Arizona. It's a Dry Heat.

For Katie's 30th birthday, Jeff offered to fly Aiden and I out to help celebrate. We jumped at the offer! We haven't visited them in Arizona and haven't seen them since they got engaged back in June.

I was a little nervous considering I was flying across the country solo with a toddler. Check out all of this stuff I had to lug in by myself!

Trying to wear her out before we get locked on a plane for four hours.

BINGO. Want to know how to keep a toddler occupied? Trap yourself in the lavatory... with a lot of sanitizing wipes. We killed a lot of time playing with the sink and toilet paper rolls. Of course, we cleaned up after ourselves and made sure we weren't holding up a line or anything.

I also packed a backpack full of snacks and new toys from the Dollar Store (sure, throw them down the aisle - they will not be missed!). Finally, we made it to Arizona! It was a long and exhausting four hours, but overall she did great. 

Uncle Jefe picked us up and after a quick stop at Jack in the Box (obviously), we headed to their house. Jeff is kind of (read: a total) neat freak and the maids were just finishing up when we arrived. It took Aiden all of two minutes to flip the dog's water bowl upside down and leave a trail of bananas. I laughed as Jeff followed her around with a rag. 

Jeff and Katie leave this door open a lot, but it only took Aiden a couple hours to walk right through it thinking it was a window. Poor thing fell flat on her face! But being the trooper she is, it didn't slow her down.

Katie and Jeff live just outside of Scottsdale in Cave Creek. It was so beautiful and so different from what we're used to.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and planned to go see the Baker fam on Thursday morning. I was so excited it worked out for us to see Grandma and Grandpa Baker, along with Liz, Tom, Monica, Joe and Carter. I hadn't met Carter before and Aiden was so excited to play with her cousin!

Afterward, Adam thanked me for making the time to visit with his family. My first reaction was "what?" I honestly forgot it was his family we were hanging out with! We love the Bakers and are so glad we were able to get together.

Aunt Liz was so fun!

Cheeeeese!

Loved getting to spend some time with Monica! She's pregnant with baby #2 and is due March 12. My vote is girl! (They're finding out at Christmas.)

They gave each other a hug! So cute.

After a fun morning with the Bakers, we headed to the grocery store to pick up some essentials. It was Aiden's first time riding in one of these and she loved it. It was hilarious.

Beep, beep!

Friday was Katie's actual birthday and we headed across the street to celebrate with neighbors.

Aiden and Jeff quickly became besties on the trip. It was so fun to watch them together.

Monica and Carter were able to join us for the celebration! Jeff and Katie have such a fun group of friends - we had a blast.

Playing games... with props, of course.

Saturday morning, we headed to the park where Jeff schooled everyone on the rock climbing wall.

Then we headed to see the Discount Tire hangar and chill out in the planes Jeff flies. 

Captain Aiden!

After a fun afternoon at the hangar and exploring Scottsdale, we headed to Harold's in Cave Creek.

Fun zip around the neighborhood in the rhino before we headed out on Sunday.

Aiden didn't want to leave! We had such a great time and can't wait to see them again for Thanksgiving. We were bummed Adam couldn't join us, but he's out of vacation days for the year. Boooo.