Weekend in Phoenix

I'm still in AZ actually - haven't left quite yet. The kids are taking naps, I just finished packing up my suitcase and I plan on taking a little nap myself before jumping in the shower and getting ready to head to the airport. Man that flew by. I can't believe it's Monday already.

We had a fantastic weekend. I flew in Thursday night and just had fun hanging out with the cuties, giving them their new pj's (they were VERY excited about those), giving them baths, playing "tickle monster" and tucking them into bed. Cheri & I stayed up pretty late talking - just catching up. Most of our normal phone calls are just bits & pieces of things here, so it was nice to sit down and really catch up.


Friday I was awakened by 2 kiddos crawling into bed with me. I loved it. We pretended we were sleeping, hid under the covers and just cuddled. They are so adorable. When we finally got up, I made the kids ham & cheese waffles (don't knock it til you try it - they're delicious!). After little miss Emily (who has got to be the sweetest baby ever) got up from her morning nap, we packed up and headed to the pool. We swam, ate lunch there and headed back home for afternoon naps. We cleaned ourselves up a bit, then headed out to meet Nathan for dinner at Oregano's. We ate on the patio outside and just had a great time - laughing a lot! Nate had to head back to his house and work on a project, so we said goodbye to him and took off for the Diamondback's game. This was my first major league baseball game and I absolutely loved it! I seriously would have season tickets. It was the DB's vs. the Mets and the Mets kicked our butts, but it was still so much fun. Around the 8th inning a ton of the Mets fans were heading out since they were the obvious winners, so we snuck up to the front row. It was AWESOME! They were amazing seats. Granted, we were only there for the 9th inning, but it was a great inning. My favorite part of the night was the very end of the game. They turned off every light in the stadium and put on a fireworks show - music and all. It was beautiful and the perfect night for it. Can't wait until I get to do that again.


Saturday we got up (early, always...the kids don't find the glory in sleeping in like adults do :)) and I made the kids monkey bread - huge hit. After breakfast we played this great game called Honey Bee Tree. It's kind of like pick-up-sticks except there are bees on top of the sticks and you don't want the bees to fall through. Will & Lauren actually get pretty excited about getting bees, so it tends to be a win-win game for them. Haha! I made stromboli for lunch (can you see a trend here? I love cooking for them when I come to visit. Cooking for 1 person isn't nearly as much fun) and then crashed in the casita while the kids took naps and played playstation. Ryan has quite the setup in his office, and although I LOVE video games, that does not mean I'm good at them. I played James Bond for a while, which I did okay (made it through 3 levels) and then played Medal of Honor...where I was annhialated 500 to 95. Horribly embarrassing. Then I got locked in the bathroom - seriously. I could not stop laughing because, what the heck?! It was not my day, but it sure was funny.

Saturday night we all (minus the kiddos) went out to Dave & Busters. I've never been there before, but again, another place that I would love to frequent if it weren't such an expensive habit. I had my first drink (I know, pick up your jaw from the floor!), and I'm not gonna lie...I loved it! I had been thinking about it and figured if I'm going to do it, why not do it with my family. Don't worry - no plans to become any kind of serious drinker here. Pretty sure I'll be in the frou frou category for the most part - and only on rare occasions, but as stupid as it sounds, it was kind of freeing to just do it and be done. I think I was pretty attached to my "I've never" list and if anything, it made me want to try some other things I've never done. 28 years was a good run and I did say on my birthday that I was going to start drinking this year. Haha! I actually was joking, but in the end...it proved true! Anyway, after dinner we went upstairs, bought our "token card" and played the night away! Skeeball, Super Shooter, car games, snowmobiling, DDR (that was terrible), shooting games, ticket games, etc., etc., etc. We all put our tickets together and ended up with over 900. We bought the kids stuffed mickey & minnie dolls. After we'd used up all of our tokens, we headed downstairs to do some bowling. Cheri had to head back to relieve the babysitter, but Ryan was just arriving, so that worked out perfectly. We played a game, had a great time (I seriously don't think I stopped smiling/laughing the whole night. It was one hilarious group of guys!) and were not ready to end the night yet, so we went back upstairs to play shuffleboard. Another thing "I've never" done that I thoroughly enjoyed - and was surprisingly more challenging than I expected. We played on teams and my team lost the first game and won the second. Not too shabby! It was time to head home after that (D&B's was closing down), but we're a group of night-owls, so even when we got back to the house, we piled in the casita while Ryan worked on stuff for church, Scott watched Southpark (we all kind of watched it with him) and I played a round of Tiger Woods golf on the playstation. I must say, I do much better playing the computer than I do a person. Good thing I enjoy playing more than I enjoy winning! And I can't tell you how much I want my own game system now. It would be bad though - I'd never leave the house.


Sunday we went to church (sorry, I'm getting tired of typing, so I'm going to get less detail-oriented), ate lunch and then Cheri & I left to get her haircut. We swung by Jamba Juice (a MUST when I come to Phoenix) for an orange-a-peel and then took off for the mall where Cheri had her makeup done at the mac counter (she looked amazing!). We had the intentions of getting her some new clothes after that, but the sitter called (the guys were all golfing) and was afraid Emily was getting sick (sidenote: I haven't said much about Emily because she's not as inter-active as the kids yet, but she is beautiful and amazing! I can't stop kissing on her!). So, we headed home. We packed up the kids in the car and took off for Nathan's house. It was the most gorgeous weather all weekend long. The kids & guys swam, Ryan & I ran to Sonic to get dinner for everybody, Cheri & the kids had to head home to go to bed, the guys & I ate dinner on Nate's patio, (again, lots of laughs), we played a couple games of pool, watched SNL (hilarious!) and an episode of Flight of the Conchords (also hilarious!) and then took off. We hung out for a while once we got home before saying goodnight.

And then today...just chillin' for the most part. Playing around here & there, packing up the suitcase, taking naps and now I need to jump in the shower to get ready to head out. It's been a great weekend. I had so much fun. Always makes me wish I lived closer to the kids. So, there you have it! Hope your weekend was even half as much fun - because if it was, I know it was good.