Our first stop was in St. George where we got to visit my brother Ryan and his awesome family. His girls are adorable, and they didn't disappoint. :) Saturday was Ryan's birthday, so they took us out to breakfast to celebrate. (I'm still trying to figure out how it happened that way instead of us taking THEM out since it was his birthday ...) Anyway, breakfast was great and then we had to be on our way ... but not before getting a cute picture of Katie:
Paul had flown to Phoenix on March 9 to start his class the next day. That left me alone with the kids to drive down to meet him about a week later. I was nervous to think of driving a route I've never driven and to be alone with the kids. I figured there would be cell phone service the entire way. Little did I know that Highway 93 is in the middle of nowhere and has no cell phone service for most of the way! Fortunately I didn't realize this until we were there driving and all was well.
Zachary needed to water the weeds on the side of the road several times, but one time we were actually able to make it to a rest stop. The rest stop had trees growing in cool ways, so I took advantage and got out my camera. Would you ever guess this fun picture is taken at a rest stop:
This was our second-to-last trip to the bathroom for him. The last was in an area of downtown Phoenix that scared the snot out of me ... but it was that or wet pants ...
After a frustrating delay at Hoover Dam (1 hour to go 4 miles), we got on our way and FINALLY made it to Tempe. Jennifer had dinner ready for us, so that was nice. Then we unpacked the van and "took over" their home. They were so nice to let us stay there for so long. And my mom lent us her aerobed, which was wonderfully better than the air mattress we had planned to bring. :)
Jennifer and Rob's little girl London is adorable. I just had to share this picture of her in her Jasmine costume, which she wore nearly every day we were there ... what princess wouldn't want to?
We decided to wear Easter outfits both Sundays we were there to cut down on the amount we had to pack. So, our picture this year is actually a week before Easter, but nobody would know that unless I told them. :) Don't the kids look snazzy?
On Tuesday while Rob went to work and Paul went to his class, Jennifer and I took the kids to the zoo. It was a bit crowded because of spring break and spring training (Oakland A's), but it was a lot of fun anyway. Tyler got to see a warthog, which made him super excited. The bugger ran away before I could take a picture, but maybe Jennifer will get a picture to e-mail me next time she goes to the zoo so I can let it be. :) However, I did get probably at least 100 great pictures of animals and the kids. Jennifer was very patient with me taking tons of pictures ... Here she is with the kids and the rhinos:
The COOLEST part of the zoo was where we got to pet sting rays. I've always thought sting rays look a bit angelic in the way they swim, so I was excited to touch one. Mind you, I also knew their stingers would be clipped, which I guess they have to re-do every six months or so. Didn't know that one! I was surprised at how they felt -- kind of spongy, with definite bones in their "wings." I guess I expected them to be slimy and smooth like a fish, so I was surprised when they weren't.
Anyway, they also happened to have two sharks in the pool, which FREAKED OUT my boys. I insisted they try to touch one. Okay, I forced their arms in to touch one of the sting rays. Look at Zachary's poor face in the two pictures below. If you must, click on the pictures to get a better view. Poor kid is being traumatized:
Another fun thing at the zoo was that Tyler and Zachary got to feed the elephants carrots. They threw in some HUGE carrots for the elephant to eat. The other cool thing we got to see was the orangutans. They were AWESOME! There were two females, a male and a baby. When we got there, one of the females was hugging the baby, which was cute. Then the baby got down to play alone for a few minutes, and then went up to play with the other female.
The baby would climb a ladder and then jump on the female. She got the sheet that was in their cage and started playing peek-a-boo with him. Look at the smile on that baby orangutan!!!
Needless to say, we had a lot of fun at the zoo. And we definitely wore the kids out. Shayla and Joseph bit the dust at about the same time:
Rob has long had a juggling talent, and somehow the boys found out. (I'm guessing Paul let them know.) In any case, he agreed to juggle a few times for them. They were ecstatic when he agreed to juggle their favorite animals (Beanie babies). Rob kept throwing rings to them to catch, thus the arms up in the picture getting ready to catch a ring.
On Friday we dyed Easter eggs, which is always fun. I enjoyed helping Shayla, who loved getting her fingers right into the water and all over the wet eggs. I also love in the pictures how you can see that she still has those cute chubby cheeks:
Friday night Tyler, Zachary and I went to the outdoor Easter Pageant at the Mesa Arizona temple. It was phenomenal!!! I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the area. I got there "late" (only about 35 minutes early), but we got GREAT seats with an old mission comp who had been there since 5 p.m. (it started at 8 p.m.). Thanks to the Parkes family for letting us crash with you! :) And it was nice to meet Cylena's husband for the first time. Here is a picture we got before the pageant:
This is another pre-pageant picture where the actors come down and mingle with the audience. I know the pageant was about the life of Christ, but I told the boys they were getting their picture with Captain Moroni, not a Roman soldier:
On Saturday we did the Easter egg hunt. Rob and Jennifer were very gracious about celebrating Easter a day early so that we could enjoy some Easter festivities before hopping in the car to drive home. It was so hot that we had to put the plastic eggs with chocolate inside in the freezer before we took them out to hide them. Crazy to think it is already that hot in Phoenix in March! Here is a picture we took of all the kids with their loot:
The best part about the above picture is that Jennifer and I played around with her Adobe Photoshop Elements and figured out how to use different faces from different pictures to make the perfect shot. The one above isn't the one we edited ... but I included it with its imperfections anyway. :)
On Sunday after Sacrament Meeting we loaded the car and started our trek home. While we were packing up the car Shayla decided to get in a little play time. I think it's a hilarious picture of her on the bike all dressed up pretty:
Fortunately our delays at Hoover Dam weren't quite as long, although we did have to wait a while. We decided it was worth it, though, because soon enough you won't be able to drive over Hoover Dam anymore. I also saw a ram right before we got to the dam, which was cool.
On our trip back, we stopped once more at the St. George Palmers. We weren't there very long, but by the end of our trip Ellie didn't cry when she saw us, and she just squirmed to get away instead of squirming AND screaming to get away. :) Shayla called her (and Joseph) "Nah-Nuh" the whole time, because she plays weekly with my friend's little girl named Savannah. It was cute to see her try to figure out that all babies aren't named Savannah. Back to Ellie ... Ryan actually got a smile out of Ellie while I was close enough to snap a shot:
After leaving Ryan and Karen's house, we stopped by the St. George temple for a quick visit. I have always loved how white and bright the temple there is. Look at how beautiful:
And really, isn't this what it's all about? Look at those great kids of mine:
On that note, all I have to say is, "The End."
