Auntie Mace Comes to Arizona

Macey Blake is one of the kindest people I know. True, she is my sister which means I may be a little biased, but I think most people who know her would say that.  A couple weeks ago she flew down to spend 10 days with us here in the AZ heat-- this was a great time spent, indeed!

Macey has always been the responsible type.  She's honest, caring, sensitive, and going to be a great mother- so I learned-  because she is nearing the end of her college journey with a BA in Home and Family which happens to be one of the best degrees for preparing one to become a parent.  She was picking up on all my good parenting, and  not-so-good parenting techniques.

For an assignment she needed to observe my parenting skills as well as my children and their developmental states.  Through out the whole vacation anytime I knew I did something right and could redeem myself I'd shout to her, "Write that down-- give me another point!" Or, on the flip side, if I did something not approved by some genius psychologist in one of her books she'd say "Hmm....minus one point..." :) 

We had a great time and I'm so grateful for our relationship!  Love you, Mace!

Here's what we did:

She flew in late Friday night which was two days before my birthday so Saturday we went to our local rec center so we could climb the rock wall.  Unfortunately, once we got there Chase and Macey decided not to go so it was just me and then Sailor tried.  Sailor liked it the first time, and then the second time got spooked and wouldn't go any higher than a foot off the ground.  As for me, I had never gone before so this was fun but I couldn't believe how hard it was on the forearms.  I could only go once and then died about halfway up the second time....my arms completely gave out.

After that, we all went out to our pool where there was a hoppin' party with a DJ, food, and drinks.  Macey and I somehow stayed long enough to eat lunch and then grabbed some grub for dinner on the way out.

Sunday was  awesome!  After a great day at church Macey and I made up an ice cream cake made from all my favorites.  CAUTION: you will either throw up or foam out the mouth when you hear what that cake was made out of-

The bottom was a big chocolate chip cookie

next, a layer of vanilla ice cream

then, a layer of oreos with  fudge and whip cream.

NEXT,

a layer of cookie dough ice cream with a layer of reeses..

...wait we aren't done. 

THEN, a layer of cookies and cream ice cream,

decorated with chopped up chocolate chip cookie and whipped cream.

....don't judge...

...it was delicious!!!

But, before we cut into that bad boy I sat down in front of my cake to have the "Birthday Song" sung to me when Chase and our good friend Nate come walking in with cello and guitar in hand.  They played their own rendition of the "Birthday Song" for me.  I just laughed and loved it, and then for a moment I thought I was going to cry because it was so sweet.

What a man I got.  :) 

The guys performance of the "Birthday Song"

Chase has become very proficient in cookie dough making. He believes that you shouldn't have to measure anything, so he doesn't.  Before, I would have to remind him that it turns out best to measure the ingredients, because there have been times it hasn't been successful. But, let it be written that Chase can now do this flawlessly and the last few times it has been made, it has been the best cookie dough I've tasted.  He will even threw peanut butter in it for me.
This is a batch he so graciously made for me on my birthday.

 

For the rest of the week we indulged in swimming, shoe hunting trips (Macey needed a couple pairs of shoes for a couple weddings she will be in this summer), testing out new recipes, eating out, a day at Wet N' Wild, several episodes of "Ugly Betty," a viewing of "Man of Steel," and some more swimming!

Macey offered to watch the girls for us so Chase and I could go out on a date.  We love opportunities like this to simply go out to the pool without the kids.  We went out for a nice night swim.  Thanks, Macey!

 

 Beignets.  They were surprising awesome.

 Spaghetti Dish off Pinterest.

I didn't get any pictures, but we all drove to Mesa one day to meet up with our cousin Jessica and her family.  My aunt Andrea, who lives in WA near our parents, was in Mesa for a vacation as well so she met up with us too.  "Cheesecake Factory" was our choice and like always it was a great time with delicious food.  Chase, the girls, and I are really going to miss Jessica, Brock, and the girls.  The girls enjoy every minute they are with them.

During this week, we got to experience what it's like to have a pet.  

As we were walking out to the pool one day we saw a tiny little lizard scurry along the bottom of our door.  I thought we could catch it so I grabbed a jar and with some teamwork we got it!  The girls fell in love with their pet so much that Sailor wanted to name him...

Meet "Monkey."

 After keeping him in the jar for a few hours Sailor was really concerned about him being left in there.  She would say, "Mom, but he needs to be outside?"

I knew we would let him go before it got dark so we just planned on showing dad and then we would release him in the wild....and that's just what we did.  

Don't worry, he wasn't suffering that day.  I was on a roll and caught him a living fly for a meal. :)

While Macey was in town we were able to drop the kids off at a friends' house so she and I could go to Wet N' Wild for a morning.  It was so fun to run around catching rides down the slides or lounge out in the lazy river.  Thanks, Erin for watching the girlies.

We were also able to drop the girls off while we ran around looking for shoes....

Thanks, Alyssa!

And then, Chase stayed home with the girls one night so we could catch the movie "Man of Steel" since Macey hadn't seen it yet.  We went to the "Studio Movie Grill" and enjoyed ordering and sharing grub as we enjoyed the show.  Thanks, Chase.

When it was time for Macey to leave us it was ok with the girls, because we got to go along with her!
Besides leaving daddy behind, the girls and I were excited to fly back to WA to spend a couple weeks there!