Arizona Christmas 2011

The day after Christmas, we headed to AZ to spend some time with Carly's family. Joey and Katie came too. They had been wanting to visit, so this was their chance to go without making a whole separate trip. We really enjoyed having the time to be together.

Joey is loving being a dad! Jackson is a pretty easy-going little guy with a sweet and pleasant disposition.

When he's getting sleepy, or when his mom is close by so he can hold onto her hair, Jackson sucks his thumb.

Carly and Rich took us all out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant called, "Brio". The table was set with very large forks, which didn't slow Bella down from eating her macaroni and cheese! It was a delicious lunch in a lovely setting, similar to Victoria Gardens, here in Rancho.

We stopped on the way home to have a look at the progress that's being made on the Gilbert Temple. It's going to be bigger than I thought. I didn't realize that not all of the new temples are small! This is the largest temple built since 1997. There are a lot of church members in the area. Carly said where they live it's close to 25% LDS.

We went to a train museum in Scottsdale where the kids got to play and have fun. This time of year the weather is beautiful in AZ. It was actually cooler there than in California this week.

More of the new temple.

Bella sat with us on the train ride. Soon after we got started, she noticed Evan and Audra weren't around, so asked where they were. They jumped into the "cattle car", which was too small for an adult to sit in or go in to get them, so they got to stay by themselves. This was a little upsetting to Bella, who doesn't like to be left out of anything the other kids get to do!

Grandpa with the girls.

Bella loves her babies!

Here's Evan, all excited about his gift from the Ellsworths.

We had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes the first night. Jackson and his dad have fun everywhere they go!

Joey's playing with Bella and her new toys.