Our New AZ Home!

Many people have been asking to see pictures of our new home in AZ so here you go!  Brian had found this house after being in AZ a few weeks and showed it to Sara along with many others on a day trip with our realtor.  We could definitely see ourselves in this house but it was listed above our budget so we kept watch on it and eventually it dropped a few times so that we put in an offer!

It's in Fireside at Desert Ridge and is a beautiful community complete with resort style pools, fitness center with daycare, parks, community center and a brand new elementary school....all within walking distance of our house!  The Desert Ridge shopping area is also only 1.5 miles from our house so we can walk and bike there for meals, entertainment, clothes and grocery shopping...and Target (yipppee!) 

The house was built late in 2007 and has 5 bedrooms/4 bathrooms plus loft, media room and formal dining room.  There is a guest suite on the main floor and then the master suite and 3 other bedrooms upstairs.  It's just perfect and we welcome any and all visitors!!

Easter

 We had a wonderful Easter in AZ!  Usually we would spend Easter in AZ anyway (unless B was in China for work) but now we live here :)  We went to Troon Country Club for Easter brunch with the Hillins' friends.  It was fabulous...we all ate way too much!

 Trevor really enjoyed the bacon and going outside to watch the golfers!  After brunch we came back and found that the Easter Bunny paid us a visit. 

 Trevor really got into spotting the eggs and putting them into his basket!

 Then he would proudly show us what he did/got!

 He was having so much fun even Skip It got left behind!

 And when his Elmo basket got too heavy to carry, Papa John followed him around :)

 Hey where's my basket??

 The look of too many jelly beans plus wanting to keep going and find more eggs but being all done in the courtyard:

 But wait, the Easter Bunny hit the front yard too!  Yay!

 After nap we went to the 'jumpy water' park - Dada rode a bike for exercise and had fun having his boys chase him:

 Trevor is very into chase right now.  He says 'chase me' or 'I'm chasing you' and then runs!

 Trevor isn't able to keep up with Randle yet, but he sure tries:

 Love this picture because it shows how Randle just stops because he is too winded but Trevor is raring to go!

 Trevor runs with his arms down and it's just too cute!

 Also love this picture, look how happy Trevor is running to Dada with Papa chasing him!

 No trip to the 'jumpy waters' park is complete without at least putting your feet in the jumpy waters!

 A ride on his motorcycle:

 Trevor LOVED the fact that Papa went down the slide.  Look at him all ready to give a high-five!

 We hadn't yet gone in the pool so nothing like a little nighttime dip!

 Another beautiful sunset:

 So of course we are going to have a quick family pic:

 Good night AZ with your pink and blue clouds :)

AZ!

The first place we pulled in when Sara and her Mom arrived in AZ was Brian's new place of employment.  Although, not too new to him since he's been employed at PetSmart since February 22nd but still we wanted to check it out!  Added bonus was that Brian popped out to say hi!

It's a beautiful campus and even has a parking ramp for all employees - nice in the summer so your car isn't 1000 degrees :)













Trevor was anxiously awaiting our arrival to Grandpa and Papa John's house...for more than 2 hours he was sitting in the drive way in a chair just waiting, waiting, waiting!  And boy did we get a big welcome when we pulled in!  Trevor just kept saying 'My Mommy, my Mommy, my Mommy' which melted Mommy's heart and he showed Sara the sign he made for her!  Randle gave us a few yodels too :)

Trevor really enjoyed having 3 of his Grandparents, his parents and his doggy all together!  Mommy and Daddy did too!!  But before you knew it it was time for Grandma Jeanne to fly back to MN :(  Not before lots of cuddles and playing though!!  So thankful for Sara's Mom driving to AZ with her and for the Hillins for taking such good care of Trevor when we weren't there!

Road trip!

On April 2nd Nana and Papa Steve came up to watch T during the day so Mommy and Daddy could run errands and do some last minute things before we headed off to AZ - Mommy and Nana by car, Trevor and Daddy by plane.  Trevor always enjoys his time with his 4 grandparents and today was no exception because he got to go to the park and on a nature walk with Nana!

Trevor was all excited about going to the airport and on the airplane with Dada.  Only Dada had time to blow Mommy kisses....Trevor was like 'lets go Dada!!'

After spending the night in Owatonna, Sara and her Mom hit the road early in the morning to make sure they had plenty of time to get to Wichita, KS to see Sara's cousin Anne Marie and her family!  It was so nice to catch up!  Hopefully we can meet up again this summer sometime!!

After a long day of driving we made it to Oklahoma City and spent the night.  Day number two on the road was filled with lots more driving and an awful dinner but we decided to spend the night in Flagstaff...and it's a good thing we did because after getting settled in the hotel room Sara checked her email and learned we had an offer on our house!

After some countering back and forth the next day we learned that we received another offer as well!  In the end we ended up going with the first people and later discovered that these were the people that were moving back to the US after being in Switzerland for a few years for the husband's job.  She is actually the daughter of friends of friends of Sara's parents and the people that Sara had been corresponding with before the house officially was on the market.  Funny how things work out!  They specifically were looking for a home in Golden Valley for the preschools/schools in which their two boys are attending in the Fall!

We feel very, very blessed that our home sold in 21 days...and with the PetSmart % bonus incentive to sell in 120 days we got close to asking price.  Our neighbor Katie texted a pic of the sold sign when it went up :)

Bye Cousins

 When Brian was home on various weekends we got to see Jeff, Dawn and the girls as well as Jim, Annie and Sam.  Unfortunately we didn't bring a camera when we went to Jeff and Dawn's but we did have it in tow at Jim and Annie's so we snapped a few pictures of the silly boys.  What's with the picture above you ask?  Well we had to remember how clever Sam is.  When we said he couldn't go outside right at that moment he was not afraid to plan his escape by sliding a chair over to the back door, climbing up and unlocking the door!!  Stinker!

 What clowns we have for boys!  Since Sammy was wearing his Daddy's sunglasses, Trevor wanted to wear his own sunglasses (that look a tad crooked here but are usually just fine).  We said we were going to take their picture and Sam instantly posed with his arms crossed so Trevor quickly followed!

 We then said give each other a hug and instead Sam leaned over and kissed T!

 Trevor wasn't sure what to think of that!

 But he gave him a smooch right back! 

And we couldn't leave without one last picture of the Code-man aka Cody!

Baby Max Visits

 Sara's cousins Katie and Anne as well as Katie's son Max came to say goodbye on Sunday.  It's amazing to see this little guy grow up right before our eyes. What adorable dimples he has!!

 Trevor enjoyed playing with Max but Max was definitely more fascinated with Trevor than vice versa.  You can almost hear Max shrieking in delight over Trevor!

And before Sara's camera battery conked out again on baby Max we got a few cute shots of him!