Madsens in the Motherland! (Part 2)

After a fun weekend here in Tempe, a few members of our family had to head back home to rejoin the working world. Namely my dad, Melissa and Mike. It was sad to see them leave, but we were lucky to have my mom, Steven and Julia for a whole week longer.

Matt took our three visitors to the last Suns home game of the season. It was fan appreciation night, so everyone came home a winner. My family won two T-shirts, an autographed Matt Barnes jersey, and two tickets to a WNBA game. This made me even more jealous that I missed the game -- I had a stake girls camp meeting that night.

Here is Josh just chillin' on a stack of books at Costco. Watching people shop. That's how he rolls.

I couldn't let my family leave without showing them our amazing zoo. Josh and I have a membership this year and he loves it more every time we go.

Josh loves his Uncle Steven so much. They were buddies all day. Steven even let Josh wear his crazy expensive sunglasses.

Julia got to ride a camel! Can you believe she actually asked me if she could take Josh on her lap??!

Here is Josh snuggling with Grandma, pretending to be shy for the camera. What a pretty Grandma he has.

My mom rented this little buggy for an hour thinking it would give us a break from walking. Not so. There are lots of hills at this zoo and the pedaling was killer! Still, it was a lot of fun for the kids.

Here is my little brother...I mean sister... Julia "petting" an enormous tortoise. (Not to worry -- she doesn't always dress like a boy.)

My family is pretty good at making funny faces. It just comes naturally.

How did these two get to be such big boys?!

Tired from a long day of walking and ready for a nap. All of us!

The next day we went in to Phoenix to the federal courthouse where Matt's dad Murray works as a judge. He was so nice to give us the grand tour. We saw part of a naturalization ceremony, walked through the cell block where all the inmates were kept, and saw Murray's fancy chambers. I asked the marshall to lock Steven up so we could see how they treat the prisoners. It was really tempting to just leave him like that.

We also got to sit in and watch a short proceeding in Murray's courtroom. This is how Josh entertained himself while court was in session. "Seafood! Get it? See food!"

Steven and Julia loved the rock gym. They were dang good at climbing too.

And a couple of days later, they were gone. Family, thank you so much for spending your spring break with us! Ten days of awesomeness were exactly what I needed. Love you to pieces!