Arizona Trip/Jeff's Surgery

Well life has been pretty good lately. It turned out Jeff needed surgery sooner than later because he tore his MCL in a way that needed surgery immediately or would not recover. Along with that, he got an ACL and meniscus repair. He sure did some damage!! So this surgery happened 2 days ago and he is now in bed recovering. The surgery went well, although he is what they call a "cheap drunk" with medications, so when they gave him what he needed for the pain he would struggle to breathe. Whenever he fell asleep he would stop breathing so the nurse would wake him up. This happened with his achilles tear as well, but luckily this time around wasn't as bad. They gave him a nerve block for the pain so that he needed less meds and could sleep. Anyways, now he is home and he can walk on crutches, but really should keep his leg up and ice it for the next 2 weeks. He is taking lots of drugs for the pain and still feels it quite badly between doses. I feel bad watching him suffer, but I am doing my best to help him and serve him whatever he needs. We both dream of the day we can go for a bike ride or walk together as a family!!
Anyways, before the surgery happened we snuck in a trip to Gilbert, Arizona to visit Jocelyn and Jeff! Actually, the reason for the trip was because Jeff had a work conference in Tucson, but we decided to extend the trip 4 days. So we flew together to Phoenix and then I played with Joce while Jeff had his conference. Then he joined us when he was done. We brought Bentley and Deacon, and it was both of their first times flying on an airplane! As worried as I was, everything went great! Bentley loved the airplane because I packed her lots of new and fun things in her little princess backpack. Deacon cried a bit, but nothing too crazy, and he slept a lot of the way, especially the return flight. Once we got to Phoenix, Jeff had a ride to Tucson right away and Joce came to pick up me and the kids. 

We had a full van - 6 kids in the back! For the next 4 days we traveled this way everywhere we went. It probably looked like a gong show when we all piled out of it, but it sure was fun! Bentley had a blast with her cousins and they took a liking to her right away. Deacon was a hit with all the kids as well. They thought he was so cute and all wanted to hold him quite often, especially Alise. It was really nice having them around to entertain and help me! I ended up staying at Gary and Leslie Shaughnessy's house because Joce and Jeff are still working on their house. They have built a guest house, which they are staying in right now until their house is ready. It was only a few weeks away from being ready, so it's disappointing that we can't see the finished product right away, but it was fun to see where they were at and it will sure be a nice home!
Well, the first night we went to a Diamondbacks Baseball game. It was a lot of fun, although a little tricky with both my kids and no Jeff to help me. Luckily I had Jocelyn's Jeff to help haul Deacon around! We stayed for the whole game and watched the fireworks at the end. It was late, but worth it! Bentley loved them. After that day Joce and I tried to find lots of kid friendly things to do on our own before the boys joined us. Jeff worked on his house until my Jeff could come join in. We swam in Leslie's pool, went to the splash park, went to the library where there is also a duck pond and other activities, and even went to an outdoor mall. We ate out at some ice-cream and lunch places, and also made our own meals. There wasn't much time for naps so Bentley would usually fall asleep in the car, and a couple times she did sleep in Holli's bed for a bit. On Sunday we went to church (Bentley did awesome in nursery with Eli), then headed to the temple grounds and visitor's centre. Jeff even filled in for my husband in our family picture by Christ! They're both Jeff's right? Also, Bentley was quite afraid of the statue because it was so big...she is afraid of a lot of things!

 Jeff joined us on Tuesday and I was so excited to see him! We came in a heat wave, which was really bad timing, but we still managed to do lots of fun things! We went to the Wildlife Zoo and aquarium where we saw some shows, including a sealion show, fed giraffes, pet stingrays, and saw lots of pretty cool animals. It was SO hot so we loved the indoor aquarium and hopped from shade to shade. We had a delicious lunch in the aquarium restaurant! We also went to the Children's museum, which had a ton of fun and interactive activities for kids, swam a lot more, and shopped some more too! One night Joce found a babysitter to watch the kids while the adults, and Deacon, went out to a nicer restaurant. We ate at lots of fun places, which was one of my favorite parts! Bentley and Deacon did so good with all the changes. It was a lot for them! Jeff and I loved Arizona and, although it won't work for our lives right now, I wouldn't be surprised if one day we ended up living there!! At least for now we can visit Joce and Jeff. They were so nice to entertain us and Leslie and Gary were awesome as well! Deacon especially took a liking to Leslie and fell asleep on her almost every night. It was so nice to have them, especially when Jeff was away!

 What a fun vacation it was! We were quite sad to get back to reality.