A little trip to sunny Arizona

I'm a little behind on my posts but I've got some cute cute pictures I can't not post about them. :)

Back in January Nixon and I were able to take a little trip down to Arizona. Lance had a business trip lasting a little over 2 weeks so Nixon and I packed up and went and stayed with grandma and grandpa Taylor during that time.

On the flight there we had a window seat which I wasn't sure I would like because I wouldn't have free access to the aisle if Nixon needed to stretch his legs, but he actually did really well next to the window. He loved looking outside and pulling the shade up and down.

We didn't have any sort of seat to keep Nixon contained so Grandma got creative and used a bathrobe belt to hold him in.

My sister-in-law Bryley came to the rescue and let Nixon borrow this nice high chair during our stay.

Hanging with grandma

Getting into mischief  

It's always a good time with grandma

Nixon's new favorite thing is opening and closing (aka banging)  the kitchen cabinets. At our house we don't have handles on our cabinets, so when he saw that grandma and grandpa did have handles on theirs his little heart filled with joy (which he showed through continuous banging).

I love that he has a blanky that he loves and snuggles with!

That must've been a good nap to have these marks :)

Nixon loves helping grandma clean

"Can I get one mom?"

I love that my parents live so close to a park, especially one that has swings! I swear all the playgrounds around our house don't have swings and this mom wants swings! :)

This is why I want swings. I mean look how cute and happy he is.

Nixon makes friends wherever he goes

He loved playing in the sand

and trying to eat it....

 but didn't like the taste of it so much.

Grandma and Grandpa helping Nixon get the walking thing down

This little cutie is a grandpa boy! He knows who grandpa is and would always want to be around him. It just melts your heart to see that special relationship between your father and your son.

He loved coming and sitting by the door and looking outside

A real man doesn't need to peel the orange before he eats it.

Checking out a little farmers market. We were hoping it would be bigger than what it was, but it was fun to go. We did get a delicious caramel apple out of it. :)

Mr. Cool- Nixon loved having all the attention on him. He's kind of an attention hog.

One thing on my to do list while in Arizona was to take Nixon to the Phoenix Children's Museum. I  saw friends on Facebook post their fun pictures of their kids going to this Museum and I thought Nixon might enjoy it. 

The fun is just about to start, doesn't he look excited.

You can't tell very well but behind me was this jungle gym maze thing. At the time of our trip to Arizona Nixon wasn't walking on his own and hadn't developed the climbing skill yet (which I'm not complaining about), so I had to assist him throughout the maze. It's a good thing I'm still young (but not as young and flexible as i used to be).

Hanging out in a suspended boat

Why hello there handsome fella 

I tried to get Nixon to use the sticks to play this instrument,...

but he insisted putting them in his mouth would be more fun.

We made sure to invite Nixon's (and mom's) friends to share the fun

Ryker showing Nixon how this thing works

This little bike was probably his favorite thing there. His legs were a little to short to push himself 
around, good thing mom was there to lend a push or two.

Sending some mail off to dad

Hey

He didn't care for this little hide away to much.

He sure loves getting a good taste of the toys before he decides to play with them.

Ready to hit the town in his pickle car

Nixon and his cute friends!! 

Love this little boy!

Playing with the bus

This kid sure likes looking at himself in the mirror

 The museum was a lot of fun! Nixon was probably a little young to fully take in all the museum
attractions, but we for sure will be back and by then I'm sure Nixon will be walking and climbing on everything!

Another thing on my to do list was to take Nixon on his first carousal ride. I remember a mall by my parents house having one when I was young and luckily it's still there!

We first had to stop and eat at the yummy Cheesecake Factory

Doesn't he look excited for this ride

He got to ride the carousal twice. Once with grandma...

and once with mom.
He seemed to enjoy it. He didn't show to much emotion either way to know, but  no tears were shed so I take that as he enjoyed it. :)

The last big thing on my to do list was to go to the zoo. My sister was able to come into town for a couple days and join us at the zoo!

He didn't seem to care to much for the giraffes

He'd probably walk through the whole park this way if he could

Trying to figure out what these animals are.

We tried to tell him it was a wart hog, He apparently didn't know what that was.

fueling up before we check out the petting zoo

He wasn't sure about these goats

He finally mustered up some courage to get a little closer. 

