Arizona Week

Michael:

had the whole week off! We used a week of his vacation time and road tripped to visit his sister in Phoenix. We've never explored much of Arizona and it was really fun to see family. The boys were in heaven with dad around so much. It'll be rough sending him back to work tomorrow! He worked all of last Friday night and then came home at 7am and we hit the road by 8am. It was a 9-hour drive, which is almost the drive time to get to Cedar City, so it felt so easy to me. It's so nice doing that with Michael rather than by myself with the boys. They only needed to stop one time! I was impressed with them.

Maddie:

loved seeing my old roommate from Jillian from our Jerusalem summer, and our friend Adriana from our Indiana time. Michael also took us to meet a couple he served with on his mission in Spain. And I'm sure we missed a lot. Gary and Pam took us to see Hamilton while we were there and my mind is still spinning with how much I loved it. That was such a surprise and SO kind of them. It was far and away my favorite thing I've done in so long. We listened to an audiobook on our drive back to Fresno all about the creative process of Hamilton and it's just such a work of genius.

Westin:

loved playing with Rachel all week while the big cousins were at school. He also loved when we left for Hamilton so that he could have a "cousin party" while Lily watched them. She was so sweet to babysit. He plays so much more independently around cousins than he does any other time. I don't know how kids know the difference between cousins and friends but they just do. One night I tucked him into his toddler bed and he wanted Michael to tell him a story after he was done getting ready for bed. By the time Michael came over to say good night, Westin was already out. He played hard that week!

Bennett:

was watched out for all week by his cousin Ben. I think they're bonded by name and it was so cute. All his cousins were sweet to him. He loves hiking in the Ergo, and he also loves animals, so there were a couple days when he was in his element. He didn't love the drive home as much as the drive there, but he was still a champ.

Arizona Memories:

Watching Olympics together, hot tubbing, Gary pouring cold water on us while hot tubbing!, HAMILTON, hiking and seeing wild horses, beautiful Mesa temple and visitor's center, Organ stop pizza, I.D.E.A. museum, train park, Dolce Vita Gelato, and just enjoying being around family. Thank you, Walkers! We had such a fun time visiting you. 

After Mesa we spent a couple nights in Flagstaff just to explore the city: beautiful drive through Sedona, lots of trains, MartAnn'es breakfast, Buffalo Park, Lowell Observatory, Visitor's Center, downtown, library, neighborhood drives, seeing my parents, Texas Roadhouse for Westin's roll fix, Bearizona on the way out of town!

The Bens! Bennett & Benjamin. 

Westin legit thought we were there to go swimming before church.

Michael almost pulled over on our drive into Phoenix to take a picture by one of these bad boys.
Luckily we saw more. And more and more and more.

Gary caught this picture of these two kiddos eating breakfast. I love it so much.

Somehow our train park day had all 3 kids still wide awake and Michael out for a nap.

Hot chocolate to warm up!

Organ Stop Pizza -- such a fun thing to see!

Out in a minute.

Wild horses!

Spot the horse.

Valentine's Cookies

Those Bens again.

Hamilton! It was so incredible.

He was so excited to "Put on Daddy's work clothes!" at the I.D.E.A. Museum.

Bennett was also excited. About this dog.

Jillian! I love this girl. She was right next to me in our room at the Jerusalem Center. She would always kindly help me get in bed after I would frequently fall asleep on my knees during my prayers at night... haha, that scene perfectly sums up so much about that summer.

Adriana! I was so happy we were able to see her while we were in Mesa.
She will always be one of my favorite people I've ever met.

Made it to our little place in Flagstaff! Bennett was so into this show and it made me laugh.

Park exploring in Flagstaff.

One of the best breakfasts I've ever had -- Chiliquiles at MartAnne's. 

Buffalo Park

My parents met us for a day in Flagstaff and the boys were in heaven.

This is literally how Bennett would like to greet most everything and everyone he meets right now. I do not understand it.
Don't worry, we intervened.

Quick pic after our quick trip, before our separate ways!
My dad brought me Dunford Donuts and I brought him Fresno State barbecue sauce. That's love.

Impromptu stop at Bearizona for a drive through wildlife experience. It didn't quite live up to my memories of Bear Country in Wyoming from a trip we took once, but it was still fun. Except for the leaving early due to toddler tantrums part, but, that's the life.

