Fun month with Daddy around

James lucked out last month (February) by getting an easier rotation schedule- he got some days off here and there, and it was so fun having him around more often than usual!

Here is what we did with some of the free time-

X treme ice blocking 

 

Hiking at Deem Hill Park... As you may be able to tell from this picture, James wasn't thrilled about the idea right off. Like all of my ideas though, it ended up being great:) Plus, we managed to squeeze Eden into a baby carrier...with less difficulty than we anticipated. 

Jump Street

   This place was a blast. The moment I saw the giant trampolines and the price (parents were free) I fell in love. 

We should have taken more pictures. The kids section also had giant blow up toys and other stuff for the kids.  I think I enjoyed it more than anyone else did though, reliving my childhood with my old gymnastics moves. Definitely worth the $4 for the entire family!

After coming home from Jump Street, we made homemade mozerella and ricotta cheese...something the overly-ambitious James has been wanting to do for a while. 

We put the cheese onto a homemade pizza. It didn't melt as nicely as the store bought stuff, but was still delicious!

James's parents also came down one weekend while James had some time off. We went to the children's museum, picked lemons, and went to the Gilbert temple open house. Like always, they spoiled us by taking us out to eat and spending money on us.

Benson and Eden loved riding Grandma's scooter  

Picasso in training

Noodle Forest

I love to see the temple

We bypassed all the lines with this scooter!

James joined some ward members in a Ragnar Relay.  He was filling in last minute for another teammate that had bailed.  He really loved it, and now wants to get a team together for next year.  He ran 3 legs of the race that ended up being about 15 miles.  The race was 203 miles divided between the 12 person team.

 Unfortunately, he lost his team shirt.  Luckily its not too obvious in the team pic

 We came to cheer him on at the finish line. 

 

Fortunately, James had joined us for our morning jog 3 times that month (definitely a new record) before he even was asked to run the Ragnar.

Here is a pic of our Valentines Day dinner/birthday dinner for Ali. It was at 'Different Point of View.' A very expensive and fancy place, so I knew James would love it.  We went with Bob and Kate Stewart, and Ali and Mike. The view was beautiful and the giant windowns reminded me of 'the Roof' restaurant in Salt Lake, (minus the temple, of course). 

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera (I'm still mad at myself for that), but here a a couple of low quality phone pics of the place and the group. 

And someday we'll be able to pay that meal off 

Here is James's Valentine's Day breakfast in bed he made me. He is a pro at breakfast crepes. It tasted even better than it looks. 

Lastly, James surprised me by taking me and the kids to Sedona on one of his days off. We hiked Devil's Bridge and had a great time.

For being in the one of world's energy vortex's, I was expecting more of an energy boost.  In spite of the lack of energy I had though, I was surprised at how beautiful the rock formations were and could see why Sedona is so popular.