We got carried away...

...by a hot air balloon!

My family got into town Thursday night at 11 PM, 12 PM and 1 AM. We were so excited to see them we didn't let them rest long. At 5:45 AM we left our house to take a sunrise hot air balloon ride. Super early. But I am so glad everything worked out that we all could go.

Hot air balloons are so cool! They are so huge! I was so fascinated watching them get all set up then inflated. Take off was nothing like I thought it would be. You cannot even feel it. All of a sudden you just see the ground getting farther away as you get carried away.

We kept saying that our ride felt like Soarin Over California only it was real and really awesome. I will admit that even the desert landscape has some beauty to it- especially from the air. It was a very relaxing ride and I love how picturesque everything is when a hot air balloon is involved.

The landing is a little bit more rough We landed upright after a few bumps. But then the winds started picking up and our gandola tipped over which made getting out a little more spicy.

It was still quite the adventure and I loved being there with my whole family. (Annie was there in spirit) It was a great way to start a weekend.

Saturday is a special day...

...it's the day we get ready for Sunday.

I love productive Saturdays. It feels so good to see how much can be accomplished. Yesterday was one of those days. We have been working hard on a few projects around our house and it's so fun to see some of those efforts paying off.

We were so excited a few months ago when we got four trees for our backyard because it added some green to our dirt. Well, Michael has been working his little tail off to take our backyard from this:

To this:

I'm positive it is not easy to dig those trenches.

And finally...

Michael paved that patio himself, installed the sprinkler system, planted the grass-stinky job, planted the plants, hauled the rocks, etc. etc. etc... I love the way it turned out!

Granted, most of these projects took more than just one Saturday. But, now that it's Sunday, I can just rest on my own patio and as our nursery lesson today says, "I can be grateful for all the beautiful things Heavenly Father and Jesus created for me."

An affair to remember

This weekend we went to the Glendale Chocolate Affair Festival. Great title. Great concept. Not as exciting as I thought, but we had these folks with us to make it and the rest of our weekend special.

We felt so bad because we have been talking up our beautiful, warm weather and we finally got the Walkers to visit and lo and behold it ends up being the coldest weekend Arizona has seen since the 1800s. Highs in the 40s?! Really?! Luckily, it warmed up each day so it wasn't as bad.

We had some great movie nights including "Moulin Rouge"- classic and "Step Up 3D"- not as great as the first or second- major bummer. We also enjoyed SO much good food. Bryson enjoyed bath time.

Saturday morning we recruited our guests to help us get this tree:

End up like this:

It meant that Michael and Bryce ended up looking like this all morning:

Brycen was such an adorable helper. It was like an Easter egg hunt for him. After awhile, he couldn't take the temptation and had mommy peel at least 4 to snack on right then and there.

Even after all that Brycen ate, we still ended up with 42 grocery bags full- from just ONE tree!

After a little over an hour we were pretty chilled, tired and a bit scratched up so we were ready to pack up and go. But Christi couldn't leave without getting herself some grapefruit too- no matter what. Mama's gotta have her grapefruit.

The rest of the weekend was spent playing games, exploring Arizona, eating, eating, and eating. Brycen spent a lot of time watering our plants.

We had so much fun with the Walkers. It was definitely a weekend to remember!