Arizona - Day 5 & 6

Guess what??? MORE pool pictures!!

Ella really wanted to go over and play with the big girls in the other pool. Cirdan bought her a life jacket so she could. She loved it!

Water slide

We realized on the last day at the pool that they sell inflatable toys there for only a few dollars. DUH!!!

Mr. Turtle hat

Cool guys

love them

Jett kept doing this and he would walk around the pool like that. It was entertaining.

Ready...Set....

Go!

doing tricks

and falling after....

This unfortunately was our last day at the pool.

We wanted to do something fun so we took the kids to go see a movie, Hotel Transylvania. After dinner we went to Rainforest Cafe. Jett loved the animals! The elephants were his favorite.

There was a carousal at the mall. So we had to take a ride.

Last day in Az

Say goodbye to shorts Cannon. It will be a while before you can wear them again.

He had such cute summer clothes that were barely worn. So sad.

We had a little balcony out of our hotel with a table and chairs.

We walked past this fountain whenever we got on the elevator up to our room. Jett loved the water.

The kids were great and we only saw faces like this a few times.

Our side of the hotel

I took a picture of this house that we could see from the parking lot. I took the picture because the bellman was saying someone lives there for half a year. That will be me one of these years. :)

I love cactus. I told Kaylee I would pay her if she sat on one. She wouldn't go for it.

I booked the flight later in the afternoon so that we could have the morning to take our time and not have to rush. The hotel said that we had to check out at 11:00 so we had time to kill. We drove around Phoenix before heading to the airport. It was very strange to drive downtown, in the middle of a work day. There was hardly anyone down there. It was very different from Seattle. It was really like a ghost town. Cirdan and I were shocked!

We got to the airport with plenty of time. If anyone knows me...I am kind of high strung. I like to arrive at the airport and have time to sit and relax before feeling all the stresses on the airplane. The first security line we stood through took a while. It was super slow. A worker came through talking to us welcoming us back from Mexico. I was confused but thought he was kidding or something. We finally got up to the guy checking our ID and he told us that we were in the wrong security line! We had wasted so much time. Grrrr. We headed over to the correct one and went through the family security line which went really fast. As soon as we got to our gate Cirdan went to go grab some food. We sat across from the gate since there was a little table for the kids to sit at. Some time went by and a few of us had to use the restroom. Kaiya wanted to go to the store to get some Arizona things. I took the girls and we hung out at the stores for a bit. I thought we had about an hour or so still...while we walked back I saw Cirdan with Jett and he looked rushed to go to the bathroom. He looked panicked. I asked him what the problem was and he said we were boarding! Jett was poopy! I looked over at our gate and   I only saw the tail end of the people. I almost died!!! The girls and I grabbed our stuff, threw away the garbage and ran get on the plane. I had my ticket and knew I had someone else's. Thankfully I had Ella's. Kaylee and Kaiya stood out waiting for Cirdan while I told the guy we were late and missed the family check in and I have Cirdan and another kid that were also coming. He could tell I was freaking out inside and was nice enough to walk Ella, Cannon and I past all the people so we could get on the plane. He helped fold up the stroller and everything. So nice! There was only 3 rows of seats open and at the back of the plane. I grabbed one row for Cannon, Jett, Cirdan and I and then had Ella sit in the row behind and put her bag to save a seat for Kaiya and Kaylee. It was so close!! That is so not like me to be so rushed. I hated every second of it! I can tell you that it will never happen again. If Cirdan thought I was high strung before...he hasn't seen anything yet. Ha ha

Grandma always knows what to say

I got this letter from my Grandma a few months ago.  She's so sweet and always knows how to cheer me up.  She knows me all too well....the threats of being disowned keep me going!  Whatever you say Grandma!  I'll jump off a bridge if it means gaining your approval!!  In all seriousness this is why politics is so beautiful.  It divides us as a country and as families.  Wonderful!  hahaha...My Grandma is hilarious.  She's dead serious too.  She would disown me if I vote for Obama.  You think she may be a little opinionated? Just a tad :)  If you need a good laugh, don't hesitate to come back and read it again in a week or a month.  It's good for a laugh every time.  Love you Grandma :) 

And for the record, I'm voting for  

Making Me Proud

When Cirdan, Kaiya and I went to Kaiya's open house at school in September we walked into her classroom and saw this on the wall....

