Welcome to Conlin Chaos

Welcome to the family journal that captures the chaos that is the world of Colleen, Adam, Zach, Ben, Josh, Luke, Tommy, and Ruby. Here you will see small snippets of what we see every day.

Come. Enjoy! You know we do!

Friday, April 4, 2014

Just Another Day for You and Me in Paradise: AZ Day Two

Our second day in Gilbert began early, as Adam and I took in the 6am session at the brand new Gilbert Temple.  What a lovely temple!  The stained glass is beautiful on the outside, but from the inside it is breathtaking and causes the light inside to have a feeling that is both joyful and peaceful.

We returned home to five awake boys who were ready for a quick swim before meeting up with Adam's sister, Angie, and her family to walk the Gilbert Temple grounds and then have a little playtime at a nearby park.  It was so fun to meet and snuggle our niece, Kylie's, new baby boy, Dallas, what a cutie pie!  Dallas' big brother, Aiden (2), took a shining to a couple of his older cousins and honored them with turns holding their hands as we walked the temple grounds and park.  Our  boys loved seeing the new temple, hanging out with the little cousins and playing some soccer with DJ, Kylie's husband.  It was a nice, sweet visit with the Madsens and we were really grateful they were willing to come up from Casa Grande to see us so we didn't have to add more time in the car to our week.

We returned to Britt's for a big family dinner, that included three of Britt's six kids, her husband, Brock, and Dorothy and Brent, Britt's mom and dad/my dad's cousin and her husband.  But not before we had another good long stretch of pool time (which included the boys' infamous A.R.C.--Anti-Relaxation Club--that involved much cannon-balling and violent splashing very near to Britt and I).  We also took in a food-dreams-are-made-of-this pre-dinner legit Hawaiian shave ice snack.  Oh, wow.  Soooooo good.  Dinner, Huli Huli chicken, of course, was so good, but the company and 'ohana love was the real treat. 

We loved our visit with our wonderful AZ family, even if it felt too short and we would have loved to have stayed longer...but we couldn't wait another day to see my sis, Jason and Kai!  



































Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Just Another Day for You and Me in Paradise: Driving and Day One in AZ

It was pretty fantastic, our vacation, so there will be many pictures and a post for every day, because...well, because we don't want to forget a minute of it and because life is pretty darn great, and these are the times that make it even greater.

We headed out early on a Thursday morning for Gilbert, Arizona, home of the Hancock/Booher clans, cousins of mine from the McKenzie side.  We were all so excited and ready for some vacation!  The drive south was painless and uneventful.  Our boys are well-seasoned road-trippers, and we have the long days spent in the car down to a carefully orchestrated science, with time allotted for gaming, movies and reading books, in manageable increments, delicious yet not sloppy snacks, and just the right amount of rest stopping for the stretching of legs and emptying of bladders.

We arrived in Arizona just in time to see a beautiful, blazing sunset and settle in for a nice {horizontal} sleep.  My cousin, Britt, and her family, (husband Brock, daughters, Sara and Riley and son, Carson--with three more away at three different BYU schools!), were kind and gracious hosts, with a beautiful home located in San Tan Ranch.  Adam and I shared a room with the two little boys, while the big boys took over the upstairs loft. 

The first order of business for day one in Gilbert was swimming.  That was the second, third, fourth and final orders of business as well...repeat on all days of the trip henceforth.  Pictures of our boys in swimming pools?  Yeah.  We got 'em!  The Booher's pool was cool, since the nights in Arizona are still on the cold side and no one there actually has a pool heater, because...why???  But the boys didn't care about the cold water, it certainly wasn't freezing and the air was warm, plus the hot tub was always there for a little warm up if needed, before another plunge into the refreshing waters of the pool.

And of course, paradise has s'mores, so the firepit was lit both nights we were in Gilbert with mallows, grahams and chocolate bars aplenty!  Mmmmm....   
720 miles to go!


Shaking our sillies out at the rest area

Welcome to Arizona!

720 miles in!
Adam had to tell me to stop looking or I was going to crash the car.








Ginormous homemade Jenga...watch your feet when it falls!  It hurts!

Outdoor ping pong?  Why, yes!  Yes, please!

Everything about this picture is perfect.





We did get out of the water.