ESCAPE TO ARIZONA

The past couple of months

or maybe I should say year

have been a little rough. Jason has been traveling a ton, I've been pregnant and sick and we have not gone anywhere!

I had a sudden urge to get away and take a little trip with the girls while Jas, once again, would be gone. Conveniently, my best college buddy Mel was holding down her own fort back home in Arizona while her hubby Mike was away.

It couldn't have worked out more perfectly.

The roadtrip started off a little rough. I literally scraped up $200 for gas and food, packed up and left. We had a little setback on the road due to lousy MapQuest directions. Even halfway to Arizona I was second guessing the whole trip. So impromptu for me. I used to be more like that till I had kids. Now I like time to mentally and physically prepare for adventures. But despite it all, we made it and the girls were fabulous for the six hour drive! We pulled in to the Proudfits home around 10:30 p.m. exhausted.

The kids were ecstatic to be back together again! They are all around the same age and have so much fun together! Our first day there, Mel inflated their giant waterslide and the kids played for hours in the backyard while Mel and I visited in the cool, air conditioned home!

They seriously could not have had more fun! They were pretty brave... doing all sorts of tricks down the waterslide!

Afterward, we decided it was time to hit up my favorite place,
Cafe Rio!
Yes, they have one now in Arizona too!



We piled the nine of us into the car and drove 45 minutes to the restaurant.
Totally worth it!


Mel and I

When we finally arrived, the kids were starving! I think almost all of them were crying.

CHAOS.

We sat down and ordered the usual:

Carne asada burrito, black beans, medium sauce, enchilada style! Oh... and 10 free child quesadilla's Please!!!
We were a sight!

But we were happy!!!

The kids inhaled the food. Ten quesadilla's was not enough.

I think we ordered three or four more!

Thanks for the free hookups, Mel!

The aftermath.

I punished it.

Isaac and Kylee were such good friends the whole time we were there.

Isaac truly was a good sport being the only boy out of seven kids!

What do you think?

Arranged Marriage?

Then one of the days we hit up the local recreational facility

which was a mini waterpark for $3 a head!
It was so nice to float around the lazy river with my big belly and cool off!

We stayed for a few hours but even with water one can only take so much of the heat!

Jaidyn and Raegan

Best of Friends!

We weren't sure when we were going to go back home to California. We knew we had to be back in time for Andrew's baptism on Saturday. Raegan had still been ill and had been on antibiotics that whole week and was spiking fevers again, so I felt like I needed to get her home and back in to see the doctor. We left on Friday. Raegan was so over the "usual" chicken and fries fast food order, so we stopped in and got her a burrito! We had no idea it would be so big! We all thought it was so funny when she unwrapped it.

Her face: Priceless!

Thanks Mel for an awesome time in Arizona!

We had a great family summer vacation!