We took a trip. Don't worry... we came back.

So we just got back from Arizona on Friday. Adney, Cammon, and I went to see my sister Leah at her house in Tuscon. And my sister Anna met me there. Which was pretty awesome. It started out pretty rough... to say the least it was a disaster. But it got better and better as the trip went on. Here's the story...

So on the Saturday before we left Cammon got way sick. He started off just having a cold... but throughout the day he got worse and worse and was starting to wheeze and  have trouble breathing. So we took him to the ER that night. He tested negative for RSV but they gave him a breathing treatment and sent us home with an inhaler. So we got home and he was acting better for a while. We had him sleeping in a room with a few humidifiers going. Then he woke up around midnight with croup really bad. So we  gave him another breathing treatment (we borrowed a nebulizer from my mother in law) and some of the inhaler. And he acted better and fell back asleep. Then he woke up every 2 hours with really bad croup. It was seriously the scariest night of my whole life. There is nothing more unsettling than waking up to your child gasping for air. Then morning came around and he was acting a whole lot better.

But I decided to go ahead and cancel our trip anyways. No need to take a sick baby on a trip. So I started calling our airline (Allegiant Air) over and over trying to get through to anyone. But all I got a was a dumb message saying "sorry all lines are busy... try again later". I had to cancel our trip at least 24 hours in advance in order to get our money back. I started trying to get through WAY before the 24 hour mark and didn't get through until a few hours after. I was SO mad when they gave me the whole "I'm sorry we can't give you your money back bc its not 24 hours notice" crap. But we decided that if Cammon slept well on Sunday night and didn't have any more wheezing or croup or anything, I would just go ahead and take the boys on our trip. So that night he did great! He still had a slight cough but nothing major. So we packed up and left on Monday morning.

In my rush to pack and get to the airport... I left my cell phone at home. I was standing in line waiting to get on the plane before I realized it. Luckily-- my BFF Kaylee and her hubby just happened to be getting off of the same plane we were getting on. So I snagged her cell phone and called Kyle to tell him he was going to need to send me my phone and to have him let my ride from the Phoenix Airport that I didn't have it.  So, since we stopped to call him and didn't get on the plane when we were supposed to... we lost our seat and ended up sitting in the very last row... which had no window and was SO noisy and stinky. I sat down and cried. haha. The poor girl sitting next to us didn't know what to say or do. This trip is starting off great right? Wait... it gets better.

So we got to Phoenix at last and Kyle's sister picked us up, which was seriously SO kind of her. On the way to her house I called my sister Leah, who was supposed to pick me up in Phoenix and take me to Tuscon the next day to stay with her. Well... Leah's little girl was vomiting and way sick.  Since the idea of Cammon getting way sick AGAIN terrified me, we decided to stay in Phoenix an extra day to let her get better. And then my sister Anna flew in to Tuscon, and she and her little girl were sick with the flu too. So we decided to stay a few more days in Phoenix. Meanwhile, Kyle's sister, who we were staying with is in the middle of getting a nursing degree and her husband is in Medical School and they were all stressed and in no position to have house guests. So I had pretty much given up on our trip at this point and decided that I was just going to fly home early. Nothing was going well and we weren't having any fun and nothing looked like it was going to improve anytime soon.

Wow this is really long. If you stopped reading a long time ago... I totally understand. haha

But that night I slept on it and decided that I wasn't going to give up that easily. I needed this vacation. I had been looking forward to it for a long time and I was going to make it good. No matter what. So we rented a car and we headed down to Tuscon that afternoon. We stayed in a hotel that night... just to give all the sick people at my sister's house more time to be less... contagious. Leah was so sweet and bleached and Lysoled the heck out of her house that night too. So we swam in the hotel pool and had a good time. By the next morning, everyone had been feeling well for at least 24 hours and so we decided to head over to Leah's house and get our vacation started. (only five days after flying there).

Things went SO well after that. It was seriously a breath of fresh air to see some of my sisters. I just love them so much and have missed them terribly. And the warm weather didn't hurt either.

We had lots of fun days at the pool. Swimming and sitting in the hot tub. Adney had SO much fun with his cousins. 

Like my sunglasses? Adney picked them out. haha

 Leah's neighborhood was SO cool and had tons of pools and parks and things to do. There was also tons of bronze statues everywhere. There was a Safari trail that we walked on one day that had tons of cool animal statues.

Adney wanted to climb on all of them.

 The plant life is much different than Idaho. Not as friendly. But still awesome.

Cammon and Tyler haning out at the pool in the shade.

Adney and Kayla playing in the sandbox while eating a Popsicle... which turns out.... doesn't mix well.

Check out those baby blues! There was something about the AZ lighting that made Cammon's eyes go all crazy blue.

Cute baby Tyler. It was so fun to actually meet him!

 Leah's husband works as a Border Patrol agent. He took us to see the border one day and it was freaking cool. I wish I could have taken more pictures... but it wasn't the safest area to be wandering around. The whole experience made me truly grateful to be an American. And grateful to the many agents who serve protecting the Border.

The big fence is the border. haha

Eating a yummy Mexican treat before heading north.

My brother in law describing the border town and its problems.

Our last night all together.

Anna headed home a few days before I did. So Leah and I got to hang out some more. We went putt putting one day and her little girl insisted on wearing two different shoes.

She cracks me up.

 I took some pictures of my beautiful family when I was down there. If you want to see more... check out my photo blog. But here are a few of my favorites.

I swear it's something about the light there that makes blue eyes shine.

See?

Anna gets prettier every time I see her.

 So that was pretty much our trip. It started off ROUGH. But turned out great. I feel so new and refreshed since I got back. Although, I am missing the warm weather SO much. I am learning more and more that snow is not really my thing. Oh well... Idaho has its good attributes too. Like Idaho summers... nothing beats them. But I hope we get to go back to Arizona soon. I really like it there.