Brady and I drove up with Kip caravanning up to Arizona. We had to stop every two hours for me to walk around (the whole blood clots thing, ya know)... so we got in and half the family was there to greet us. Samson has grown so much since we've seen him. We had a little game where we would take the bahama bucks umbrellas (soft side) and poke each other with it. It was the first picture of the cousins together! Can't wait to have this baby so she has a cousin on the Nielsen side to play with.
One of the days I went to my good friend Stephanie Cook's house to practice her hair. We only spent 20 minutes to get an idea of what we would do for her wedding. She is probably the sweetest, kindest person and I'm so glad she met the right guy this time. We grew really close when we both got divorced within weeks of each other -- so many girls trips and bonding times.
On Wednesday we went to Top Golf in Scottsdale with everyone. It was such a fun time together - kind of like golfing. All of the guys in the Nielsen family golf, so they were really good. My center of gravity was pretty off... I broke out in a sweat. Maybe its because I haven't worked out, not even a little bit in five months?
We went over to our friends house in Gilbert to play Scattegories and hang out until Jackson drove in at 11pm! So late! It was like Christmas morning picking him up!
Brenda made him a sign that he loved coming home to.
He came in with so many sores all over his body and asked me to take a picture and send it to his buddy's dad who is his dermatologist from San Clemente. He kept itching them.
Samson was pretty stoked to have a little buddy to play with. My in-laws turned so much of their family room into a kids' playhouse.
Thanksgiving festivities happened with football around 11am with the family. It was the first time Jackson has wanted to play football and did a good job, but I think the football itself is intimidating to catch since it's bigger than he is use to. It was so nice of everyone to include Jackers. I sat out and watching since I'm not allowed to walk longer than 20 minutes in one day. They played some soccer as well after.
The turkey took a while to cook so dinner got pushed from 1:30 to around 6:30pm. We were all anxiously hungry all day, but waited to eat. Jackson and I made my sister's french silk pie. It was so cute how into it he was. All these milestones he is going through is so fun to watch.
Dinner was delicious!
I made these for the table so we could all write what we were thankful for and it was pretty cool seeing them all close together.
The next day we went to lunch at Eggintons, Target, a park and Bahama Bucks.
When we got back, Jackson and Samson opened their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa and then we had to start driving back to CA and said our goodbyes.
We gave Samson a Samson-size Mickey and was so happy about it- it was pretty cute.
Brenda taught him a few new verses to a song on the piano, we took pictures and left. We wanted Jackson to sleep since he drove 15+ hours to get to Arizona. He fell asleep right at 7pm and slept the entire drive minus maybe 30 minutes.
I took a picture of us during the drive because I figured it was the last one of me being 29. My only request for my 30th birthday (besides wanting to hang out with all the guys from Duck Dynasty, mostly Uncle Si)... was to be together as a family of 3. We are normally with family and friends whenever Jackson is in town, and Brady is always busy so it was my dream to have undivided, not distracted time together in the mountains. One of my sweet friends Julia let us stay in their HUGE cabin in Big Bear. It was so big. We lost track of the amount of beds in there after we counted 12.
When I woke up, I was greeted by little Jackson telling me they had breakfast for me in the kitchen. They made me a big spread of food and while Brady was finishing the last bits, Jackson showed me the train he got for Christmas from Gramma and Grandpa. He is pretty cute. He made all these videos with his ipad and his skylanders.
After breakfast we cuddled and watched Swiss Family Robinson together.
After, we went to the tubing place right in the village.
I watched them go down enough times that they were out of breath and soaking wet. I'm glad they had a good time and it was fun to watch.
After, we came back to finish the movie and play some games before dinner.
We made reservations for Peppercorn and had such a good dinner.
30 is a crazy old age, but I knew it was coming.
Jackson sat next to me and helped me blow out the candle.
We walked around the village a little bit but it was FREEZING. My jacket didn't button so my stomach was exposed and Brady had a thin zip up jacket.
Brady made me a gluten free cake so we ate cake, had sparkling cider and played some more games before going to bed.
We woke up and cleaned a little, packed up and walked around to get some food, but once again, it was way too cold, so we started to drive home.
The birthday celebration was perfect. I loved having Jackson with us for it this year!
When we got home, Jackson and Brady set up with train around the tree and then we played games. I had Jackson write thank you cards for the gifts he received and then had him write to Santa.
Jackson got picked up later than we expected which was the best! He wanted to hang out in his room and play with his toys but we didn't have that much time. We said goodbye... always so hard but he seemed to take it well.
Such a good week!
Melissa I am older than you. Belive me it's crazy time. Happy birthday
ReplyDelete