the desert

what's my excuse for slacking off on blog posts? my mom was in town last week and we had lots to do! she has a few pictures on her camera from last week so when i get them from her i'll post them. but first i finally got to the pictures from our trip out to arizona to visit our dear friends, the dobbins! and since i'm so late in posting i'm going to steal teri's words from her blog. :) it's just too easy! i'll add more to explain the pics, but she sums it up quite nicely. just be forewarned that there are a lot of pictures, but i think it's worth the wait!







Week before last, we had our good friends from Texas out for a visit. Matt (a friend of Justin's from college & beyond) & Hilary (she's my girl!) & their absolutely adorable & utterly edible children, Reese (3) and Matson (1) came to check out the desert. The last time we visited Houston, Lilly & Reese had a less than stellar interaction. But this time, those girls were sweet, sweet, sweet to each other....with only a tiny bit of requisite toddler bickering. And Lilly and Tyson got a big kick out of having a "baby Matson" in the house. We hit the high points in town, lounged around the house, enjoyed the awesome weather, shared parenting stories, and just REALLY had a great time. :) Justin and I both commented that it felt like we were on vacation in our own town.





oh my goodness, the morning of our flight it was pouring down rain! we thought we were going to have a repeat of our flight to pittsburgh in april when we were delayed a few days. we loaded the car in the POURING down rain - we had the huge golf umbrella out and i had on rainboots. it was comin' down! - got the kids up and drove to the airport. we devised a plan - matt would drop the kids and me off at the terminal with one the carry-ons, the stroller and one suitcase. he'd go park the car and take the shuttle over and meet us. it just seemed crazy to do all that with the kids in the rain. the plan worked great! he was on time and we made it through security and to the gate on time. thankfully the plane was able to take off b/c it wasn't very windy and we were only about 30 minutes delayed. here the kids are amusing themselves. reese is spinning matson around in the stroller. his face tells how he liked it!



the flight over was pretty good. i had all kinds of treats and snacks to pull out when matson started getting loud. matt calls that the smoothness mom touch. matson did NOT like sitting on our laps, so we strapped him in reese's car seat and let her sit in our laps. that worked very well. unfortunately the flight attendant wouldn't allow that on the flight back so matt graciously sat with matson in the very last row of the plane with an open seat next to him. matson wasn't so good on the that flight. he cried a lot, but finally fell asleep the last 30-45 minutes.







here's another shot trying to get all four kids together. this was our first day there play outside in the backyard. the dry desert weather was wonderful - in the shade! best of all, no mosquitoes!

here's an example of how the girls shared so well. they are in a boat sharing an oar. reese had her first sleep over with lilly. they slept together in the playroom the first night and i think they actually went sleep b/c they were so exhausted from all the fun stuff we did!
matson's first real bike ride. the dobbins have all kinds of fun toys, including this bike with the child's seat and an extra mountain bike for matt to ride with justin. i'm glad they got some good guy time in.
sabino canyon.
the crew.
sweetie purple girls.

reese was too funny running with this hat on b/c...it would fly off and she would just laugh hysterically! she'd then get the hat, put it back on, run down the trail and the hat would fly off and she'd crack up again! and again! and again! precious thing!

moms resting.
two dawgs with their little male pups. (not sure what was going on with matson here. actually, come to think of it i'm never sure what's going on with him! :)
the little cowboys...

this is one of my favorites. three clean kids (matson was clean too, but doesn't do movies yet) in their pjs eating popcorn and intensely watching a movie.
tyson up close and personal with a rattle snake. here we are at the desert museum.
matson eye-to-eye with the snake. he loved it!!
lilly looks like the one not so sure about the tarantula, but really it was reese!
da desert.

giant saguaro cactus. here's a bit of trivia for ya: the saguaro cactus doesn't start growing a side arm until its about 75 years old! that makes this cactus pretty old! teri, did you know the blossom on the saguaro cactus is the state flower of arizona?oh the kids loved the "kid crawl through" or whatever it's called. they did it at least 10 times.
watch out in the desert! everything has spikes!
when i get a good shot of my girl i have to post it!
all dressed up for church with reese not wanting to take a picture - again. thank you, lilly, for standing so sweetly.

more of the beatles: rock band by wii. sing it matt!
and last but not least, the part of the trip that reese talks about the most...hunting for bugs with flashlights in the dark in lilly and tyson's grandparent's backyard. they were all into it!

thank you justin + teri + lilly + tyson for a fun vacation and for letting us invade your house! you were the best hosts!