::a gift::

We left UT early in the morning, heading back home. As we went down I-15 there was this lovely sunrise. I really appreciated it.


It was so lovely it was almost like a Santa Fe sunrise. Almost.....

We had a good drive home. Kris is so sweet, he knows driving isn't my favorite thing, so he drove the whole time. He also set it up so I could sit in the middle bench and put my feet up on the console for some of the time. That helped my feet not to swell up too much.
We made it home by dinner time. It was a whirlwind trip but we're so glad we got to make it.

::proximity::

This weekend we took a quick last minuteish trip to UT to see Kris's dad. He's been really sick and had to be in the hospital for an operation.
It was great that we could be there. We had some really good family time (minus Kelly & Lechelle whom we definitely missed.)
The fact that we were able to just go when we felt like we should was so nice for us.
We took our sweet van. Sultan got the whole back all to himself, the luggage went on top, and I alternated between front seat and middle seat next to Max so that I could put my feet up.


We were only out there for about a day and a half, but we got to spend at least a sliver of time with everybody which was nice.
Max had enough time to step in dog poop with his shoes, then take his shoes off and step in dog poop with his bare feet. Here's my mom lysoling his feet. Lucky guy, right?

Grandpa Ken was in good spirits and we got to spend a lot of time visiting with him at the hospital, which was nice.

Max and his cousins made some fun art for the hospital room wall which I think Grandpa really appreciated.

And Ken also didn't let the hospital get him down.

I hope you appreciate my censoring there.

Max had such a blast, we had a super tough time getting him in the car to go home. He loves it out there and who could blame him.
It's so nice to be so close. We love you all, family.

::baby::

Meet my new 3 month old niece Ann.


I'm so glad I got to meet her before she got any bigger. She's adorable, isn't she?

::more visits::

My brother Cammon is visiting us this weekend with his wife Lorri and cute little 2 yr old boy and 3 month old girl. We're having lots of fun mostly just hanging out. Kris did a quick dental exam on the little guy yesterday when we gave them a tour of the office. He did awesome--Max got to do the exam first and was a good example thank goodness.
They've been playing together really well, Max and Scooter. Lots of sharing and messing around. And lots of piano playing.
We're lucky to be so close to family finally. How nice that family can come see us, we love it!!

(yes they're wearing matching shirts--thanks Gram)

::phoenix::

Just a quick rundown of Phoenix activities.
Kris did lots of learning all day and Max and I got to play.
We swam and swam. In fact I was too busy swimming to get any good swimming pictures. When it's 110 outside, you've got to stay cool somehow, and swimming worked out well for us. In fact Max made huge strides in his swimming while we were there. The pool didn't have much shallow end, so I was keeping a tight eye on him. He was following Kris around the pool on a floaty. Then Kris took off fast across the deep end and Max, wearing his mask and snorkel, took off after him. He was completely without any flotation! I was stressed out but he swam perfectly and made it to the edge without even realizing he was really swimming on his own. After that it was like something clicked and he was all over the pool. By the time we were done he was swimming so confidently. It was amazing.
So that was the swimming.

In the afternoon Max and I went to a huge outlet mall in Tempe. Phoenix basically has anyplace you could ever dream of shopping--that's a chain.
Of course Max had to ride the carousel immediately.

He got the weird cool mer-horse. He's also wearing the sunglasses they gave out at the hotel pool. He wore them everywhere that day and felt very awesome.
We went to the Disney Store for some PJs and a cool shirt or two. (We don't have a Disney Store in Santa Fe!)

We went to the Carters Outlet and Max very cutely helped me pick out a bunch of baby clothes. We tried to go neutral, but I have to say we did pick out a couple of things that weren't neutral at all. We'll have to just see what needs to be taken back! (We don't have any Carters in NM at all. Boo Hoo.)
We went to Gap and got Kris work shirts.
Then we were tired tired. Max spied the Rainforest Cafe, and since I knew he would love it we stopped in for some (yucky tasting)ice water and to share a dessert. Who knew that the dessert would be bigger than Max. We barely made it halfway through.

