Thanksgiving Trip Part II: Utah

We left Arizona on November 21st and made a quick stop in Las Vegas to pick up my mom at the airport who had just flown in from Alaska. We harassed her so much over the past few month that she finally decided to spend Thanksgiving in the civilized part of the world. We arrived in St. George, UT that afternoon to stay with my grandparents for several days.

The boys got to take their very first carousel ride. Dean was freaked out while Isaac really enjoyed it.

Both of them really enjoyed watching the other kids ride.

Getting ready to eat on Thanksgiving...

Dig in!

Isaac was running a fever for a good chunk of time while we were in St. George. I bet you can guess who made it all better.

The best part of this leg of the trip was lots and lots of cuddles with the Great Grandparents.

St. George has a wonderful outdoor theater at Tuacahn, a performing arts high school. We try to hit a show at Tuacahn any time were are in the area and we went to see their live nativity. We weren't supposed to take pictures during the performance, but we took a few before the show started.

It was past Dean's bedtime

Thank you G&G for the wonderful time while we were in Utah!  

Thanksgiving Trip Part I: Arizona

For Thanksgiving this year we went on a little road trip and now that we have a minivan our whole family can fit! We still haven't officially named the van, but I think there are two names in the running. I like Cindy Well's idea of calling it the Terry Ferry. The other name came to us while visiting the Phoenix area. In Southeast Phoenix is an area called San Tan so the other name that's in the running is SanTan the Minivan.  

Here's a map of our route for our visual readers:


View Thanksgiving Trip 2011 in a larger map


This was the first road trip we've taken with both the boys and getting in a car with a 9-month-old and a 13-month-old was a intimidating, but they did really well for such little guys.

We left on November 16th and the first stop on our trip was to stay with my aunt and uncle in Gilbert AZ.  We really enjoy spending time with them and their family.  Here are some highlights:

One of my cousins (Landon) has some friends that just had a litter of Beagle, Pug, Boston Terrier mix puppies.  There were six of them and they took a liking to Emily. Or should I say that she took a liking to them? 

Dean wasn't sure about getting into the tub with them, but he warmed up to the idea in the end.

Nancy has a piano that the boys just couldn't resist

Eating is always on our agenda when traveling. We've heard a lot about Chipotle and decided to see what all the fuss was about. We just might be in trouble when Chipotle opens up their first Albuquerque location this month.

We also went to LoLo's Chicken & Waffles on a double date with my cousin Jordan and his wife Casey. LoLo's brags that "This Ain't Your Momma's Chicken." How true that is. The atmosphere was great and they had a very interesting menu which included the "PHAT AZz Chicken Samich." Yes, that's how it was spelled. I decided not to have the Chicken Samich or the chicken & waffles, but the item I chose was called, "Yo Mamma's Biscuits and Gravy." It was pretty good.

Emily decided to have the Chicken & Waffles. Yum yum!

For the second half of our double date we went to an Improv comedy club called Jester'Z. If you are ever in the Phoenix area and need some good clean comedy we would highly recommend Jester'Z.

Landon and Isaac loved hanging out with each other.  Here's a priceless shot:

Most of our LDS readers have probably heard that the Church is building a Temple in Gilbert. If there's anyone out there who has no idea what I'm talking about, you can read more about temples here.We went and saw the progress on the Temple and Isaac loved exploring.

We also took the boys to see their first parade, the Gilbert Days Parade. Isaac wasn't very interested and ended up falling asleep. Dean watched everything, but was mostly confused.  Here's a short video I took:

To the Arizona Brough family--Thank You sooooo much for letting us stay with you!!! We loved it.

Laughing with Isaac

It took us a long time to figure out how to get Isaac to laugh, but I think we've got it now...

Minivan Mama

I always swore that I would never buy a minivan. I'm not sure exactly when that changed but I ended up getting one this week and I am thrilled about it. We were quickly growing out of our Saturn Vue and I was worried I was going to have to leave Bob at home on our next road trip just to fit everything. No need to worry now Bob, you can come!The best part is that it has stow-and-go seating on the 2nd and 3rd row so for right now I have the backseat permanently in the stow position and never have to worry about fitting the double stroller and all the groceries in the back. Loading the car after a Sam's club run was always an adventure.
Now it is time for your help: Bob and I always name our cars and we take this on with as much serious as when we named our children. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween I dressed the boys up as monkeys and Bob and I were zoo keepers. Bob had a costume contest at work that we all went to this morning and we ended up winning a $50 gift card to Dion's (a local pizza joint that we LOVE) for the group category. The cutest part was that as we were parading across the concourse so the judges could see our costumes the crowd was cheering for us and Dean thought that was the greatest thing ever. He started clapping along which of course made the crowd cheer louder and Dean burst out in fits of giggles. It was a fun time for all.

Happy Birthday Dean!

My little Dean turns one today and I am having a hard time excepting that fact. My baby isn't a baby any more. He is almost walking and can say a handful of words including "Hi", "Isaac", "Doggie" "Go on" and barks like a dog. He eats everything that I do and his favorite meal is Taco Soup, the spicier the better. I was looking through pictures the other day and decided to let you reminisce with me. Here is a few pictures from every month of his life:

October 2010



November 2010




December 2010




January 2011

February 2011

March 2011


April 2011

May 2011


June 2011


July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011
It is so amazing to me how fast they change. Before I know it he will be going to school, driving, and becoming a man. I miss my little baby already but I am so proud of how he has grown. I love you Dean!