Tortilla Flat

Originally, we had planned on being camping this weekend up near the Grand Canyon as my uncle finished his race. Although those plans changed, we decided to go ahead and go camping anyway. Instead of the Grand Canyon, we went to Tortilla Flat, which is about an hour east of us.

There are several lakes out this way and it is an absolutely gorgeous area.
The boys were so excited about camping!! Brychan had been asking me every day last week "Are we going camping today?". When I was finally able to tell him yes, he was as excited as could be.

We had fun setting up camp, seeing the Tortilla Flat "museum" and trying Prickly Pear ice cream.

The Easter Bunny managed to find us out there too (the Easter Bunny will be finding us again when my parents come to visit next week).

We had lots of fun playing in the water too! There were many shallow little pools and ponds of water; perfect for 2 little boys to play in!

Hunting for tadpoles with DaddyTaking a little break!

And, of course, throwing as many rocks as possible into the water

The weather in Arizona right now is perfect for camping. There was quite a bit of wildlife in the area too...cardinals, ground squirrels, lizards, coyotes, bats...there was even a tarantula spotted a few yards down from our campsite (Ick! The fact that is was being carried away by a tarantula bee made it even ickier!).

Sunday night after we got home, had dinner and baths, both boys asked to go to bed on their own and were both asleep by 7:00!!! We evidently did a good job of wearing them out. All that extra free time would have been nice to take advantage of, but instead, Dave and I were both in bed by 8:30 ourselves. It was a fun, busy weekend!

**On a side note: After 2 weekend trips away from home with no accidents, and no accidents at home for quite some time, I think it is finally safe to say that Brychan is officially potty trained. WOO HOO!!!!**

Easter Egg Hunt

This year we went to the City of Peoria's annual Easter Egg Hunt again, and had just as much fun this year as we did last year! We took SO many fun photos, so I just picked out a few.

The boys waiting patiently...
Big stuff
Daddy & Brychan getting ready to start Bug's egg hunt. Daddy ran both the boys out to the middle for their egg hunts so they could work their way out while everybody else worked their way in. The strategy worked great for both boys, and they found a lot of goodies!
Looking at the petting zoo
And sneaking candy after being told to put it away. He was missing for awhile; I thought he was with Lala and started getting a little worried when I realized he was not with her. It took us a minute to find him, but he was just hiding in the corner behind the couch, munching away!

Little Beaver

A few minutes ago, I walked in to find this in my living room:

I immediately asked Brychan to start picking up the pillows because (for the zillionth time) "we do not play with the couch cushions". However. He started explaining to me that this was his dam that he had made in the river with sticks and dirt and mud to keep the water out. Soooo...the teacher in me won out, and the mom in me took a back seat. How could I interrupt such good play?!? And now my little beaver is chasing dinosaurs out of his little dam. Who knew?

Best Friends

This little boy really loves his dog. Brychan has always loved the dogs, but I think Kehlton loves them even more. He is often found snuggled up somewhere with Biggs, and Biggs is always more than happy to accommodate. The other day I told Kehlton it was time for a nap and he headed straight to the floor with Biggs. He was perfectly content just to lay there with the dog. However, he was not so content when I made him get in his own bed.

And this is why Biggs is so patient with all the "love": he knows it's easy pickins'! Kehlton is always willing to share a snack, or breakfast, or lunch, or dinner.

Sierra Vista, AZ

**This post is really long...sorry!**

My uncle, Marshal, is a pretty avid bike rider. He's been riding for lots of years and has done lots of races. This weekend, he started a race at the AZ/Mexico border that finishes up at the AZ/UT border. It's like 750 miles of singletrack racing (meaning no paved roads) with a rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon (bike on his back) before one last full day of riding to finish the race off. I think he's slightly insane. However, I also think it is SO cool!! We went down to Sierra Vista to drop him at the race start and bring his van back up to Phoenix for the duration of his race.

This is the group at the first starting point. There was a second starting point 13 miles up the trail, I believe for those racers just doing the first 300 miles. Marshal has already done that route a couple of times.

Marshal waiting to get started

The original plan was for us to drive his van up to the end of the trail next weekend so it could be there waiting for him. And, it allowed us to sneak in a little weekend camping trip too. However, Marshal called us last night soon after we got home from Sierra Vista saying that he had been battling heat stroke all afternoon and was pulling out of the race. David is on his way right now to pick Marshal up; they should be here later this afternoon/early this evening. We are so bummed for Marshal - we were really looking forward watching his progress, BUT we're also glad he's playing it safe and that he is feeling much better this morning.

