Saturday~ The way home

Today we have been traveling most of the day. It was hard to say “goodbye” to everyone, but we needed to start back towards home. To be honest, I’m ready to get back into our routine. We haven’t read scriptures or been in bed before 11 PM at all this past week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind. I just miss reading the scriptures and my hour after the kids are in bed to relax from the busy day. :} 

We have seen much beauty today on the way to Santa Rosa. We are all looking forward to getting home tomorrow.

Friday

Today was our extra day to stay in Arizona. We crammed a lot into a little time. :} Mike went with his dad to Costco for some way cheap food storage. While he was gone, I went on a little outing of my own with the kids. Don’t worry. I didn’t have to rely on my own horrible sense of direction. We had “Lola” with us. The kids named the new GPS system Lola just like in the movie RV. We had a great time. :}

Once we all got back to the house, we went to the Asian Market. It was really fun. The food was packaged so wonderfully that it made you want to buy it all.

Then we went over to Missy’s house. While Mike played on the computer with Missy, the girls played with their chickens.

Then Papa and Nana wanted to take us out for our last night in Arizona. They picked the coolest restaurant. It was like a Golden Corral but SO much better! They even had an ICEE machine! I got to have an ICEE with my dinner! I may have died and gone to heaven and back without realizing it. :}

We then went to see the temple lights. It was beautiful. What a beautiful end to a great vacation.

After seeing the temple lights, we went home and had s'mores.  We gathered around the fire pit and had a great time.  Karen had a jar of questions and we went around the circle and everyone got to answer questions that most of us didn't know about each other.  We stayed up way to late and had way too much fun. :}

Thursday~ Thanksgiving Day

Today was Thanksgiving. What a great day to be thankful! We got the opportunity to go to Sheryl’s house for most of the family to have Thanksgiving lunch together. After filling ourselves with WAY too much delicious food, we went for a walk to a nearby park. On the way to the park, we came across some blocks of ice that had been abandoned by their previous patrons. Elaina had a great time using the blocks of ice to slide down the hill.

The kids also had fun at the park.

Emma, Josh, and a few other cousins tried digging their way to China. I think they almost got there, but you know how it goes. Once you almost get what you want, it’s time to go home.

What a treat to be able to come to Arizona and get to know everyone a bit better. Hopefully we won’t reveal our true selves enough that we aren’t invited back. :}

Wednesday

Today we had a simply simple day. Jake and Josh helped Papa plant a tree. They did a really great job.

Mike went and found some yucca he could use for his mountain man adventure. He didn’t find any he could use on Tuesday, but he was a little luckier this time.

Then this afternoon, We met Renae at a really cool mall. Her daughter, Aubry, had just gotten some really cool shoes at Payless, so we went to see if we could find a pair for Elaina. They were adorable, but they only went up to size 10 ½. If Elaina had little feet, we would have had it made. :}

The girls went home with Renae and played with her dogs while I went shopping with Nana, Karen and Logan. We had a good time with lots of laughing. Apparently, being mostly blind is not the reason Jacob touches everything. We went to Macy’s and I have never seen models like that. They were very “happy” to see us. Maybe they had been recently brought in from an ice storm, but I just couldn’t help myself. I had to touch them. It was like a magnetic reaction. It was just so odd and gross all at the same time.

On the way home, we went to a Mexican market place. It was amazing. It was really neat to see all the different pieces and parts of animals for sale. There were also tons of fruits and veggies. Also an amazing array of baked goods. They had a tortilla maker with fresh tortillas for sale as well as a restaurant filled with traditional Mexican food. It was a really neat place to visit. I wish we had something like that close to us. Our house would have fresh fruit all the time!

Tuesday

We have two “words of the day” for today. Perfect and Patience.

Today we had a really fun day. Nana was brave enough to have a cooking class to help us make pizza dough. It was really fun to see the boys, Emma and myself (no, I didn’t see myself) learn to work the dough and work together. Once all the dough was together and rising, the boys were off to cut some yucca. The girls and I stayed with Nana and Aunt Karen (and Logan) and we got to make the pizza dough into little balls. Once the balls had set, I learned how to make a “perfect” circle. Nana is super smart. She’s done this once or twice before. I could tell. :} We took the pie pans we were going to grill the dough on and made a circle the size of the bottom of the pan. Once the circles were cut out, we placed them under the plastic on the table. Wahlah… a form to make a “perfect” circle. I’ll be honest. Even with the guide, I still had problems with making a “perfect” circle. I found that circles are as hard to make with dough as they are with pens and paper. :} It made for a really fun time. Karen and I had a great time laughing at ourselves. We also teased Nana about how “perfect” she is for the rest of the night. Emma would come and go. Nana taught her the word “patience”. That is what it takes to make “perfect” pizza circles. Once Emma worked on her “patience”, she made some lovely “perfect” pizza circles. Hopefully this lesson on “patience” will spill into other aspects of her life. “Patience” is something we could all learn to gain a little more of. :}

Once we were thru grilling all the pizza circles, we got the opportunity to play old Maid with Nana, Aunt Karen and Logan. It was a lovely time.

After all the excitement of “perfect” pizza circles and Old Maid, we got to go visit a friend of Nana’s. She was a really neat lady who has a bunch of chickens and birds on her land. It was really neat to go see.

Soon after returning from visiting the chickens and birds, we got everything ready for the pizza party. It was really fun to see most everyone. It’s amazing how time has changed all these small kids into big young adults. I, of course, have stayed the same. Haha It was really nice getting to catch up with everyone and their families. It helps us look forward to Thanksgiving even more than we already did. :}

Monday

Today has been a really fun day. We woke up in Flagstaff and got to Nana and Papa’s house shortly after noon. We spent the afternoon laughing and having fun. Well, mostly. Mike and I asked Nana if she would be willing to cut Emma’s hair. Emma wouldn’t let me brush her hair at the hotel, so Mike was given the opportunity. Therefore it was decided that Emma needed a haircut. Haha Poor girl has been blessed with the best of both worlds. She has extremely thick hair that is straight on the top layer and curly underneath. It tends to make huge mats of tangled messes around her neckline. She has also been blessed with a tender head. Not a good combination. She has been fighting the idea of a haircut for a couple of weeks. Today, she didn’t have a choice. :}

She was really lucky to have Nana be the best stylist on earth. :} She was a grump throughout most of the haircut. She was determined for a while that she wouldn’t go out in public with her new hair. Oh what a drama queen! Haha I am really impressed with how great her hair turned out. Even she started to like it. Now she is a drama queen in another way. She thinks she is the most beautiful creature on earth. Haha Oh what would I do without an ego to contend with? Haha

The Grand Canyon

Today we made it to Arizona. We saw lots of plateaus along the way. We even saw some (very little) snow on the sides of a few mountains.

We decided to go on to the Grand Canyon today. Our original plan was to go Flagstaff today and stay the night. Tomorrow (Monday) we were going to go see the Grand Canyon then head on to Nana and Papa’s house. We decided to go ahead and head on to the Grand Canyon today since we would be there before too late. I’m so glad we did. It was really exciting. Emma was a bit nervous about how high up we were, but she eventually got over it. :} Elaina made me extremely nervous because she was her normal energetic self and kept walking/running along the edge.

We arrived around 2 and left @ 6. OK. We actually started leaving @5, but we made a couple of stops along the way. We came up to a lookout and we could see the river. It was absolutely beautiful.

Here is what we have seen most of during our trip….