It Wasn't all Bad

 A little surgery isn't going to stop us from a good time. We did manage to enjoy ourselves a little bit while we were in AZ.

Some of the highlights include:

*My sister Ashley graduating from Nursing School. Jase threw up in the middle of it and him and I spent most of the time in the bathroom, but luckily we managed to sneak back in just in time to hear them read her name. What an amazing accomplishment to graduate nursing school. I know it's been a long, stressful road for her at times (as it would be for anybody!!), but she is amazing and graduated with honors!

By the way, do you see Kylie in that picture?:)

My Grandma Hansen had always been a big part of my life. I had the opportunity to live near her and with her while I was going to school in Cedar, not to mention the many, many family vacations we took growing up as a family to see my Hansen grandparents. She has always been a source of inspiration and love for me. She has since moved to AZ and now lives in an assisted living place. We had the opportunity to visit her a few times while we were there. We even participated in a little sacrament meeting with her which was really special. I am so grateful that my kids know Grannie Annie. Not all of her great grandkids have that opportunity and I feel blessed they have had the chance to associate with her and know of her goodness. Not to mention it's pretty much guaranteed she'll have a tootsie roll or two or ten to share with the kids!!

My dad decided he needed a little grandpa time with the kids so he took them to a fun little indoor amusement park called Amazing Jakes for the day along with their cousin Alex and my brother Adam. It was a couple days after Jase got out of the hospital and just what he needed. They enjoyed roller coaster rides, pizza, arcades and came home with a slew of prizes.

Of course there is always swimming involved when we visit. With temperatures reaching record heights, we decided that night swimming is the only way to go. Jase was restricted from swimming for a whole week after his surgery so Monday night when he could swim again we had a big family swim party complete with glow sticks. It was a blast! Kylie is a serious fish. She was diving off the rock in the deep and doing back flips in the water. Jase was a happy camper as long as he had his floaties. He was content to swim around, squirt people in the face with his squirt gun and occasionly jump off the water fall. 

I got my first real smile out of Addley while we were there! She was such a trooper during such a crazy time. The poor girl was passed from one person to the next all the time with probably little clue of who her mom was. I was so grateful for all the help. I could never have had a newborn and little boy in the hospital if it wouldn't have been for such willing help. 

We decided to stay a few extra days to give Jase a little bit more time to heal which also meant we could be there for my sister Amanda's missionary setting apart. It was such a neat experience to sit in the Stake President's office with my all my siblings to share this moment with her. Living far away means I often miss things like this so it was a neat experience for me. 

The day after we left was the day she left for the MTC. I was wishing SO much I could be there! It was really hard saying good-bye. She will be an amazing missionary. I'm excited for her letters and so grateful for her example and dedication.

It was nice to finally be home, but I wasn't all that excited to be back to reality. We're finally on our own for the first time with three kids and were doing our best to find our new normal. Hopefully we can get into a good routine and start to feel productive. We always, always enjoy our time in AZ and even though it wasn't all fun and games we did managed to pull off a great time!!