There's A River?

Saturday we had a great evening with some of our favorite friends. They took us to what we later learned was the Salt River. I didn't even know there was a river so close to where we live. Don't ask me why, but when Heather was explaining it, I was picturing a little river next to a meadow. Needless to say, we weren't really the best dressed for a desert mountain area with an actual good sized river running, and lots of trees and bushes, huge ants and ant hills, and snake holes. Yeah, the four of us had on shorts and flip flops.... We still had a lot of fun, and are learning a lot about what's in Arizona.

We all stopped at an asian restaurant and got some food to go. Heather and Mike's boys and her brother and sister decided Taco Bell sounded better, so after a quick stop there, we headed down the street to a national forest Ben and I had no idea was there. The kids loved being by the river, and there was even a herd of cows right across it. Baylee and Trey also had a blast collecting sticks.

We did a little trail walking, and thought this log provided a perfect photo-op for a picture of the kids. Of course, Baylee is doing her trademark pose.

So, the kids had bikes and scooters, and since Ben and I were expecting a meadow or something, we had two kites for Baylee and Trey. Since the parking lot was the only place for the kids to really play (it was blocked off though), we decided to head to a nearby park to play at instead.

Even though Mike was skeptic, Ben broke out Baylee's kite and was able to get it to fly. It took a little while, and the string being put on the right side of the kite, but it worked! It was funny to see him running around with a Toy Story kite, and even cuter when Baylee and Trey started chasing him.

Eventually Baylee and Trey were flying the kites on their own. Baylee seemed to think that she needed to run to the opposite end of the huge park, though. We finally got her to she stay with us, and everyone had a fun time hanging out and playing soccer. The kids got to ride their bikes and scooters and also play on the playground. Payton loved his first time on the swings. We ended the night with ice cream at Sonic. We didn't do anything crazy or elaborate or anything, but we had such a great night!

Flying

Baylee tried a free class last week with her friend Trey at a new place that opened up called Great Play. It was cute class, and one of the best parts was this swing they had the kids grab onto as one of the coaches swung them (don't worry, he held onto their hands the whole time). I wish I had gotten a turn. :) Sorry the picture isn't the best, my phone doesn't zoom.

We Love Food (Culinary Festival)

A couple of weeks ago was one of our favorite events since moving to Arizona-The Scottsdale Culinary Festival. We had so much fun tasting different food. Here's a few pictures from the day:

Baylee really loved the family area. Her and Ben had fun bouncing around on these horses. They came in a bunch of different sizes.

Ben loved these free food "shots" from the S. Pellegrino tent. These ones are the oyster shot and a chocolate shot. I think he had about 5 of the oyster ones. Not my thing, I preferred the chocolate, although Baylee had a grapefruit and candied ginger one that was pretty good.

Baylee won these sunglasses from a radio station tent. They reminded me a little too much of my childhood. I wonder if they've been sitting around that long?

Payton was excited to get his chance at sporting them.

Before we left, Baylee wanted to get her face painted back in the family area. Ben was fine with it since it was right next to the free oyster shots. She also got a free balloon flower with her flower face paint. Payton got a little dog balloon, but it lasted about 2 minutes before it no longer looked like a dog.

We had a lot of fun and great food. I left pretty stuffed! Can't wait for next year!

Easter Clothes

Twice a year, we get to watch church from home. This year it fell on Easter, so we had the kids wear their Easter clothes the week after. We had a hard time getting Payton to pose for a picture, so this is the best I have. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hall for the cute clothes!

Busy Bunnies (Meaning Lots Of Pictures)

We had a very busy Easter weekend full of a lot of fun. Please excuse all the pictures, but like I said it was very busy, making it really hard to pick just a few.

Friday the kids and I started our day by going to the zoo. Our friends Ashley and Kadyn invited us to go. We had a fun time with them and another friend, and I got a great workout from pushing the double stroller around since it seems to not want to steer.

I only got two pictures the whole time we were at the zoo, and they were both of Baylee brushing the goats. Next time I will have to do better (I can't really do worse, right?). After we got home, I needed to finish making some shirts I wanted the kids to wear to the community Easter egg hunt our church was doing. I ended up having the wrong stuff and had to make a run to the fabric store. I ran out of time to get ready for the egg hunt, and the eyes and noses I quickly hot glue gunned on fell off. Ben was nice enough to sew the eyes back on Baylee's before we had to leave to help set up for the egg hunt. The egg hunt was a lot of fun, and there were tons of eggs and plenty of people!

Me taking Trey, Payton, and Baylee over to the little kids area to wait for their egg hunt to start. We were so happy that Trey, Connor, and Heather came!

Trey and Baylee waiting. They were pretty excited and ready to snatch up some eggs!

