Christmas in Arizona

we had a fun 5 days in Phoenix with the grandparents! the kids love to see them, of course. but beyond seeing them, we got to hike with them, church with them, and bowl with them. all of this culminated with a drive in their microwave! (you might call it a motorhome).

the kids hiked the mountain behind their house numerous times. the 26th, we hiked up "the bigger mountain" which took a couple hours. that was fun.

this photo is at the top of the bigger mountain, there were a lot of people out hiking, running, etc for the morning after Christmas. it was really cold to us, but there were quite a few families in shorts! i guess we are accustomed to the sunny California winters!
the boys spent a little time outside with their nature journals. i really wanted them to do it everyday while we were gone because there are so many different things to see - like cactus, cactus, and more cactus. but their journals currently consist of only what is in our neighborhood - grass, flowers, vegetables. so we got one cactus - and that's good enough for me.

"the professional"

what fun we had!