Our Phoenix Trip

We left home November 21 by 8:00 AM; our neighbor, Brian Hatch took us and our luggage over to Fairfield Inn to meet the Salt Lake Express Shuttle to ride to the SLC Airport. We were there by 12:30. We waited about an hour for the plane after getting thro' security and checking our luggage and everything. We used the kiosk this time and just typed in our ticket numbers and it printed our boarding passes and it took no time at all. It was great! My sweetheart had to go back and check my "carryon" bag because it had my shampoo, toothpaste (he put his tooth past in mine too.) and hair spray in it. Those things can no longer be in the carry on luggage. It was actually much easier for me to get around the airport and on board that way. I'll have to think about that for next time. The advantage of having the carry on luggage is you have what you need with you. Otherwise it might get sidetracked or lost as it did when we flew down to Santa Maria, CA when Chris was baptized. The plane took off on time, at around 2:50 PM. We arrived in Phoenix on time at around 4:30 PM. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the Super Shuttle to take us to Richard & Téa's. Our driver, Al was very helpful to everyone. It took us about an hour to leave the airport because he had to stop at all the other terminals and helped two different batches of people to find out where they were going. At first I resented all the time he was taking but then I decided, I'd rather have a nice, helpful guy driving me (which he really was) rather than someone who didn't care about anyone but himself. We got to Richard's and Téa's at around 6:30 PM. It was very dark by the time we got there. Richard was even home from Flagstaff (had been for about 40 minutes or so.) by the time we got there. It took almost an hour from the time we left the airport to get there because the traffic was so bad. (On the contrary it took 30 minutes to get back to the airport the next Tuesday morning.) It was so good to see everyone. We got a warm welcome and hugs from everyone. Ephraim was asleep tho' so we didn't get to greet him until later. He didn't take to me as readily as he did last April but he did to Karl. That was OK. After a couple of days he came to me tho' and let me play my games with him. He liked "mousey, mousey" better than "This little piggy...." this time. It was the other way around in April. I got him to laugh a few times and of course I enjoyed that. On Wednesday afternoon they took us to the Science Center Museum that Téa has featured on her blog a few times. It really is very interesting even for adults (they can learn things too) but especially for the children. We stayed there from 1:30 or so until it closed at 5:00 PM. I'm glad I got to see the things in person. It really was interesting. Téa made pies and I made the cranberry apple salad and Richard was doing something for the dinner the next day too, but I can't remember what. We then watched Peter Pan, the one with the people, not animated. The children really enjoyed it. Richard fell asleep after about 20 minutes. He said he enjoyed what he saw. He must have needed the rest tho'. Because we weren't quiet nor the show quiet while we were watching it. I helped Richard fix the Creme Burlée French toast for the next morning before going to bed. They are night owls around there....children and all. Most of the nights Karl and I were the first to go to bed. And it was late for us. They read to their children before they go to bed...They have different books for Duncan, and Cheanna and Emma and Elena. Karl and I read to them quite a bit too. They love books and I enjoyed reading to them. Richard handed me a book by Suzanne Collins called Gregor the Overlander that he had read to Duncan. I was able to finish it while we were there. I also read Christmas Jars by Jason Wright. They were both good. I think Nathaniel and Collin both would enjoy the Gregor books. She has three or four others about Gregor out now too but I got to only read the one. Richard was home all of the days we were there. It was really fun and enjoyable doing things with him and his family. Richard and Duncan taught Karl and me to play Magic that first night.

Téa wasn’t feeling too well Thanksgiving Day morning so took it easy. I’m thankful that I felt well enough to help Richard fix dinner. I actually stayed standing longer than I have done for a long time. With some walking around some too. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy (Cheanna, Emma and I peeled them), sweet potatoes, (Karl peeled them and cut them up), cranberry, apple and marshmallow salad, dressing, butternut squash, and a veggie plate. It was all delicious. We had pie later on that evening…pumpkin, pear and a pumpkin and cheese cake pie. They were all delicious. Richard, Téa, Duncan, Karl and I played the Great Dalmudi that evening too. It was a lot of fun.

On Friday afternoon Richard, Karl, Duncan and Emma went to the Stake Center to help take down the set for the Christmas production that the stake did the week before. Richard participated in it. Téa, Cheanna, Elena, Ephraim and I stayed home. We started to bake cookies so they could be decorated. We had done the first batch when one of Téa’s friends called and wanted to know if she could go out on a “girls’ night out” with two of her friends. She called Richard and talked with him then asked me if I would feel comfortable with the children till Richard and the others got back home. I told her that would be fine. I continued baking the cookies with Cheanna and Elena. I wondered if Ephraim would be OK but he was. I just played with him for a few minutes then we worked on the cookies again. By the time Richard and the others got home we had one batch decorated and the next batch in the oven. Duncan, Richard andEmma helped Cheanna, Elena and me to decorate the second batch. We had fun doing that. After we were thro’ and had some supper, we watched Man from Snowy River with Kirk Douglas. Richard and the children really seemed to enjoy it. Téa came home while we were watching it. She looked much better and rejuvenated. I’m glad she has Tamara and Adriene for her friends with whom she can go out and get away. Where she home teaches her children, she needs to be able to “escape” sometimes and have some “me” time. Richard is very understand with that also.
That is the first four days of our trip. I’ll finish the rest tomorrow.