Summer Fun in Flagstaff

In late June to early July, we had an unexpectedly lengthy stay in Flagstaff due to our van's transmission's demise (as explained in a previous post). But what better place to be "stuck" than Pa and Grandma's house? We all enjoyed our time with family and were happy to trade Phoenix heat (record temperatures one weekend!) for Flagstaff cool and monsoon rains!

The Three Amigos in the neighborhood forest

Jeremy rented a car to return to Phoenix for a couple long days at the office. Then he drove back up to Flagstaff with a work computer and worked remotely the rest of the time we were there. We were thankful he only had to take a few days of PTO for the almost-two weeks we spent waiting on our car repair!

(We were surprised to discover Flagstaff rental car companies do not allow for one-way rentals, nor do they typically have cars that can fit a family of six with four car seats. It was just too complicated to try to get our whole family back down to Phoenix with the van stuck indefinitely in Flagstaff.)

We're so thankful for Scott and Dortha's gracious hospitality. We so enjoyed our vacation with them, from scrumptious breakfasts to hikes on Mt. Elden to daily trips to feed the chickens next door. None of the kids wanted to come home once our van was finally fixed, nearly two weeks later.

The kids liked eating meals at Grandma's little picnic table or the patio table in the yard . . . 

The hikes in the nearby forest and our beautiful day at Buffalo park were so fun and refreshing. We all loved the clouds, cool weather, and rain!

Lydia and Abby loved balancing on fallen logs, and all three kids liked climbing the bike jump dirt piles and sliding down. They clambered up rocks, listened for birds, skirted around ant hills, poked at holes along the path, and Abby even sat on a cactus--twice!

 Abby in black shirt, Lydia in pink

As you can tell, they made good use of Grandma's cowboy hats!

I enjoyed seeing some lovely flora after the rains--and Elden was quite green!

What fun it was to have time with the cousins, too!

A, L, K

We saw a lot of Kezzie and Elias while in Flagstaff. Both were over at Grandma and Pa's quite a bit, what with their parents' work schedules and Emily not feeling well. We did see their parents, too; Grandma hosted many dinners for everyone. Our kids enjoyed playing at Kezzie's house one morning before Anna, Justin, and Kez left for Alaska. And Emily and James hosted everyone for a Fourth of July marshmallow roast--a sticky and memorable event! (Unfortunately our camera had run out of battery by then, so I only have phone pictures. Maybe I can upload them--not sure how the quality is for the blog.)

 Abby and E

 Lydia and Elias sporting Grandma's good cooking

For some of the crew, Shashy was another highlight of the trip. Lydia especially dogged Shashy's every footstep. The poor old dog was worn out by all the attention she got while we were there. Abby warmed up to her, but never felt entirely comfortable with her and would still sometimes let out a shriek of terror if Shashy ambled by.

And we can't forget Clara! She loved practicing her climbing skills on Grandma and Pa's stairs, and even could get up a few by the end of our time there. She army-crawled around the house, was fascinated with Shashy, and got over more of her stranger anxiety.

Visitors

We've been blessed with a nice stream of visitors this year. Though now belated, I want these photos on the blog for posterity, so here's a bit about two of our May/June visitors . . .

My friend Kara flew in from Colorado for Memorial Day weekend. She graciously and seamlessly joined in with our chaos-as-usual.

Look how much littler Clara looked about three months ago!

Kara met Clara back in December. But at the end of May, Clara was quite a different babe: smiley, interested in everyone and everything, grabby, and a little shy of strange faces and terrified of Facetime (as Kara discovered when she tried to show Clara to her parents!).

Can you tell we had a child photographer?

All the kids loved having Aunt Kara around to oblige in playing and reading books. We enlisted her help in making and canning some salsa with our excessive tomato crop, too. And of course, we enjoyed her company and good conversation most of all!

Clara loves Lydia's curls!

After dropping Kara at the airport Tuesday evening after Memorial Day, we drove over to Scottsdale to meet up with Liz, one of my roommates from college, and her husband. We picnicked in a park with them, and then Liz came over for several hours the following day. We hadn't seen each other since our friend-and-roommate Mallory's wedding, way back in 2010!

And the day after Liz visited, we packed up the van and dapper duds and drove up to Flagstaff for a whirlwind wedding weekend. (Sorry about the alliteration.)

I've posted previously about Daniel and Lauren's wedding, so look up those posts for pictures of that. But here I'll jump to the next visitor: my sister Elisabeth, better known 'round these parts as Aunt Bobo.

