A day in the life of the Steffen Sisters!: Desert days

Hi everyone. It is time for my now monthly update. Finding time to get this in is not easy, so take what you can get!

Diving right in to the highlight of last month. Vacation! That's right. I got my first spring break from school and what did we get to do? Go on a trip to Arizona! And best part of that.....grandma Elmo was there.

Lena had her first flight - we were not sure what to expect. We know how bored we get, so who knew what Lena would do ~3 hours on a plane. But guess what? Sleep. That is what she did. No crying at all. She was even good while we walked through PHX airport to get bags and then to rental car and then drove the almost hour to Elmo's house. It wasn't until the last 15 min of the drive did she start grumbling to get out and kick some. Pretty impressive. Me and Heidi of course were perfect. I watched a movie on the iPad, Heidi slept.

We were so excited to see Elmo. It had been a long time. We talk to her on Skype, but it was good to give her one of my power hugs. When we finally got her to let go, we got a tour of her super nice house. There was plenty of room, Heidi and I slept in the office room and Lena slept in the extra room mom and dad slept in. Now grandma's bed was huge! She even needed a stool just to get in it! She also had a huge bathroom with a jet tub. I wanted to get in it....but then we realized why bother because she also had a POOL! That was by far my favorite. Hanging out in the back in the pool. Ok, well sometimes outside of it. The first day it was COLD. But thanks to 90+ degree days, it warmed up quite nicely to get some good swim time in. It was a great set up, plenty of shade, views of the golf course, even some peaceful fountains. Grandma even had some fun floats for us. We spent time every day swimming. Even Lena got in. And I loved it! It was like a big cold bath. I couldn't stop kicking in it. And the waterfalls were all kinds of awesome.

Other highlights were watching the Royals up close and personal. That's right it was Spring Training...and surprise they play down there in Surprise (I know, I'm funny). Since it was so close to Elmo's mom and dad made a few trips we spent one day there. We went in the morning and watched practice. And Alex Gordon gave me a ball! We couldn't burst her bubble and tell her it was just a minor league player. She was set that it was Gordon. We didn't wait among the masses to get the big guys autographs. Too hot and sunny so we walked around the park. Talked mom and dad into getting us all t-shirts, ice cream, you know a normal trip to the ball park. Our seats were shady so despite it being so hot out, it actually was totally fine at the game. Once again, Lena surprised us and was a rock star. I guess she will make a good Royals fan.

Dyson (aka Cheetah) plays for a new team now?

We got to meet Aunty Cheryl. Mom told us about her before we left so I was excited to meet her. She came over and hung out with us one day and she even brought presents. You know we loved that. We would have liked her anyway because she was so nice. But we did have fun playing with all the stuff her and Elmo had ready for us at the house. And we are still having fun with it by the way (Elmo sent it to us so we could have it all here!). We also got to go to Cheryl and Larry's house for dinner one night. There house was so pretty and the pizza was yummy. But I loved Larry's 'man cave' or little house. I guess he was quite the hunter back in the day. I didn't believe him that the zebra rug was a real zebra...but it was! And that elephant ear table held up by a foot. What?

We went on a hike. We may not have made it very far. It was hot - unseasonably so - so we may have cut it short. But we did see lots of cactus and flowers. We even saw little tiny lizards. And pictographs on the rocks. Maybe we'll do better next time we try. Mom said she isn't taking us to Colorado hiking anytime soon. I told her that's ok...I want to go back to California anyway.

We checked out their children's museum. It was so cool. There was so much to do. We loved every part of it. Totally on our list to visit when we go back. Oh yeah, I told mom we should go back again. I don't care if we have only been back a couple weeks. It was fun! But I guess Elmo is already on the way back so we wouldn't be seeing her. I guess a trip to NE is due soon instead. We did celebrate grandma's 70th birthday while we were there. We went out to dinner the night before - oh yeah, a buffet that had steak. Seriously does it get better? You would think it was my birthday. AND we got donuts the morning of before we headed out to the airport. YUM.

We were all such good travelers - I mean check out the cute airplane pics - hopefully that means more trips in the future. We were even all good when hanging out (which seemed like forever) at the airport. Well pretty good...at one point Heidi got an ouwie, mom asked her to show her so she could kiss it like normal, but then forgot. She turned around to people laughing because Heidi had pulled down her pants and was bending so everyone could see the ouwie on her butt. Oops!

Ok, ok...moving on. A few other highlights since last time. Uncle Matt, Gayle, and the crew came down to go watch some basketball with dad so me and Lena got to go see them at their hotel. I got to swim and more importantly hang out with Jason, Jay, & Jack! Yeah, they were pretty cool. I even let Gayle hold me. But after eating dad said we had to go back to school. So the visit was short and sweet.

I like going to school. My teachers are nice. I give them the biggest smiles when I get there and love cuddling in to Miss Becca. I have been working with them on doing things I am suppose to be doing - you know now that I am 7 months. Actually almost 8, so I had to get this update out - but I prefer to be held and just chill out. I have finally started rolling over (although not real willingly), I can sit supported for a few seconds in my boppy pillow, I am finally eating some baby food (carrots are my favorite), but what I excel in is growing teeth. Five of them to be exact, I'm still waiting for #6 to pop through. As are we, Lena. Let's just say the nights get loud around here.

Last but not least, I had a barn dance at my school and daddy was my date! We dressed up, he gave me a pretty corsage and took me to Olive Garden for dinner before heading to school to boogie down. I have to learn date etiquette though, because dad wasn't super thrilled with me when I went running off to dance and play with my friends. I told him to take me next time, because I would dance with him. Danielle's wedding is in a few months, so we'l have the chance then. Yeehaw!

Adios partner! Heidi OUT!