Our First Phoenix Visit

 Fred and I decided to fly to Phoenix instead of driving. We flew out of the St. George airport.

It is a luxury to do that. Ten minutes to the airport. Leave our house about 45 minutes before the flight instead of two hours of driving to Las Vegas and arriving two hours before the flight.

The flight was less than an hour long.

First things first ~ We stopped at Smash Burgers for lunch.

Right now Scott and Jess are renting a home. It is quite lovely. 

They are smart to take their time shopping around for builders and where is the best place to build.

Right now they live within a mile or two of Scott's office. After his long commute in Texas, they are very happy that Scott is able to get to and from work so much quicker. 

I think commuting is just a horrible thing.

Evan was very helpful with Grandpa's suitcase.

I would say we spent the majority of our time in the family room.

It's a great place. Evan's toys are here. A very comfortable HUGE sectional to lounge on.

Close to the food/ice cream/M&Ms.

The necessities.

Jess and I went to Charming Charlies and we picked out some really nice pieces for her.

Now she has wonderful pieces to work with. It was really fun shopping together.

Fred and Scott and Evan went to Best Buy. 

Fred and Scott share a passion for home electronic gadgets.

 Both Scott and Jess are very hands on parents.

Evan is very involved. 

It's great to watch. 

 I gave Scott a crash course right before he left on his mission on

how to iron a short, do the laundry. Maybe a few other things.

I'm not sure why I didn't take care of those things along the way.

Now as I have watched him as a husband and a father -

I'm so amazed at his skills. 

I see Scott 100% involved in cooking, cleaning, taking care of his home, 

taking care of all of Evan's needs. 

Oh and he is an amazing husband. I imagine he's amazing because Jess is an amazing wife.

 They are working on the food for the BBQ for the big Gender Reveal.

 Grandpa Time.

Evan has several blankets that he loves. 

He has a little tongue soothing action that looks a lot like his Aunt Corinne did when she was little.

He's got quite a bit of the Daly gene going on. 

 Jess planned a Gender Reveal for both sets of grandparents. 

Nancy and I were both positive it was a girl.

When all the blue came out - I really didn't know what was going on.
SEE - I look pretty surprised and shocked.

I find myself in this old grandma position a lot lately.

Even little Evan got into the confetti.

After the confetti popping, Jess had bought a couple baseballs. One pink and one blue.
She nailed it. It took me a while to focus and actually take a picture.

Their neighborhood has a community center with a fun kiddie pool/splash pad.

It is a really nice facility. It also has a weight room where both Scott and Jess work out.

  Scott took Evan down the slide probably 25 times.

Sunday was church. Their ward is pretty big. Jess was just called as YW secretary.

That is a perfect fit for her. I went with her there for opening exercises and it worked out that the Laurels went to RS so we went with them for the lesson.

Scott was sustained as a Primary Worker teaching the 10 year olds. 

We spent the day in the family room.

I had this idea of taking pictures of Evan with us so we could print them and have them displayed in his room so he would remember us. By Sunday we really hadn't taken any. He wasn't afraid of us or had avoided us, but there definitely was no cuddles or snuggling going on. So Jess came up with the candy in the lap method. Even that was somewhat a struggle, but the reality of what it is.

Fred and I are totally okay with that. 

We had a delicious Sunday dinner before we headed to the airport. 

Our visit passed quickly. We hadn't been together since Thanksgiving.

It didn't seem like it though because we do Skype.
Hopefully they will make a trip to see us in August.

We are trying to figure out trips to visit two new babies this Winter.
We are excited to future visits to Phoenix as this family continues to grow. 

Bryce Canyon

Fred and I took a day trip up to Bryce Canyon. I learned after our last day trip to Brian Head not to wear capris so I wore jeans even though it was a beautiful warm spring day at home. We got about a mile from home and realized we both forgot to bring a jacket. It turned out that it was a great decision to go back home and get jackets. As we got further from St. George and nearer to Bryce we could see the cloudy skies and knew we were in for some cool temps and perhaps wet weather.