Bear!

Packing and Prepping

All of us:

Had a low key week between visitors and going on our trip to Arizona next week. Westin liked Tot Time at the zoo (this time he met a box turtle), and he was sad to miss preschool with his friends on Friday because of his cold. The boys and I have had a cough and cold for a few days and Michael is holding out strong. We're spending next week in Arizona, so basically I'm just doing all the laundry and packing all the things.

I put on a show for the boys so I could get things prepped for our trip,
but Bennett was only happy with it if I was holding him while he watched. Kids.

A little Ella Enchanted. Sometimes you just need a break from Lightning McQueen.
Unless you're Westin, who never wants a break from Lightning McQueen.

Indiana Visitors

I uploaded all the pictures to this post right before watching the Super Bowl episode of This Is Us. And I just haven't snapped back from that so I've been wasting time doing who knows what on the internets while meaning to get back over here and get this post done. Jack Pearson, this post is procrastinated because of you. So many tears from This Is Us episodes you guys, it's ridiculous.

Michael:

had a busy, busy week and Westin was having an extra hard time with it. We found a mini mailbox I had from a Valentines Day a few years back and Westin wrote daddy a little letter and picture. "Wrote" meaning he scribbled a circular thing and said "I....Love.....You.......Daddy" as he drew. Melt my heart. He had Saturday off which was fun because our friends, the Naylors, stayed with us on their way home to Oregon from Disneyland. I am SO happy it is February. February = Michael's last month of taking first call and it has been a finish line in my mind for a while. This is his last month of being on oral surgery service before he goes on rotation in March and has a better schedule until third year. We still don't have his third year rotation schedule and I am sooo ready to have it and plan out our next year. Planning is my favorite. I'm aware that just sounded like Elf.

Maddie:

loved having visitors last weekend and this weekend! We haven't seen the Naylors since we left Indiana and it was fun to catch up. Their kids were so much bigger and it blew my mind! We loved picking oranges, walking through the fish hatchery trail, feeding the fish, playing games, going to Cafe Rio, and just catching up with each other. We met so many good people in Indiana. I've had them all on my mind extra this week as my old Bishop is about to have surgery. He and his wife are the best people and I love them so much. 

Westin:

is good and kind and I am working extra hard to help him realize that he is good and kind. He's missing daddy so much more than usual lately, like the last few months have kind of built up and he's just super frustrated. We hear phrases like "I'm going to break your little blue truck, you can't go to work!" And "I don't like the hospital!" And "I don't want you to go to work, I'm gonna break your work!" So, yeah... working through some anger here! I love him. I love that he loves his daddy. We'll have some extra time together next week and I'm looking forward to that.

Bennett:

had a cold this week and wasn't his usual super happy self for a couple days. I felt bad that I was so thrown by that, I'm just so used to him being pretty happy-go-lucky. But he's feeling better for the most part, but he's been napping 90 minutes instead of his regular 3 hours since being sick. This is good for no one. Hopefully he feels even better tomorrow! He loved Maybrie so much and just wanted her to hold him. It was so cute.

Nap strike turned to Super Bowl watching.

He was super grumpy for a little bit and it was making us laugh.

Super sick cuddles from Thursday.

Love these friends! Funglish made for a fun game night with them. Summer misunderstood my question at one point and told me a tiger was an animal and I keep laughing about it. She said it so seriously like I didn't know it and I just could not stop laughing for so long.

Summer snapped this picture of Westin and I love it, he still hasn't figured out how to smile for pictures so we rarely get this expression captured. Usually he gives me angry eyebrows when I say cheese...

Orange picking down the street!

Constantly hugging Maybrie.

Sweet Indiana friend! <3

Finished my mom and dad's cross stitch! Don't worry, this was their Christmas present. #behind

Cutest.

Post Cafe Rio brownie party! Doesn't get better than that.

I handed everyone a cookie on Friday night and the sudden drop in volume level was hilarious.

Preschool at Colt's house! C for cloud and cupcakes.

Bennett has reached the "throw all the things away" stage... found him disposing of daddy's shoe.
Who knows what else hasn't been intercepted in time.

Tot time at the zoo! We love going to this and meeting a different animal each time.
This was PJ the armadillo and he was such a funny little guy.

Bennett ignored the armadillo and played with the pretend animals.... 

Backyard picnic.