Arizona part 1

Almost two weeks ago (wow, I can't believe it has been that long) Tatum and I headed to Arizona to visit Mara, Ben, and Jade and to meet baby Ella! I was super nervous about flying with Tatum, but she did great! Since the airlines now charge for any checked baggage I decided to try to make the 10 day trip with just a carry on.  Fitting everything in wasn't as difficult as getting myself, a baby, a diaper bag and a suitcase on the airplane by myself.  I thought for sure people would be offering to help-especially when they saw Tatum's adorable face :) but no, not a single offer of help. I must say, I lost some faith in mankind on this trip. ;)

Despite the difficulty of getting situated on the plane and of running across the Denver airport to catch my connecting flight, we made it to Arizona on time and relatively sane. And then we proceeded to have a blast! Ella was tiny and adorable and Jade and Tatum were hilarious together.  And it was tons of fun to spend some time with Mara. I took lots of pictures so I will probably break the trip up into at least two posts. We'll see how long Tatum sleeps...

I think Tatum thought she was in heaven at their house.  So many fun toys! I definitely need to start getting her some fun things to play with. She loved this house/slide they had inside.

 

They also have a tunnel and a circus tent.  See what I mean? Heaven.

 Mara and the girls playing the piano. 

Monday morning, after going for a run (see, we even managed to be productive) Jade and I made pumpkin chocolate chip granola bars. They were real yummy.

They also have a playhouse outside and the girls loved it as well. But the mosquitoes in Arizona are horrible right now! It didn't take long for the moms to get tired of being eaten alive and keeping Tatum from eating dirt and rocks and whatever else she could find so we never played out there for too long.

It was very convenient to have a pool in the backyard and gave us a built in activity to do with the kids. One day we just let them play on the play deck area and we just sat on the edge. Check out their cute matching swim diapers.

There were lots of airplane rides given.

 

Even Jade gave one.

Then of course, there was the fun game of pushing the baby in the grocery cart.  I really thought this was hilarious. I was probably already suffering from a lack of sleep, Mara and I always seem to burn the candle at both ends when we are visiting each other.

 

I feel like I'm just sharing a bunch of random pictures and probably not getting across how much fun this trip was.  But I'm telling you, it was fun! Tatum is awake so I'll have to finish up later.