Adult Acne?

I'm a zitty mess! :( I've been so diligent about keeping my face clean and using all my skincare, but I think I've figured out that it MUST be one of my products causing the mayhem.

Kiss my new tinted moisturizer buh-bye! That is the latest product I've introduced and prior to that my face was looking pretty good. Sad for me as I really like skipping the extra step in my morning routine - but definitely not worth the pie-face I've turned into.

We took the kids to the zoo today. It was a pretty good day until little Guthrie realized I was serious about not letting him ride the "roller coaster" (its actually a ski-lift-type contraption that lazes you along up above the animals.) Seriously, tantrum-ville. Luckily that was toward the end of the zoo excursion and it was anything that couldn't be cured by a visit to Peter Piper Pizza. These little munchkins get WAY too spoiled when we're in Arizona. They LOVE it - but I could do without the whining when they don't get what they want.

We spent the afternoon and evening in the backyard on the putting green. The kids kept dipping their feet and hands into the fountain. Pretty soon they were wet up to their knees. When I looked again, Guthrie was wet up to his neck. Of course, Adeline was close to follow and they spent a good 20 minutes splashing and playing in this 5 ft diameter pond. The wind was blowing quite a bit, and despite being in the middle of the Arizona desert, they ended up chilled.

We made an early bedtime of it all - and I hopped online to pay bills and blog. Oh how I love the internet. Seriously - LOVE the internet. Does anyone really write checks and buy stamps anymore? Its a far cry from Mexico, where not only can I NOT mail my bills, but I actually have to WALK them into each individual company and pay them with CASH! Say it with me now - DARK AGES! In some ways it IS simpler though - I never have to wonder if they're going to arrive on time, or if some computer error will cause me to be late.

Tomorrow I am making a quick trip back across town to meet my mom, aunt, and cousin for lunch. I left a few things at her house, and love a good excuse to say goodbye one more time. This little vacation flew by quickly, and I know it will be the blink of an eye before we're back at the airport flying home.

I'm already thinking of my positive affirmations to make the trip a smooth one.

*Our luggage will arrive in Mexico when we do
*Our children love flying and will be SO happy
*We will remember to pack everything we need
*Our layover will be smooth and uneventful

Did I mention that our flight leaves at 5:45 a.m.?? So - 2 hours early means we'll have to be at the airport w/ our 3 kids before 4 a.m. They are going to *love* that! ;)

The good news is that NOTHING can top the madness of our flight here.

We left Mexico just fine, if you can ignore the hour-delay in our flight. We arrived in L.A. late, of course, which meant that we nearly missed our layover. (Picture us running from terminal 3 to Terminal 1 with the baby in a backpack on my back, Adeline in the stroller, a carseat flipped upside down on top of the handle bars of said stroller, Guthrie sitting on top of 4 suitcases that are all piled with ANOTHER carseat on top of the luggage rack being wheeled by Kyle!) We gauged that it was about a mile that we ran like that.

We waited in the eternal line to get our boarding passes and check our luggage. When we were finally cleared to go to the terminal, we ended up being the lucky winners to be selected for a thorough search at security. Hallelujah for the sweet people who helped us. They knew we were in a crazy hurry and they made the whole experience as painless as possible despite several exasperated sighs on my part.

We left security and ran to our gate only to find that they were getting ready to close the boarding door. I almost started crying and practically begged them to let us on. Again - THANK Heavenly Father for the super sweet, understanding employees. This angel of a man ran to the plane to find us seats. He came back out and said that he found 3 available seats and Kyle could come on the plane and help us get settled while he re-arranged some things to find 1 more seat for us. Thanks to the amazingly kind passengers who were willing to move and swap seats, Kyle was able to sit by Adeline, and I had a seat next to Guthrie with baby Sullivan in my lap. Right then a man approached and told me I was in his seat. I told him we would need to talk to the airline attendant as I was only sitting where they directed. Turns out that they actually had to RE-position the ramp and re-open the plane doors to kick this man OFF the flight! There literally was no more room.

Of course my blood pressure lowered as soon as we were in the air and we made it to Phoenix. Little did I know that I had lost luggage to deal with next. We arrived in Phoenix around 9 p.m.. My mom and dad met us and took the 2 older kids home with them while Kyle and I stood in the lost-luggage line until almost midnight. In the end we just had to leave without the rest of our bags. The airline delivered them to us the next day.

So you see - no where to go but UP! :p