Arizona

We had such a great Spring Break in Arizona this year visiting Joce and Jeff and her family! Bentley and Deacon had 2 weeks off school, so we took advantage and went for 10 days. The kids were in cousin heaven and we all enjoyed as much time together as we could, even though their kids did have school some of the time. By the end of it, we still weren't ready to leave!

We fit in a lot of fun things this trip. We took Deacon and Eli to a Suns game and it was definitely a highlight! It was my first NBA game and I just had the best time. It was so entertaining, and who wouldn't love watching Booker? We also enjoyed the Sealife Aquarium and Legoland, where we rode some rides and saw and played with lots of Lego. 

We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge one night to check out their waterpark and activities that included bowling, arcade, gold mining, and a mirror maze. I had switched up the dates on Joce, so we actually decided to stay here because they had another booking in the guest house. I'm glad we checked it out though, it was perfect for little kids. Boston especially loved the lazy river! We all loved the waterslides with big tubes that even Boston could go down. However, it was quite the experience when the fire alarm went off at about 11pm, and we were told to evacuate the building. We had just gotten Boston and Leo to sleep! I was really annoyed, but Jeff and I each picked up a kid and started leaving when a bunch of people started coming back in and told us it was a mistake. Luckily the boys were still pretty much asleep somehow even with the ridiculously loud alarm. Bentley and Deacon were terrified though!! We still did end up having to squeeze into Joce and Jeff's house for a couple different nights, but it all worked out great. Bentley and Deacon had sleepovers with their cousins every night anyway!

Easter came and the kids woke up to an Easter basket from the bunny. We had a pretty epic egg hunt with money eggs and a 20 dollar golden egg, which was so fun to do with it being so warm outside and on such a big property. On Sunday, we went to the 1 hour church, and then came home and made a delicious brunch. Jeff had bought bread from Kneaders, so we made the most delicious French toast and also had bacon and freshly squeezed orange juice from the oranges on their trees! Allison and her husband, and another friend came for dinner that night and we had ham, potatoes, etc. A couple days earlier we also got to see the Easter Pageant about the Savior's life, put on at the Mesa Temple, and it was really amazing. We grabbed some food, blankets, and chairs, and picnicked while we watched it! Leo was pretty cute about how excited he got when he saw Jesus walking on the water. He was a little chatterbox! I think it's safe to say we had a really good Easter.

We also took all the kids (minus Boston, who Joce found a babysitter for) to see the Super Mario Brothers movie. We loved it! We hit up Organ Stop Pizza to see the amazing organist move up and down and entertain us. We also loved the Out of Africa Wildlife Park. It was a 2 hour drive, but we got to go on a safari to feed giraffes, watch a really amazing tiger splash show, pet snakes, and much more. Boston still says, "Tiger pop balloon!" He loved it. We made sure to hit up not just one, but two Targets, and I enjoyed a few hours there kid free! We also made sure we got our fill of all the good restaurants...Chick Fil A, Krispy Kreme, Yogurtland, Culver's frozen custard, prickly pear ice cream, and we tried Liberty Market on our date night. Aside from that, we swam a lot, went on a hike, and really enjoyed being together and having a kitchen so that we didn't always have to eat out. The kids loved collecting fresh eggs from the chickens each morning and Boston especially loved feeding the neighbor's goats! The weather was amazing, and it was honestly just the best trip that we all needed. Joce and Jeff were such great hosts, as they always are, and we cannot thank them enough for sharing their space with us. It was really hard to go back home to a not so warm Calgary!