Brandon and Jennifer

Arizona Trip - Day 5

My Dad & Paula cooked us pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then we walked down the road to the park. The girls rode bikes with my Dad. Brandon pulled Will and Emmy in the wagon, and I pushed Paisley in the stroller. They all played at the playground while I jogged the track around them. It was a gorgeous day.

Jeremy and Paisley

My brother and his wife Rhiannon came over for a yummy BBQ. They live in Mesa also.

Baylee and Kysonn eating inside.

Willie had to eat outside on the patio.

It was funny. There is a HUGE 100-pound tortoise on the other side of the wall and their dogs go crazy over it. Paula lifts them over to see it and tease them.

We all hung out and talked for a long time. My step-sister Kim visited with us too. It was so good to see her and everyone else. :)

Willie wanted cereal before bed, but he fell asleep in the chair before he finished it...

Brandon, Me, Emmy, Dad & Paula

We stayed at their house again. They were so awesome to accommodate all 8 of us.

Feb 12, 2013

Arizona Trip - Day 4

We packed up and checked-out of our room early this morning and brought all the kids to my Dad's house. He's tending all of them today while Brandon and I ride on a tour bus with the other Farm Bureau members to see a couple farms in the area. But on the way to my Dad's, Will said he was sick and that his mouth hurt. Brandon's like, "Ohhhh No!" And one second later poor Willie vomited all over. We had to pull off the freeway, strip his clothes off, and clean everything up. LOL. You're in a rush and what happens? One of your kids throws up! Of course, we should've saw that coming! Haha. We dropped them off and made it back to the resort just as they were loading the buses. We literally parked the car, walked on the bus, and it left 2 minutes later. Whew!

On the way to the first farm, we drove right next to the Gilbert Temple thats under construction right now. It was cool to see it. The angel Moroni was already on top of the steeple, so I guess its almost done. That's the temple my Dad will work at when its complete... instead of the Mesa Temple he's at now. Pretty cool.

We toured the Queen Creek Olive Mill. It was pretty fascinating to learn about.

Our tour guide was funny and super knowledgeable. She showed us the olive tree orchard and explained the process of making olive oil. I didn't know that black olives are actually green olives that have been dyed black and flavor was added to make it taste different. Hm! I don't like olives very much and have never eaten a whole olive before. She had some for us to sample. I did try a couple. It wasn't too bad. :)

This olive mill has a full restaurant inside and sells a TON of flavored olive oil. We sampled the different oils. I tried the chocolate olive oil. It was good! She said people use it for baking. I wanted to buy a bottle but it was too expensive, so never mind. :) They make bacon favored olive oil, and so many others... that sounds so weird.

We ate a super good sack lunch they provided for us, then we went to an orange patch.

The owner told us the history of this old patch and showed us the machine his Grandpa built to sort the oranges according to size.

Pretty amazing. He said there is not other one like it. :)

We took a picture with all the Farm Bureau members from Utah that are here for the conference. They are such a fun group! Most of the State Committee from Utah that we work with was here. We stood by these old cool tractors for the photo, but we covered them. :)

I think this ladder is 18 feet... they climb this ladder and pick all the oranges by hand.

Brandon and I in front of the orange patch.

They had a cute store where they sold their produce from... and a ton of other stuff. There was a bee hive in the store with a tube for the bees to fly in and outside of.

Brandon and I just bought candy. :) We did sample their fresh squeezed orange juice... it was really really good.

The tour buses drove us to Rawhide, in Chandler, for dinner. Its a western-themed town with shops, live shows, and other stuff to see and do. My Dad and Paula met us there with our kids to eat and hang out for the evening. The Farm Bureau rented out the whole town, so it was closed to the public that night. Dinner and all the attractions was free for all 700 of us that attended the conference. It was awesome.

Brandon and I watched the first live gun show while dinner was cooking and while we waited for my Dad to get here.

It was the story of Billy the Kid, and they added a lot of humor. It was good.

