Road Trip Part 4

*Editor's Note: For some reason I cannot switch the order of my posts to put Part 1 of our trip at the beginning, so it might be worthwhile to scroll down a little and start at the beginning with the first Road Trip post. Sorry!

Day three of our journey, and it was time to pack up and make the drive back home! We loaded up the goodies Reuben gave us from Bookman's (a great bookstore/entertainment store where he works) and we were off!

We soaked in the Arizona desert scenery one last time.



Anyone who has ever driven into Arizona has probably seen all the little Navajo jewelry stands set up along the highway on the reservations. Well, with my birthday a little less than a week away, I convinced my parents to get me some "authentic" Indian jewelry! (It didn't take much convincing--they asked what I wanted, I told them, they said okay!)



Our next stop was at the Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell) where we stretched our legs and took a few more photos.






Jack was happy for any chance he got to get out of the car!


We stopped in Page, AZ for a quick lunch. Then it was on to Moqui Cave! This was another quick stop since we didn't want to pay the $5 admission to the museum. We got a couple pictures at least!


Our final stop before reaching our destination was a little drive-in in Panguitch, UT. When I was working at Panguitch Lake a few years ago, I would drive into town every now and then and get an ice cream sundae at Henrie's Drive In.


To this day, it is still the best ice cream sundae I've had!


By the end of our trip we had spent a good portion of our time in the car, but we still had a great time. I can't wait for our next summer adventure!

Road Trip Part 3

Sedona! It's not too far away from Flagstaff, so we drove down in the afternoon of our second day of the trip. The red rocks and extreme heat made it a much different experience than Flagstaff. It was also very touristy! We stopped for ice cream in town, and then drove up to a Catholic cathedral that was built right into the red cliffs. Pretty amazing!





We left the cathedral and stopped in another spot for some photo ops of the landscape.




It was so pretty, but the heat sent us quickly on our way back to Flagstaff for our final night of the trip!

Road Trip Part 2

After a fun drive through southern Utah and into Arizona, we made it to Flagstaff. I can see why my brother Reuben likes living here. It's a beautiful mountain forest town stuck right in the middle of the Arizona desert!

We met up with the family and walked around downtown on our first night in Flagstaff. My parents, my three brothers, my sister-in-law, and Spencer and I were all together for the first time.




After a great dinner of tacos, tamales, and burritos, it was game time at our hotel rooms. We can't have a family gathering without playing games! It was also time to relax and rest for our big day tomorrow.


Day two started out with our main goal of the trip - to take a family photo. The last family photo we had taken was at the SLC airport when my younger brother got home from his mission. It was not a great photo, so we were all glad to take a new one!

We drove up to a beautiful meadow outside Flagstaff to find a spot for the picture.



After a few different tries, we ended up with a great family portrait!


Once our mission was accomplished we took a short hike on one of the trails.



We hadn't gone very far when we decided to turn around and get some lunch. Jack was not happy about this decision and laid down in the middle of the trail when we started walking back down. He did not want to leave. It was so funny!


We ate lunch at a cute little creperie, mostly because the sign told us to. (And also because we LOVE crepes, thanks to my dad and his French influence!)


We saw a little more of downtown Flagstaff, where I happened to run across a very brave butterfly! I think I could have just picked it up and taken it home, it let me get so close!


Of course, a trip to Flagstaff wouldn't be complete without a picture of a train! The train tracks run right through the city, and trains are coming and going all the time. Choo choo!

Road Trip Part 1

We just got back from a family trip to Flagstaff, AZ to visit my oldest brother, Reuben. I took a bunch of pictures throughout the trip, so prepare yourself for an extremely lengthy blog post!

Let's start with the drive down to Flagstaff. My younger brother and his wife Jessica carpooled down with us for the 8 hour drive.


We kept ourselves busy by eating snacks and playing games like Jeopardy and a guessing game using our atlas to guess distances between cities. We also listened to some great music and comedy CD's. Brian Regan had us blithering, it was so funny!


We were having such a fun time that we missed one of our exits (oops!), and ended up taking the scenic route past Brian Head and Cedar Breaks National Monument to get to Hwy 89 from I-15. It was well worth the extra time!




Since we were in the area, we thought we would take one more little detour and drive past the BearPaw Lakeview Resort by Panguitch Lake, where I worked one summer as a waitress/housekeeper. I didn't take any photos, but it sure brought back some memories!

The scenery was really amazing on the drive down.


Even Jack appreciated the great views, and loved to stick his head out the back window when we slowed down for road construction!


Hooray for road trips!

Keeping Busy with the Rain

So, it's been a little rainy lately. Anyone else notice this? But don't worry, we have found ways to stay busy despite the wet weather.

Spencer has been spending a lot of time as a wannabe mechanic. I don't know all the specifics of what he has been fixing, but I seem to remember hearing "sway bar" and "ball joints." I know there were many other things. I'll have him post about all the repairs.


Poor Jack can't wait to go for a nice long walk! He has been cooped up inside with us because of his intense hatred of all things wet. Here he is with his favorite ugly little toy.


This weird looking stuffed animal has been very durable, but he is actually starting to pull the stuffing out a little. Sad.

And what have I been doing? Well, I spent a couple of days being sick, and then made some yummy cupcakes, and our friends the Oliphants came over for game night.


Now for the most exciting part -- drum roll please! .....(no pun intended)



I got 100% on drums playing RockBand! That's right, an 810 note streak! And Spencer got 100% on vocals for the same song! I was playing as Adam's character, and Spencer was playing as my character Wes. I guess it's time to move from medium to hard. We'll see!

What have YOU been doing in all this rain?

Play-Doh

It hasn't quite been a full week yet since school has been out, but already I am LOVING my free time! I have some Play-Doh from school that miraculously did not dry out by the end of the year. So, while Spencer was out treating patients, I got in touch with my artistic side! Although I don't know how artistic Play-Doh can be really.



It was getting close to dinner time, which may explain why I chose to do food. Next week I might convince Spencer to do some Play-Doh sculpturing with me!

Thank You Alice Cooper...

...for writing my favorite song of the season, "School's Out for Summer!"

If you haven't heard this song before, you need to. It's a good one.

Show and Tell

Here is a conversation that took place during Show and Tell today at school.

Billy*: I made this lizard out of beads.



Susie*: Wow!! How did you do that??

Tommy*: It takes skill and determination, right Billy?

Oh how funny. But I am still excited for school to end in 4 days!

*Names changed for privacy, blah blah blah