He's more of a looker then a toucher

He did like looking at the cow (probably because he didn't have to get near it)

He's pretty strong

Checking out this cool tractor with friend Braydon and aunt Chelsie

Helping Aunt Chelsie milk the cow

Nixon looks pretty excited to see these monkeys 

Having so much fun!!

It was fun to have my friends Lacey and Trisha and their kids there to join in on the fun.

There should be a monkey in the picture somewhere

That face! haha

Too cute!

"What animal is that mom?"

"an orangutan? ok cool"

Best buds

Checking out the elephants

nap time was sneaking up on us

Water break 

Staring contest

My sister has a bucket list and one thing on her bucket list was to pet a giraffe. She wasn't allowed to touch the giraffe but she did get to feed it, which was close enough.

My cute little buddies

It was a lot of fun going to the zoo with these guys! 

 The thing I was MOST excited to do while we were in Arizona was having the wonderful opportunity to walk through the Gilbert Temple open house with my family.

Doesn't he look adorable in his little temple booties! :)

Chelsie is sure excited about this cool fountain :)

We are so blessed to have this boy sealed to us for all eternity!

One of my favorite pictures!

Uncle Zac and his favorite little buddy

This temple is SO beautiful! We missed having Lance there, but I'll for sure bring him back to see it!

I loved walking through the temple with my family! I love them so much and am so glad I get to be with them forever!

Sadly our trip had to come to an end. It stinks living so far away from my family and friends, but I am grateful we are only one state away.

Our flight was an early 7:30am flight and luckily (for now) Nixon is a morning person, Also it's nice that the flight is only a little over an hour long. 

I figured it would be a normal flight; clear skies, landing on time, all that jazz. Well I was in for a long morning!

The flight itself went well, it wasn't until it was time to land that the real fun started to happen. We get into provo airspace and the pilot said we should be landing soon. About 20-30 minutes later we were still in the air, flying in circles. The pilot came on the intercom and began telling us the fog is to thick to land right now so we're going to keep circling for a while to see if it lifts enough so we can land. This was not news I wanted to hear! I had a wrestles boy wanting to get down from my lap and crawl around and I was getting a little motion sickness.

After about 45 minutes of making circles the pilot came back on the intercom and told us the fog isn't lifting and we were running low on fuel so we were going to fly to the Ogden airport to land and refuel and wait for the fog to lift. We landed at the Ogden airport and were able to get up and move around but they told us to stay on the plane until they got their next weather report update. They check the weather conditions at the top of every hour and they had just checked it, so we had to wait an hour for the next report. 

Lance had left work early to pick us up at our 9am arrival time but we weren't there. He waited and waited tracking our plane on his phone and noticing the flight just kept circling in the air and then took off heading north. We were able to use our phones during this time so I called lance and told him of the situation and that I didn't know how long we would be in Ogden so he could go back to work and I would call if we ever made it to Provo. 

We waited on the plane another hour+ to hear the latest weather report. During this time Nixon was getting pretty cranky and needed a nap. The thing about this kid and naps is he is not one to fall asleep in your lap. He will fight tooth and nail if you hold him in the cradle position and try and force him to nap but if he's tired enough he won't put up a fight for to long. I didn't have much room to cradle him in my seat or the aisle so I went up to the front of the plane and rocked him to sleep. When I knew he was out I went back to my seat to sit and rest my arms on something while holding him (this kid isn't as small as he once was). 

The airplane bathrooms are small to begin with and then you pull down the baby changing table and it gets pretty snug in there.

I had not been sitting down for more then maybe 5-10 minutes when the pilot came on and told us that they just received the weather report and the fog isn't lifting so they were going to have everyone get off the plane and wait inside the airport until the next weather report. Luckily I only had my diaper bag to carry but it was still an experience trying not to wake Nixon while gathering my things and getting off the airplane. He kept sleeping right up until I sat down inside the airport. I was hoping the 20-30 minute power nap he got would be enough to keep him happy until we got home.

We waited in the airport for about another hour when finally the pilot told us the fog had lifted and we could get back on the plane and head to Provo. We finally made it to Provo around 1, four hours past our scheduled arrival time.

It was good to be home and to see my wonderful, handsome husband after 2.5 weeks.

Lance got Nixon this teddy bear from his trip and as you can see they are going to be the best of friends.