Arizona

Simeon and I took a trip to Arizona last weekend to visit my mom. We were able to ride down with Seth's dad because he needed to help Lybi with some things. We really appreciated the ride. That would be a long drive to make by ourselves :)

We had a really great time and the weather was actually beautiful. It was cloudy several days that we were there and it didn't get as hot as AZ usually can get.

So we got to Lybi's house on Thursday and Simeon had big fun playing with her boys. He also had big fun playing with their big boy toys.

My mom picked me up on her way home from work that night.

On Friday we took a trip out to the SanTan mall (I think that is the right name). Anyway, it is a big outdoor mall. I was really impressed. I've been to outdoor malls (like Riverwoods in Provo) that are pretty small and are usually made up of snooty, expensive stores that nobody actually shops at. But this was just like a normal mall except you walked outside to get between stores. Normally I would think "What a stupid thing to have in hot AZ." But the Friday was cloudy and just the right temperature to be outside, so it was really fun. They also had a neat little play area for kids with a little fountain that they could play in. Simeon thought that was big big fun.
He's such a cute little guy. I love how he puts his foot over the water so it can't come out :)

On Saturday we decided to check out the new Aquarium in Phoenix. Unfortunately it was way more expensive and way not as impressive as the Albuquerque Aquarium. It is a lot bigger and has a lot more variety of fish, but the shark tank was very disappointing. The sharks were only about 2 or 3 feet long. The Albuquerque Aquarium is still the best one that I've seen (even better than the shark tank at Sea World). Still it was fun for Simeon to run around and see fishies.

Since we were somewhat dissapointed by the Aquarium, we decided to console ourselves by going to Cabelas, because Cabelas is awesome. And they also have a little aquarium and lots of dead animal displays (which are really cool. It's like a museum). Well they just happened to be having a big clothing sale and guess what. Cabelas has really cute clothes! So I bought some. I also bought the most comfortable sandals. They weren't on sale but they weren't super expensive either. And I have been wanting a nice comfortable pair ever since I got pregnant. We also ate some food in their little cafe, which is a great little cafe with reasonable prices. So yes, AZ people, if you ever want a cheap date, head over to Cabelas.

We also went swimming in the pool in my mom's apartment complex. I am going to try to get us enrolled in a Mom and Tot swim class at the high school this summer, so this was a good little experience for Simeon. Unfortunately the battery on my camera died so I had to start using my phone.





Eventually he would kick is little feets all across the pool and he really enjoyed it. But most of all he liked splashing on the little step (until he fell in head first, oops).

But the absolute #1 highlight of the trip for Simeon was walking my mom's dog. The poor dog would run so fast trying to get away from him, and Simeon would run behind holding onto her leash, just laughing so hard. It was super cute.


But all in all we had a really great trip. Have you ever noticed that after you get married your relationship with your parents changes? Suddenly you are an adult too and you feel the more like equals with your parents. Well this is the first real good one on one time I've had with my mom since getting married and it was really fun to be able to have those good adult talks with her that you can only have with your mom after you have been married. I was so glad I was able to make this trip and spend time with her.

In other news. Simeon is discovering a few new things since we got home. Seth's parents had a toddler bed that we set up in his room. We want him sleeping in it before the baby is born. I read in a forum that it is a good idea to put the bed in their room and let them play with it for a few months. Then take the crib out and move the bed to where the crib was. This gives the kid a chance to get used to the bed and realize it is an okay thing. So we are trying that with Simeon and he loves to play in it. I put a few stuffed animals in it and he climbs in and lays on them and plays with toys. It is really cute.

So Simeon can just barely reach doorknobs. It is great that he is short. It means that all we have to do to baby proof our house is shut all the doors :). He can reach them and wiggle them, but he can't get enough leverage to actually turn them. Well I moved a storage box full of blankets out of his room so I could make room for the bed. I'm going to buy one of those under the bed boxes to put under the crib, but for now I just stuck the big box next to the bathroom in the hallway. Well Simeon discovered a little something about leverage today. It is much easier to open the door if you climb up on a box :) Now we are in serious trouble.
The cute thing is that he kept saying "brush my teeth" (or something that sounded like that anyway) while he opened the door. He knows that is his bathroom where we brush his teeth. So cute!