LOVE

When my mom came to visit, she brought a project she has been working on for some time.

This painting of Alexa.

My mom did the painting from this picture (below), taken of Alexa when she was 18 months old. She was intrigued by something on our little balcony of the apartment that we lived in at the time. Didn't my mom do a fabulous job??

I. LOVE. IT!

The painting needs to be framed but it's already hanging in my upstairs hallway, the first thing I see as I walk upstairs. And I smile each time!

I've already sent her a picture of Payton at about the same age so she can begin working on another painting for my upstairs gallery!! :-)

Thanks mom, I really love it!

An Annual Event???

My parents came to visit again this past week, that's two February's in a row...I think it's going to be an annual thing now since they just tack it onto their annual business convention! Works for us! The kids were sooooo excited for Gramma and Grampa to come visit. They got here late Wednesday night so first thing Thursday morning, they were jumping on Gramma and Grampa's bed to wake them up!! Here's Miss Sassypants herself that morning, sporting a cute new shirt from Gramma!

We ventured to the Desert Museum on Thursday morning and had a lot of fun looking at the snakes and bugs...it's always a favorite of the girls'!

There was LOTS of playing with Gramma while she was here!!

On Friday, we drove to Thatcher for Kevin's cousin Owen's wedding. It worked out perfectly to have my parents with us to watch the kids while we attending the sealing in the Temple. And the girls couldn't wait to see Owen's new wife come out of the temple looking like a princess! I love opportunities like this to really show the girls the importance of the temple and that families can be together forever if they make the right choices.

Yesterday morning, we drove up to Mt. Lemmon to see the snow. I know my parents see it a lot...but it was fun to take them on that drive and show them the differences in climates and environments from the bottom of the mountain (desert, cactus, heat) to the top of the mountain (snow, pine trees, cool). And we even had lunch up there. It was a fun day!

Saying goodbye is never fun...but this time we know we'll see Gramma and Grampa in just a few short months!! That's right, our little family is headed to Canada this summer for a family reunion! I'm really excited. I know I was just there last summer from my grandpa's funeral...but the last time we went as a family, I was pregnant with Payton, so the majority of my family hasn't even met her yet. It will be a fun trip!

Thanks for coming Gramma and Gramps...we'll see you SOON!!!

~Weekend Getaway~

This past weekend we got out of town for a little, much-needed vacation. We headed up to Flagstaff on Friday afternoon to stay the night before heading to the Grand Canyon on Saturday. My parents were flying in from Canada to meet us there for the adventure. So as soon as Kevin got off work on Friday, we loaded up and headed out of town. We got up to Flagstaff at dinnertime and so we popped into a hometown burger joint, Bun Huggers, that was recommended by a good friend. It did not disappoint. And even if we hadn't been told about it, we probably would have gone just for the name!! :-) After dinner, we checked into our hotel and then went for a swim. This was Barrett's first real time going for a swim, with his cute little swim trunks, not just a dip of the toes! He didn't really seem to care one way or the other. The girls just wanted to swim in the "mommy/daddy pool" (aka the hot tub), which they weren't allowed to!

After the swim, and quick baths, we headed down to the firepit they had in the courtyard of the hotel. The girls thought it was pretty cool to sit by the fire, but they REALLY thought it was cool when a complete stranger came up and said she had all the fixins for s'mores!! Yummo....it was so kind of her to share with all of us. The girls absolutely loved it....we probably should have waited to give them tubs until after the sticky treat, but oh well!

My parents arrived at the hotel after all the kids were asleep so they were all excited to see each other first thing on Saturday morning. My mom brought Barrett this adorable hat! As you can see, he enjoyed gettin' down with his bad self right away!! :-)

And then it was on to THE GRAND CANYON!!! I had never been there. Kevin went once when he was ten. If you have never been, and have only seen pictures....you just have to go and experience it in person. It. Is. Amazing! For reals. It is so HUGE and magnificent and breathtaking and beautiful and....I could go on and on. And it is definitely not something you can experience in just one day. That's all the time we had AND we had 3 small children, so I feel like we experienced it the best we could given our circumstances...but I definitely want to go back some day when our kids are a bit older (once we don't have to pack diapers bags but before they're teenagers and think it's too boring!!) so we can enjoy it a bit more. Seriously, if you have the opportunity, go. see. the Grand Canyon!

