No place like home

I took a quick trip to visit home over Labor Day weekend.... It surely was a busy vacation, so can you really call it a vacation? Probably huh? It was great. I did tons!

Scorpions - So, yeah, the last time I went to AZ I had the encounter with the scary scorpions. I was well aware and still slightly afraid to sleep, but I was successful and didn't get stung. Thursday night, when I got in, Eric picked me up and drove me to Dad's house. We ate dinner at like 10 pm and then I decided I wanted him to show me how to scorpion hunt. I would be sleeping with a black light and needed to know what to look for if I saw one. Well, probably not the smartest idea I've had... I did see them... but after I saw about 5 crawl out of the back wall of the backyard, I was feeling all creepy crawly and knew I would have nightmares. Amanda (we'll get to her) and I watched from afar as Eric spraid and killed them. The last straw was when #4 scorpion fell from above and probably could have landed on me - I was definitely done after that... hahah. Eww. Sleeping that night was rough to say the least. I woke up every hour and re-checked everything with the black light. Here's what one looks like with the black light on it. It's neon like the color white is in disco lighting etc...

Wakeboarding - I went wakeboarding with Lexie on Friday!! (YES, she happened to be visiting AZ too that week with her family!!). I learned how to almost jump the wake. I totally got a lot better though and had a blast. Boating in AZ was a lot warmer, and more enjoyable for some points. I wish I could do that more!!! We went to the Saguaro lake around 8 am and stayed till about 2. They let me wakeboard a couple times, and after watching all the pros - I figured out how to glide outside the wake and cut back and stuff. Lexie and Rob and his brothers and sisters went as well and they were just awesome. I loved seeing Lexie for the few hours that we could chat. And I think they all had a blast taking a few hours out of the kid life to play as adults. :) (the middle pic is Lexie, yeah I wish I was that good!!)

Lunch - Friday I went to lunch with Dad and Diane. I was able to spend some one on one with both of them a few times over the weekend seeing that I slept at their house, ate with them, taxied around with them, etc etc. I love my parents. It's so nice we can chat and laugh and just have fun together. The funniest part of the lunch, to journal, was when Diane was on the phone with Briand explaining that Max (we'll get to him soon!!!) will adjust to taking a bath soon enough. Her exact phrase was, well, new born babies aren't too comfortable being naked and all exposed. It was hilarious to me because right then I thought - and us as adults like our naked bodies all exposed??? Yeah right!! Hahah, it was just, well, you had to be there....

Mom's b-day Celebration - So I wanted to celebrate Mom's b-day since it would be on 9/11 and I was just missing it by one week. Eric and his girlfriend Amanda came with Mom and I to Teriyaki Kitchen for dinner and then bowling afterwards. It was a lot of fun. I was pretty exhausted, more than that, from boating, so I was pretty impatient but also feeling kind of silly and mom can always be like that, so we all had fun. Amanda fit right in - I love how she can laugh and have fun with us too. And I knew that I had to take advantage of Eric wanting to come - usually if he's dating someone, he's more likely to be outgoing and want to do stuff with his family, so hence, I put it together. I hope mom had a good time :) Eric won the bowling tournament. But we all did pretty good - well, they all did...hahah...

Saturday shopping - Mom and I took a quick trip to Chandler to get some stuff. I realized after about an hour that my body was even more sore, so clothes shopping was out. Sad! Instead I finally got my 24 HR fitness pass from Costco. I've been trying to get it in UT for like 3 weeks, and who knew that all I needed to do was go all the way to AZ to be able to get into Costco and them have the passes and everything... (that's another story I won't go into...)... Shopping just hasn't been my expertise this past month. Oh well...

Maximus Oviatt - So, finally, the reason I came to AZ in the first place was because Briand had her little baby boy!!! Max. He's the cutest thing ever. And I'm not biased at all. Okay, maybe a little. He is my nephew. The first! And so adorable. I'm not the baby expert, but I sure love being around them. He seems to have such a strong neck already and it was only his 4th day here! He has big blue eyes and was awake a lot. I thought babies just slept all the time when they first get here... Anyway, I spent all Saturday afternoon and evening at Briand's house. Dad and Justin left to head to the ASU game... so it was just us girls. I'm so glad I was able to spend a few hours there and get to see the after birth adjustment a bit more. Briand is such a good mom already. Her and Justin were pretty wiped out, so Diane and I tried to just hold and play with Max for the 2 hours he wasn't eating...and they would crash and sleep. Eventually Diane had to run some errands and was pretty tuckered out herself, so I got Max for several hours. And since it's my sisters baby, I felt okay if he would cry and I would still just hold him and try to calm him down. And I actually did!! Awe. Anyway, I could go on and on, but instead I'll post some pictures. Also, a funny story is that earlier yesterday at lunch I knew I'd be eating my words, but I said anyway, that I'm not ready for kids and they are just hard and stuff. But here I was holding Max and I want one!! Yep. Someday though, I'm not ready yet, but I will just have to surround myself with more newborns. I'm sad I won't get to see Max grow except only from afar.

Sunday - I wasn't feeling 100%, so I just went to Sacrament Meeting and then spent some time at mom's. I'm always at home at my house I grew up at.... Then Dad and Diane headed back out to Briand's and I was definitely there!! So, I got a few more hours with Max before I would be heading back to UT. It was so sweet to see my Dad hold him and put him to sleep and then both of them just sitting and rocking and sleeping in the chair. Awe.

Monday - I headed home and was pretty glad to just have a few more hours to take a break from my vacation and spend time with my favorite person David.

I loved visiting home and family. What a great vacation. Thanks everyone for making it such a great trip. I LOVE YOU!!