D, G & L: Phoenix Fun!

Dave and I made a trip to Phoenix to watch some baseball and spend time with family, especially our nieces. It was a much needed time of rest, family, baseball, In-N-Out, and baseball.

We were able to watch a few games of the World Baseball Classic. We watched the USA play Italy and Canada, which we won both of! The WBC is a world wide baseball tournament that happens every 4 years. The finals this year were in San Francisco. It was super convenient that we were going to be in Phoenix during the first round of the Tourney in which the USA was playing. We also got to see a few Colorado Rockies Spring Training Games. I got to check out their new facilities of the first time and Dave got a Todd Helton autograph.

The weather was beautiful while we were there. Joe took us out to the flight line and Dave got to get into the F16! It was an awesome experience for all of us. One day, the Bemis family took us up to Sedona in hopes to go to a natural rock slide, but the water was 39 degrees and had white rushing rapids. Needless to say, it was too cold and too unsafe to go in, but we enjoyed putting our toes in the water and walk around the town.

An update on our adorable nieces: Carlie is quite impressive reading these days. She is reading chapter books and writing sentences with minimal help. She blows my mind with her reading ability and comprehension. Carlie enjoyed showing off her gymnastics skills on her new bar at the house. She can do the splits, a near perfect round-off, hand-stands, back-walk-over, and many more things that I don't know the name of. Carlie is growing up so quickly and we really enjoyed spending time with Carlie Jean.

As for her younger sister Tessa, she is a joy to be around. Tessa is starting to talk and try to communicate. Although I think this is a hard age because she wants so desperately to communicate to us, but she can't yet always make it clear what she wants. Tessa enjoyed trying out Carlie's gymnastics bar which she would hang on and then look at you upside down. Tessa is walking/running everywhere. She seems to be smiling non-stop and enjoys lifts into the air and eating. I also enjoy eating, so Tessa and I were on the same page most of the day :) Tessa is very smart and on more that one occasion grabbed a book with pictures of what we were talking about. For example, we were going to the duck pond and she grabbed a book with a duck. Tessa is such a sweet spirited girl.

Dave helped Joe with the building of the ramada in the Bemis backyard. The two of them spent good quality time together and even enjoyed a few beers after their work was complete each day.

I loved sharing this time with Carrie and her wonderful family. It was nice to spend a whole week with the Bemis Family and I got to know Carrie even better. I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Phoenix and was sad to come home! At least they are only a few hour flight away.

World Baseball Classic