Congrats to Kim

The reason why we traveled in Arizona was to see my sister defend her thesis as part of getting her masters degree. No pictures of that, but she did an amazing job! She did a lot of research on tree frogs that live near Tucson. She also showed us around the Desert Museum. Casey was able to try on some bat ears so that he could hear like a bat hears. My parents rented a really nice house with an awesome pool. Zach loves the water and has no fear of water so it can a bit scary at times, but he loved it. Thanks for the great time family! Congratulations to Kim!

Before the car died

Before the car died we were able to visit a olive farm in Queen Creek Arizona. They have a restaurant that had been featured in the Food Network show "The Best Things I Ever Ate". I am so glad that our car didn't break down here, or on the way here because it is out in the middle of nowhere. I am also glad we were able to try the restaurant out because they really had amazing food. Their sandwiches were so fresh and delicious! They had olives on them, which I was nervous about but found out it was really tasty (they were green olives not the fermented black ones). Yum yum! I am glad we made this stop.

How To Get a New Minivan

Have you ever wondered how to convince yourself or your spouse that it really is time for a new vehicle? Well, I think that we have found the way. On our trip to Arizona the transmission in our Taurus went out. The car had been acting a little funny, but I figured that was just because it was the Taurus. It only had about 84,000 miles on it. Not low miles but I figured we still had a while before we needed to buy a new car. As we were driving on the 10 the check engine light went on so we pulled into the next exit which happen to be a rest stop. As we were parking the car all of the transmission fluid drained out of the car. I was so grateful that we were traveling with my parents and uncle because they were able to look and know there was something wrong with the transmission. We knew we were going to need a tow. Lucky for us again my parents were with us and my mom could use her phone to find us a tow truck company. We called and they said it would be about 45 minutes. I don't know how long it actually took it just seemed like a really long time. Especially because it was 118 degrees and the only shade was under a mesquite tree. There were not a lot of places that were still open so we ended up towing our car to the Ford dealership, renting a car and driving the rest of the way to Tucson. Later that night we got the news the transmission was wrecked and it would cost 3,700 dollars to replace. Sadly this is about what the car was worth. The next morning we call a transmission place and even to patch up the current transmission is would be 1,500 dollars. Friday morning we decided to head into Casa Grande. Here we were 668 miles from home trying to decide what to do. It wasn't in the plan but as we arrived at the dealership we decided to look at new cars. We found one that we loved! The worries of making it home were now gone. As a bonus we could still go to Disneyland and not wait around in Arizona for our car to be fixed. As crazy as it seems I believe we were really blessed and watched over. It may not have been ideal but everything worked out.

He is going to remember this for the rest of his life

Zach and I were able to spend a week with my parents before we headed off on our trip to California and Arizona. Zach had so much fun! They have a water table that as you can see Zach thinks makes a great pool. Later we got Zach a pool, but he still would rather climb into the water table (I guess the extra danger is appealing). Grandpa (My dad) goes to work very early in the morning so it worked out great because when he got home my mom and I could go shopping without a two year old. Yeah! It was fun to do some window shopping as well as getting somethings for the new baby.
On Saturday afternoon we went to a museum at the St. George airport. It is a rather humble museum having only three planes to look at. However it is right on the runway so it was fun for Zach to watch airplanes take off and land from the airport. The people who ran the museum were super friendly. As you can see from the pictures you can not only view the planes but they will actually let you climb in the cockpit. As I was taking pictures of Zach on of the ladies that worked there kept saying how special of a moment this was and that Zach was going to remember it for the rest of his life.
Zach also loved to feed Grandpa's fish. He would call for "Pa Pa" go to the back door and say "Foof" (or food). I think Grandpa's fish get really full whenever grandkids are around.

24th Weekend

For the 24th of July weekend we went camping and to the Fairview demolition derby with Casey's family. There was a lake where we camped so we took him swimming. Zach's favorite part of the weekend was the derby itself. He loved watching the cars and then watching the tractors pul, push, or tow the wrecked cars out of the arena. Zach's grandma won a T shirt that was given only to the drivers and the pit crews. Well deserved since she had to wait in line for the tickets for 14 hours.

Zach's favorite things

Zach loves his Woody and Rex doll and anything to do with Toy Story. He also loves to be "helpful" it may not always be all that helpful and is in fact usually more work but I want to work and help so I let him be my little helper. Vacuuming is one of his favorite things do to.

Family Picnic Accident

It seems like there are times when no matter how preapred I think I am, I end up not as preapred as I should be. Casey's extended family had a family picnic at the park. I thought that I brought everything I needed. Well Zach had blow out and I realized that I was out of wipes. We were not far from home and it was Zach's bed time so we decided to just head home. The problem was that I didn't want to get his car seat dirty. Casey came up with the perfect solution. A grocery bag and you simply tear two holes in the bottom for legs. Perfect!