Arizona!

Our family was able to get out to Arizona for Thanksgiving and my Grandma Mickelson's funera. It was a wonderful trip! I and the boys looked forward to being in Arizona for months previous and I felt like the trip was too short. We keep telling ourselves that we only have about a year and a half left out here, then we'll be back with our extended family.

Before Duane got out there, one of my good friends from the Albany 2nd Branch, McKenzi, was visiting her sister in Glendale for Thanksgiving so her and I we were able to get together during the day for the kids to play and then that night with just the girls. It was great to see her again and to catch up.

In the morning we took the kids to the park just up the street from my parents house to feed the ducks and play on the playground. 

 Tristen did so well sliding down the fireman pole, but it was a little far from the landing so I'd help him to the pole and he'd slide down himself.

 As we got up to the playground, we found this man finding treasures. The kids loved watching him and the man found several treasures giving many of them away to the children. He told us it was therapeutic for him.

 Then McKenzi and I got to go to Macayos for lunch while my mom kept an eye on all the kiddos.

 That night we all went to the Scottsdale mall and enjoyed eating yogurt, walking around Apothecary and watching a movie.

 Good times.

The boys were so excited to ride on Grandpa Mickelson's ATV's! I loved how Tristen was very serious about his rides and spoke only in a low, slow, gruff tone. It show's in the pictures.

 Waiting for his turn...

 Very Serious.

Bathtime with the cuz's.

Duane was supposed to follow me and the boys by two days, getting into town the evening before our anniversary. As it turned out, his first flight was delayed making him miss his second leg of the flight out to AZ so they kept him overnight at a hotel with an early flight in the morning. He got to us by about 1 PM, Nov. 18 (we were supposed to have gone on a date in the morning). There was no time for a date before that night (my grandma's viewing), but we did get to play in the irrigation!

Kalvin thought the water to be a little cold after riding down the big hill into the chilly water.

 Duane soon brought out a plywood board for skiing on.

 Tristen has been in a "doggy" stage where it's fun to be a dog. The water is no exception for an ideal place to play doggy. He loved the water and didn't seem to notice the cold.

 Kalvin's first try at surfing.

 Duane and Kalvin made it look like so much fun, I decided to join in.

Just before I tried for a second time, I took the phone out of my back pocket... good thing too, cause I lost it.

 Then I figured I was already wet so I kept trying for a longer skid. It's hard getting around with a big belly!

 

Tristen had a good time with it too! 

 Then Duane took a dive.

It was funny that immediately after Duane fell in, Tristen wanted a running start to try his luck. He actually did pretty well.

 

 

That evening, my sister in law, Marisa, was kind enough to watch our boys while we went to the viewing. So, for our 6th anniversary that's what we did together, went to my Grandma's viewing though it was really nice to see extended family and my family was equally happy to see Duane for the first time in months. There was just one uncle who's house I stayed at for a week in Colorado a few years ago, who did not recognize me. I still laugh thinking about the situation. My brother, David, tapped me on my right shoulder and quickly ran to the left. I spun to my right and first saw my Uncle Marvin. He had a suspicious look on his face, though he looked like he was trying to hide that he had tapped my shoulder so I playfully said, "It was you. You did it." He looked at me blankly so I continued searching and saw David with a grin on his face a few feet away. In an attempt to avoid awkwardness I gave a small hug to my Uncle Marvin and quickly explained what happened. Then he said to me, "I'm sorry, I don't think I know who you are." Good times. He was clearly embarrassed when I told him who I was and he remembered me staying at his place (Duane was actually at his house for 3 weeks before I got there). I blame pregnancy balloon-ness (and maybe my haircut too) for him not recognizing me.

The following day was a big day. My grandma's funeral was in the morning/early afternoon, then I went to Marisa's baby shower, and then to the Mickelson Family Talent show that evening. 

This is about the only "Candid" picture I have of the funeral. I was busy taking pictures for families and sadly didn't get any of my own family. I told myself I was too hungry to eat the delicious food than to take any more pictures of Duane and the kids.

 Instead of having a sibling only dinner this year, Vaughn put together a Talent Show that was a definite success with so many fun talents from everyone.

Vaughn's kids played Heart and Soul together.

 Maycee had some kind of poem with actions. cute.

 Lydia showed how she was just learning to walk.

 David did a trick on the swingset, flipping out backwards.

 Kurtis recited a poem with actions. He said something about how he was supposed to do it in 6th grade, but never got around to memorizing it all so he wanted to do it now. Don't remember the poem name.

 April and Blake did a cute dance together.

 Ruth made this cute dress for Maycee to model.

 Larry showed us his spiffy business attire that is, I think, all fireproof in some way.

 My mom and dad did a version of the princess and the frog story. It made for good laughs.

 Vaughn and Kindra had a piano, violin duet.

Kalvin didn't get any pictures that I have (though my mom may have taken a few), but read the book A Roar of a Snore. For not reading it for almost a month prior, he did pretty well (and with voice fluctuation in the right spots). 

