Party of 12

That's the number of people we had sleeping in our house for a few days!  Last week was Fall Break so we had most of the Shields family here for the week.  We love visitors and we love being able to spend time with family! We had Michael's Grandpa Baldwin and Grandma Barbara staying in our guest room, Christi & Bryce with Brycen and Cian staying in our spare room, Michael's mom and dad in Laila's room on an air mattress, Laila and her crib in the master room and Dallin on our couch.  It was a full house and we loved it.

Saturday we had most of our guests arriving at varied times.  Sunday we all took up a whole row at church.  Enjoyed visiting the nearby duck pond, ate a nice pot roast for dinner, and hung out together.  Michael's brother, Joshua, came up from Tucson for dinner.  Wish his wife, Laura, could have come too.  But she was busy saving lives at work.

Monday we all went to a nearby farm to see the pumpkins, enjoy a train/tractor ride, ride the bouncy horsies, enjoy the jumpy jump & slides, see the animals and get lost in the corn maze.  The farm has so many fun things to do and the weather was not quite Fall weather, but it still felt nice.

Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, Dallin and Bryce had to fly back home and Michael's grandparents headed out.  So our numbers went down, but there was still a lot fun to be had.  Tuesday morning (before Bryce left and before all the babies and most adults were awake) we went to the Mesa temple to do some work.  WAY rough to wake up at that time, but wonderful to be in the temple!  Tuesday evening, the remaining 8 drove down to Tucson for visits and pizza with Joshua and Laura.
Our nephew, Brycen, rode down with us in our small car and he did not know what to do with all the dance parties we were having, but he soon got the hang of it.  On Wednesday, Michael and his dad started working on some projects around the house.  Stay tuned for those projects.  The rest of us enjoyed being outside and biking to the park.

Wednesday night we all donated three canned foods so that we could get into the state fair.  Love the lights. Love the rides. Love seeing how many foods can be deep fried. Love the people watching.  Love it all.

 ^This goat made me miss my Gertie Goat

Thursday was another delightful day because it was Michael's dad birthday and we started our day at the Train Park in Scottsdale.

On Friday everyone was leaving us.  So we took headed out on one last adventure and took a hike that's right by our house.  Arizona definitely is a different kind of beautiful. We are glad we got to share it with Michael's family for a few days!

Utah Home

In September we were able to go to Utah and see our families.  Michael was there a few days, then he had a business trip in Pennsylvania so Adelaide and I were able to stay and play some more. We broke up the drive by staying in St. George for a night.  Michael needed to be apart of some conference calls so Laila and I went out and played in St. Geezy.  We stopped by our friend's, the Binghams, candy shop.  Definitely fun. Then we played in the beautiful red rock splash pad.

We then continued North.  Lady & the Tramp kept our girls entertained for some of it.  Then we stopped and saw Mel Mel in her new UVU college stomping grounds while we got some shopping done at BYU bookstore.  It was a win win.

The next few days we were able to play with cousins, Michael help lay a paver patio in his parents' backyard, Michael's mom had extra tickets to see "Tarzan" so she brought a friend and my wonderful friend Kelsy came along too! (Just in time since she had her first baby about a week later!) Michael enjoyed going to the BYU vs Utah game with his cousin, Jen- even though we did not enjoy the outcome.  We also got to go to my cousin's mission farewell, visit with my extended family and have a big family dinner at his family's house.

During my time there, I had a lot of fun catching up with Laura and Sharli.  We really missed Janna.  I guess that means we will have to get together again so we can get Janna there too. I loved being with my good friends and seeing our babies play together.

^ We are definitely living the dream!^

I felt very O-L-D going to see my sister's college soccer game! She played so well.  She is so talented and strong. I'm so proud of her!

^ Baka plays soccer too

Another huge highlight of the trip is when we had all five of my roommates in the same state at once!  We call it Roomie Reunion 2013.  We enjoyed a nice evening playing catch up and making pizza.  We also had a fun play date with all 9 our babies together!  Then to top it off we enjoyed an evening out together.  I'm so grateful for friendships that can withstand time!

...And I just love being with family.

To finish the trip off, I took a trip to St. George with my Dad and my Ostler Grandparents.  It was my first night away from my baby ever!  My dad did a great job distracting me with Pizza Factory and seeing "Mary Poppins" at Tuacahn before Michael and Laila met up with me and we continued to drive to our home in AZ. Not a bad week, if I do say so myself.