Gratigories

Little Boy Heaven - And One Very Cute Little Girl

 

 

A Potpourri of AZ Memories

From Nasvhille via Detroit to Phoenix, Mandy and the kiddos met me in the baggage claim area of the airport on Wednesday, November 6th.  Soooooooo good to see them!!!  After lots of smiles and hellos and hugs we headed to Cracker Barrel for some yummy food.  It was a beautiful AZ night and it was so pleasant to sit in a rocking chair holding Chisum watching Layla & Olivia play checkers.

This is a Thursday morning shot of Layla accompanying Olivia to school.  Layla has a later start time and her school is far enough away that Mandy and another mom carpool her and a friend.  So, after Layla got back, we went by and picked up her friend and took them to school.  The rest of that morning was pretty restful.  Porter and I spent a lot of time playing games on my iPad and Mandy & Chisum had a nice nap.  That afternoon we ran errands.

After school, Layla rode a bus with her cross country team to another school for a meet.  We went to watch her run.  She was disappointed in herself, but she had been really sick with a stomach virus the two days previous.  She still wasn't eating very much and was pretty drained which resulted in her not being able to finish the race.  She got a big E for effort, though.  (She had another meet the evening of the day I left and was close to being back to her old self).  After her meet, we went for soup and sandwiches at a nearby restaurant.  Layla's bread bowl filled with soup was just was she needed to revive her spirits and her strength.

Porter practicing the long jump during Layla's race

On Friday while the girls were at school, Mandy, the boys, and I went to Lowe's for some paint (for a project we never got to) and a wooden post (for a project we never got to).  While we were there, I bought an orange tree and a lemon tree for Mandy's yard.  I also bought a bougainvillea.  I love, love, love those things and they just won't flourish in this TN climate.  And believe me, I've tried.  And how could I resist the idea of fresh lemons and oranges in my own back yard?  Not me - and Mandy's backyard is as close as I'll be to having fresh citrus.  I'll just have to enjoy them vicariously through her.  We also shopped at Target, and then went home and made a BIG pot of cream of vegetable soup and garlic cheddar biscuits to eat over the weekend and beyond.  That night, we watched a video and Mandy made some yummy cookies and popcorn.  

Neighborhood Friends

A Neighborhood Roadrunner

Olivia wanted to sleep with me Friday night.

This is the last thing I saw before I went to bed :)

On Saturday, Porter and Olivia were invited to a neighbor's birthday party.  It was a Pound Puppy theme and this is how Olivia looked when she came home.  Such a cute idea!

Mandy, Layla, Olivia, and I had a shopping trip planned for Saturday afternoon.  Olivia had quite the decision to make as to whether or not to remove the puppy paint before going shopping.  She finally decided it just had to be done.  Too bad that the timing was such that she wasn't able to wear it for a while.  She was so cute!

This was at the beginning of our shopping trip.  By the time we were finished, we had shopped until we dropped!

Waiting for our burgers at Johnny Rockets at the end of our shopping day.

And boy, did we wait!
And boy, was it loud!

My Sunday morning cuddle buddies :)

Mandy made a ham souffle and chicken enchiladas Sunday morning.  (And we still had leftover soup).  Their church meetings weren't until that afternoon, and Mandy wanted to get the cooking out of the way that morning, because after church, we wanted to go the Gilbert AZ Temple and Layla had YW in Excellence that night.  It was a busy, busy day!

Before we left church, Olivia wanted me to get her picture.  She really likes this tree.

 

Monday was Veterans Day, so the girls didn't have school.  We did a little more shopping and grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-A.  That afternoon, I went with Mandy to take Olivia for her riding lesson.  So fun!  After that, we hurried back home, loaded everyone up, and headed to Michael & Christine's for dinner and FHE.

Tuesday morning, the girls went to school.  When Porter got up, the front door was open and he immediately went to see if his friend across the street was outside playing.  He was so sweet while he patiently watched for her to come out.  She finally did, along with some other neighborhood kids, and he had great fun playing with them.

Since I was leaving that afternoon, Mandy picked the girls up early from school and stopped and got lunch on her way back.  Would you eat food from this place . . . . . . . . .

I probably wouldn't, if a "local" hadn't assured me that it was a very popular (and safe) place.  My, oh my, the chimichanga I requested was soooooo delicious!

After we ate, it was time to load up and head to the airport.  It was very difficult to leave and it took a good, long while for the lump in my throat to go away.  It is really hard to say goodbye to people you love so much - especially when they live so far away.  But, for the most part, I was tough and made it back to Nashville via SLC about 9:30 that night.  

When I left TN it was fall.  When I got to AZ it felt like summer minus the humidity.  When I got back to TN it felt like winter.  It was like experiencing three seasons in one week!

One more pic of Liv when she was playing around with the photo booth app


Thanks to Mandy sending the pictures, here is the rest of the story on our Lowe's purchase --