phoenix, az

we just got back from our big arizona trip. we left wednesday night at 7pm and our plan worked! the kids slept the whole 5 hours, giving rian and i a fun road trip to just hang out and drive through the desert. we arrived at the pointe hilton squaw peak resort a little after midnight. we were so bummed to see that our patio overlooked the parking lot... but after discussing the disappointment with them... we somehow got upgraded to a 2-story casita with practically our own private pool and jacuzzi out the front door. all at no extra cost! here is a pic of our pool from the front door. so after the kids went down at night (and nap), guess where rian and i were... laying out or sipping wine in the jacuz.

relaxing out at the main pool.

floating down the lazy river.

the kids were not fans of swimming under and behind the waterfall...

basically we swam and ate and slept.

the boys.

my little artist. he concentrates so hard while drawing.

our friend, melissa, from college lives in mesa with her husband, lee, and son aaron. friday night they treated us to a wonderful dinner in their home and we relaxed outside, enjoying the mild weather. we picked the best weekend for the temps... down to about 90 all weekend from 115 the previous week! thanks for such a fun night, stephenson's! we so enjoyed our time with you guys.

wallace & aaron were born only 7 days apart!

aaron is quite the musician. wally tried to keep up with him on the mic.

on saturday we went to joel's house (rian's bro) in tempe. he gave us a tour, we hit up the neighborhood park, and then went out to dinner for his birthday. afterwards we walked around downtown tempe. it is such a fun place! had we no children, we would have played downtown into the wee hours of the night... :)


we dreaded the middle-of-the-day ride home on sunday. but between solid naps, the doodle, the dvd player, snacks, and one stop... it was really pleasant. i'm not saying there were no tears (skyler)... but overall, it was a quick and fun trip home.