Easter in Arizona!!!

Before we left for AZ we had Ivy's 9 month checkup (altho she was actually only 1 week shy of 10 months here) and this girl is growing a TON!

Stats:

Height: 30 1/2 inches long - off the charts in the 100%

Weight: 19 lbs. 2 oz. - 50%

Head: 17.5 inches - 51%

Such a cutie!

We set off for AZ a week early and it was a great trip - although we did learn that Griffin gets car sick just like his dad about half way there - be grateful I didn't get a picture of the puking car incident!  However, once it was over and we were back on the road all went smoothly and we got to AZ in pretty good time, and then he ate 2 pieces of pizza, 2 pudding packs, and a bowl of ice cream.  I was relieved he didn't have a stomach bug.....yet that is!  Anyways, we spent the week hanging at Grandma Betty's and boy did we have fun with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.....We love time with family!

It was pretty warm so we spent a few days out by the pool swimming!  As you can see Ivy loves it!

 Griffin loved it too and here was practicing his dive - although he really didn't enjoy the water so much as playing on the side throwing things into the pool!

 Ivy somehow thought she was a puppy and decided to lap up her cheerios here!  Funny girl!!!

Aunt Becky brought home a pirate ship blow up tube that was definitely a hit with my boys and Cash was in heaven riding ont his thing - thanks to Gunnar for pushing the kids on it - and grabbing Griff when we had a scary moment with him falling off under the water and the tube flipping on him!

 We went to the museum of natural history with the kids one day and that was a blast - Ivy even enjoyed it from her stroller view!!!

Look at that big mammoth!  And the cute peeps too!

 Cousins!!!

Ivy mastered pulling herself and walking around things while holding on - a new skill!

 She also learned to drink from a straw on March 17 - at Red Robin for Jayton's b-day!

 We went to the batting cages on Saturday and had a blast hanging out there with the family!

Even Griffin tried it out!

Ivy was happy just watching!

My favorite pic of the batting cages!

The rides there were also a hit for the kids!!! A reward for batting so well ;)

We also had the chance to visit my grandparents in AZ while we were there! Ivy loves them almost as much as me!

 Easter Sunday was fun, but after church Griffin came down with the actual stomach bug (actually occurred as we were walking out of church) and spent the next 12 hours puking evern 30 minutes or so.  It was the saddest thing ever and he handled it amazingly!  He never cried or whined or anything not once - just got his bowl and laid on the couch with his daddy watching tv and being quiet and calm.  I, on the other hand, was so stressed about him and if someone else would get it before the trip home that I was a mess - but it all worked out and the next day he was great and full of energy and appetite again so we were all good.....and we got some dramamine to help for the car ride home and so didn't have any more puking incidents.

We still managed to have a good day though and I wore a hat to church as is tradition! (started by me 3 years ago!)  Ivy had a hat but kept pulling it off so I settled on a bow - happy Easter from us!

 Love the faces of Ivy here - from serious to super happy - yes mine mostly stays the same in each one!

 My sisters-in-law also like the hat idea so we all wore them - LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!  They are gorgeous inside and out and I am so happy to be related to them!

 At the Bear family Easter dinner Chip's grandparents dressed up as the Easter bunnies - it was TOO CUTE!!!  So much fun for the kids and also us adults.  We loved it!

Cash was soooo excited!

Sandy the bunny!

 Hippity Hop!

 Ryland meets the bunnies for the first time!

 Ivy was next - she wasn't sure at first - just kept looking at them!

 After a few seconds she warmed right up....and was super excited about it!

 Sweet Easter babies!

 An attempt with the kiddos - never can get all to look but it was fun!

 At the end of it all Ivy was worn out!  Too much fun!

Monday we decided to stay and make sure Griffin was feeling all better and leave at night instead, also to see Chip's parents who had been in Idaho all weekend visiting his Grandpa Brown, and so we took a little trip to the mall with Becky and Ryland.  These 2 are 2 weeks apart and SOOOO funny together!  We loved watching them play all week!  Ryland will crawl ahead and then look back to see Ivy and crawl back to come get her and then do the same thing again and again.  He is SUPER fast and it is really fun to watch them.  They were cracking me up at the mall in the stroller!  Made me appreciate just having 1 baby at the moment!

 Aunt Emma took the kids to the movies one day so I could shop and do errands with just Ivy and that was fun - they had a BLAST!!!  First Chic - Fil-e and then the movies!  She is definitely the favorite!

 We got to have Adella play each day with the kids and they were both sooooo excited to hang out with her!  We love our cousins!