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!

Bday/Going Away Party

On Friday night we had a birthday/going away party at one of Sara's favorite places - Toby Keith's bar and grill (for those of you who didn't know Sara is a closet country fan complete with her own cowboy boots!).  A good time was had by all although we didn't have nearly enough time to talk to everyone with over 50 people there including Brian's past co-workers from Target and 3M as well as Sara's previous Target team and many many good friends and family members that we will miss dearly in AZ!

Benihana with Brooke!

 

For part of Brooke's birthday gift we said we would take her to a restaurant of her choice and of course we all knew where that would be .... Benihana!  Who doesn't love Benihana!!  Unfortunately with Brian's new job in AZ he didn't get to go but that was okay, girl time is just as fun!

Brooke is a fabulous eater!  Even when she said she didn't like the mushrooms in the soup, Auntie Sara showed her how to eat around them and after that it was done!  She enjoyed steak and shrimp and lots of yum, yum sauce with her rice :)

Sara could hardly believe it when she said she had room for ice cream but she took it down like a champ!  That's our niece, loves her sweets!

9.5 Years Later

Sara's passport was getting close to expiring so she got it renewed (really you never know when you are going to head out of the country on vacation so it's better to be safe than sorry). What was interesting though was when she compared her new passport photo to her old one she realized her hair color is darker and she weighs more now but she couldn't help to notice how much better she looked in the sense of how much happier she is now :) A wonderful husband, son and doggie will do that!!

Randle Goes to Work!

At PetSmart headquarters employees can bring their dog to work every Friday. Randle was lucky enough to participate and from the pictures you'll see that he had no problem fitting right in. He has an extra chair for Daddy's office:


But also has an extra bed. It's hard work when you have to go to work all day!

Trevor and Mommy

So with Dada gone all the time, you may wonder how Trevor and Mommy spent their evenings? One word folks, eating!!

Ice cream was our favorite thing to indulge in. Trevor prefers the DQ sundae with strawberries!


Eating donuts in the morning as a reward for staying in his crib all night (he HAD to have the towel as a place mat. Matter-of-fact, this towel started going everywhere with him for a few days)


We didn't go out all the time...one night Mommy tried out the new oven and made a yummy dinner:


We made cookies too. Trevor loved putting on the different sprinkles on the 'cooks'


Well, maybe we should have said eating and reading. One day Mommy took Trevor to the book store to get his favorite book that he would hoard at school "The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry and the big hungry bear" (or something like that). Trevor had a death grip on both the regular and the board book so guess what? Our spoiled boy got them both along with "Going on a bear hunt" which he knows every word to!


Back to eating...Godfather's Pizza buffet is always a hit for our big eater:


Halleluiah another non-food picture. Trevor is fascinated with the umbrella and that little stinker is a pro at opening and closing it.




More donuts...this time Mommy wised up and bought a whole box of donuts. Much more economical but much worse for the waistline.


In the spirit of expanding waist lines we headed to a place Mommy has wanted to go since going to the U of M - Annie's Malt shop/Parlor. Trevor had no problem devouring his oreo milkshake.


One day we went to the Pizza Ranch with Jim, Annie and Sam. Sam and Trevor liked eating pizza next to each other!


Another night we had a picnic in the park across the street. Trevor really digs lunchables with jello!


He also liked dipping crackers in sauce!


We picked out new shades at Target - of course Trevor picked Thomas ones. All he will wear is his Thomas shirts. And if one isn't clean for school he has no problem wearing his jammie t-shirt to school!


Bath time with Trevor is always lots of fun. The stinker surprised Mommy this time by pulling out a letter and telling her which letter it was - specifically he knew B, T, R, V, O and A!


A walk back to DQ for more ice cream :)


Trevor is a people watcher. He watched and watched as kids played tag. He was watching so intently he didn't notice that a third of his ice cream ended up on the ground!


After ice cream we stopped at the 'pirate' park to burn off some steam.


Trevor really enjoyed filling the container up with sand and then dumping it overboard!

Dada!!

Dada came home for the weekend and boy was it sure nice having him around. We spent some time organizing and purging the house but the rest of the time was spent just hanging out and having fun!

On Sunday we went to Jeff and Dawn's for a yummy brunch. As usual, Lauren and Trevor were best buds playing on the computer.


On Sunday evening we headed to our favorite restaurant walking distance from our house - D'Amico. We sure will miss that bottomless glass of wine for $5 :)