Tristen was bashfull.

 My Grandma and Grandpa Brown came for the night and brought a huge variety of donuts. I had to put my face by this one. Huge!

 My family wasn't all available at once at the funeral earlier that day, so we got a family shot in the rumpus room after the talent show.

 Lydia. Cute as a button.

 Most of the my Grandma Mickelson's things had been sifted through, but my dad brought home one piece of jewelry for every daughter and daughter in law to choose something. It was funny how crazy April, Ruth and Rachel got about how we should take turns choosing. It makes me not look forward to when we have to go through our own parents things. Anyway, we were all happy in the end, I think and we have this picture to show each of us showing the necklace or watch that we each picked.

I had a long list of things I needed to get from the second hand stores out in AZ so one morning I got to go shopping with Blake and April to a bunch of Savers and Goodwill stores while Duane took the kids to Camelback. After looking at the pictures of them enjoying themselves though I wished I would have gone with him. The Trift stores had all just had big sales I heard from Labor day and I hardly got anything because they didn't have much of a selection.

 Duane said they made it all the way to the saddle and that the boys were great!

 Number 1!

 

 Seeing these pictures of Tristen jumping scares me cause I know how slippery the steps can be!

 Just after Camelback we met at Bass Pro Shops where they had fun holiday games that were all free!

 The boys loved holding Maycee's hand and I think she liked the attention as well.

 Something about watching Kalvin look at and handle guns makes me think that I am looking at a little boy Duane. They have so many similarities.

 Duane found some sunglasses in Don and Dia's car. AZ is too sunny to not have sunglasses.

 

On two different occasions Aunt Ruth took Tristen to the park to feed the ducks while riding in the basket of her bike. So fun! What a great Aunt!

 I'm bummed that I don't have more pictures of Uncle David's helicopter, but Tristen absolutely loved watching it and holding another controller while "pretending" to control the helicopter himself.

I was feeling like I missed out on the Camelback experience so I talked Duane into going again though I shouldn't have pushed going because the second time around was much less wonderful. Fifteen minutes after we got going, Kalvin decided he needed to poop so he and Duane went back. Tristen and I made it almost all the way down before Duane and Kalvin were finished in the bathroom then we all took a different path on the hike. It's right at the beginning where instead of taking all the stairs, we took a right and ran into trouble.

The start:

 So, after turning right and following the path for just a bit we found this big cliff-like incline that seemed to have a landing at the top. Kalvin took off to go up and Duane and Tristen were shortly behind. I was going to stay behind.

 After Kalvin was about 3/4 of the way up we decided it probably wasn't the best idea, but Duane had to fetch him anyway and ended up taking Tristen the rest of the way up as well.

 Lol. They were not happy to have to go down the steep and slippery side of the mountain. Duane took Tristen down first and by the time Tristen was down and Duane was coming back for Kalvin, he was crying.

 It took about an hour to get down, but they all made it safely, thank goodness.

 About the time that Duane had left to back and get Kalvin I discovered Tristen was terribly poopy and it was burning his bottom so he was not a happy camper going back to the car.

That night my sister watched our boys while we went to Rockin' R Ranch with the Ellsworth's and my parents. Yummy food and fun songs. :) The pregnant ladies, Marisa and I got to sit in the bucket seats of the van while the boys were in the back, a little squished. :)

 The whole clan! DJ and Rachele had just left for Show Low and were not there though...

 They asked if anyone was celebrating an anniversary or birthday so our family ratted us out and had us go up on stage (though our anniversary was about 5 days prior).

 Then they asked my dad to come on stage later to show his skills.

 Fun night together! Thanks Mom and Dad Ellsworth for the fun times together that night and always!

The next day was Thanksgiving and we had a good time at the Ellsworth's with all the cousin's. Uncle Justin brought some barrels he had put together for a big Ellsworth family reunion earlier and the kids loved being pulled behind the lawn mower.

  Kalvin thought it was the best being able to drive it!

 Then Fransica a friend of the family jumped with the kids as well!

We drove up to Show Low on Black Friday and stayed till Sunday. Kalvin tried a paint ball gun for the first time.

 And the boys and I went exploring while Duane worked diligently on putting in a new projector and the security system.

 Then on our way back we discovered what I think some of the other cousin's put together. A neat fort.

We got back into town just in time to see the temple lights with my family on Sunday.

 I love seeing my siblings hang out with my kids.

 I remember the days of texting friends all the time... both of them at it.

 Tristen's getting good at Duane's tablet. This night he really wanted to sleep in this box.

 I think Grandma is the one to get this going for the kids. They loved every second of going up and down the stairs on the mattress I just wish we had more time to do fun things like this while we were out there. Our vacation out there felt so busy.

 

Family, we will miss you till we get to come again! Maybe in May we can make an appearance just after school gets out. :-)