Week #47:The end of the best trip to Arizona & New Carpet

This Week...

...we attended the temple dedication for the newly built Phoenix, Arizona temple. Maybe next year we'll get to do a session there! We got a ticket from a member of their bishopric and went with Raleigh and Jordan and the boys to their stake center. Even though we were watching it via broadcast it was still very inspiring. So many new temples in Arizona! I grabbed some pictures from the internet. We didn't dare drive down around the temple for fear of all the traffic.

As we were walking back to the car, a smile jumped out at me from the sidewalk. I snapped it and sent it to my sister. Happy Sunday!

We mostly stayed close to the Hayter home on Sunday. Here's a look. I love Jordan's style and it's been fun to see how they've finished their home.

We went for a walk. For Arizona weather, it was actually a little chilly while we were there. We put our jackets on and walked around their neighborhood. We had some great views of the desert landscape.

We saw a new cactus that we hadn't seen before, the spider cactus. And caught some with blooms.

 

They made us some amazing pear pizza for dinner. De-lic-ious! I probably had six or seven pieces.

We ate delectable treats-It's it. We've had these before in Arizona. They are just so fun for me. I found their stash in the freezer and ate one, or two. Not at the same time...and they totally knew I was eating one. I don't steal their treats. Really.

 

We went to a place called Chino Bandidos. It was Chinese food prepared like Mexican food. So it was terriyaki chicken in a burrito and jade chicken in a quesadilla. It was different, but tasty.

We went shopping at Rod Works and Charming Charlies. Both very fun stores. Notice the wreath, Christmas decorations in Arizona seemed out of place. It wasn't cold enough for Christmas.

Rod Works was a fun store to go into. Much like a Hobby Lobby or Real Deals, I was in heaven. Charming Charlie's was a jewelry and accessory store.

We ate lunch at Smash Burgers. It's fresh meat that is literally smashed together and thrown on the grill. Jordan had a black bean burger and I would've liked that better. It had a great taste. Love the thin fries. Yum!

We also took a trip to World Market. Love that place! Home of Hi-Chews and Kinder chocolates. Yum! The Schoko-Bons were a new try and I loved them.

And then it was time to say goodbye. Until next year!

And then it was time to see the kids...Yes, I made them wear these hats.

Now back to work...

...We had our Young Women in Excellence. Two Young Women worked super hard to achieve their Medallion (Isabel and Miriam), and quite a few others received ribbons for values completed. We had a night with the stars. I got to introduce each girl as they walked the runway, commenting on their FABulous dress or choice of color for the season.

Bishop Pierce and President Fielding were the announcers of the awards.

Noreen took a walk down the red carpet to receiver her ribbons.

Beehive Class

Me, Nancy Rodriguez, Diana Delgado, Emily Hale, Mckenna Slaugh, Sister Draney

Miamaid Class

Perla Valdovinos, Sister King, Egla Kareli Gonzalez, Noreen Hale, Isabel Soriano, Emma Nieforth, Mya Ramirez, Sister Salsbury

Laurel Class

Sister Votaw, Savannah Flores, Miriam Martinez, Natalie Marley, Alma Ruelas, Sister Norman

We made a good team, Shelly Norman and I. It's the end of a great time together. (We're being released Sunday.) It's hard to let the Young Women go, but that is the way of the church. Change is as constant as the gospel itself. It is time for a new adventure. ( I do not know why Sister Shelly is staring off without a smile on her face.)

...so once we got home from Arizona, we were on to ripping out the carpet. Our new carpet was scheduled to be installed two days after we got back. Yikes! 

 

We had things stacked everywhere, in the bathrooms and laundry room, to get it off the floor for the carpet installers. This was super chaotic, pushing things here and there and crawling over things to find clothes and toiletries.

Before of the living room...

We just pushed it all into the dining room.

Wait! It looks like the perfect spot for homework. Maybe we don't need to finish it.

Abraham showed up bright and early Wednesday morning.

He was nice enough to let the kids help out with stapling the pad down. I was ready to shoo the kids off to another activity, but Abraham was so nice about their interest and let them be involved.

Benjamin stuck around to watch him work the seam in the master bedroom.

Abraham came Tuesday and got started on laying the carpet upstairs. Jason was busy prepping his living room built-in for spraying. Tuesday night, he sprayed so that he could get it done before the new carpet was put in. Good plan. So we have yet another paint booth.

Then it was ready for carpet install the next day. Isn't it beautiful?! This is by far my favorite of his projects.

With the carpet..Doesn't that look sharp?!

The kids thought it was great to play the wii on the 60 inch TV. The chaos didn't phase them.

The girls camped out that first night because we didn't get their beds put back together. We wanted to paint and it was easier not to have their beds crowding up the space.

We gave them a nice accent wall. Emma wasn't quite sure to begin with. But after it dried and several days passed, we all warmed up to the color. (Another point for Whitney.)

We also painted the play room. Only I got a little too close to the wall. Dang it! Jason had a good laugh.

My lovely new stairs...

The boys' room. We repainted their walls revere pewter and left one blue wall for an accent. I like it a ton better. It's not so dark in there as it was with four dark blue walls.

The landing...

Week #46: The start of a great trip to Arizona!

This week...

...Benjamin lost his first tooth ever in the history of his life. He was SO excited! I was excited that it came out relatively easily, and that he pulled it out himself. 