I glanced at it. Then I did a double take. Then I re-read it and realized my eyes weren't deceiving me. She had spelled her name wrong!! Her last name ends with an O not an A. I started to laugh and asked Kaiya to read it. It took her a minute and then she said, "oh yeah!!!! I thought it looked weird!!!!" Crazy girl. This is one that will be kept forever for sure.

Arizona - Day 3 and 4

You are going to be seeing a lot of these pool pictures. It is pretty much all we did while in Arizona. We would wake up and get ready for the pool. The weather was perfect...a hot average of about 96 during the day. The dry heat was awesome and it really made my hair not frizzy...you know, one of the important things. At our hotel there were 3 regular pools, a kiddy pool, lazy river, waterfall in one of the pools and a water slide. Super fun! One pool even had a volleyball net. There wasn't many people there so we always had enough lounge chairs. I think that this will be a annual thing to go to AZ in October. It was perfect.

Kaylee going down the slide

Lets get a close up of that face...

Kaiya taking a stab at it...

And a close up...so lady like. :)

Kaylee is the best photo bomber. Kaiya had no clue she was back there.

Ella was a little fish the whole time.

Another pose down the slide

I like her braid in this one

Cannon did a lot of sleeping. What a life!

One of the pools

Hi Jett...It's bright!!

They were being silly all day

Kaylee's George Washington hair

Relaxing

This picture creeps me out but every time I look at it I laugh.

Cannon already trying to eat some Triscuits. Caught you red handed!!!

That night we went to dinner with an old co-worker of mine. We have kept in contact over the years and it was really good to see him and his family. When we were friends I was going through hard times with my ex and he was single. Even though he had no clue the stuff I was dealing with at home he was a really good friend and looking back I am sure I wouldn't have survived without people like him. He was sorta nerdy (he knows it too) and it is fun to see him get married and have a daughter of his own. His wife Erin is really nice and I can't wait to go back to hang out again.

After dinner we went for custard (ice cream). It was probably a million calories but a million GREAT calories.

Their daughter Brooke loved Cannon. She was always looking at him and wanted to hold him.

Ella got along really well with Brooke and her sister Holly

Are you sick of looking at pool pictures yet?? Don't worry. I have more!

As I sat there thinking how lucky I am to have an amazing husband and kids. What a wonderful life I have.

It was so hot that I took Cannon in to put his feet in the water. He loved it.

He was a happy baby!

Not so happy in this picture until he got a binky.

My 3 boys. Look at those studs.

SPLASH!!!!! One of my favorite pictures.

The girls were enjoying the noodles

Ms. Sassy Pants

There was a camp for kids each day where the parents could leave their kids. I told Kaiya I had signed her up to go. She was pretty upset. I am just surprised she actually believed me.
                                               More tricks from Ella

                                 Kaylee and Kaiya with their noodles in the grown up pool

After pool time we got ready and headed to Mesa to see the temple.

Loved this picture of the trees

My blog is acting up so I am going to let this picture slide...and not try to move it. I have been working on this one blog all day and I really don't have the patience. Ha

There was a lime tree with a ton of limes. I wanted to pick one.

After the temple we dropped Kaiya off at her grandparents house. We had a few hours before we were going to pick her up so we got something to eat, which again took about an hour just trying to figure out what we should stop and get. Then we drove past my old house, the one my dad owns now. It is sad to see how much it has changed. There used to be a little patch of grass and 2 palm trees in front.

We found a Nordstrom Rack to shop, which closed about 30 mintues after we got there. A TJ Maxx was a few doors down so we stopped in there until Jett started screaming and had to be taken out. I was able to find Kaiya a cute ASU shirt.

We then headed to pick up Kaiya. I was sad that it was her last night with her family that lives in AZ. She had a lot of fun with her cousin Jasmin. Her grandparents took them shopping and out to eat. They got matching boots, some glasses and earrings.

I loved this outfit. It was one that Greg and Staci brought when they visited us in the hospital after Cannon was born. Now that it is freezing cold outside in Washington he wont be able to wear it anymore. Sad face.