Vacation

This vacation is wearing me out! We're having way too much fun. I apologize for the lack of photos, there just isn't time to process them all.

Sunday, we went to church with our old ward. It was so fun to see everyone again! And the best was that we surprised Sister Stapley. We always had to sit in front of her in Sacrament Meeting, and she brought toys for Jared (and then Zach) to play with during the meeting. And miracle of miracles, the pew in front of her was empty! She had a bag of toys with her, too. Someone told me that it was great to see us, but the best part was watching Sister Stapley's reaction when we walked in. She immediately grabbed Luke from me, too. She calls our boys her great-grandchildren. I'm not sure what we did to merit such an honor, but we love it!


It was also great fun to see all the new babies, and to poke my head into the Nursery. I looked around at all the kids and guessed who they belonged too. What a fun game to play! Then I got to surprise my bestest friend (okay, so I have a few of those, but why don't I leave near any of them?) Eva, who apparently missed it when we came into the chapel. That was fun.


My SIL Erin and her 3 kids (ages 5, 3, and 1) were here when we got home from church. The cousins, who hadn't seen each other in over 3 years (which means they may as well have never met each other) were instantaneous friends, and have been having a great time ever since. They all play together very well, but surprisingly, Zach is much enamored with Seth, who is 16 months old. This morning, Zach re-injured his chin and needed a band-aid. He asked me, "Mom? Seth is in this house. Do you think you could catch him?" As if Seth were some wild animal! "He keeps running away from me and I want to show him mine band-aid." Of course, half the time he asks me what Seth's name is, but he just loves his little cousin.


Monday, the boys and I went to hang out at Eva's house. All the kids played well together, except (again surprisingly) for Zach and Ally. Ally was born just two weeks before Zach, and last time we visited, they played great and even hugged each other. This time, Ally followed Zach like a groupie while Zach did his best to escape her adoring attention. He just wanted to concentrate on playing with all their cool toys.


Jared spent most of the time conspiring with Emma (who is adorable, and they need to get married, especially so Eva and I can be in-laws) about picking all the grapefruit they could reach. This was tough since all the easy ones had already been picked. They climbed all over that tree and only scratched his arms a bit. I half expected his pants to be ripped before he was done!


There was much weeping and wailing when it was time to go home, until I promised we'd go back Wednesday.


Today, Tuesday, we went to the Phoenix Childrens' Museum. Wow, is that a fun place! There was a play grocery store, pizza parlor, and ice cream cart, a room just for 3 and younger, balls to roll and cars to race, a cardboard castle to paint and pictures to draw. I knew Zach would fall asleep in the car, but to our surprise, so did Jared! He hasn't done that in years. We're all worn out from so much fun!


Tomorrow, as promised, we'll be going to Eva's house and recouping some energy. Thursday, we're going to the zoo, and Friday we're driving to Snowflake to visit Ryan's grandpa.


We're so so busy and having tons of fun!