Christmas in AZ!

We got to go to Arizona to spend Christmas with my whole family!  Instead of flying out of Idaho Falls like we normally do which was super expensive because of the holiday, we flew out of Ogden, Utah.  Our flight left at about 8am Christmas Eve which meant we had to leave our house for the two and a half hour drive at 4:30am.  Yikes... this was made into even more of an adventure when Abby, who had a very bad cold, woke up at 10pm the night before crying.  We thought it was a bad dream but she just wouldn't calm down.  We tried to have her sleep with each of us and gave her tylenol but she was super restless and cried most of the night.  Steve, Abby or I barely slept and by 3am we got her to tell us that her ear hurt.  Too bad it was too late to take her to the ER or anything.  We gave her more medicine and thought we would just have to deal with her crying and in pain until we got to Arizona, not fun.  By the time we got ready and all packed up, she calmed down.  She slept most of the drive and was fine after that.  So weird, but we were all exhausted!!  Thankfully the flight and getting there went smoothly.

At my parents house, my brother Mike, his wife Maile and their 3 kiddos, Ellie, Benji and Kaia were already there.  We had a nice Christmas Eve... unfortunately Abby was still sick and exhausted and finally crashed at 5:30pm and missed the whole night.  Oh well, she definitely needed the rest.  Christmas morning we were joined by Nate, Katie and Juliet (and we found out they are expecting a new little one in June!).  The kids had tons of fun opening presents.  That afternoon Dan, Aranne, and their 3, Blake, Chelsea, and Easton joined the party.  That made for a total of a total of 10 adults and 10 kids ages: 10, 6, 6, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2, 5 months, and 5 months.  Can you say LOUD and CRAZY!!!  We all slept there except for Nate, Katie, and Juliet who live in Chandler.  So fun to all be in the same house and for these cousins to be able to just play and play!

The rest of the time we were able to enjoy playing, being outside, some park time, family pictures (definitely an adventure with that many!), the Phoenix Children's Museum, the movies for the kids, and lots of fun.  Steve flew back home on Sunday, the rest of the out of towners left Monday afternoon, and the kids and I stayed until Friday, Jan. 2nd.

Lots and lots and lots of pictures were taken by everyone, which my dad is putting together and sending to us on a cd.  So for now I just have the pictures that we took... which is apparently still a lot.

Christmas in Arizona!

Trying on super cute leg warmers!

Super hard to get a good pic of these two girlies together.

This is Easton who is 10 days older, born on July 5th, than Kaley.  He is Dan and Aranne's 3rd adopted child and the biological sibling of Chelsea.  They knew that he was coming but because the birth mother refuses to get prenatal care they thought he was coming in September... until they got a phone call in the beginning of July that their baby boy was born (only a couple of weeks early!).  They didn't have anything ready and it came as quite the shock but he is the biggest cutie ever.  So fun to see these babies side by side.

Love, love this pic.

Got to visit the Phoenix temple, less than 15 minutes away from my parents house!  My parents are temple workers there every Saturday afternoon/evening.  They also got to attend the dedication inside the temple, so cool!

We went to the Sea Life aquarium, again!  This is one of Preston's favorite spots!

Like her deep sea goggles!

Enjoying some popcorn on our last night there.  

 This was a crazy and loud trip that went by so fast.  We loved the time with siblings and lots of cousins, and loved that we got to have some time after they left with just Grandma and Grandpa.  We feel so blessed to have such great families (on both sides).  We wish we could see them all more, but feel lucky that we have families we love so much that it is hard to say goodbye.  I love the Christmas season so much and finally took all of the decorations down today... sad.  Until next year!