My parents wanted to spend Christmas together, so they decided to fly out to Phoenix the day after Christmas. We were very excited to see their new home in Gilbert (I had seen it when I came for Shannon's wedding, but no one else had) and to see everyone there!
We flew on a giant plane. There were 4 seats across and we all had free games, TV, and movies on the screens in front of us. I wish we could fly like that every time!
One of our first stops had to be BoSa Donuts. They have delicious maple donuts and they're right down the street from my parents' house.
At the donut place they also had shaved ice. It was winter, but I still had to have some. I was disappointed. There wasn't enough flavoring. I suppose I'm too used to the sweetness of water ice now!
I'm probably crazy, but I usually cut my donuts in half so that I can have multiple flavors. These donuts are so good it's hard to look at pictures! I want some right now!
Apart from seeing my family, one of the things I was looking forward to most was seeing our friends, Jacob and Verity Denham. They drove down from Flagstaff to have lunch with us! We had lunch at Joe's BBQ in Gilbert at the recommendation of one of our friends here in Philly. It was delicious and it was so nice seeing them and their sweet little girl, Gwen!
I miss Verity in the most painful of ways. Not only was she one of my very best friends in Flagstaff, she was my next door neighbor and hair stylist. It was so nice to see her! Going to Arizona was always made better because we almost always got to see the Fillerups and the Denhams in Flagstaff. Karen and Verity kept me sane on many, many occasions. I miss them both dearly! Anyway, after lunch we followed them to pick something up for one of their Flagstaff friends and then we walked around San Tan Village and tried on shoes for Gwen. We visited while we waited for my parents and once they showed up the Denham's had to head back to Flagstaff. I wish we had more time!
My family went to dinner at Joe's Farm Grill (which happened to be the sister restaurant of Joe's BBQ) while we were there. Taylin and Aaron had a lot of fun playing together while we were waiting for our food!
Church with my parents was fun. Their ward is so big! Also, we you aren't at home and you don't have your normal church bag with toys and snacks, taking pictures on Mom & Dad's phones is your entertainment.
And it was very entertaining. Can you tell?
My mom had some fun things for the kids to play with. Aaron loved putting puzzles together.
We went to lunch with Michael, Amber, and Kenny at Oregano's. I miss that place!
We also went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Aaron was playing with my phone while we were waiting and took this picture of himself with the Newsies. They have an app where you can take a picture of yourself and paste the Newsies next to you. Aaron loved it.
We took a family picture! This is the first time we've all been together since before Kenny left on his mission. It may not be the best picture, but at least we're all together. Is it strange that I'm a photographer and sometimes I just don't care about the quality of the photo? All that matters is that we're together. It doesn't matter that I'm wearing sweats and Matthew is wearing pajama pants. Or that there are puzzles on the shelf above my head. All that matters is that we're together and everyone is looking at the camera.
Spending time with Taylin was so much fun. I wish we lived closer!
Taylin took this picture of Matthew and Aaron.
And then Aaron took a few pictures...
We also got to see Layne! She came to my parents' house for a bit and we were able to visit. Layne was in many of Chris's undergrad classes and we became fast friends. We miss her!
We also got to see my Tia Raquel. We missed my cousin Leandro, but it was great visiting with Raquel!
My cousin Crystal and her daughter also came to visit. Aliyah and my boys had a lot of fun playing together while we visited with Crystal. It's crazy how much of my family is in the valley in Arizona now.
Chris and I were able to attend the temple together. My dad came with us as well!
Angela met us at the temple and we had lunch at Cafe Rio afterwards. We got to see her kids, too! I'm so glad Angela was able to drive out to meet us. The downside of 1) not having a car, and 2) only being there for such a short period of time was that we couldn't see everyone we wanted to see. The schedule didn't work out to go see Uncle Daryl, Aunt Dixie, and Chris's cousin Janine and that was a huge disappointment. I also didn't get to see Shannon. Hopefully next time!
The time seemed to fly by and eventually we were on a plane back home. Aaron had fun coloring with his star highlighter that Matthew got him for Christmas. So much fun that it ended up all over his hands!
Chris and Matthew sat across the way from us on the plane so it was just Aaron and I on the way back. The flight was fairly uneventful. The boys are so much easier to fly with these days than they were in the past.
We had a great trip to Arizona. We had really hoped to go back during the summer, but flights are just too expensive right now. Maybe we'll be able to visit again during the holidays.
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