Arizona Sunshine!

If I don't start updating now, there's no way I'll ever catch up... And this will be a little journal-ish, because I would like to remember it all. Feel free to just scan through the pictures if small books about other peoples' lives isn't your thing...
We've been looking forward to visiting AZ for some time (pretty much since the day we left, in Reilly & Jaina's case) and it finally came! David and Nicole were getting married on Saturday the 17th, and we flew in on Wednesday the 14th. Even our trip out there was an adventure. I was just so grateful we were flying, because it's a 37 hour drive without all the kid-stops. It would seriously take us 4-5 days each way, and Jeremy didn't have enough vacation for even half the drive. As it was, Jeremy ended up using my Dad's US Airways frequent flyer miles for his ticket, and the kids and I booked our tickets on Southwest. (which was the current best deal, especially with the free checked bags. Good experience with Southwest all around) Since Katy is still under 2 (for a very short time) she is free as a lap child, and Jeremy took her, since I had the other two. I will have all 3 by myself when we fly home in a few weeks, but I was so grateful to have a bit of a reprieve on the way there! Flying with a 4- and 5-year-old is no big deal, even with a 2- and a 4-hr flight.

The kids I matched on purpose, (less likely to lose one - yes I got
asked multiple time if they were twins, but that's not uncommon
anyways...) Jeremy just had the same color-vibe. 

Yay for the iPad! J&K's 5-hr flight from Charlotte, NC would
have been a lot harder without it!

 We had a layover in Nashville, and the kids loved the huge (mostly deserted) play area. We spent most of our two-hour wait there. Jeremy had some delays, but everything worked out pretty well, because we all made it to Sky Harbor within about 15 minutes of each other (even in the same terminal, woo-hoo!) though our original flights would have been more like 45 minutes apart. We had checked everything on Southwest, and they didn't lose anything (though one carseat DID come out on a different carousel) and we didn't have to wait around. Jeremy had to go to a different terminal to rent a car, but even then, I think we were out the door and on our way to the Gila Valley within about 30-40 minutes of landing. No small feat with 2 airlines, 3 children, and 5 (okay, like 11, counting carry-ons) pieces of luggage.

Snuggled up close in the back of our 2012 Altima rental car. So fun to
"have" a new car, even if just for a week!

At that point, Katy had been up for 11 hours straight, so we didn't make any stops, but headed for the Gila Valley, while both girls slept for a bit.  After a too-short nap, some screaming, Taco Bell, and visiting with great-Grans in Globe, we made it. We got to meet David's fiancee, Nicole, for the first time, as well as see David for the first time in nearly 3 years. (He got home from his mission about a month after we moved to VA) Pretty crazy! Katy was a sweetheart, and gave everyone big hugs, even David & Nicole, who she had never met. Emily and Jason and their boys were there too (they are living in Virden, NM right now) so it was a party! I had never met their little 8-month old, Kayden, so that was pretty exciting, too! We were so sad to still be missing Phil & Sophie & co, or we would have all been together!

The next morning (Thursday) Jeremy and I took the chance to attend the Gila Valley Temple. We don't often get a chance to go together, so we jumped at it, since by the time the weekend wound down, the temple here would be closed for maintenance for a few weeks. It is SO nice having a temple so close. We appreciate it even more after the 7-9 hour round-trip travel to the D.C. temple...

 After that I jumped back in the car and rode to Mesa with my parents, while Jeremy kept the kids here to spend a little time with his family. Nicole was going through the temple Thursday night, and it was neat for most of us to be together for that. I forget how big the Mesa temple is, even though it's where we were married (almost 7 years ago now!). It was great to see Phil, Sophie, and Kinzi, and to meet their new baby boy, Baiden. So many new family members! Jeremy and his parents took the kids bowling, and they had a really fun time seeing each other and getting to play with their cousin, Chloe.

We got out of the temple at like 7:30, and met back up at 8 pm at Olive Garden for dinner. I was still mostly on Eastern standard time, and there was a bit of a wait for a party that large, so I basically ate Italian food at about midnight according to my body. Fun times. It was tasty though, and I restrained myself to less than one breadstick and split a meal with my dad. The chocolate cake was a-ma-zing. Yum. We had a fun time, (especially during the waiting) even though everyone was tired.

Look how skinny my dad is getting! He has lost like 40 lbs in the
 last year or two!

There are 4 of us girls now. Pretty crazy!

Friday morning my dad, mom, David, and left Phil's house and went for a little exercise walk/jog. The weather was really nice, and it was fairly quiet at 7-ish in the morning. (especially since they were still on Spring Break down there I think) We went by Hohokam park and found a cemetary, at which point the keeping-our-heartrate portion of our jaunt got derailed while we looked for my great-great-Grandpa Ami John and Grandma Rilla Ann Curtis's headstones for 20 minutes. We did eventually find them, thankfully, but it was no easy feat.  The rest of Friday we did a little shopping (Goodwill, Sam's Club) and I scored the first 10 books of the Trixie Belden series (anyone read those?) for $1 each. We also got pizza from Sam's Club, and it was delicious. Probably because I've been trying not to eat things like that much for the last few months...  Jeremy, Spencer, and the kids arrived, followed shortly by the Gardner clan, and Phil & Sophie's house pretty much turned into a zoo. We were a happy zoo, because we were all together for the first time in nearly 4 years, but it was still a little crazy with 7 kids, 5 of which were 2-and-under.

Thanks for this pic, Soph!

Look how "grown up" we all are!

That evening (after we had wrangled most of the kids into naps at one point or another) the girls (me, my mom, Sophie, & Emily) got some Panda Express while the guys had a "bachelor party" for David, which involved Famous Dave's, goofy golfing, laser tag, and go-karts. Pretty wild stuff. :) Jeremy and Jason were pretty impressed by the entire trash can lid of food they shared.

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On to the next day (the wedding!) in the next post. :)