Arizona part 3 (last one!)

More on Arizona.

Late Thursday night Brennan came into town to spend the weekend. He has a pretty sweet schedule this semester where he only has classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, making it easier to do this sort of thing. Since Ben still had work on Friday, Brennan just got to hang out with all of us girls. Before Brennan was in the picture, I'm pretty sure I was the favorite among the nieces and nephews. What can I say, when you're cool, you're cool. :) But here's what happens now:

That's right, I get the evil eye if I even come too close when he is playing with the kids. I have definitely been knocked down a notch or two.

Brennan and Ella hanging out.

 Finally some photos of the girl who gave us an excuse for this trip. :)

 Love that smile.

 Jade sure is a good big sister.

Our big outing Friday, was to Costco. Mara's biggest car is a Honda CR-V and so weren't enough seats for everyone. Brennan was nominated to ride in the back. Shhh- don't tell!

These two loved riding in the cart together.

I think at this point Jade was irritated that Tatum was touching her. Jade had a strict rule that all physical contact between them had to be initiated by her.

See this touching it totally fine. It looks like she is trying to keep her from going overboard.

 No trip to Costco is complete without some delicious frozen yogurt.

Some fun pictures of Brennan throwing Jade in the air. She loved it, and kept insisting that I take pictures of it.

I am so glad we got to go to Arizona and spend time with these two. Mara and Ben too, of course, but we sure love these girls.

Saturday morning we decked the girls out in their Hawkeye gear and headed to the bird park for a walk and then out to breakfast. Then we all went swimming when we got home. It was a fun morning!

Before we left I had the thought that we should check to see who Iowa was playing and when, in case someone asked, but I forgot to actually do it. Sure enough, the manager at the restaurant started asking us all about who Iowa was playing.  I'm sure we looked pretty lame. Like we were pretending to be big enough fans to dress our kids in the gear but in truth we knew nothing about the team. Oops! Then several people who walked by our table and saw Tatum's jersey would say "Go Steelers!". Iowa, folks, Iowa. Not Steelers.

Tatum enjoyed chewing/sucking on Ben's english muffin. Butter, yum!

What a cute family!

 

Saturday night Mara and I headed to the Relief Society broadcast and left the guys home with the older two.  It was fun to get out just the two of us (and Ella) for a bit.

On Sunday we went to Church and played games. Mara made puppy chow for us and when I filled by cup it was still gooey so I had a lot of the chocolate/peanut butter mix all over my cup when I was done.  I was being super observant and responsible later when I didn't notice Tatum find my cup and go to town on it.

I think she enjoyed it.

On Monday morning Ben took us to the airport on his way to work.  It was nice to have an extra set of hands on the long trip home.  It was a fantastic trip. And we were all pooped.

Thanks for showing us a great time Mara, Ben, Jade and Ella! We miss you.