Christmas 2012

This past Christmas we split time in Dallas with Matt's family and Arizona with my family.  It's been almost 2 years since I've been to Arizona and this was Matt's first time to Arizona.  We enjoyed all the time we spent with family - both in Texas and Arizona.  We didn't take pictures in Texas but here are a bunch of pics from Arizona.  We flew into Arizona from Dallas on Christmas night.  It rarely snows in Dallas but it snowed on Christmas Day.  That's exciting for those who aren't travelling but I was anxious that we wouldn't get out.  Other than waiting and hour and a half on the tarmack to be de-iced, all went well with our flight.  Though, we arrived too late to see any of the kids.  But Drew was awake so we were able to say a quick hello to him before heading to bed.  Our first adventure in Arizona was to the Riparian Preserve.

 All 3 of the youngest wanted to sit in the stroller.  So, this is how they make it work.  It didn't last for too long.

 Elena

 Aiden

 Timmy

 Elena

Otto

Later that day, Elena and I were anxious for Grandma, Becky and Uncle Daniel to arrive so we went walking outside to pass the time.  Elena is such a character and I sure enjoyed spending some time with her.  She didn't know who I was but she warmed up quickly - when she realized we were there to stay for a few days.

We went to the Desert Botanical Garden on Thursday.  I was amazed at the beauty of the desert.  I've been to Arizona several times but maybe it was always in comparison to Utah.  Seeing it after 2 years of living in Kansas, it was beautiful to me (not that it wasn't before but I probably didn't pay much attention).  Don't get me wrong, I think Kansas is beautiful as well - it's just a different beautiful than Arizona and Utah.

Mom, Becky, Matt, Elizabeth and 4 of the oldest kids and I went to garden.  They had cool Dale Chihuly glass sculptures at the entrance.  Can you tell which are glass and which are real?

 Timmy liked to jump into pictures last minute.  We have several pictures...with Timmy.  Check out the cool cactus and the cute Timmy!

 Matt & me in the desert.

Mom and Becky doing the Sister Trujillo picture stance.  Also, notice Timmy's hand in the picture.

There were some cool "season" sculptures at the garden.  Matt was getting some pictures and just as he clicked the camera, Timmy would run in and strike his gangster pose.  It was hilarious!

 Me at the entrance before leaving the garden.

 Matt, me and the kids at the entrance.

One of the evenings, Mom, Becky, Elizabeth, a couple of the kids and I went to see Tim and LouDawn's new home.  When we came home, this is what we found on the couch.

On Friday, we took the quads out.  Andy and Elizabeth did a lot to get the quads ready for this trip.  We had such a fun time and all their efforts are greatly appreciated.

The big day was Saturday, Lydia's baptism.  Lydia really put a big effort into making the decision to be baptized.  I am so proud of her for asking a lot of questions and making sure this was something she was ready for and something she wanted to do...rather than doing it because everyone else does or because she was expected to.  She was a good sport, too, wearing a dress that was slightly too small for her but making it work.

 

Cute pictures of Lydia in her baptism dress!

Some other memories of the trip...all the citrus trees that were full of fruit.  We stayed a couple of nights at Doug and Tina's home.  Both mornings, we went out to the grapefruit tree and picked yummy, fresh grapefruit for breakfast.  Elizabeth had a friend who had given her a bag of lemons from their tree.  We juiced all the lemons and had lots of fresh lemon juice.  We made several batches of lemonade with that lemon juice.  Everywhere we looked, there were trees loaded with grapefruit, oranges, lemons and tangelos.

I really enjoyed all the cute, cute kids.  They gave such wonderful hugs, made me laugh and were so much fun.  I really loved reconnecting with them in person.  Matt really enjoys Timmy.  He thinks Timmy is "a trip".  Timmy really is a character.  He's hilarious and is definitely one of a kind.  I will love to watch him get older and I just hope he keeps all his characteristics and charm.  Here is one example of a "Timmyism" that had us rolling in laughter.  Keep in mind that Timmy is just 7 years old and is in the first grade.  He was telling us how he loves to go up to girls at recess and say "Hi Beautiful" to watch their reaction.  He then mimicked their reaction - a look of shock and then a group of girls covering their mouths and giggling.  It was a perfect demonstration of exactly how one would expect 6/7 year olds girls to react.  I loved it!  He can be quite serious and contemplative too.  The last morning we were there, I came out from our room and found Timmy in the family room looking out the window.  He told me that he was just sitting there thinking about how to fix some of the things out in the backyard.  He thought he had come up with an idea to fix the trampoline.

To end the trip with a bit of excitement, I had completely wrong the departure time for our flight.  For some reason I thought it left at 11:00 and I had not taken the time to double check myself.  We were going to get a ride with Mom and Becky on their way out of town.  Matt had suggested I check in on the flight status the night before but I said "Oh I'll do that in the  morning."  Well, I sat down to check on the flight status at about 8:23 am and saw that our flight left at 9:30...in about an hour...and we were still eating breakfast at Elizabeth's.  Luckily we were all packed.  Elizabeth grabbed the keys and said "Let's go"!  It was a very rushed "good-bye" to everyone and we were out the door with Elizabeth speeding down the freeway.  She was awesome and got us to the airport by 8:50.  Lucky for us, there were no lines so we got to our gate just as they were starting the boarding process.

Our family is awesome and we love them so much!  We are so grateful for the opportunities we have to see them and spend time with them.