oh my goodness! oh my goodness!

oh my goodness!  oh my goodness!

remember the orphan in the movie/play Annie, who always says that line?

well, those are the words that come to mind when i think of our recent trip to arizona.

we had a wonderful trip filled with sunshine, which is important for us buffalo gals!

 ella, aftie and i flew to phoenix by ourselves.  ryan came from shanghai where he had been for a few days prior, looking at a lab or something.

 one of the first and most important items on our to-do list...

hit the pool!!!

i told the girls they could swim every single day if they wanted to.

and i'm pretty sure they did!

there is always lots of game-playing at grammy's house.

 here's grammy, ella, uncle brent and ashton playing a game outside.

in november!

 we all ran/walked the mesa turkey trot.

uncle kurt was the super star of the day for running the 10k!

it was fun for us 2-milers to wait and cheer him on at the finish line.

 ryan made his famous rolls.

the little sweeties helped roll them out.

teags, peri and elle.

 carving the bird is for manly men.

 dad took his three beee-utiful daughters for a golf date.

there's megan trying to figure out how the golf cart works.  hee, hee.

we all had at least one good drive and putt.

kara had the "shot of the day"

when she hit the roof of a house and the ball bounced into the front yard. 

that one made us laugh.

it was a fun time to spend with our cute dad!

 one night we all went to see a production of annie.

the kids LOVED it!

especially the treats at intermission.

 breakfast at ihop.

a person can only stand so much turkey, right?

 the kids had a ball playing cards with grammy and uncle joel!

i wonder how many card games that table has seen over the years?

there's always a serious game of pinochle going on with all the uncles and gram.

 auntie kara took the little girls on a crazy fun golf cart adventure.

they loved it and couldn't stop talking about it!

 the little girls also showed us their talents and creativity by performing a song with actions that they made up themselves.

it took a lot of time practicing in the bathroom before they were ready.

they were soooooo darling!!

 this grammy-girl is just about the most wonderful lady in the world!

she was so loving and patient with a bunch of crazies taking over her house!

and isn't kara ALMOST as beautiful as her oldest sister?

 oh!

and here's mr. excitement, waiting for his thanksgiving dinner.

i've never been so entertained by disney channel theme song renditions in my life.

hey jess-ay!!

 there was plenty of time to relax and enjoy the warm air.

this little man only decided to like me when he discovered my iphone.

i was a little bothered about it, but he made it up to me with a snuggle.

such a sweetie!

aftie, tay and cali-girl.

they had sleepovers every single night!

this vacation was filled with precious cousin time.

since we all live so far away from one another it's important to make the most of the time we have when we are together. 

the kids all did a great job loving each other and playing together and making memories.

thanks mom and dad for a great trip!!!!

we love you grammy,

auntie teresa & uncle kurt,

uncle brent and auntie shelia,

uncle joel, lael, and ziah,

gg and marmee,

uncle cam, auntie meg, tay, ashton and peri,

auntie kara, cali and teags!!!!

oh and i can't forget how wonderful it was to see my dear friend, christina joy!

it's been a long time since the days of our lounge singing act.

i've missed you liz...

like a bridge over troubled waters.