The kids and I drove down to AZ last week for Dak's graduation. First time driving to Mesa all by myself with them! My parents worry when I drive alone with the kids, so I just showed up at their house the day before graduation. They didn't know we were coming, so it was fun to surprise! Grandma Nan and Grandpa Arnie made the trip down from Utah, and it was great being with them too.
Graduation Day Stuff... (Abby and Chris, we missed you!)
Can you find him?? There were close to 600 kids in his class. The graduation was held at ASU.
We spent three days with the Gift side of the family, and then Jake flew into town on Thursday night. He had Friday and Monday off work for Memorial Day. He and his dad and Daniel went on a couple of hikes and made a trip to REI for bear vaults among other things for the summer hike.
Other highlights of the trip included:
*playing in the water. We swam quite a bit at my parent's house and at Jake's parents pool. Grandpa Arnie and Luke had a huge water fight. They started off with squirt guns and I think grandpa ended with the hose. It was entertaining! How many kids get to run around with their great grandpa having water fights?!! My grandpa is awesome. My mom and dad ended up getting in on the action too, and in the end I think Grandma Nan and I came out the least wet. Luke swam around with the Whitfield kiddos one night. Another day I was swimming and looked down to see a dead bird floating next to me. AAAAaaa!!! So gross! One afternoon we went over to San Tan mall with Sherry so the kids could play in the water area.
*eating super tasty food. We went to dinner at San Tan Flats the night before Dak's graduation with everyone. Tasty! They let you roast marshmallows for dessert. The kids were loving it!
After graduation we had dinner at BJs... pizza and pizookies. That place is always good! Went out to dinner with Joe, Mel, Daniel, Rick and Sherry for Jake's b-day dinner. Some sushi place. Sushi looks so cool... I wish I liked it. I ended up getting chicken since I don't do seafood. Mix all the restraunting with my mom giving us chocolate cake and cheesecake, Rick's BBQing and smoothies, and Melanie's chocolate chip cookies and it added up to be quite the food fest.
OH.... and to top it off, Sherry, Jake, Daniel and myself went to try out Heart Attack Grill. It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and OH MY GOSH. I was prepared for greasy, but not like that! They fry their fries in 100% lard. And, they call the burgers 'bypass burgers.' You can order a single, double, triple, or quadruple bypass burger. I read afterward online that the quad has 8,000 calories! They put a hospital gown on you when you enter the place, along with a hospital wrist band thing. Then when you are done, they give you your leftovers in a pharmacy bag to take home. All the grease and the weird hospital atmosphere totally sicked me out and I think I ended up eating about two bites of mine. I almost forgot another crazy thing about that place- if you are over 350 lbs, you eat there for free. There were a couple of 350 pounders in here. So, with all this running I should really be getting smaller, but I'm pretty sure I came away from this trip with some more pudge! Love that. Speaking of running, I managed to get some good runs in there. It was still cool enough in the mornings to feel good. The last 'long' run before the marathon was there. It was 14.5 miles from Rick and Sherry's house to my parent's house. Yesterday was just 8. I love this tapering down stuff! I'm getting super nervous though! I know what 20 miles feels like... done that a couple of times now. I think I've done my part getting ready, but thinking about adding 6.2 more scares me a little! I'm so excited though. *Park Play. Met up with Melanie and kiddos for some park time and lunch at her house. Baby number 5 is coming to their house soon! Actually, baby is scheduled to share a birthday with me on the 7th! :) Can't wait to see if this cutie is a boy or girl! Got in time at the park at my parent's house too!
*Pictures of the gift grandkids... already posted some of those in the last post!
*Grandma almost went for a ride! She was going to get on Todd's bike for a ride but ended up deciding it might not be the best idea. I dont' blame her. It was funny watching Todd and grandpa Arn try to convince her to get on! You're a good sport grandma!
*Ella ended up cornering every grandma and grandpa paul on this trip to read her books! She would plop on my mom's lap and give her a book, and then run over to grandma Nan's lap to have her read too. Seriously she went back and forth between the two grandmas for a good hour one night. She was having grandma Sherry read to her before we left her house too. Quite the little bookworm. Her nursery teachers told me a couple of weeks ago that every time she's in there she grabs a bunch of books and then sits on their lap... wants them to read to her the whole time! ha ha
It was great hanging out with everyone! Thanks for a fun time!
3 comments:
That's great you got to make it down for Dak's graduation. Gotta get in all the visits you can before you are off. We are still up in the air about our travel plans before our move, but we hope to see you guys. (I guess you'll be in AZ for a couple weeks??)
Good luck on your marathon. I'll be thinking of you and sending good vibes your way.
And how freaking fabulous is it that you got to go to Phantom and in the best seats. It sounds awesome!
So many cute pictures. It would have been fun to spend a couple days with you and the kids. So funny that Grandma Nan almost went on a bikeride..haha!!
You'll rock the marathon - I know it! Good luck though - just enjoy it! Cute pics - looks like you had a great trip... I know what you mean about your mom worrying about you driving - I have had that conversation like a 100 times.
That restaurant sounds disgusting _ I can't believe they would ever reward someone for being 350 pounds - sick, what is this world coming to!
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