This is for you Jess. 

Fred has more hats than I have clothes. This one is from our Alaska cruise ~Juneau ~ 

This is one of my favorite looks of Fred. Picture taking. 

The other is when he is in his work clothes out in the yard or working in the garage.

What's that in his back pocket????

There it is again.

Closer.......

  Hmmmmm

Ah Yes - the magical Selfie Stick.

I was quite pleased that he brought it. 

 Still have to work on his skills. Like not getting the stick in the photo.

And not looking out the bottom of his bifocal lens. 

Now enjoy Bryce Canyon photos.

It did rain a bit and when it rained - it was COLD.

We drove through Panguitch to look at the home where Fred's Dad was raised.

Also ate at Henrie's Drive Inn on the way home.  

We sat in the last little booth way back on the left. Food was good. Nice crunchy fries.

I love road trips with Fred. I get him all to myself. I don't even mind sitting in the car all day.

When I think about a road trip, I don't think I want to go because I sit all week all day at work.

But then when we take off, I like it just fine.

The Last Day

On our last day we walked down to our neighborhood park.

We took our wagon full of toys.

 Fred bought these nerf ball shooters.

 Our BIG styrofoam gliders.

 Both of the kids played on the big playground toys.

  We also brought the bubbles. 

Whenever we go to the park, there are other kids around that watch with wonder at the great toys our grandkids play with. 

Fred always lets them join in. This time he didn't. 

It was mostly because the moms made absolutely no effort to corral their children.

They TOTALLY wanted Fred to take over the tending of their children.

It was so RUDE for these moms to sit back and expect that. Sorry - we weren't going to do it.

 Do you see the likeness of their posture here? 

Look at their right hands!

So we had such a nice time with these two.

They are at an easy age. They ate and slept well.

They didn't fight or whine. A pretty sweet gig.

Next is a trip to Phoenix!

We are very excited for that!!

Tuesday Spring Break

I'm pretty sure I got my story mixed up. This is definitely pictures from the cake day when I let Mima have cake for lunch.

After Corinne's family headed for home, we took Buddy and Mima to the Hidden Valley Park.

We loaded up our usual outdoor toys, but the toys are not quite as good a match for these two as they are for Corinne's boys.  

 The climb on equipment at the park is much better suited for these two.

Next we headed to Thunder Junction Park.

Can't go wrong with a train ride. This is the "make a face pose".

"Smile" pose.

Oh silly Grandpa.

We did everything today.

Went to McDonalds for dinner and they ate every scrap.

Bubble bath and bed.

It was a good day.

Monday Spring Break

On Monday, Corinne and her family got over to the house around 11:00 am.

The kids were all playing and being busy while Shannon and Brian were packing up to go to Las Vegas. They had a super offer on a 2 night stay, a free show and buffet. They also wanted to catch up with friends and stop in the offices that they used to work at. 

Fred and I were officially in charge of their two for the next couple of days.

After they left, we fed everyone. Well Mima wasn't in the mood to eat. Being a grandma, I said that's okay. I'm not going to push anyone, related or not. 

After lunch was cleaned up and I asked if anyone wanted cake and ice cream.

YES from everyone including Mima. I said sure. 

I'll never forget when Shannon went to a birthday party when she was probably six. They served hot dogs for lunch. Well Shannon doesn't like hot dogs so she didn't eat. When it came time for ice cream and cake, she didn't get any because she hadn't eaten her lunch. 

That did not sit well with me. I'm sorry, but it's a party, they are children. Get over yourself. 

Anyway - after eating we headed to the Community Center to go swimming.

The three older boys were self sufficient.

Ben went with Henry and Fred and I were in charge of Buddy and Mima.

Corinne came and watched. She did take a few pictures. I'm not sure why we did not take any pictures today. That's bad!

After swimming, we came back to the house and just hung around. 

I think I made spaghetti. The swimming wore everyone out so our two charges went to bed without any resistance.

I definitely need a new bathing suit.

 We have Buddy and I think that is Spencer & Garrett with Grandpa.