Phoenix, AZ

On our way home from Utah, we had a layover in Phoenix.  Unfortunately this was the day of the first huge snowstorm that blasted the midwest and our flight got delayed, which would get us in at about 4:30am the next morning instead of the original 9pm that night.  So after a lot of talking to southwest employees, we finally just got our flight switched to leave on Sunday morning.  Since it was only Thursday, we got to make a whole little trip out of it!  It was such nice weather and got to the mid 70's and was sunny, so it really felt like another whole trip in and of itself!  Thankfully Kevin and Amy let us crash in on such late notice and were so nice to help us get all accommodated with pack and plays and everything we needed.  Thanks, Kevin and Amy!

We had to bring home an extra suitcase just for gifts alone, so between Ryan and I, we had to move two kids, a stroller, and 4 suitcases.  It was crazy, so we had to pull Lucy around like this.

 Enjoying being outside in short sleeves and sun!  Ryan played basketball with all of the kids in the backyard.

Suz needed a little help making a basket, so Ryan gave her a boost.

 Fresh fruit trees! We had several grapefruit off their tree and they were so good!

 We walked to a nearby park one afternoon and fed the ducks and then went over to a playground where Lucy had a blast.  We need winter gone asap.

 An Saturday afternoon we went to Midwestern University to check out where Kevin goes to school.  It was a really pretty campus (even though I didn't get great pictures of it) and it's fun to be able to actually picture their area more now when we talk to them.

 After Midwestern we swung by the new Phoenix temple being built.

 Our last stop of the day was to get Rita's frozen custard.  Yum!

 When we got back to the Martin's, we sat and played in the backyard.  Ryan played dodge ball with the kids with this set of vests and balls that they had.

 Lucy got hit with two balls and came running over to me.  I thought this picture was funny. ha!

 Amyah and Lucy colored on rocks with chalk.

And that about sums it up!  We left early Sunday morning and got back to Ohio with no delays.  It was so fun!

This happened.

Long story short: we all learned a dance called "the Wobble" and then a few of us on a random morning all found ourselves in the pantry stuffing our bums with rags to get a ghetto booty and then performing on the kitchen floor stage for everyone else.  And that's that.  But just to repeat, our bums are stuffed with rags.  Lots of them.  We didn't just gain a lot of weight in our rears.

Here's a blurry version because my phone won't let me upload it in HD right now.

 Lucy has asked to watch the wobble (a.k.a. "ah-boo, ah-boo") approximately one thousand times and any time she hears music she starts to do her version of the wobble, which is basically circling her arms and turning in circles.

The rest of Christmas break

And because I am too lazy to make a million posts about different things that happened, and we are already over a month past Christmas, here is a smorgasbord of pictures from the rest of our trip to Utah over Christmas break.  And in no particular, very random order.

Lucy and Lynnlee spent quite a bit of time in the shoe department of Nordstrom Rack.  They both love shoes and sat there trying on all different pairs.  Of course the favorite were the hello kitty crocs... two things that Rachael and I both hate.

 We of course couldn't make a trip out there without going to Cafe Rio, and so we met up with my parents at the one in Draper and had a fun time at dinner.  

 Lucy tried to stuff this mint in my dad's mouth the whole time while saying "eat too! eat too!" ha.

 My mom pretending to feed Claire her coke.

 Lucy and Lynnlee attacking Craig in the playroom.  This probably happened several times.

 Bath time!

 We took family pictures with my side of the family at the public library downtown.  I still have to get those pictures from my sister.  After that, we wandered over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  Lucy never misses the opportunity to pound an open piano.

 We took a picture on this couch in this same spot the day we were married 4.5 years ago.  And now look at our little family!

My girls with grammy and papa.

 Just one of the rents.

Ryan's parents have the most beautiful backyard.

 We went to Scheels the same day we went to Nordstrom Rack.  Lucy and Lynnlee rode around in this together for a majority of the time.  They both loved each other's rain boots so much they switched and wore the other ones the rest of our trip.  Silly girls.

 We had a ping pong tournament called the Wobble Baby tournament because of another incident in which we learned a dance called "the Wobble" and then a few of us performed it.  

 Ryan won and had the beat Craig, the reining champ, twice, so naturally a picture had to be taken to prove it.

 After going to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building with my parents we went to eat the the Nauvoo Cafe on Temple Square.  It was good!

 We have a picture of my dad with Lucy just like this in the same spot and with both that picture and this one, my girls are wearing bibs.  Should have taken it off, but oh well.  Still cute.

 Lucy insisted on riding like this around Costco.

 Craig got new running shoes for Christmas but they might not have any tread left with how much Lucy walked around the house in them.

The newest members of the bunch.  Claire (2.5 months and Klein almost 2 weeks)

 The girls faces are all so funny in this picture.  They loved setting out the can of tuna for the cat.

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, we woke up and waited on the stairs with cousins to go open presents at the Martin's house.  With kids, that stuff all happens early in the morning, so after that we went up to Salt Lake with my family for our traditional Christmas morning brunch.  This is one of my favorite things about Christmas morning and I definitely ate a ton.  After brunch, we opened presents and then watched the kids play together with some of their new things.  Then back to the Martin's so that the girls could take the afternoon naps they desperately needed.  Once the girls woke up, we headed back up to Salt Lake for an extended Smith family Christmas dinner with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma.  There wasn't enough room at anyone's house for everyone so we did it at my parent's church up there in the gym area.  We had a huge, delicious dinner, opened more presents, and visited with relatives that we don't get to see very much.  It was a fun time!  We unfortunately had to end the night a little early again though to take Claire to the urgent care.  She was still sick, inconsolable, and had only eaten about 3 ounces in over 24 hours.  After getting her to finally drink a bottle of pedialyte, she ended up being okay and gradually got better over the next few days.

 Lucy had the best reactions when opening gifts this year.  I loved it.

 Ryan got me an OPI gel nail kit.  It's been so fun to have.  I felt like a little kid on Christmas because I had a "toy" that I wanted to open right away and play with. :)

 Lucy and Lynnlee giving each other hugs.

 I loved the pictures we got of Lucy with her great-grandma Smith.

 My extremely talented and crafty mom made all of these cute stockings for her grandkids.

 Lucy and Ashlynn had tons of fun opening presents together.  They got a lot of similar toys, which was fun.

 I know these are just a ton of pictures in a row of Lucy with pom-poms, but I have to add them all because her reaction was so awesome.  My mom hit the nail on the head with this gift, apparently.

 Too much excitement for Claire.

 Lucy opening a Santa gift with grammy.

 Doing nails during nap time.

Most of my aunts/uncles/cousins from the family dinner on Christmas night.  My parents did such a great job with decorating and food, but I still have to get more pictures of this from Lisa.