The Cook's Recipe for Life: ARIZONA

We had an awesome time in Arizona this weekend. It was a long drive for such a short stay, but we all had a really good time and I'm so grateful Ty's aunt and uncle let us stay at their house even though we tend to cause a lot of chaos!

On our way we stopped for dinner with friends in Provo and then continued on to St. George where we spent the night at Ty's grandparent's condo. We drove the rest of the way the next day and made it to Mesa in late afternoon.

I spent the evening cuddling my new niece Jayna Jo (2 NEW NIECES IN JUST 1 MONTH, not to mention a few new cousins... seriously, life doesn't get any better than cuddling a newborn) and the kids played in the pool with their cousins! Saturday morning we went to Jayna's baby blessing, played in the pool at my SIL's parents' home, and spent time visiting with friends and family. Jay thought the motorized "motorcycle" (really a toy 4 wheeler) was the coolest toy in the world, and we had to pry him off of it when it was time to leave!

Ty's aunt and cousin watched the kids for us while we went with Ty's parents, brother, and sil (and baby) to the Escape Zone. We were locked into the inheritance room and had to find the cash, jewelry, stocks/bonds, and the key to get out in under an hour. We made it with 8 minutes to spare! It was so much fun! While we were gone, the ice cream truck stopped by and Aunt Lori got the kids a treat! They thought that was awesome!

That evening we were playing in the pool and Ty tried diving into a child's float tube... which he succeeded in, but unfortunately his head and face hit the bottom of the pool in the process. There was blood everywhere. He has quite the cut on his head and floor burn on his face, but after 3 days it's all looking much better. Right after he did that, Lily was drying off to go to the bathroom when a bee that was caught in her towel stung her face... oy. Considering she's supposedly allergic to them, her face didn't swell as much as I expected. Aunt Lori was quick to get baking soda paste on it which helped the pain, and we gave her Benadryl as well. She had a mild fat lip the next morning, but her quarter sized mosquito bites (she's allergic to those too) were bothering her more than her bee sting. Haha. She was in pretty rough shape, but she still had a good time!

Once we had the kids in bed, we played games for a bit (finally!). At one point I had to draw a sphinx. I wasn't sure I knew what a sphinx was ... haha. .. I knew it was a part lion - part something. So I went with part lion - part bird. Well apparently I was wrong. It was part human - part lion. Ty was sure to show me during our stop in Vegas what it really looks like. Haha... My bad.

On our way back to St George Ty wanted to stop somewhere to break the trip up a little so we weren't just driving for 8 hours straight. The only place we could find that would be remotely interesting was Vegas. Ty looked around and found Mandalay Bay had a pretty neat aquarium that the kids would really enjoy, so we stopped there. It really was impressive. We saw a Komodo Dragon, sting rays, sharks, tortoises, jellyfish, and hundreds of other fish. Everyone but Jay got to pet a sting ray! Jay wanted to and tried really hard but his arm wasn't long enough. Poor kid. But he was beyond fascinated by the sharks! It was so much fun to watch his face! After the Shark Reef Aquarium, we walked to the Luxur where Ty showed me what a sphinx should really look like. haha. We then discovered the tram which we took to the Excalibur. Jay thought the 'train' was awesome! The kids were excited to go inside a pyramid and a castle, but I think they were a little disappointed when they realized the inside was just a hotel. We took the tram back to Mandalay Bay and back to the car. Crystal kept telling us that Vegas was the coolest place in the world! Lol! She wants to go back so bad!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention a few little funnies. The kids would go crazy every time we passed a cactus or Joshua tree! It never got old even when there were hundreds to be seen. Haha. Also Lily's excitement over seeing "jungle trees" was just too adorable. She just couldn't believe Arizona and Nevada could have so many "jungle trees!" (aka. palm trees). I had to get a picture of them next to a cactus (at a rest stop) and 'jungle trees' (while in Vegas).

We were able to visit with Ty's grandparents (I would have gotten pictures but my phone was dead) in St. George for a little bit where we stopped to sleep. The last stretch the next day we stopped in Provo to have lunch with friends again to break the last leg of the trip up. It was a crazy short trip with a lot of time in the car, but it was fun!!! I wonder how long before I can talk Ty into doing it again? ;-)