When we got back from Canada we were still able to keep really busy! Jeremy's sister and her family came into town from Ohio, and we had a blast spending a few days with them! We don't get to see them too often, but it was so much fun to catch up! The kids all loved playing every day and still ask why we can't spend every day with cousins anymore! I didn't take too many pictures of the different things we did, but I have a lot of the times I did take pictures! haha so here's what I documented!
The first one has nothing to do with that, but Mason is so funny. I came upstairs to go to bed and, as usual checked in on the kids first. I looked in and couldn't see Mason, but he is often not in quite the same place I left him. So I walked around his room looking under blankets and beds and couldn't find him! I went to put something down in my room so I could keep looking, and found him like this on our bed! He is always making me laugh!
The first thing we did with cousins was the Children's Museum of Phoenix. We have been before, but it had been a long time. What a great place though! The kids LOVED it! And I would totally take them all the time if it were closer and cheaper! We spent just over 3 hours there, and then had to leave for food and naps, but my kids were nowhere near done! Next time we'll plan to make a day of it!
The grocery store/food prep area is always the biggest draw for the girls! And the boys too!
Not for Owen though.. he enjoyed that, but not nearly as much as this thing. You just climb up and let little trains rush down the track... couldn't pull him away from this thing!
Promising career as a hot dog vendor!
That night we met back up at Desert Ridge for some splash pad fun and entertainment. This is a horrible picture, but Owen just loved Uncle Nate (holding his hand with his face covered by a tree) and the personal tour of the candy store didn't hurt matters either!
Saturday was the waterpark day, which I have no photos of because, being 8.5 months pregnant, I stayed home. Owen and I got a lot of things done, and I always enjoy one on one time with my little boy! And the kids and daddy had a BLAST at the water park too! We kept the party going that night with a bbq and swimming at Jared and Syl's place. Stayed out way too late, but everyone loved it! Sunday morning... not so much!
Sunday evening we had a little Patterson get together at the church with a bunch of the family that lives here. This is the 5lb gummy bear that Uncle Nate purchased at the candy store.... we tried, but were unable to down the sucker. I tried to help, but gummy bears are not my favorite! The kids were very excited about the challenge though!
On the side of all the excitement we are potty training. So at home he runs around in his undies a lot... but when he put this get-up together, I almost died. What a striking construction worker! His career prospects are endless!
I let the boys get a donut at the store... Owen didn't listen to the "don't get messy" part very well!
I don't know if this video will work, but the next evening we got to go to Jeremy's dad's place to swim in his pool and play in his yard and have a bbq. This was very exciting because his yard is AWESOME!!!! They redid the pool last summer, but it took a lot longer than planned at this was the first time we got to use it! It is pretty incredible, and the kids definitely loved it! It is like 12 feet deep and has a 23 foot jump you can do, a lot of jumps at all other heights, a rope swing, a climbing wall, a water slide, two waterfalls, misters all over and a miniature golf coarse weaving all around it. Pretty awesome! Mason kept jumping from the 10 foot ledge without even a hesitation. He tried to go up higher with the big kids, but I kept him at 10 feet for my own mental well-being!
We went boating on the lake the next day with Jeremy's dad again. He was so nice to take us all! It was a big crew! We came late and only got to boat for a few minutes before a monsoon storm hit like CRAZY and we were all scrambling to get out of the water and get the kids (who were like hysterical) under cover. Talk about excitement! My boat ride that I was counting on to put me into labor got cut pretty short though, so here I am a week and a half later....
BUT after that we got cleaned up and met for family photos. This is how I think I will do Brenna's hair for the first day of school! And Aunt Haleigh putting some flowers in made it even more beautiful!
I wanted a picture of my kids lookin all dolled up (and since I'm not nuts about photos, I don't have one of me, but many were taken.. yay) and the progression of Mason's faces cracks me up... he is nothing if not expressive!
After that we dumped all the kids at Jared's daycare with Grandma Cook (sorry Grandma! 14 is a lot of kids!) and went out for adults only dinner! Which was awesome! So nice when you get a chance to do that!
And all of this partying and late nights led to many drives home like this! So mature already with his leg cross!
We LOVED having the Clarks visit, and all the time we got to spend with family! Hopefully we will see them again soon! I hear Ohio's nice too, so maybe we'll find out one day! Since then things have slowed down a bit. I have been keeping pretty busy getting things ready for the baby, but am now at a point where there isn't much else to do, and I'm having a hard time keeping my mind off how much I'd like to just be done and have my cute little baby to snuggle. So, wish me luck! Could be today! (which is what I say every day!)
