St. George

On Saturday morning we were driven to the airport by Grandpa Richard and Grandma Gloria. We flew from Phoenix to Las Vegas in a very short 1 and a half hour flight. I wanted Bennett to sleep the whole flight so I didn’t feed him or let him sleep until we got in the plane. This caused Bennett to be a very grumpy baby. He was fussing by the time we got on the plane and people were starting to give us worried looks. Luckily, he ate and fell asleep before we even took off and slept the whole time.

When we landed in Vegas we were picked up by Grandma Kathy. We were all very excited to see Grandma Kathy and were very grateful she came all the way from St. George to pick us up. We decided we would stop at the strip while we were in Vegas. Because it was a Saturday and it just started to get warm the strip was packed. It was smelly and not as fun as I last remembered it so we left quickly. We did watch a short 3D movie at M&M World. It was the first 3D Lilly has ever watched so that was pretty funny seeing her react. It was loud though which made Bennett cry.

We took a small detour to Trader Joe's and the M&M Factory (not the one on the strip). The chocolate factory was closed during the weekends so we didn’t get to see them making the chocolate. Then it was off to St. George.

One of our highlights of St. George was stopping at the Valley of Fire on our drive there. Tyson was really excited to show Lilly the red rocks and to do some hiking with her. It was really cute seeing them explore together. We climbed up the long staircase to see the Indian petroglyphs, took a hike to a hidden lake, and took a lot of pictures. I hiked with Bennett in a carrier and it ended up being a good workout for me.

After church on Sunday we headed to the sand dunes at Snow Canyon. I hadn’t been to the sand dunes since I was 8 years old so I was excited but Tyson was even more excited. You would have thought Tyson was the 3 year old in the family with the enthusiasm he brought into making a sand castle. Lilly was more excited trying to find and dig up buried treasure and planting sticks to look like trees. Bennett, Grandma Kathy and I spent our time relaxing and enjoying the warm weather.  

Monday was St. Patrick’s Day and Grandma made us a green St. Patrick’s day breakfast. Once everyone was dressed in green we headed to the Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. When I was at Dixie State College I volunteered at the Dinosaur Discovery Site (before there was a museum) and helped dig up some of the dinosaur bones. I was really excited to show it to Lilly. She was most interested in the cartoon dinosaur movie and sandbox with fake bones in it.  

Then off we went to go swimming. We went swimming at the Washington City Pool. It was an inside pool but the heater was not on very high. Tyson immediately went into the pool with Lilly and dunked her under the water bucket. She was not having it. She didn’t want to do the slides or any of the other fun things at the pool after that. Since she is so small she gets cold really easy and I think we only lasted 45 minutes before we had to leave. To make matters even worse Tyson forgot to bring towels with him. Tyson is not invited swimming again. 

We had a lot of fun with Grandma Kathy. It was fun for both Tyson and I to be in St. George with the kids since both of us have lived down there during some time of our lives. The weather was warm and it was sad to leave the warm to go to the cold of Northern Utah.

Thank you Kathy for letting us stay with you, for driving us around, making us yummy food and for being such a great grandma. We all miss you already!

Arizona

I was originally planning to bring Bennett down to Arizona to visit my mom and dad on their mission but then it made me sad thinking Lilly would miss seeing grandma and grandpa so she was added to the visitor list. Then Tyson decided he wanted a spring break adventure and once Tyson gets involved nothing is ever simple. My little 4 day, 2 person visit quickly morphed into a 10 day, 4 city tour. However, I am glad we used the opportunity to see everyone.

Usually we fly directly out of Moline, Illinois but we found better flights with Southwest Airlines which flies out of Chicago. So the night before we flew out, we drove over to Chicago and stayed in a hotel. This allowed for a shorter travel day the next day.

Both Lilly and Bennett did an excellent job on the flight. Bennett slept most of the time and I made travel prize bags for Lilly that kept her pretty entertained, along with the IPad. It was Bennett’s first flight and the flight attendance gave him little plastic wings for his memory book.

Arriving in Arizona was a lot of fun. The moment Lilly saw grandma and grandpa she went running into their arms. It was so cute and sweet it made me a little teary eyed. It is lucky Lilly is so tiny because she really did run right into my mom’s arms. If she was bigger it could have been dangerous. Bennett took a little longer to warm up. I guess I am not doing a good job socializing him. He is a little bit of a mommy’s boy.

Since we were over in Phoenix we decided to go to the Phoenix Zoo. Before even entering the zoo we had to change everyone’s clothing. It was temperature difference between Chicago and Phoenix in March. The zoo was a fun zoo that had a different feel then what I am use to. They had a lot of desert animals and scenery. Lilly rode a camel, the train and the merry-go-round. We went into the monkey cage and Bennett got his first ice cream sandwich provide by grandma. I think grandma has provided several grandkids with their first ice cream sandwiches throughout the years.     

After the zoo we went to my mom and dad’s apartment, settled in and then went out to eat at a yummy Mexican restaurant called, Tia Rosas. After eating, we all went back home for bed. The 4 of us slept in the spare room. It was fun seeing the kids sleeping all over the ground.

The next day was spent at the Mesa, Temple visitor center, where my parents are serving their mission. We met the sister missionaries, took a tour of the rooms, and watched a cool ‘walking video’ that was very spiritual and kept Lilly’s attention. Lilly especially liked the map of Jerusalem and pushing the buttons to light things up.  We also walked around the temple to see the beautiful grounds. Then it was off to do some shopping (we needed to buy summer clothes since Tyson didn’t have enough at home that fit).

That night we had pizza and hung out at the house. Tyson and I were planning to go on a date but we were tired and went to bed instead. We are so cool, aren’t we?

The next day we started off with breakfast at the director of the visitor center’s home, Elder and Sister Cameron. They had their daughter there visiting with her 3 kids and Lilly had fun playing with her girls. Tyson had fun picking the grapefruits.

After breakfast we went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. If you have kids between the ages 2-8 I think this is a must see when down in the Mesa area. It was so fun and inexpensive.  They had a train that you could ride around the park, a merry-go-round, model train museum, a restored train you could walk through, playgrounds, snack shops and picnic tables. We were able to do everything and had a really yummy picnic lunch. Even Bennett had fun and was all tired out at the end.

Once we got home my parents went to the visitor center and the rest of us had naps. We eat leftovers for dinner and spent a relaxing day at the house. It was nice just to have some relaxation time with the family.

The next day we went to the Arizona Mills Aquarium. It was located in the Mills Mall which is a very large mall. The aquarium was a good size for being in a mall. We all had lot of fun looking at all the fishes. Bennett’s favorite was probably the large turtles and Lilly liked all the little holes she could go stick her head in. My favorite part was the 360 degree tunnel tank.

After the aquarium we had dinner at the Rainforest Café. If you have never been to a Rainforest Café it is designed to look like a rainforest and it has animals scatter throughout the restaurant that move and make noises every 15 minutes. Lilly did not like it especially the gorillas. We sat right under the jaguar and Lilly would close her eyes and plug her ears whenever it went off. I am not sure if she ever got use to it. She did say she had fun when we left so that was a good sign.

The rest of the day was spent packing and getting ready for the flight the next day.

We had so much fun in Arizona with grandma and grandpa. The weather was beautiful and it was fun being outside and walking to the visitor center. Bennett learned how to roll over from his back to his tummy while we were there and Lilly talked the ears off of both grandma and grandpa.  I think she may have talked the entire time we were there.

Thank you mom and dad for driving us around, letting us stay at your house, loving our kids and all the other millions of things you did and do for us. We sure do miss you!