The rest of the quick visit from my parents, the kids just enjoyed having Gramma and Papa around! We went went to church, played in the rain, wore silly hats, went shopping, played at the mall play area, had lunch at the mall and went out for dinner. We crammed alot into our weekend but we sure had fun doing it!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun visit! The kids miss you tons and tons!

..::Visit from Gramma & Grampa Baker::..

My parents had their annual convention for their business in Vegas this past week and so they decided to come visit us on their way home since they were so close. The last time my mom came to visit, which was right after we moved back to Arizona, I somehow managed to get absolutely NO pictures of her with my girls. I don't know how that happened...but since it did, I made it a top priority to take a LOT of pictures while they were here this time. So beware of picture overload!!

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The first day they were here, we went to McDonald's for lunch since Gramma had promised Alexa we would do that. I did forget my camera the first day (2/16/11) so there are no pictures from then. But the next day, we went to Alexa's dance class. She was so excited to have Gramma come to her class. And Payton thoroughly enjoyed having Gramma around too!! We then went to Panda Express for lunch as Alexa has not stopped talking about the time we went there last year with Gramma. Seriously, every time we pass by Panda, she says "that's where we went with Gramma". That girl has the memory of an elephant!! And then the girls just enjoyed playing with Gramma and Grampa that evening.

On Friday morning, we went to visit Dr. Mortenson at his dental office so my parents could get some x-rays taken. The girls loved going to visit daddy at work and had a great time while Gramma and Grampa were getting x-rays and a quick examination.

I took this picture of Alexa and just loved it!!

Later that day, we ventured to the UofA Bookstore on campus. My dad LOVES bookstores, so we figured this would be a fun outing for him!! And my parents ended up buying us a UofA diaper bag for this baby boy!! Side note: I got pinkeye the night my parents arrived so there aren't many pictures with me in it, and the ones there are...wow, I'm not looking so great without makeup!! :-) After the bookstore, we had to take my parents for some good Mexican food. We went to Mi Niditos in South Tucson and it didn't disappoint! Mmmmm....

On Saturday, we went to Old Tucson Studios. And we had a GREAT time! Kevin and I had never been so it was a first for all of us. There was so much to see and do, we definitely didn't get it all done...but we did enjoy what we were able to do, despite the crazy wind that day that definitely gave it a true Old West feeling!!

The girls loved the train ride!

Things we saw while on the train and while wandering around Old Tucson.

When Kevin came across the Old West dental office, we just had to get a picture!! If you can't see it when you click on the collage, it says "Painless Extraction" on the sign with the big tooth hanging from it....yeah right!! And on the long skinny sign that says "Barber and Dentist", to the right, it says "Tooth Soap for White Dentures". Hahaha...we thought that was funny!! Oh how things have changed in the world of dentistry!! And thank goodness!!

There was a bathhouse right across from the dental office/barber and I thought it made for a cool picture. I just may even get it blown up to put in one of our bathrooms!

In addition to all the old western movie oriented things to see and do at Old Tucson, they had several things for the kiddos...like the train, a carousel and old cars to drive. And you can go as many times as you want with your admission into the studios. I think we lost track of how many times the girls went on the carousel!!

We even ate lunch there, then had ice cream as Alexa conned Gramma & Grampa into buying her some, before heading home. It was a really fun morning!! Thanks Mom and Dad for treating us to the Old West!

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We ended the day by taking my dad to In'N'Out Burger as he had never been. I'm never one to turn down In'N'Out!! And neither are the girls!

My parents came to church with us the next morning and then headed straight to Phoenix to catch their flight home to Canada. We did take some pictures at church with them, but they are on my mom's camera so I'll have to add them once she emails them to me (hint hint Mom!!!). Anyways, it was a great visit and we're glad they came. The girls are already in Gramma & Grampa withdrawal!! Good thing Gramma is coming back in a couple months to help when Baby Boy arrives!!