Arizona for Christmas, Part 2

All good things must come to an end. Although I was able to stay in Mesa for four weeks, other people had jobs to get back to. Sheldon and Michelle left on New Year's Day. Unfortunately they took their kids, too. I didn't really expect them to leave their kids, but Alex and Edison were sad to see Keaton and Everett go.

Several years ago, my family got a hot air balloon for Christmas. But then we never used it. It finally got taken out of the box this year.

 

The next day, Matthew and Laura flew out. Sam wanted to get dress shirts that actually fit him so we went to the store to find some for him. The boys were running all over the place and I put them in time out. This picture is the perfect example of their personalities. Alex takes time out very seriously. He is so sad that he was doing something wrong and we aren't happy with him. Edison, on the other hand, thinks time out is a joke.

The boys enjoyed playing in the mall after we were done shopping though. There were too many kids around though so we didn't stay very long.

Sam and I went out to the movie that we had skipped because of our late dinner date the week before. So we ended up getting an extra date out of it! It was so nice to be able to put the boys to bed and then go out and not have to worry about getting home before it was too late for the babysitter.

Remember when privacy in the bathroom was a thing? Yeah, me neither.

Edison loves music. Every time he finds headphones, he knows just what to do with them.



My parents just keep getting older. My dad turned 55 on the day Sam flew out of town. After I took him to the airport, we had a late lunch for my dad. Later that night, we had cake. Alex was very excited about the cake and wanted it on his plate faster than my mom was cutting it.

Flannel had to leave Mesa, too. He headed back to Provo the next day. But we had plans to keep ourselves from missing everyone! We went to the zoo really early to meet up with Rachael and her kids. Rachael and I were good friends in high school and it has been fun to become mommies at the same time, too.

We stayed at the zoo for four hours and the boys were tired and hungry. I must have been tired and hungry, too, because I totally forgot to have someone take a picture of Rachael and me together.

After lunch and naptime, we went outside to play more. 

The weather the next day was amazing. We played outside and dug around a dead orange tree. Alex and Edison were becoming pros at spending hours outside again, just like when we lived in Texas.

After church, it is the cool thing to climb around in Grandpa's car.

 

I told my mom we were going to the cemetery and she wanted to come along. We tried to explain to Alex where we were going and I thought he understood it. He looked at Rachael's memorial program with my mom and I thought he understood what we were saying. Not really. He stood up and said, "Okay, you two. Follow me. Let's go see Rachael." Then he started running around. My two little grave robbers were moving around the flowers on strangers' gravestones. Then we went to Costco. They tried running around there, too.

My honorary sister, Katie, came over later that day. She is expecting her first kid, a girl, about a month before me. So excited for her! She is currently planning to name her Rachael and I think that will be awesome.

I wanted to see Papa and Gramma again before I left town so we went over to their house for dinner. Papa entertained the boys with paper airplanes while the women chatted.

 It was 70 degrees the next day so we played outside for a few hours.

Both boys learned how to peel their own tangerines. Alex would spit out the seeds and Edison would just chomp on his. Once they finished a tangerine, they would head back to the tree to pick another one.

My mom was hosting her book club that night. The boys saw her making the dessert and Alex asked when they were going to eat it. I figured since book club started at 7pm, I would let the boys have some cake before bed. But her book club doesn't have dessert until the end, versus eating throughout the meeting like I expected. I put the boys to bed and they were crying about not having cake. I felt bad for misleading them so I let them out of bed. For cake. They were thrilled.

I went to visit my friend Donna. I hadn't seen her since my wedding reception. It was so fun to have her meet my boys and to see her new house. We had a great visit. She is a classy lady.

We headed to the airport early the next morning to fly back to North Dakota. As I was waiting in line to check in at the airport, I heard some Arizonans talking in the line nearby. One of them said, "It's gonna get really cold. We're expecting frost three nights in a row!" Dead serious.

We had a scare on the airplane because I gave Edison a Lifesaver and he swallowed it. He was in so much pain and I snuggled him as he whimpered and cried until he finally fell asleep after the Lifesaver dissolved enough to dislodge. Poor kid.

It was good to be home. We unpacked and the boys rediscovered their toys. They were so happy to see all of their Christmas presents that Sam had brought home so my bag would be lighter. It was a happy day!