It didn't really matter about the food though, because we were enjoying the animatronics and the fake thunder storms too much.

We had In-N-Out Burger for lunch both days, mmmmmmm.
We had a big Rainforest Cafe dinner on saturday night, to please the Max. Max and I went to a movie.
We went to sacrament meeting in Gilbert in our friends' humongous ward. We had dinner with the same friends that night. So fun!

I'm going to leave out the part about how I scratched somebody's car in the parking lot. I'm also not going to post pictures of my feet swollen up to the size of Montana. I'm not posting about the air conditioner in the hotel that barely worked, even though I had the thermostat put down to 50 degrees.
But really those were the only bummers.
We had lots of fun otherwise, besides the CRAZY HEAT!
At least we got to get away from the responsibilities and just hang out.
There you go, there's the report. Good thing I had my phone along to take photos since I didn't break out the big camera once!

(oh, and these are our new monkeys for the office. They scream when you squeeze their bellies. Yes they're very cute, and yes the kids love them. Including Max!)

::holbrook az::

This last weekend we took a drive to Phoenix. Kris had an orthodontics course to attend, and Max and I had some swimming, shopping and resting to do.

I don't really have many photos from Phoenix, it was TOO HOT for me to even think, but we had lots of fun. I'll have to post about it later.

But on the way to Phoenix we drove through the coolest little town on Route 66.
Holbrook AZ. I think it's the town Lightening McQueen's Radiator Springs was based on!
Check out the wigwam hotel:

Have you stayed in a wigwam lately?

Does it remind you a bit of the Kozy Kone motel?
And to make it even better, there was an awesome old car parked outside of every wigwam. Including a very authentic Mater which Kris drove by too fast for me to get a picture of.



And this muffler shop fit right in as far as I'm concerned. It's just so cool and vintage looking, don't you think?

And Ramone was there too, complete with his awesome paint job.

But I'm not sure who took off with his wheels.

I have no idea where the dinosaurs fit in all this, but they were there too, and they were awesome.


This is all we saw driving through the town quickly--bad pictures, bad lighting and all. I'm guessing there are probably more hidden gems in this little town. We'll probably have the opportunity to check them out at some point. I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and we stopped for lunch at DQ on the way home in Holbrook. Go there if you want a little vintage atmosphere, but not if you're in a hurry. It was still delicious though.

::suggestions::

Here are a few of Max's baby name suggestions. (Besides Sam & Sammy--his favorite so far.)

Eris--you know, like the dwarf planet.
Rico--just an awesome name he came up with (I'm sure not inspired at all by uncle Rico I'm sure. "My friends and clients call me UNCLE Rico.")
Max 2--that' pretty self explanatory, right? This is really one of his original and most persistent sugguestions. Two Maxes. Call me crazy, but I think yelling at one Max at a time is enough.

We'll see what else he comes up with.

::dog in abstract::

::feets rest::

We found a new guitar teacher out here for Max. He seems awesome. He's a classical guitarist and has taught lots of kids. He also has three big hairy malamutish dogs, dresses just like my dad and lives 5 minutes away. (YAY! I do enough driving right now.)
Max had his first lesson last week, and the teacher requested that Kris and Max construct a footrest/boost for Max to use while playing. So this weekend they headed out to the hardware store, bought a 2x4 and went for it.
I guess Kris let Max do it all--basically anyway. He was way excited.

It's always a good thing for dads and sons to have projects together.

And it was nice because I got to relax and rest while they were doing it--though I have to admit the power saw sounds from the garage did make me a little tense.

But everybody survived.
Now the trick is just getting Max to actually keep his feet ON the footrest.


He'll get the hang of it.

I expect him to be playing Stairway to Heaven for me anytime now. For now I'm enjoying Buffalo Gals and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. Good stuff.