Today a surprise rainstorm kept us trapped on the porch, but we didn't really mind.

"Why not?" you ask.

That's right, my Arizona friends. It's 75 degrees here right now. 

The Rest of the Trip

The rest of our trip went something like this:

(in no particular order)

*Spend the Day at the Lake 

*Play Hide-and-Seek in the Cool Chest

*Swim

*Mow the Lawn

*Have a Birthday Party

(Get a Really Cool Truck)

*Play in the Hose

(without permission)

*Just Because

*Get Held a Lot

*Swim Some More

*Fly Home

We had such a great time and wish we could do it again. We love you all! Come and play with us sometime.

Grandpa

One of the reasons for our visit to AZ was to see my grandpa, Jay Ballard Coombs. (He's the one Jay Alvin is named after.) Grandpa had Alzheimer's for about 6 years and he passed away earlier today. We're grateful we were able to say good bye and that he was able to meet Jay Alvin. Grandpa always loved babies and that's something that the Alzheimer's never took away from him. When we took Jay Alvin over he said, "Who's this? Let me hold him." I'm grateful that grandpa is finally able to be rid of the mortal body that gave him so much trouble these past few years, but I'm sure going to miss him. We love you grandpa!

We've been in Arizona for three days now and have already gone swimming three times. We're loving it! Leo has absolutely no fear of the water, but he also has absolutely no ability to keep himself from drowning. None. It makes for quite an adventure. I am seriously chasing him around like a maniac the entire time. Especially when he gets out of the water because he'll just randomly jump in whether or not there's someone there to catch him. On Wednesday night he did this:

at least a hundred times without stopping. It was insane and hilarious. At one point he even fell in the spa on his way around. It didn't even slow him down. He just climbed out and jumped right back in the pool. I think we'll be starting swimming lessons when we get back to Utah.

The day before we left for AZ the construction workers who are re-building the street in front of us were kind enough to put an eight foot high pile of dirt right in front of our house. 

(This is our house.)

At first I thought, "Oh great. I'm going to have to keep Leo out of that dirt pile all day." But then he didn't even seem to notice it. After we'd passed it by three or four times on our way around and around the block I started to think, "It would be pretty fun to climb all over that. I mean, it's a little boy's dream." Then I started thinking, "Shoot, I want to climb all over that. . . . I'm gonna." And I did. It was a lot of fun. 

Leo must have climbed up and slid down at least a dozen times.

Jay even got in on the fun.

At one point Ty was using Jay Alvin's foot to kick dirt on Leo while Leo was trying to climb up. Leo finally stopped and totally gave Jay a, "What the crap?" look. It was hilarious.

I'm almost sad that it will be gone by the time we get back.

Leo's Birthday Bash

We celebrated Leo's second birthday today (since the boys and I will be in AZ for the big day). May I just say that birthday number two was way more fun than birthday number one? Because it was. Leo was so excited about his presents.  

In fact, he could hardly make himself set one down to open the next one. (See how he's holding his new sunglasses in one hand and trying to open the next present with his other hand?)

We had to take several breaks in between presents so he could get a little play time in.

Leo's favorite gift by far was the lawnmower. (Thanks grandma, grandpa and Krystal!)

He did not want to stop playing with it. In fact, after he opened it he barely took his hands off of it until we made him come inside for cake and ice cream. (And he's been crying about not getting to eat that ice cream for the past two days.)

I, of course, broke the candle in half trying to get it out of the box and we had to melt it back together again. 

Leo was really cute blowing the candle out. It took him about 20 tries, but he did eventually do it.

And Jay Alvin got his first taste of real food. (He was hoping for the ice cream, but watermelon was a pretty good second choice.)

Happy Birthday Leo!