Baylee, Connor, and Trey comparing their goods while trying to pose for a picture. I think Baylee might be noticing here that since she was so selective on what eggs she wanted, Connor might have ended up with more than her.

After all my work making Baylee's shirt and tutu for the egg hunt, she ended up playing in the sand in them. Between the sand and dinner at the Mexican place we went to afterwards with friends, her outfit was a little on the trashed side when the day ended. The food stains didn't come all the way out of her or Payton's shirts, but Ben was able to sew more eyes on and they were decent looking enough for Sunday.

Saturday, of course, was our errand day. Baylee was very helpful when we stopped at Trader Joe's. She loves these carts, and we never seem to go there much anymore.

On our way to Target by our house, we saw two jets landing at the airport also right by our house. So, we drove over to see if we could find them.

Here they are! Baylee was down by the fence getting a closer look when I took this one.

When she saw I accidentally let her balloon out of the car, she went back to Ben and I got this shot of them. She loved seeing them up close. Payton was asleep, so I stayed back at the car with him.

Baylee was so excited for Easter, and it was another busy day for us.

We went to check to see if the Easter bunny came, and what he brought:

The Easter bunny did a pretty good job, I'd say. Even if Baylee did inform me that what she really wanted was a Barbie doggie vet set. She did tell me Saturday morning that she wanted a baby to take care of from the Easter bunny, so I think she just couldn't make up her mind. She loves her baby, though and it has taken a bath and shower with her. She has put her baby to bed in Payton's crib, and is doing a great job taking care of and being her baby's mommy.

Later, we colored our Easter eggs:

I also made cupcakes for the Easter celebration at my aunt and uncle's house. I forgot to take a picture, so I had to have Baylee pose for me in the car. I made strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, using the strawberries we bought on a great deal (3 containers for $1) on Saturday. The family members liked them, I wasn't too proud of these ones. Ben also made a delicious ratatouille.

Payton loved the trampoline. He got pretty squirmy while we were there, mostly because he didn't sleep much before we headed over.

When I went to let Payton crawl around for a minute, he went right over to look at baby Cy.

While there, we also had another egg hunt!:

One of Baylee's egg prizes:

We had a great Easter weekend! Thanks to all our family and friends who helped make it so much fun and thank you to our Savior for the sacrifice he made for us!

It Must Be Spring (Training)

One of our favorite things about springtime is Spring Training. Since we now live in Arizona, it's our only guarenteed way of being able to see the A's play. Since we've been married, us, Ben's parents, and Ben's brother Mike and his wife Laura have come to Spring Training every year. We all had to skip one year, and unfortunately Mike, Laura, and their daughter Abby didn't make it out this year (we missed you guys-hope you make it next year!). It's been a fun little tradition, though, and we look forward to it every year. We had a great time this year with Ben's parents, even if it went by too fast and we only went to two games, only one of which was an A's game.

Friday we went to the Giants versus the Indians in Scottsdale after picking up Dan and Kathy at the airport. We had lawn seats, which we though would be a fun experience to try. We ended up sitting on a steep hill, and couldn't see the game very well. Baylee had a blast rolling around in the blanket though.
The group of us, minus Dan. His ticket for some reason didn't have a barcode, so he had to meet us inside. One of mine and Baylee's favorite parts about this game was that since we were in Scottsdale we got to stop afterwards and get yummy cupcakes from Sprinkles.

Saturday we went to the A's Game! This time we had bleacher seats. It was still a little hard to see, but we enjoyed the game and were excited to see the A's play.

Ben and Payton at the game.

Baylee, Ben, and Payton. I think this was the 7th inning stretch.

Baylee loved having her grandma here, especially all the love and attention she got from her.

We had a lot of fun with Ben's parents going to the games, eating good food, and doing a little shopping. We were sad to see them leave on Sunday. The weekend went by way too fast! They did get this goofy picture of the four of us before being taken to the airport:

We were able to make it one more time to see the A's play before Spring Training was over. It was a night game, and the weather was really nice. We rushed over after Baylee's gymnastics class, and ended up having to park way out there, but we still had fun. We tried to keep the kids occupied with snacks:

This didn't last too long, and I spent a lot of the game switching off kids with Ben and walking them around. I'm glad that we went though. We can't wait for Spring Training next year!

Bananas On St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day we went to my parent's house after Baylee's gymnastics class. It's the only way I ever get to have corned beef and cabbage. I love it. Ben, well, not so much. I made cupcakes (surprise, right?) for dessert. I wanted to make Irish Creme cupcakes, but couldn't find an indgredient I needed. Those will have to wait. So we ended up having banana with chocolate cream cheese frosting this time. They actually turned out really yummy, and I have now mastered my own chocolate cream cheese frosting that I love. My sister is trying to get me to give her the recipe. Here's my cupcake model with our St. Patrick's cupcakes: