arizona was glorious, arizona was everything a girl could want. sun, entertainment, a best friend, free dental work, spur of the moment trips, pedicures, indians, the grand canyon, sleeping in, laughing, talking.... okay, so a few of these may need some explaining. sun, sun and more sun. i really soaked it up. i know that i told several people i wasn't coming back
without a tan. well, i tried my absolute hardest and my skin just wouldn't cooperate. i was in the sun for hours at a time and got nothing, but it sure felt good. the park was just a short walk from cindy's house so everyday we would go there for the boys to run and swing and slide. cindy and i would sit on a blanket and talk or sometimes just lay down and pretend we were ignoring our children. (ok, so we weren't pretending, we actually were ignoring them, we just figured a kidnapper wouldn't get very far before he turned around and brought them back...)
entertainment was also a given on this trip. the first weekend i was there my sister angel flew down for the weekend, well we just laughed almost non stop with her. she had great stories to tell and she kept us rolling ("that's what he said" :-) for those of you who were there).
free dental work is always a plus when i go on my trip to arizona. cindy's husband rick is a dentist, he is the best as far as i'm concerned. yep, i fly all the way from massachusetts to arizona to bee able to see my dentist! it's such a sacrifice. sorry to everyone else out there who doesn't have the chance to be on the friends and family insurance plan with your dentist.
spur of the moment trips. well, let's see. one day we went to a town called sedona. it is a cool little town, full of snow birds and touristy things. there are a couple of great rock shops there and we went to find benson some rocks for his collection. this trip was met with great success and happiness. the biggest, craziest spur of the moment thing happened the last week end i was there. my sister sunshine called saturday morning to tell me about my niece Keri Jean's mission farewell. It was the next day in utah. sunshine had the idea that cindy and i drive up (about 10-11 hrs.) and surprise everyone. so by saturday afternoon we had arranged what to do with cindy's boys while we were gone (not everyone could fit in the car) and loaded up my boys and all our stuff and we were off. we pulled into my brother's house at about 4am. we of course were tired but stayed up talking with sunshine for another 2 hours before getting 2 hours of sleep. when everyone woke up boy were they surprised! my brother gray and his wife lisa knew we were coming, since it was there house, but everyone else was surprised, josh and his family, noel and her family all the kids, sunshine's boy-it was a very full house. and the surprises had just begun. we still had amber and her family, angel and her family and my parents to see! it turned out to be such a fun weekend. i'm really glad that we decided to go, it was a long drive both ways, but seeing so much of my family was awesome! actually everyone was there except my brother jacob and his clan. (they live in washington state)
My sister Amber & my Papasita!
Noel, my friend & sister
my sis Joanna & her husband Keith
here is most of the fam...
all of the girls being, well, silly!
My really cute mama!
so now, i have shared every detail with the whole cyber world.... feel free to skim through this journal entry of a blog posting. i also got to see my best friend from growing up in ky. she and her family were at kj's farewell. it was so fun to see them. sunday night they came over to gray's house and played games with us, what a fun time.
Heather, my good friend from the teenage years!
so, on the way home from utah we stopped at the grand canyon!
awesome! i know there are those who were disappointed when they saw it, because it was just a hole in the ground. seriously? that is lame, it is so truely majestic, absolutely amazing! there are little stops along part of the southern and northern edges for about 26 miles. you pull of the main road and park, then walk out to the edge, parts are fenced off for safety, but lots of it is just left natural. ethan was enthralled. he walked closer to the edge than i would have liked so that he could take pictures and look for rocks. one picture we have of him on the edge scares me just to see it!
if you have never been to the grand canyon, go! if you have been, i know there is not much there but seriously, just a hole in the ground? surely you thought more of it than that?! if not then go away from my blog, i don't want you reading when i say you are an idiot!
the part of arizona that we drove through crossed through several indian reservations, mainly the navajo. my oldest sister is a navajo indian, she came to live with us when i was a baby and stayed with us until she got married. i had never been to the reservation and had it in my mind that a reservation was like one town, but we drove for miles and miles, i wonder how many acres their reservation is? i guess i could google it... ok, just did it. wikipedia says that it covers 26,000 square miles, that's17 million acres! anyway, we stopped at a couple roadside stands and bought some handmade jewelry. they use real stones, like turquoise and red coral, amethyst, etc.. beautiful stuff, i wish i could have gotten more, some for all my friends! the day after we came home from utah it was time for me to leave. i had already extended my trip 5 days, i would have loved to stay longer, but it was time to get back to routine and life as i know it. so there you have it. my two week trip condensed into one enormous blog posting.
without a tan. well, i tried my absolute hardest and my skin just wouldn't cooperate. i was in the sun for hours at a time and got nothing, but it sure felt good. the park was just a short walk from cindy's house so everyday we would go there for the boys to run and swing and slide. cindy and i would sit on a blanket and talk or sometimes just lay down and pretend we were ignoring our children. (ok, so we weren't pretending, we actually were ignoring them, we just figured a kidnapper wouldn't get very far before he turned around and brought them back...)
entertainment was also a given on this trip. the first weekend i was there my sister angel flew down for the weekend, well we just laughed almost non stop with her. she had great stories to tell and she kept us rolling ("that's what he said" :-) for those of you who were there).
free dental work is always a plus when i go on my trip to arizona. cindy's husband rick is a dentist, he is the best as far as i'm concerned. yep, i fly all the way from massachusetts to arizona to bee able to see my dentist! it's such a sacrifice. sorry to everyone else out there who doesn't have the chance to be on the friends and family insurance plan with your dentist.
spur of the moment trips. well, let's see. one day we went to a town called sedona. it is a cool little town, full of snow birds and touristy things. there are a couple of great rock shops there and we went to find benson some rocks for his collection. this trip was met with great success and happiness. the biggest, craziest spur of the moment thing happened the last week end i was there. my sister sunshine called saturday morning to tell me about my niece Keri Jean's mission farewell. It was the next day in utah. sunshine had the idea that cindy and i drive up (about 10-11 hrs.) and surprise everyone. so by saturday afternoon we had arranged what to do with cindy's boys while we were gone (not everyone could fit in the car) and loaded up my boys and all our stuff and we were off. we pulled into my brother's house at about 4am. we of course were tired but stayed up talking with sunshine for another 2 hours before getting 2 hours of sleep. when everyone woke up boy were they surprised! my brother gray and his wife lisa knew we were coming, since it was there house, but everyone else was surprised, josh and his family, noel and her family all the kids, sunshine's boy-it was a very full house. and the surprises had just begun. we still had amber and her family, angel and her family and my parents to see! it turned out to be such a fun weekend. i'm really glad that we decided to go, it was a long drive both ways, but seeing so much of my family was awesome! actually everyone was there except my brother jacob and his clan. (they live in washington state)
My sister Amber & my Papasita!
Noel, my friend & sister
my sis Joanna & her husband Keith
here is most of the fam...
all of the girls being, well, silly!
My really cute mama!
so now, i have shared every detail with the whole cyber world.... feel free to skim through this journal entry of a blog posting. i also got to see my best friend from growing up in ky. she and her family were at kj's farewell. it was so fun to see them. sunday night they came over to gray's house and played games with us, what a fun time.
Heather, my good friend from the teenage years!
so, on the way home from utah we stopped at the grand canyon!
awesome! i know there are those who were disappointed when they saw it, because it was just a hole in the ground. seriously? that is lame, it is so truely majestic, absolutely amazing! there are little stops along part of the southern and northern edges for about 26 miles. you pull of the main road and park, then walk out to the edge, parts are fenced off for safety, but lots of it is just left natural. ethan was enthralled. he walked closer to the edge than i would have liked so that he could take pictures and look for rocks. one picture we have of him on the edge scares me just to see it!
if you have never been to the grand canyon, go! if you have been, i know there is not much there but seriously, just a hole in the ground? surely you thought more of it than that?! if not then go away from my blog, i don't want you reading when i say you are an idiot!
the part of arizona that we drove through crossed through several indian reservations, mainly the navajo. my oldest sister is a navajo indian, she came to live with us when i was a baby and stayed with us until she got married. i had never been to the reservation and had it in my mind that a reservation was like one town, but we drove for miles and miles, i wonder how many acres their reservation is? i guess i could google it... ok, just did it. wikipedia says that it covers 26,000 square miles, that's17 million acres! anyway, we stopped at a couple roadside stands and bought some handmade jewelry. they use real stones, like turquoise and red coral, amethyst, etc.. beautiful stuff, i wish i could have gotten more, some for all my friends! the day after we came home from utah it was time for me to leave. i had already extended my trip 5 days, i would have loved to stay longer, but it was time to get back to routine and life as i know it. so there you have it. my two week trip condensed into one enormous blog posting.
6 comments:
We made that long trip between American Fork and Phoenix 3 times in January/February...and I can't even count how many times we made it while I was growing up. It's one long ride, with not much in between. It sound like you had lots of fun in Arizona. Don't feel bad, I didn't get a tan while I was there either : (
How fun!!! I am so glad that you got to come up and visit us, even if it was only for a short time. Love you
That sounds like so much fun. We sure do wish that we could be there. Next time you get a hankering for some salmon, or marionberries, or just some really good company, come and visit us. Just be sure and pack lots of allergy medicine! Man Heather looks different! I hope you left the red buttons on the ceiling alone when you saw her. Jacob
Wow, what great adventures! I'm glad you got to go and soak up the sun(even though we can't see it), reconnect with friends and family, and have what looks like one heck of a trip! Wahoo!
That looks and sounds like it was so much fun.
you sound like the perfect girl to travel with...spur of the moment 10-12 hour detours:)
I loved looking at all your pictures.
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