The Bartletts!

My sister Julianne and her fam came to visit in March!  We were super excited because it was their first time visiting us here in Arizona.  Originally they were going to fly into Phoenix and then drive to Mexico and party there for a few days before making their way to our neck of the woods, but fortunately for us their Mexico trip got canceled at the last minute. So instead, we drove to Phoenix to pick them up and got to spend an extra 4 days with them!  Woo hoo!  Julianne called me on Wednesday morning to tell me that they were no longer going to Mexico, so Curtis and I packed up the kids Wednesday evening and traveled to Phoenix and stayed the night there so that we could be there to pick them up from the airport bright and early Thursday morning.  We figured that we would spend a day or two in Phoenix before heading back to Sierra Vista, but plans quickly changed.  When the Bartletts got into the car the first thing out of Julianne's mouth was "how far away is the Grand Canyon?"  Without much thought we decided to take the 3 1/2 hour drive to the Grand Canyon.  Curtis was the only one of us who had been (or at least who had been since they had been old enough to really remember) so it was pretty exciting.  We stayed for a few hours before making the 3 1/2 hour trip back to Phoenix.  Julianne took all of the pictures at the Grand Canyon, so hopefully I can persuade her to send them my way at some point and then I will post them here.

The next day we went to a really fun little place in Phoenix called Makutu's Island.  The kids absolutely loved it, and to be honest, so did the adults (at least Julianne and I did, I can't speak for the guys.)  After that we decided to head home.

On Saturday we spent the day touring Tombstone.  Ethan seemed to have a blast, especially when we visited Boothill Graveyard.  I think he was amazed at the caused of death of most of the men there (most of them of course were shot or hanged).  I think his favorite was the man who was "wrongfully hanged" whose epitaph had a nice poem that went something like "he was right and we were wrong, we strung him up and now he's gone"...or something to that effect.

On Sunday we rested and played around the house and Nathan introduced Ethan to Just Dance Kids on the wii.

Monday we had big plans to go hiking and visit the Saguaro National Park, but ODDLY enough it snowed!!!  That's right, the only day of snow all winter and it was at the end of March while we had visitors coming to escape the cold!  Instead we drove to the border so the Bartletts could see the border fence and we drove around to show them where Curtis works.  They got a pretty awesome picture of them, at the AZ/Mexico border standing in the snow!!  That has to be a rare sight!

When it was time to take Bryce to the airport we decided to add in another touristy stop along the way, so we stopped by the Titan Missile Museum where we were able to tour the underground missile complex and see the actual missile (or "rocket" according to Nathan.)  

The rest of the week we just chilled, worked on some jewelry orders, and had a grand ol time.

Saturday Julianne and I suited up and headed to Tucson for the "Kiss Me Dirty" 5k mud run.  I forced everyone in our group to come to my house and make tutus for the event, just because you are getting dirty it doesn't mean you can't still be cute! Haha...Here we are before...

And here we are after!

It was a pretty fun race with several different obstacles along the way.

Overall a fun time!

It was great having the Bartletts here, and we were quite sad to see them go. Nathan just loved having Ethan around.  At one point the two of them created a real life version of angry birds.  Ethan surrounded himself with a fortress of couch cushions while Nathan came charging at him in an attempt to knock him and the fortress over.  Pretty funny.  I wish I had taken more pictures!!!!!  

Just a Heads Up

I know I hardly ever get around to posting these days, but when I do I tend to post several times in a day.  So, just a heads up to let you know that if you see a new post, that probably means there are several new ones, so scroll down!  I noticed that the most recent post had several views, but the ones below it are hardly getting any, and the ones that you have to get to by clicking "older posts" have almost no views. Just remember, when it rains it pours!

Kaylee's Birthday

Kaylee turned 1!...2 months ago.  Oops :)  

On Kaylee's birthday we had one of her favorite dinners; salsa chicken with beans and corn over rice.  Grandma Merrill was able to make it down for a visit, and our good friends the DeRoests came to party with us as well.  

After dinner we sang to the birthday girl and let her dig into her very own cake.  She sure went to town on it, unlike Nathan on his first birthday.

(I love how confused and terrified she looks as we sing to her)

 And then after a much needed bath, we finished the night off with presents. 

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

A Little Bit of Nathan

Not only have I been TERRIBLE at blogging, I have been even worse about blogging about Nath Face.  So this post consists of all the random pictures I have of Nathan over the last few months.  

We attempted potty training back in late Janurary/ early February.  Nathan is a pro at peeing on the potty when he wants to.  He knew when he needed to go and for the most part made it to the bathroom in time.  We did have quite a few instances where he realized he needed to do "the do" a little late and we found trails leading from wherever he was sitting, all the way to and smeared all over the toilet.  My favorite was when he managed to step in it while running to the bathroom, which I didn't notice until I had sent him downstairs so that I could clean the trail.  Of course I was very confused when the trail ALSO lead down the stairs and all over the couch.  Ahh, bless his little heart for trying.  ANYWAY.  We attempted for almost 4 weeks but he just didn't seem to quite understand that underwear was NOT a diaper.  Rather than make the experience completely miserable for both parties I decided to hold off a bit longer until I felt that he had a better understanding of the concept.  It looks like we will be giving it another go in the next month or so here, before all the summer vacationing begins.

Here he is in big boy underwear, along with his bear Corduroy, who began the potty training adventure the day before with Nathan's help. 

When Nathan is not making a stinky mess all over my house, he enjoys playing outside.  Especially with his BFF Brenna.

 I bought this little inch worm on clearance thinking it would be perfect for Kaylee.  You simply bounce up and down to make the worm inch along....The makers failed to mention you need to be at least 100 pounds to make the thing work!  Randi and I figured we ought to show the kids how to do it...not as easy as it looks.

Fortunately the kids found a way around this little problem.

Sometimes it shows a little too well that Nathan's BFF for the last year and half has been a girl.  (Not that I mind his favorite color being pink or his favorite toys to be a couple of sparkly bracelets.)  The inseparable duo have since added a third member to their close friendship, and this one is all boy!  Here they are "sumo wrestling" with pillows in their shirts.

I don't think I have ever laughed harder.  Of course, maybe Brenna wanting to join in but having no way stuff a pillow in her jumper was pretty dang funny too.  Nathan has such a good time with these two it is hard for him to go a day without seeing either of them!

Nathan is also working on his photography skills.  Here are a few samples of his recent work.

Poor Nathan was sick on Valentine's Day.  Can you tell???