We all ate dinner. Kysonn, my nephew, came too!

One of the actors from the gun show came in and was quizzing Kalyssa... it was hilarious.

He'd ask her questions and give her the answer in the question and she still wasn't catching on. Kysonn caught on tho... it was funny. Kalyssa was blushing so bad.

We're all headed to jail.

Wild Willie

The shooting gallery was turned on, so you didn't have to use quarters to shoot the targets.

One of the targets Will shot squirted water at him. He screamed.

Kysonn and Kalyssa were best buds.

Paula and Dad helped us chase around the twins.

The kids thought these legs in the ground was silly.

Paisley was having a freak crying episode, so Brandon took her to the car. The rest of us watched the last live gun show. Our kids were the only ones in the audience (since most couples don't take their kids to the conferences with them). The actors interacted with them a little, and when the robber couldn't get inside the bank and it was dead silent, Will piped up, "Mama, he can't open it!" Everyone started laughing. The kids were dying at the funny jokes during the show and really loved it. The bad guy gets shot on the roof at the end and falls off. The kids were like, "Whoa!"

It was time to leave. On the way out I checked to see if Will was big enough to ride the mechanical bull, but he wasn't. He was upset he couldn't do it, so he rode the tour bus back to the resort with Brandon and Baylee to pick up the car. He was happy to ride a big bus!

We all slept at my Dad's house in Mesa. :)

Feb 11, 2013

Arizona Trip - Day 3

Brandon, Baylee, Abbee, Kalyssa and Will woke up early to swim one last time. Then I attended the Farm Bureau Luncheon with Brandon while the twins took a nap and the older kids hung out and watched TV in our room. We kept a cell phone with them and they did really well.

Paisley broke out with a staph infection again and needs an antibiotic asap. So Brandon took her to the doctor while I took the rest of the them to the Kids Culinary Activity.

We went to the Blue Sage Restaurant in the resort to meet up with one of the chefs. The activity was decorating cupcakes.

The chef asked Will, "Do you want white frosting or chocolate?" He pointed to the chocolate and said, "Black." :)

She loaded a napkin with the toppings he chose to decorate with.

Abbee wanted an all chocolate cupcake.

The chef holds the top and the kids get to squeeze the bottom.

Will topped his cupcake with blueberries and raspberries... not because he likes them, but only cause he likes the colors blue and red. And he used a few green M&M's.

The girls were really creative with how they decorated their cupcakes.

The chef put them in a clear container and so they could take and eat them later. There was a lot left over, so I made an extra one for Brandon.

We went back to the Family Escape Center to play. Emmy is crying cause she wants to run around, not take a picture.

The kids played Wipe Out on the Xbox Kinect, played with the iPads, and ate more candy from the Mini Snack Bar.

Will did pretty well on his game.

We went outside to play with the sports equipment. Will kept rolling down the hill.

Abbee and Baylee played Ladder Ball. The Family Center closes at 5pm... we went to the Cafe to get our 6 free smoothies we got from our waiter Mark the other night. They were so delicious!

Brandon got back from the doctor, then he and I went to the Banquet Dinner at the Conference Center. The twins napped again while the kids hung out and played games in the room. During the dinner the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate the building. Luckily, our room was in a separate building. We called the kids and no alarm went off over there. Turns out someone pulled the alarm right before they could announce who the discussion meet winner was at the banquet.

Anyhow, the kids kept texting Brandon during dinner. I guess there was a little drama between the 3 older girls. When we got back Brandon took them to get a movie and let them know we appreciate and love them tons! It's our last night in this little room together... I'd say we survived just fine. :)

While they were getting a movie, I let my 3 little monkeys jump on the bed.

Paisley still had her hospital bracelet on. Brandon said the hospital in Phoenix seems like a prison. They search you at the door and their is bullet proof glass everywhere. He said, "Its a good thing I took Paisley instead of you. You would've been scared." I'm sure he's right. He said it was a really run down part of town.