Quick trip to AZ

 We took a quick trip to AZ because Rob had his black sash review for Kung Fu.  The place he had to go is about 15 minutes from my parent's house.  Win!  So we all decided to go down with him so we could visit my parents.  It was too short of a trip, but I'm glad we were able to make it work.  We packed in a lot of fun activities while we were there.  And we ended up driving back to Utah on Sadie's birthday so we celebrated a couple days early with grandma and grandpa.  Here are some of the pictures.

At our first stop of the trip, Rob told Zac to help Riley cross the street.  Riley threw a big fit and had to sit in the car until she would let her brother help her.  Finally she agreed.  Ha ha.  WE are trying to teach her that sometimes she needs to let her older siblings help her if we are busy.  It might be getting through a  bit...it just depends on her mood.  ha ha

WE stopped at Wendy's and got the kids a tiny frosty.  Then they realized their ice cream machine hadn't been turned on yet.  So the stop took longer than we wanted it to, but it was good.

We hiked a trail that we have hiked before with my mom.  It is right by the Phoenix temple.  We had never made it to the top though.  This time we did!

The kids did a great job.  THey are good little hikers.

It was fun to see all the Saguaro Cactus everywhere.  We learned that they have to be at least 100 (I think) in order to grow arms.  There were a lot of really old cactus there.

Yay!  WE made it to the top.  A nice girl offered to take our picture and told me to check it to make sure it was ok.  I didn't notice her finger.  Oh well.  Still a good picture.

The kids have been excited to visit grandma and grandpa because my mom got chickens!  It was awesome.  She let each kid check for eggs while we were there.  Then she sent us home with 2 dozen farm fresh eggs.  Yum!

My mom set up a fun little tour at Cerreta Candy Company while we were there.  She has an in with them because their realtor when they bought their house was a son of the owner of the company.  He told my mom he could hook her up if we ever wanted to make a chocolate pizza...and he was speaking the truth.  Although the tour was CROWDED, it was still cool to see.  There were like over 100 people there.  I've never seen it that crowded!

The picture on the right is the owner of the company.  He was making white chocolate covered pretzels that we got to sample.

Yum.

After the tour they gave us hats and stuff to make a chocolate pizza.  It was pretty fun.  

Chef grandma and Chef Sadie.

Zac was concentrating pretty hard.  :)

Then after the chocolate pizzas, they gave each of the kids a bag and told them to fill it up with candy.  She said they had to share at least 20 pieces with us.  ha ha.  THen they also gave us two boxes of delicious chocolate covered strawberries.  THey were delicious!  We wrote them a thank you letter and sent this picture with it.  They were so generous!  We love Cerettas!

WE always need to walk down to the little neighborhood park while we visit my parents.  And Emery wanted me to take a picture of her with this cute little palm tree.  

I think that my kids love this park so much because it has sand.  Not many parks here in Utah have sand.  They all have wood chips.  SO they love to dig and play in the sand.  And this time I taught them all how to dig tunnels and they thought that was pretty cool. 

Sadie dug a really deep hole.  Then she buried her leg in it.  And the kids love walking home with grandpa.

One of the things I really wanted to do while in AZ is visit my favorite Mexican restaurant Jordan's.  I love this place.  Thanks mom and dad for treating us to dinner.  It was just as delicious as I remember!

We went to my grandma's house after Jordan's and the moon was so pretty coming up.  THe top light in this picture is from the street lamp and the big one under that is the moon.  So pretty.

My grandma moved the week after we were there so this is the last picture with her in her old house.  

The kids ate their popsicle treat while we watched family feud.

And now for the real reason we went down to AZ.  Drum roll please...........

Rob earned his black sash in Kung Fu!  I'm so proud of him.  He loves Kung Fu and tries to get everyone he talks to to join it with him.  I love this guy!

We got to celebrate Sadie's birthday while we were in AZ.  We actually ended up driving home on her real birthday.  FUN...not.  But we had a great celebration on Saturday night. I can't believe Sadie is NINE!!!

 

Zac and Emery crafted some things for Sadie for her birthday.  Funny story, Emery asked grandma for some scissors very casually that morning.  Grandma is very smart and ended up asking her what she needed them for.  Emery assured her that she brought some fabric and wanted to cut it up to make Sadie a birthday present.  Grandma asked her to show it to her before she cut it up.  Like I said...she is smart.  Turns out, Emery wanted to cut up a fabric arm cover for their couch.  ha ha!  Nice save grandma.  Then she found some other things Emery could use to make Sadie a present.

Here are the kids putting up some decorations with grandma.

Sadie with her birthday cupcake.

I think she blew them all out in one breath.  I can't remember though.  :)

That night we watched Star Wars episode 4 with the kids.  They were up way too late but Sadie and Zac were pretty into it.  They want to watch the next one now. 

Emery built herself a little throne before we left bright and early Monday morning.  ha ha.

We made our usual stop at a place with a bunch of solar panels on the way home.  The lake was a beautiful blue color in the distance.

I was worried about Riley on the drive home because she had ear infections before we left for AZ but after a week on antibiotics, they were still bugging her.  So I brought her in to an instacare and they prescribed her a different antibiotic.  She did not like the taste of the new one.  Bummer.  And there is pretty much no way to force a child to swallow something.  ha ha.  She kept spitting it out.  But she seemed to do ok on the drive home.  We ended up having to take her in to the Dr. after we got home because her ears were still bugging her.  They said they looked really bad and that we could either wait it out, or give her the antibiotics in shot form.  We had to go back 3 days in a row.  I would ask Riley if she would swallow her medicine so she didn't have to get shots.  She said "no.  I spit it out. I need shot."  Ha ha.  So shots it was.  She seems to be doing better now.  

Zac made Rob and I this sweet note with a post it note that Grandma had given him for the ride home.  He is really sweet.  

We already miss grandma and grandpa.  Thanks for the great trip!