Our Ranch Trip

Hello again! 

So in mid-July, we went on a 10-ish day trip to Arizona. We drove down with Greg and Ilene (Garrett's parents) and they took both our girls in their car for us, which was unbelievably awesome of them. They also let us borrow their car to drive in with River, since our minivan (which I LOVE) is maybe not long-roadtrip-worthy. So the trip down was really great. Ilene is so good with kids and since Riv is formula-fed, he actually did really well for the most part too. It took us about 13 hours from start to finish, including meal- and gas-stops. 

We first headed to Mesa to stay 2 nights at Steph's house. I had never been to her house before and it was so cute! She's such a cute little decorator. So fun. Anyway, we got to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Strong that first night (and I think we got some 4 generation pics too, that I have yet to see :/ ). The kids played in her little kiddie pools and on her trampoline and we just visited. The next day we grocery shopped and ate out at Matta's Mexican restaurant, which was pretty good. Then we went to a Diamondbacks Game.

That's where this picture was taken. The whole Diamondbacks game (with tickets for our family of 4 and parking and food- since we practically ate dinner there) cost us over $100! Talk about a fancy outing, yeesh. It was fun though. Except I left a teensy bit early to meet up with Elizabeth and Chad for one last time before I wouldn't see her for a long time :( Anyway, lovely night. 

The next morning, we drove up to the Ranch. We also had a little surprise visit from Aunt Karen and Uncle Collin, and it was also nice to see them since it had been such a long time. Anyway, we drove to the Ranch and commenced vacationing.  

 Here's the best song you'll ever hear, by missy Kailyn. She's awesome. 

 Here she is playing the piano some more. It was especially fun for her to wear those ear muffs because she could turn the volume up as loud as she wanted and no one would be bothered. 

 Her cousin, Gracie, had cute little french braids like this so Kailyn wanted some too. They play so well together, it's really fun. 

 I forgot to get a before, or a during, but this is Harlie Jo after Aunt Steph gave her her first haircut ever. She did great and we are apparently starting a tradition to have Aunt Steph give our kids all their first haircuts! Only hopefully we don't wait until River is 3 to do his first one... :/

 Also, I learned something very valuable about Garrett on this trip. He LOVES Legos. At Steph's, he spent like 4 hours creating this super involved spaceship, totally on his own (no kids in sight). And then they found more Legos at the Ranch and he, Andrew, and Caleb combined their individual spaceships to make one big ultra spaceship. They were so very proud and asked me to take pictures. 

 Another fun event that occurred while at the Ranch was Garrett's and my 6th Anniversary! Yay us! We took a couples selfie and then had a little picnic in a secluded area on the property. 

 Then he took us target shooting with his gun!

 I hadn't been shooting in like over 8 years and I'd only ever gone maybe 3 times before that anyway, so I was nervous. But Garrett's a good teacher and I did pretty well. I even grazed a couple of the targets that I meant to. It was a really fun little date. 

Ok, here's is the coolest thing ever. Garrett's 88 year-old grandfather playing a little baseball. He hit quite a few of them. It was seriously awesome. 

Here's Rivvy and Great Grandpa Calder. Both bald little old men. So cute. 

And here's one with Great Grandma Calder. Also lovely. 

A few other highlights from the trip include: the kids playing on the trampoline, swing set, and pulley swing; the grown-ups playing Settlers of Catan, Dominoes, Skipbo, Cranium, etc; the boys (and a few girsl) going shooting and killing some rabbits and birds :( ; gazing at the star-filled sky and Milky Way; going thrift store shopping; watching the Bachelorette (Andi) Men Tell All; chatting with all the in-laws (which may have been my favorite part); swatting an endless amount of bugs; family pictures; and probably lots more that I am forgetting. 

It was so fun to see everyone and spend time as a family and just relax. Just for my own information I am going to include who all was there: GG's Calder, Greg & Ilene, Steph & fam, Michele & fam, us, Stafford & fam, and Aunt Donna and Hayden. 

Anyway, fun trip. The drive home seemed to go faster (partly because it actually did go faster... only 11 hours bc we went a different way and stopped a little less) but it also went really well. 

It has also been so wonderful to be back home. With hardly any bugs and a lot more air conditioning and our own space again. It's always fun to go on trips and it's also good to get back to real life. 

So there you have it; our Ranch trip. 

(I think I have one more post today... sorry for the overload :/  )