...we said goodbye to Elder Coleman (right). Sadly, he was transferred out. Elder Benson stays with us for a bit more. On this night, they decided to walk over for dinner. It would have been fine, but Jason didn't make it home for dinner. So they waited outside until I could make some calls, find one of our friends that could spare their husband, who lived close, and who was available so they could come to our house and the Elders could come inside. 
I felt bad. They waited outside for a good half hour. Usually I double check with Jason sooner so that doesn't happen. Oops!

...our hot dog gave us a smile! Smiles are good. They remind us to be happy.

...Jason finished more of the family room built-in. I seriously can NOT wait until this one gets painted. I am excited that Jason is working on this unit since we talked about doing it so many times. He's making it a reality. And the carpet being back ordered helped. He was going to put it off until the spring, but when he realized he had several weeks before the carpet came he wanted to get the bottom part done.

...we had a Pilgrim's Feast for mutual. Only, the youth had to eat with wacky utensils and such. They were good sports. For some it was hard to enjoy the meal. One young man had a mason jar into which went his chicken and mashed potatoes and salad. Ugh! One young woman had to drink out of a tiny squirt bottle.

Noreen Hale, Emma Nieforth, Mya Ramirez, Maciah Slaugh

Cali, Perla Valdovinos, Egla Gonzalez, Diana Delgado, Nancy Rodriguez

...I dropped a gallon of milk on the kitchen floor and it split open. This was a big "Oh no!" moment for me. I was trying to carry too much into the house and hoist it all up onto the counter at the same time. The gallon of milk was the casualty. I quickly scooped it up and set it in the sink so I could clean up the floor. My NEW floor. Yeah, I was working pretty fast. Haha! I had to pour the milk into a pitcher and then remember that it was milk when I went to the fridge. I kept forgetting what was in there.

...we took our trip to annual Arizona. sort of. We were sitting in the plane on the tarmac, waiting excitedly to go. And we didn't. There was trouble - it would be a few minutes while they fixed it. There was more trouble. It couldn't be fixed. We de-boarded and waited for further instructions. Ultimately, our flight was cancelled. 

These are the pictures before we found out that there was trouble. We saw some friends from our Ellensburg days, David Child and his son Dean. (Dean is my friend now. It's official. Facebook said.) Turned out, they were on the same flight going down to visit David's dad. We sure had fun catching up as we waited to board.

Look at that plane...we thought it was flying ready. 

We're excited! Can't wait to get off the ground.

Nope, not tonight!

Because of the renovations going on at the airport, we had to claim our luggage in this huge white tent that was not heated. It was cold. I tried to stand by the heaters to get warm, but it wasn't.

So, we went home for the night and ripped the carpet out of Paul an Ben's room to help the chaos of coming home. We left their room in a state of disaray.

We went back the next morning for our flight. Jason is calling the airline to get our seat assignment reimbursement.

This time for sure. Cross your fingers!

 

Great traveling companions. Couldn't have planned it better.

Yep, for sure this time.

Our window view...we always fly out at night so we miss the good day light views. That was a fun change for our flight down this year.

Putt putt clouds

The clouds were absolutely amazing! It was mind boggling to think that we were sailing along above them.

And then we were there! First stop: In-n-Out!

We're so silly when we go to Arizona without our kids. We act like we're dating again and do all sorts of crazy things!

Good food!

Jordan and Erik with all of their plans. Jordan really gave us a fun filled Saturday that we will not soon forget.

The Hayter fam! Raleigh, Kellen, Erik, Jordan

Next stop was The Sugar Bowl in Scottsdale for ice cream. It was a super fun old fashioned ice cream parlor. And the ice cream we ordered was de-lic-ious!

Checking out the menu

Jason's digging in to our delectable cream puff. (Some people just can't be cropped out of photos. Say hello to our sun glass wearing, mustach-ioed friend in the background.)

We made a trip to IKEA and I did buy things. Things that we had to stuff into our luggage. Crazy me, I know! We enjoyed some cinnamon rolls from the food court before we left.

The Hayters took us to an improv comedy show at a place called Jesterz. This was by far the best! It was funny and family friendly. There were four jesters who were up on stage. The director explained the games they would play and asked the audience for sketch themes. If you've ever seen "Who's Line Is It Anyway?," it's a lot like that.

We discovered the joy of the food truck caravan. This was so much fun! It's gourmet food from a food truck. They travel around and you can follow the one you like. No truck is in the same location two weekends in a row. I chose a hot dog from Best Dressed Dog. It was so good! I shared it with Jason and then we ordered another one. In fact, they were so good, I asked if I could buy the sauce. (They don't ship the sauce yet, so this was one of the things we packed into our suitcase and hoped it would be ok.) They sold me a giant bottle for $8.00.

With our new friends Mr. and Mrs. Judd!

The secret Judd's sauce

While I was waiting for my second hot dog, Jason went and ordered a burger from Aioli Gourmet burgers. He really liked it. Me, not so much.

Who would have thought you could love waffles any time, day or night? Me, after trying the pumpkin spice waffle from Waffle Love. It was sooooooo delicious! It had these truly sinful crunchy bits in each bite. Yum!

After the food truck love, we went back to Raleigh and Jordan's for lounging and catching up. This is almost more fun than gallivanting all around. It's so fun to talk and laugh. Yes, to laugh.