elyce and Oscar

Nora, Mom, Lucy

Joey (I call him Josephine), Heather, Chris

Blake and Elyce

Hallie, Mom, Oscar

Bennett, Adam, Jocelyn

Mom, Chris, Joey

Beth and Mom

Mom and Boyd

Joey and Elyce

And my personal favorite...

Mom and Ben

:)

I stayed a few days extra after Elyce & Jordan flew back home to Colorado and Tulsa.

I was able to join my parents for a nice little afternoon in the sweltering heat to see the Angel Moroni be placed on top of the Gilbert temple.

Pre-Moroni

On His way...

{Moroni is attached to the crane on the right.}

And His final destination.

As you can see from the second picture, it was the popular place to be at 2 in the afternoon in temperatures in the triple digits. Thankfully, Sam's Club was close by and provided a much needed cooling off space. It was really neat to see the 12+ foot, gold-leafed angel reach the top.

The day I flew home I finished up a quilt I made for our Baby Boy.

It was my first quilt I sewed together from start to finish. Thanks Mom for teaching me!

{There is a picture of it completed in the coming completed Nursery post.}

We also managed to make 4 batches of Apricot Jam. My parents Apricot tree only provided 1 apricot last year and this year it was loaded to the max. All the neighbors and family had picked it over and there were still apricots coming out of our ears so we made the jam. I brought home 1 tiny jar and am looking forward to my parents coming pre-birth and bringing me more. So delicious!

I got to stuff myself silly with lots of Mexican food (since Tulsa does not offer what I would consider mouth-watering Mexican cuisine - besides Chuy's). I also ate a lot of frozen yogurt and Nielsen's Chocolate Covered Cherry Custard - my favorite! It will be too long before I can return to Arizona. A lot has to happen between now and then, BUT, Bethany, I promise, it will be sooner than a year. {The crazy girl thinks she won't see me for the entire next year.}

 In the meantime, I have these memories to hold me over.

Thanks for the memories.

Oh, and Jordan, THANK YOU for my very fashionable compression socks & all the foot rubs...after weeks of not recognizing my own feet, it turns out they were under all that moosh after all.