Arizona!

We took a trip back home to Phoenix, Arizona to visit family, but most importantly, so that family could meet Olivia for the first time. Olivia is the first great grandchild on my mom's side of the family so she was very excited to meet her great granddaughter. Although my Nana already has 13 great grandchildren and has already met Olivia, she was still just as excited to get to see her again!

I was a little nervous about the trip because we had a 6:05am flight with a 2 hour layover in Dallas and then finally arriving in Phoenix with a 3 hour time change meaning it was now only 12pm, instead of 3pm. But it turns out, Olivia is a great traveler! She was only a little cranky in the morning, but who isn't cranky when being woken up at 4am? Other than that, a few naps, pop tart, stickers, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and a coloring book kept her entertained for the flight and a children's play area made the layover fly by.

When we arrived at my Grandma's house, Olivia had so many cousins to play with! My cousin Paula came over with her 4 kids and my aunt Tracy was there with her 5 kids! Olivia played all night long with her cousins which made keeping her up an extra 3 hours a lot easier! This is the first (and probably only time) Olivia asked me to go to sleep! I started to put her to bed around 7:30 (really 10:30) and knowing that Olivia doesn't do well falling asleep in strange places, I prepared for some cuddle time, but instead, Olivia pointed to the pack and play and said "please sleep." I think we might have worn her out.

Us with my cousin Paula and her 2 youngest.

Olivia with Tracy's 3 youngest.

We had a lot of fun activities planned while we were there. On Friday, my cousins and I went tubing for almost 6 hours down the Salt River while Olivia played at Grandma's with younger cousins. The weekend was packed with family BBQ's and swimming and I even got to go out on the town in Scottsdale with my cousins!

All of the grandchildren on my mom's side of the family, plus Olivia, the great grandchild.

Most of the great granddaughters on my dad's side on the family seem to be blonde! They had so much fun playing on the bed together!

Olivia even learned how to jump on the bed!

Olivia later ventured into the boys room where she found a spider stuffed animal and boy did she get excited! One of her favorite songs lately is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." Who would have thought any daughter of mine would be hugging on a spider? Somehow I didn't seem to get a picture of that though.

It was a quick, but fun trip. I loved getting to see family again and can't wait for our next visit which will hopefully be a longer stay. Olivia had a great time meeting all her cousins but she was very excited to be home to see her daddy, play with her toys and sleep in her own crib. The next morning I think she was still on Arizona time because as I went in to wake her up, she looked up at me, said "no", and turned her head and went back to sleep! All I could do was laugh.