Arizona Deliciousness.

My brother, Mike, and his wife, Jenn, live in Sunny Arizona and they have been wanting us to visit for awhile so we made an agreement with them that if they visited us, we would visit them. Well, they came here last October and knowing that we wanted to do it before Brycen turned 2, when amazing flight deals opened up for February--it was clearly, our opportunity.

Brycen loves all the attention he gets as the only child on my side.

We got to see their house for the first time and quickly fell in love with all the space. Bryce and I had our own sink in the bathroom--what a treat!

Nothing like brownies and milk before bed while watching the parentals dominate bowling on the Wii. :)

So of all weekends to go to Arizona, we got the weekend that the whole nation experienced a cold spell (the 70 degree Texas we left just 4 days prior, was in the single digits). Thankfully, Arizona wasn't that cold, but it was still pretty chilly. My toes and fingers froze while we did some Orange picking early Saturday morning.

By the time we finished picking the whole tree and 40 grocery-full bags later, Brycen had already consumed at least 4 oranges. Fresh oranges is in a whole new category of deliciousness. We have thoroughly enjoyed the ones that we were able to bring back with us. I was even able to pick some fresh grapefruit....mega DELICIOUS!!! Too bad we are on the lasts of it.

Mike served his mission in Russia, hence this Russian hat Bryce found.

Haha! I think it's safe to say, he has some room to grow :)

We walked around the Glendale Chocolate Affair Festival Saturday night. And even though I couldn't bring myself to pay the outrageous price for one amazingly looking chocolate dipped strawberry, it was still so fun.

Brycen LOVES "pairplanes", as he calls them and finding them in the sky. It might have something to do with just finishing his 28th flight...

NYPD pizza for dinner=amazing!! While waiting for the pizza to arrive, Brycen was kind enough to set the table for us before managing to knock 3 of the 4 forks on the ground.

Brycen loved the idea that plants needed watering in February and made sure their plants were thoroughly drowned...I mean, watered. No doubt Mike and Jenn are paying for it through their utility bill.

We were able to bring out the shorts the last day we were there-- of course. But at least, we could. Can't yet say that for Indiana.

Mike and Jenn spoiled us rotten with their treats, their space, and their company and we are looking forward to seeing family again soon.

Utah Layover

Between our Texas and Arizona trips, we were originally going to go back home to Indy for 72 hours; but once we found out that Daddy needed to go to NY for work, we decided to change our plane tickets to go to Utah instead (Gotta love Southwest!!). And we are so glad we did! There was a huge snowstorm and we would've never gotten out of Indiana on time--it would've been at least a day or two delay to Arizona. And with the Arizona trip only being 4 days--you get the idea, Grandma and Grandpa's was just meant to be. Daddy though, wasn't as fortunate and got stranded in NY for a few extra days...luckily, it does end happy in Arizona. Stay tuned.

Since my parents are in the middle of remodeling their home, it has become tradition to help them shop/make decisions whenever we visit. We went to a stone shop and they had this massive pond in the middle of it. It just so happened that Brycen had recently learned the word "fish" during his recent obsession with animals and was beyond excited to see this.

So they strategically placed a vending machine right by the pond so you can buy fish food to feed them. Pretty smart stone people. Have people pay to feed your fish. for you. Well, we fell for it--and Brycen gave them quite the buffet.....a few times. He would grab my wallet, put it under his arm, take my hand, and guide me to the machine whenever I said we were all done. The kind stone lady ended up giving us a cup full at no extra charge when I refused to let Brycen feed the fish for the 4th time (thanks to Grandpa giving them some nice business, I'm sure).

Brycen plays favorites. And LOVES Uncle Dallin. Dallin is one of the few that will carry him around and play with him all day, endlessly-ever since the beginning when Brycen was just a blob on the floor. Dallin even was so kind to skip school for the occasion and it was perfect...until...Brycen later paid for playing favorites and got Dallin's sickness.

With Dallin around, Brycen pushes Mommy away and makes Dallin change his diaper (how many males can claim that changed a diaper at 13 years old? Bryce's first diaper was in the hospital with Brycen), get him dressed, feed him, etc. Dallin was thrilled to say the least and had quite the impact on this little guy.

While the uncles attended school or took a much needed resting break (Dallin), we went to the aquarium with Aunt Katie.

I wasn't kidding about his recent obsession with animals. True love right there.

I think he was actually trying to get off...but what's the fun in that? ;)

He was in heaven, SO FUN to watch!

By the end, he had a fish dance he did with Katie and it was priceless.

Favorite picture.

You might want to grab your sunglasses. We hibernate all winter.

So disgusting! Sea creatures seriously creep me out and I'm glad I got a picture because I will never do this again.

I couldn't ask for a better traveler. True pro right here.

Day of Rest

Our little pray-er.

"Mommy, you should be folding your arms".

Bowing his head...

LOVE how he folds his arms. Not sure how it happened because if you try to mimic him, he will drop his arms and come help fold your arms until it's done properly. So I'm pretty sure to him, he thinks he is doing what we are doing and I love it, I will miss it if the day comes that he does do it "properly".

And his favorite part, saying, "Ma-men" at the end. SOO cute.

Quality bonding with the cat. I was SO tired. Brycen woke me up too early this morning. "Must rest. Right here." is the last thing I remember saying.

"Mommy, your phone is ringing".

Apparently, I didn't respond. Isn't that face so sad? I guess you can say, I was indeed, exhausted.

Love my Sundays though. Brycen gets his Daddy time, Mommy gets her sleep time.

Our day...

Alittle work...

Alittle love...

A little stroll down memory lane...

And alittle dance....

And then there were three...

We have adopted two kids, 3 days a week while my friend goes back to work part-time.

Madden- 2 years old, Maggie- 4 mo.

Pretty much the perfect picture to describe our days. Brycen is obsessed with the "baby" and Madden wishes Brycen would just play with him.

They sometimes fight over who gets to be the closest to the baby.

LOVE *when* these two get along!

They could almost be twins, exactly the same size.

I have a mini-obsession with sleeping babies.

Isn't she precious?When the boys are getting along, I get to play with her. :)

He will make an awesome big brother someday (no announcement here)!

We actually left the house today and it felt great. Being the great adopted big brother he is, Brycen kept looking behind him at Maggie saying, "Baby" and Maggie would giggle so hard.

And since they are who they are, you get two pictures to capture the smiles. Looking at the camera at the same time would make my life too easy.

Got lots of crazy looks while on the walk but the kids loved it.