UW gym meet!

 Lauren's team performed at the UW gym meet on Feb 8th. They did an 80's themed dance- it was super cute. 

 Auntie Meg, Hadley, and Carson  came to cheer her on too! 

 The boys were most excited about their balloon ninjas! 

Arizona Trip

On the plane ready for a week in the sun! 

 This pic is out of order but Oma & Opa took the kids out for a night on the town and sent me this cute pic of them:) 

 So excited to be in the water! 

Love this view!

 The LOVE statue in Old Town Scottsdale. We tried to go here on Valentine's Day and it was full of people all dressed up and professional photographers. Apparently it's the thing to do on Valentine's Day. Oma & Opa took the kids back later. 

Valentine's Day morning. 

Ben's morning ritual- cuddling with Opa on the couch showing him football stats:) 

Our little Valentines! 

The first few days the kids didn't get out of the pool- literally in there from 10-5. 

Lauren was excited to wear her LuLa Roe dress- so twirly! 

We walked through Old Town, there are lots of art galleries and sculptures, Lauren wanted her pic with some of them. 

Lauren loved that the horses hooves were painted pink:) 

Mimicking the statue

With Oma & Opa

The kids asked if they could have Shirly Temples at dinner- I suggested they try virgin margaritas and they were THRILLED when the arrived looking like this! 

Oma & Opa took us out to a Valentine Dinner at the Old Tortilla Factory and the sunset was gorgeous. 

Such a fun and pretty Valentine dinner! 

Oma & Opa got the kids a pool football and Ben had a blast trying to run and catch it as he jumped in the pool. 

On Monday we went out to Maricopa to visit my grandparents and Aunt Suzie. 

I love this pic of my dad and his siblings. I think Ben looks a lot like my dad (upper right). 

We had lots of fun taking the quad for rides. 

With grandma and grandpa

Back to the pool! 

My cousin Stacey brought her kids over for dinner and some fun in the pool. It was the first time my kids had met her kids and they all got along so well. They had a great time, it was so fun to catch up and hang out! 

Lauren, Sydney, Gavin, Truxten, & Ben

We got up bright and early Tuesday to hike Camelback Mountain. 

It was a gorgeous morning and the views were incredible! 

Vicki and Scrub came with us- great tour guides!

It's a pretty challenging hike and a lot of it is more like rock climbing or "bouldering". 

We made it to the saddle of Camelback- decided to stop there because the rest is pretty steep and a lot of bouldering. We were so proud of the kids for making it so far and they were proud of themselves. Both said it was one of their favorite parts of the trip.

Of course Lauren did a handstand up top! 

When we got to the bottom we read the sign...and realized it was a super challenging hike! 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. 

On Wednesday Kevin & I went to Sedona for a fun night away. We rented a jeep and went "jeeping" through Sedona. The views were INCREDIBLE! 

We started out on Soldier's Pass- which is soon to be closed to the public, so lucky us, we got to experience it!

Seven Pools- they always have water in them no matter how dry AZ gets. So interesting. 

The views were spectacular- very magical. I just couldn't get over the beauty. 

There were so many really steep drives- we were amazed at what the jeep could do! 

Our second trail was Broken Arrow, which had more incredible views- but super scary terrain! 

I had to get out a few times *to take pictures* of course;)

We drove down that!! 

We celebrated our survival on the Jeeping trip at an amazing restaurant in our hotel (We stayed at the Enchantment Resort, which was awesome!). The dinner was one of the best I've ever had- so good!

The view from our hotel. 

Wednesday morning we went mountain biking in Boynton Canyon. More breathtaking views. 

On our way out of town we stopped at the Chapel of the Holy Cross that was built into the rocks. It was pretty cool. 

We absolutely fell in love with Sedona, such a magical place. 

Thursday night we met our friends for dinner. We've been friends since high school, so fun to still be laughing and having fun together over 20 years later. 

Friday we went to the Phoenix Zoo- it was such a cool zoo! The kids loved petting the sting rays. 

They had a really cool squirrel monkey exhibit that people are allowed to go into. The monkeys were so cute and fun to watch. 

We saw a 4d movie about bears in Alaska, which was super cool. 

These two could totally be an exhibit at the zoo! 

They were so excited to get new stuffed animals...I'm quite certain we have a zoo of our own at home made up of stuffed animals. 

Ben especially loves his. When we bought it he hugged it and said, "Buddy, you are going home to a better place now." He kept asking me to take his picture with it. 

Our last night there Dave called with last minute tickets to the Suns game. They were great seats- 12th row, center court. Ben was excited to go to his first NBA game!! 

Such a fun week in the sun with Oma & Opa!