This was Elisabeth's first time meeting Clara!

 

We came back from the wedding weekend Sunday evening (June 5th), unloaded the van, got the kids a late supper and put them to bed, and then I picked up Elisabeth from the airport around midnight. She stayed with us til Thursday.

Abby likes doing crazy faces now, too

During our drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix, Josiah had been detailing his plans for new Lego creations (he dearly missed his Lego in the few days we were gone). He had a mental design for an "underwater policeman's ship" in particular. Lo and behold, Aunt Bobo brought him just about exactly what he wished for: a little Lego set with a "good guy" driving an underwater ship to take jewels away from an evil octopus! He was over the moon with ecstasy.

And the girls were not forgotten! Aunt Bobo's sets for them included little kitties and bunnies and pet accessories. They were thrilled to have Lego of their very own for the first time.

Besides just bringing Lego, Aunt Bobo also complied with the children's requests that she play Lego with them. Some days it seemed Josiah asked, "Aunt Bobo, will you play with me?" just about every other minute. Any time we got sidetracked with talking, housework, cooking, etc., he'd remind her of her primary visitor duty. :)

Playing Star Wars or Pirates or Robin Hood . . . 

Aunt Bobo is surely the bad guy, whatever game it is!

June Wedding

Yikes--I'm so behind in posting my pictures! How many posts can I cram into the last week in August? Or perhaps more to the point, how much time will I have to devote to blogging this next week?

Enough questions. I'd better get down to business if I'm ever to share pictures of the last few months. So here goes with a smattering of pictures from Daniel and Lauren's wedding. (I posted about the rehearsal, but not the wedding. Their professional pictures are beautiful, but unfortunately I didn't download any before the photographer took them all off her site. So here are some from our camera.)

Lovely little stream! 

I think I mentioned before that Daniel and Lauren chose a beautiful spot in Sedona (or really Oak Creek--just a little north of Sedona). Unfortunately the day turned out to be quite hot--103 was the high, and the wedding was at 3 p.m. in full sun. As you can see, the kids got plenty sweaty before the ceremony began . . .

I waited till the last minute to change them into their "wedding clothes," as they called them. And even then, I trembled lest they fall, run, fight, climb, or otherwise engage in shenanigans in the walk from the bathroom to the meadow spot where the ceremony was held. Thankfully they made it there and even waited their turn without mussing their clothing.

Despite the changes in her schedule, lots of new people, and heat, Clara behaved beautifully. She happily went with Desiree (family friend from Uzbekistan days) and her husband, Kevin, while I readied the other children and coached them down the aisle and then kept them subdued during the ceremony. I was so thankful for Clara's easy-going nature and for Desiree and Kevin's generous help!

 E with Lala on the left, Kez with Des on the right

Aunt Barbara and Grandma (sisters)

Aunt Barbara and Aunt Bonnie

Josiah, Lydia, and Abby enjoyed their moment in the spotlight as they walked up the aisle. Josiah was disappointed not to be entrusted with any rings, but he carried his empty pillow like a man. :) Lydia and Abby faithfully threw their flowers, and L tried to make them come out even (so as to have enough to throw all the way to her seat). 

Abby

But of course, you want to see the bride and groom, too:

James and Justin did the music

 They were excited to be wed!

Lauren's brother Tim officiated, and he cut the ceremony short because of the heat. Afterwards came pictures and hors d'oeuvres and lots of water.

Two of our favorites!

Our children were all about the snacks. They gobbled up fruit, crackers, and cheese and were "still hungry" when we got in the car to head back to Flagstaff for the reception.

 Abby and Clara

Then we loaded up and drove back up the winding road and over the rim to Flagstaff for the reception. I sat in the car for awhile with sleeping girls, but eventually we joined everyone at the restaurant patio for some good food and lots of dancing . . .

 Abby

Lydia in her signature pose 

Real best men wear babies 

 Jer giving his dreaded speech and toast

Pa and Grandma 

Josiah long anticipated the cake and watched it with an eagle eye when it appeard.

Meanwhile, everyone kept dancing and dancing . . . and when we finally rounded the kids up to drive back to Pa and Grandma's house, we were all exhausted.

The wonderful Desiree and Kevin 

I'm falling asleep as I type, so I'll wrap this up and post it. We enjoyed the fun wedding, Daniel and Lauren!