Wrapping Up 2013 in 2014, Pt. 4: Our Annual Phoenix Post-Christmas Overnighter

Another family holiday tradition we have been creating for ourselves is a family overnight trip to Phoenix. Counting our trip in 2013, we have stayed overnight there for three of the last four years. We love it! It is a great way to have a little fun in that relaxed, easygoing time between Christmas and New Year's. It is also a nice way to get a visit to the LDS temple in Mesa, and to celebrate Nathan and my wedding anniversary (which is December 27th). Here's how our overnighter went this time, as told in (mostly) pictures.

We got off to a later start than we'd hoped, since we had to spend the whole morning waiting for our minivan, which was in the shop (leaking coolant...ugh). Thankfully, the problem was solved and it didn't financially kick our butts (plus, having the car in the shop for a day and a half meant more time to hang out together as a family post-Christmas, hanging out and having fun together.

We drove up to the Phoenix area as quickly as we could, and we decided to kick off our stay by taking the girls to Makutu's Island, the indoor climbing/sliding/crawling jungle play place that I'd taken them to over the summer. I decided to sit this one out; since Nathan had never been inside it before, and the car needed gas anyway, I spent the next hour hanging out in the car, reading a book and hoping the kids had fun.

Luckily, they had a great time!

Everyone was hungry after all the climbing around, and as luck would have it there was a Buca di Beppo restaurant just a block over from Makutu's Island. Buca di Beppo is an Italian-food restaurant that serves all its entrees "family-style"; you order one or two large entrees and then share them with everyone at the table. The girls split a serving of spaghetti and meatballs, while Nathan and I ate some stuffed shells. Yummy!

Full and warm again, we headed out into the night...specifically, to see the Christmas lights around the Mesa Arizona LDS temple. They put lights up on the temple grounds every Christmas, and it's always great to see them...as well as the beautiful exhibit in the Visitor's Center for Nativity scenes from all around the world.

 

Beautiful Russian Nativity...yay!

We spent the night at a local hotel just a few minutes from the temple. The next morning, my beautiful friend Yulia (she served in the Moscow Mission with me back in the day!) volunteered to watch the girls so Nathan and I could go to an endowment session at the temple. It was the first time we'd been able to go as a couple in a while...and it was also the first time Nathan had seen the brand-new endowment video! As part of one of the temple ceremonies, participants watch a short video detailing the creation of the earth and the Fall of Adam and Eve. This is the first time the video has been updated in more than 20 years (none of the text has changed, but some of the visuals have changed quite a bit). It was a lovely experience, as always.

After the temple date, Nathan and I picked up the kids from Yulia's apartment (we paid her for her services in fancy chocolate; I hope she enjoyed it! We are very fortunate to have friends in the Phoenix area willing to watch our kids while we visit the temple). After grabbing a quick snack to eat, we went to another "fun" spot: the Arizona Museum of Natural History. I took the girls there once about a year and a half ago, and I figured they were due for another visit. Here are some pictures from the museum:

This is an outdoor area for budding "archaeologists," in which they can "sweep dirt" away to find dinosaur bones...

...or footprints.

Panning for "gold" in the same outdoor area

Lorelai had NO IDEA what this typewriter was. Man, I felt so OLD explaining it to her!

Here's the "movie" part of the museum, where the kids inserted themselves into an Old West feature.

Daddy got into the fun too.

We'd walked around for several hours, and now we were all hungry. On our way out of town, we drove through Gilbert, Arizona, and caught our first glimpse of the new LDS temple that is opening up in just a few months.

We weren't able to go inside the building yet (or even park there; the parking lot was closed off), but in just a few weeks we'll be coming back up for the temple's Open House. We are very excited! It will be great to have two temples to visit in the Phoenix area.

These photos were taken out of a moving car. Not too bad, huh?

After that, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Rudy's BBQ in Chandler. I am starting to think that we'll come here on every trip to Phoenix...but I wouldn't mind that one bit! Soo delicious, and I don't even like barbecue all that much. After that we headed for home, tired but happy. It is always fun to do a getaway in Phoenix with the family. Maybe this year we will change it up a bit and do a short trip up there in the summertime, as well! It might be fun to see what summer activities are good for the family in Phoenix. Does anyone out there have any ideas?