After seeing Marshal off, we played tourist for the rest of the day. Our first stop was Tombstone, AZ. The old trains were obviously a huge hit.

The boys practicing their riding skills

After Tombstone, we headed up to Tucson. I am really impressed with Tucson...they have SO many fun things to do there! We will definitely have to take another weekend trip down that way to check more things out.

Here are the boys outside the International Wildlife Museum. Brychan wasn't too sure about getting too close to that lion at first, but he finally braved up!

Snake skeleton

Birds of Paradise

Kehlton checking out the black bear

And the boys walking under the giraffe

My very ferocious lion!!

It was a really fun weekend - a perfect little family getaway. Can't wait for the next one!!

We LOVE Summer!!

I know that "technically" it's still spring, and unfortunately for many of you, you're still dealing with snow (so sorry!!). But here, we are in the perfect, pre-summer season. The season where it's plenty warm to play outside, in the water, all day long...without worrying about dehydrating or frying up like little sausages out in the sun. We took FULL advantage of our beautiful weather again today by playing with the hose and some bubbles.

I know this photo of Kehlton is not at all in focus, but it was too cute not to post!

Phoenix Suns

Last night, I was able to surprise David with a couple of tickets to the Suns game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. I got a killer deal on some amazing seats (thank you, Groupon!!) 3 weeks ago and managed to keep it a complete surprise. David usually figures things out quite quickly, but this one he didn't really know until we got downtown. I was pretty proud of myself! I LOVE watching basketball games. Especially close, nail-biting games that come down to the last second. I get so tense and nervous, but I love every second of it. Last night's game did not disappoint!! We were behind by 4 - 6 almost the entire game, but manged to pull ahead at the last minute. The Wolves rallied though, and at the very last second, tied up the game. The Suns ended up winning in OT, but we had to leave in order to get our babysitter home. I was already feeling bad that we were keeping her until 10:30 on a seminary/school night. :( So...the Suns playing a little defense.... And enjoying a super fun night with my David!!

Random Photos

Just a bunch of random photos from this weekend. Most of the from the camera phone, so they're a little blurry. Thursday afternoon we spent quite a bit of time at the park. The boys had it all to themselves which is always nice! Plus, the weather here today is rainy, wet and a total of 45 freezing cold degrees, so it's good we got all that outside time in!

Sporting his new hat

And brother carrying his identical hat in his back pocket. How cute is that?

Last night we braved the icky weather to go to a picnic put on by one of David's realtor associations. It really was a lot of fun! Dinner, playing at the park, a cake walk, balloon animals and face painting. Brychan had to get the dragon, of course!

Today we're staying in and bundled up with homemade bread and movies. Hopefully this weather moves out quickly!!

Our Weekend

This weekend was a super busy one! Nothing really exciting or fun to brag about, but I did get quite a bit accomplished. First off, I painted the living room. I still have part of one wall to finish, but that requires moving the piano, and I'm not quite buff enough to move that on my own just yet. I LOVE the way the living room looks now (well, the paint anyway. It still has a lot of decorating left to go) and I can't wait to start tackling the rest of the house. We enjoyed conference. Really enjoyed conference. Even though they no longer show it on tv here and we have to cram around the computer in the office - it was enjoyable. The homemade cinnamon rolls we had didn't hurt. Kehlton enjoyed it too! Anything with Lala is more fun!! During conference, I finally got the 72 hour kits put together. This is a project that I have been wanting to do for years. It's finally done. Well, 95% done. There are still a few things to put in each pack, but they are at least done enough that we could survive. Everything is in little baggies, clearly labeled to make finding things easier. And 3 of the finished products! David's pack isn't shown because he was still stuffing his. We also did a partial one for Ashley. I can't believe how much work it was getting those done!! But, I definitely feel much more prepared should we have to leave in a hurry.

This weekend we also found a new home for Max...life is just too chaotic and too busy for 2 little boys and a new puppy. He wasn't getting anywhere near the attention he needed here. I can't believe how quickly the house went back to normal and calmed down after he left! He is definitely missed, but I'm happy with the home he ended up in, so all is well.

Next week we start an entire month of fun things that will be much more exciting to blog about than paint and emergency kits. A surprise date night with David (I'm SO excited about our plans and he has no idea what's going on!!), a trip down to Sierra Vista, a trip up to the AZ/Utah border, a visit from my parents and my brother, quickly followed by the end of the school year and then Girls Camp. Lots of fun photos and details to come!