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.

Baby Shower

My generous and infinitely talented sisters and mom

threw me a baby shower in Arizona.

I was so excited to be able to make the trip home (Yes, I think Arizona is home).

It had been way too long since I had been there (Christmas).

The theme of the shower was Children's Books, since that is what I am decorating Baby Boy's nursery with.

The invitations, designed & put together by Bethany & Company...

{front}

{back}

Heather outdid herself with the decorations...

not only did she make me a diaper cake, but it is a Winnie the Pooh honey tree diaper cake.

She also spent endless hours in thrift stores on the hunt for children's books.

If you can't tell by the picture, in front of the salads are books called A is for Salad, Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli in front of the broccoli salad, & Oliver's Fruit Salad in front of the fruit salad. She made Green Eggs & Ham {Deviled Eggs, the yolks dyed green with pureed spinach and topped with bacon bits} with the book displayed next to it. Anyway, clever things like this that only she could come up with.

She made the following as well {you know, in her spare time}...

There were many hours spent in the kitchen by all of these special ladies {and more} making the 'Best of the Best' treats so all of my guests and I could over-load in deliciousness.

 It killed me that I was pretty much ZERO help in the kitchen. As soon as I stepped foot, or feet, in Arizona my feet swelled to ENORMOUS proportions...I am blaming it on the heat because they have since gone down. So I was of no help, but thankfully, Elyce let me boss her around and do the things I would have been doing if my feet didn't have to be propped up.

Holly made the party favors which were these cute bookmarks...thanks Holly!

We so very much missed your cute buns!

Also, in Holly's spare time {She & Heather spend their spare time eating Bon Bons & watching soap operas. NOT...they both have 5 kids to raise.}

she made me and baby this darling quilt!

Sharon gave me matching outfits for Cadbury and Baby...will definitely need some pictures of the two together.

Bethany captured this cute picture of some of my nieces & great-nieces who were there.

{Did you know that I am a Great-Aunt? Yep, multiplied by 8!}

It was fun to see everybody and I sure loved getting back to Tulsa and putting the nursery all together. Thanks to EVERYONE who helped spoil me and make me feel so very special. I have the best family!

(Coming Soon - post of nursery!)



Mischief

Cadbury and I get along much better than we used to. Thanks being to the

wide            open            spaces

the backyard provides. Sometimes he likes to "remind" me that he is still capable of driving me loony.

When I came home this afternoon, I could see down the hallway, where I knew I would find Cadbury, and this is what I saw...

It isn't his first crime against a Kleenex box either.

PROOF:

BUT, what I did not expect awaited me on the bed...

Oh yeah, this is really happening. "Welcome home Mother!...uh, I was just trying on some of your pretty make-up."

I wish the pictures did his pink snout and paws justice, but they do not.

Upon cleaning up the mess, I lifted the pillow to find little pink paw prints leading to where he laid in wait for me to get home.

Lucky for him, I am in good spirits today and will keep him despite his best efforts to be homeless.

Lucky for me, 85% of the time he is a good dog.



Painting Bug

I must have recently realized that if I wanted any projects around the house to get finished, I had better get a move on things. So for the past few days I have been painting everything I can get my hands on.

I have been in need of a make-up station and was pleased to find this for only $50.

Of course, it did not look like this when I got it. Oh, no. It needed a lot of love. I had the mirror and painted it to match the desk.

My next project was the crib. We inherited it from Jordan's sister and originally it was faux yellow oak. Not very pleasant {no offense Jenni}. Seven cans of spray paint later...

and it looks as precious as can be! I am very pleased with the results.

My parents gave us a dresser when we drove to Arizona  for Christmas and it was cute, but I knew I could definitely make it extra cute. 

A fresh coat of paint and then I detailed the engravings with a very pale green.

{A closer view to see the green better.}

This dresser is in the baby's room. The framed pictures on the dresser were my other project which goes with the theme to the room...characters from children's books. I haven't figured out where to hang them up yet.

A couple weeks ago I painted this little cabinet. It used to be red and did not match the room, but I needed it in that room to hold and disguise dog food.

The day after the cabinet I painted my night stand...

And that brings us up to today, when I painted my Grandma's sewing desk.

There is really truly only one very LARGE project I would be ecstatic to get done, the entertainment center armoire. It will not happen though. Unless this painting bug I seem to have caught hangs around for a week or two more.

It feels good to be getting so much done, and I am sure after a few more days I might even be able to feel all of my fingers again {spray painting is not for the faint of ♥ ...or those with weak fingers}.



Jordan's Golden Birthday

On March 27, Jordan turned 27!

He got lots of cool things! A brand new {fancy} microwave from my parents!

A brand new {fancy} lawn mower from his parents!

A brand new {fancy} edger from his loving wife!

And for the fun of it I also through in a new pair of shoes, the DVD of The Muppets, his favorite childhood book Corduroy {so he can read it to his baby boy},

& very stylish racket ball goggles...

for those very intense Thursday night games of racket ball.

Wouldn't want to lose an eyeball, would we.  I also hand-washed the filth & muck off and inside of his truck...complete with car freshener.

We polished off the night with Thai food and called it a Golden Birthday!

In case you felt bad about Jordan getting yard equipment for his birthday...don't.

This was not the first time he got a lawn mower as a gift.

From a young age, Jordan has loved yard work.

He was even the neighborhood lawn boy.

He has loved and already gotten good use out of his new toys...and our lawn looks incredible!

Happy Birthday Jordan! I ♥ you like crazy!



R and R

In March, I was able to go to Denver for some Girl R&R.

These ladies were able to be there too!

& this little lady!

{Who just got her ears pierced on the occasion...so brave!}

& this little {chunk} man!

While there, we celebrated Anita's birthday with pedicures, the movie The Lorax, and Chocolate Cake!

It was fabulous to be with the ladies I love best!

{Through the years...}

These women are beautiful inside & out and I could not be more blessed to have each of them in my life.

I was properly spoiled and came home with lots of cute maternity clothes.

Thanks ladies! I wish we could do that every month!