One of the perks of our house is that it is located right near some hiking trails. We can walk up our street, cross the road and we are on the trail. There is so much to explore and when Erik is at study group or school I can take these 2 out hiking a short distance from home. We load up the backpack with water, lots of snacks and our first aid kit and we hit the trails. It is one of my favorite things about where we live.

Hiking with my boys

Erik took the boys to a Roadrunners hockey game thanks to some tickets from our generous neighbors. They had such a fun boys night out and sent me this picture - I was making a Christmas wreath with my mom's group friends!

On a whim, I took the boys to the Veterans Day Parade in downtown Tucson. We sat next to the nicest woman who ended up buying cotton candy to share with my boys (momma didn't have any cash - I know, shocking!). After seeing all the cool stuff we met Erik for an impromptu lunch and then headed back home for the day. It was such a fun morning and I'm so glad we ventured out!

 This picture can only mean one thing... Kelly and Melissa were on their way for their first visit to Tucson with Baby Reid!

The girls and Reid arrived into Phoenix so I drove up after bedtime to pick them up. We stayed up late that night talking but that didn't keep us all from being up early the next morning (thanks to my kids being up early from school and Reid keeping his normal schedule).

We dropped John off at school that morning and went for a nice, long walk. That night was the Packers game so we laid low with all the kiddos, had dinner and watched the game together. 

Stella had fallen that morning and was not doing great health wise... so she was lazily sleeping in the living room while the chaos of 3 boys happened around her. Will wanted a picture with her that night and John joined in too. 

The next day we headed downtown to meet Erik once Will was home from school. We took our visitors on a food/pub crawl of some of our favorite downtown  restaurants.

The girls and I headed out the next morning to go on a hike and Erik offered to keep all 3 boys at home. We enjoyed our time on our hike so much! The weather was beautiful and the views were amazing.

Sadly, when we returned home, Stella's health had taken a turn and we called the vet knowing we'd be saying goodbye to our sweet girl. We had the boys say their goodbyes and got her into the car to take her in while Melissa & Kelly stayed with the kiddos. My heart is still broken thinking about how much we miss our sweet girl. And although I'm so sad that this happened while my best friends were visiting, I am forever grateful that they were here that day to love and support us through it, as well as stay with our boys.

That afternoon we had already decided to go the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum so we kept our plans and headed out to make the most of our last afternoon with them. The weather was perfect and we had such a nice time taking all 3 kids to the Museum.

 

 That evening I drove Melissa, Kelly and Reid back to Phoenix to catch their flight home. It's funny how it was only a few days, but felt like they were here so much longer thanks to all the fun we had together. Love you girls and it means so much that you made the time to visit us in our new home! 

 Next, we packed our bags and headed out the door to Chandler to spend Thanksgiving dinner with Erik's cousins and aunt. It is so nice having family nearby and it was an added bonus that Erik's cousins from North Carolina (who we have spent many Thanksgivings with in Rock Hill) were also in town visiting. We had a wonderful dinner, great conversation and stayed until the kids were literally passed out on the couch! We rented a hotel room that night in preparation for our surprise for the kiddos the next day... LegoLand Discovery Center!

We had not told the boys what our plan was and even while we were approaching the parking lot for LegoLand, they still hadn't figured it out. They were so excited once they realized we were taking them to LegoLand! We did the 2 rides (Kingdom Quest and Merlin's Apprentice), the kids played in the Lego City Play Zone and we visited the MiniLand lego display areas as well as the Dino Explorer area. The big winner for both boys was definitely the Lego Racers build and test area where you build your own Lego vehicle and then test it's speed and durability at the 2 tracks. We spent most of our time there with the boys while they built their race car creations.

We left Tempe in the early afternoon and headed home after a very fun, very busy 24 hours. Erik and I wrestled our huge Christmas Tree into the house and I immediately decided to set it up. 

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Erik's family from Chandler area came down to have brunch and go on a hike. It was so fun hosting them all in our home and the weather was beautiful for hiking. We had this family picture snapped of us thanks to Kellyn!

That night, after our guests had left, we got to work decorating the Christmas tree. Erik put on Christmas records and we helped the kids unwrap ornaments and let them put them on the tree. They had so much fun and did a really great job! They are at such a fun age now when it comes to Christmas and seeing the excitement in their faces is amazing.

On the last day in November, we decided to take the kids on a hike up "A" mountain. Really, that means we drove up the mountain, parked the car and went for a walk. It was a really cool view of downtown Tucson and all the surrounding areas!

Me and my boys

Handsome guy :)

Brothers!

Making their best crazy faces

Beautiful views

Love these boys of mine

More great views!