Arizona's Newest Snow Birds

My fabulous family came to visit for a week during my little sister's college spring break. We had a super busy week that included a spring training baseball game, the Phoenix Zoo, the Phoenix Art Museum, a hike, lap swimming (finally!), and just a great time hanging out. Eva...and who am I kidding, I, loved spending time with the fam and gettin' spoiled for a week. Thanks guys for coming! Come back anytime.
P.s. For anyone back home, hope these beautiful weather pictures look tempting. If you need to get away from the snow, come visit! We'd love to have ya.

Sacrifice Brings Forth the Blessings of Heaven

With the temple so far away, traffic so terrible, the temple so packed, and Aaron's schedule without any breathing room, the Dahlin family doesn't make it to the temple as often and they would like. However, we made it our goal to go to the temple at our first available chance, which happened to be during spring break. Day Five was suppose to be temple day, and when our little girl fell ill we nearly canceled our trip. It's a good excuse right? Eva was in the E.R. that morning and still was on continuous doses of Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fever down. However, as the day wore on, I felt strongly that we still needed to make the effort to go. Yes it was a sacrifice, but I felt that we needed the blessings. It reminded me a little of the woman who had an issue of blood in the bible who desired to touch the hem of Christ's garment. "For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole" (Matthew 9:21). I know our Savior desires to bless each of us and know that He has always opened the windows of heaven and poured out blessings upon our family. For this I am very grateful.

Day 4 and The High Fever

Our fourth day of Aaron's spring break, we went hiking with some friends. Mysteriously, both of our babes feel ill that evening. Eva's fever got so high that we had to take her to the emergency room. It's a long story and I have little time to write it, but needless to say, in the short spread of two weeks Eva visited the doctor, P.A., and ER, with symptoms varying from EXTREMELY high body temperature, strange rashes that covered her body, green boogers that drug on for three weeks, terrible coughs, FOUR teeth breaking through at the same time, diarrhea, and possibly infection in her lungs. It was wild for a bit there but Eva finally seems to be slowly getting better! YEA! So, Aaron's spring break sort-of to an abrupt halt at Day Four!

More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys: Day 3

Our third day with Daddy was spent at the Zoo. Or first stop was at the petting zoo. Check out the pictures that show Eva's response to the overly-friendly goat. Eva was not a big fan of the goats but LOVED the animals in the water. Who'd a guess that OUR little girl would like the water? I kept pointing at the ducks, turtles, and other animals in the water and telling Eva that each animal was taking a bath, to which she understood, and would giggle. The next stop Eva enjoyed was the giraffe feeding platform. We watched others feed food to the giraffe which Eva also thought was amusing. Check out the giraffe's tongue, it is incredibly long! The last memorable stop for Eva was probably the aquarium. Here Eva found stingrays that the zookeeper said loved to be pet. It was cute how they all swam to Eva and stuck their head out of the water as if to beg, "please, please pet me!" It made us laugh because it reminded us of our dog. Anyway, we had more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Day #2, A SMASHING HIT

Day 2 began with big plans, but ended when Aaron's finger operation caused more pain than expected. Notice the pretty green bandage on Aaron's hand. Aaron "smashed" or I guess jammed it playing basketball and a granuloma formed. A granuloma is "a medical term for a ball-like collection of immune cells which forms when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate." I'm not exactly sure what that means either, I found that on Wikipedia! If you are confused, ask Aaron, he can tell you all about it. The dermatologist cut it out a month ago and it grew back so this time the dermatologist cut it out and went nearly to the bone. Hopefully that will be the end of that. So, the Dahlin family went to the park and lounged around most of the day. Enjoy the videos of Daddy and Eva having a good time together:

"I'm So Glad When Daddy is Home" DAY #1

With finals week conquered, Aaron overcomes his post-traumatic stress disorder with one week away from the action of medical school. Our first day, Monday, we spent on a beautiful hike to a local waterfall at White Tank Regional Park. Though it was a blistering cold 73 degree February day, we somehow found a way to enjoy ourselves. Stay tuned for Day 2, it is sure to be a hit.