The Washington Coast

Sarah

Each of the girls brought a friend - Sarah and Brittany

Lydia

Lydia and Olivia

Me and my Shmoopie (and Zoe)

Home Sweet Home

We are finally back home after 16 days on the road! We thank the Lord for such a great trip and for safety and our van that ran perfectly no matter what we put it through! We will never forget this vacation and feel so blessed that we could go!

Thankfully Dean & I both have tomorrow off and can spend the day unpacking, washing the van and doing laundry before we have to go back to work.

We actually are going on a 3 day trip to Long Beach this coming weekend, so we will need to be getting ready for that too - we will give the van a break and take our RV. So stay tuned for photos from the Washington Coast next week!

With Our Cousins at the Waterpark

Today was a great day - I got to spend time with my 2 cousins - Donna, who I have only seen once since she moved to Utah 12 years ago, and Katherine, who I have not seen since I was like 4 years old! Donna has Steven (12) and twins, Abbie & Emma (4) and Katherine has Amber (12) and an older son who had to work today, so we didn't get to meet him. This was the first time most of the kids had ever met (Sarah & Steven were preschool-aged the last time they saw each other.)

Back row: Lydia, Steven, Amber & Sarah.

Front row: Abbie & Emma

The kids all seemed to hit it off with each other...of course, how can you not have fun on a beautiful, hot, sunny day at a cool water park?!?

And I enjoyed getting to know Donna & Katherine better - I am hoping I can get them to come visit us next!!!

Me, Katherine & Donna

Heading North thru Utah

We spent last night in Page, AZ right by Lake Powell. We are officially on our way home now, going through Utah. We are spending the next 2 nights at my cousin's in Spanish Fork and will go to Seven Peaks Waterpark tomorrow! We passed thru this cute little Utah town about lunchtime.

Panguitch, Utah

Flagstaff & Sedona

Today we visited our friends, Dan & Beth Taggart, who serve with Flagstaff Mission to the Navajos (FMN) sharing the gospel and trying to meet the physical needs on a reservation of 250,000 native people! They have 8 churches with their headquarters mission right in Flagstaff. We got the unique priveledge to see the Grand Falls at it's peak time of year! Dan & Beth drove us out to a very remote area that I would never be able to find again (we all went in their truck). The falls were huge! We could not get it all in one picture even with a wide angle lens! The water looks like chocolate milk because of the dirt, but it is beautiful - there are no roads in to see the falls, so very few tourists get to see this sight. Thankfully we had our own personal tour guides!
The next day we all went to see Sedona together...it's a cool little town surrounded by amazing red rock formations, but the new age influence in the area is very prevelant. You don't have to go very far to find a mystic, palm reader, or crystals (whatever those are for?!?)

Grand Canyon South Rim - DAY 2

We have seen more of the Canyon that I would have ever dreamed of! Today we hopped on a shuttle bus from the GC Village that took us 13 miles west to Hermit's Rest. (The only other way to get there is to walk.) The bus makes 8 stops along the way where you can get out and see the Canyon up close...
Today we saw about 35-40 miles of the Canyon, from Hermit's Rest to the WatchTower Lookout. (see photo below)

Grand Canyon South Rim

After 10 days and nearly 1700 miles, we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park today! The views were breathtaking to say the least - we took lots of pictures of course! Tonight we stay at the Grand Hotel and will try to catch a sunrise view of the Canyon...unfortunately we haven't been very good at getting up & out very early!!!

Route 66

We stopped at this great store in Seligman on Route 66 - they had great coffee, gifts & cool memorabilia, plus an old tow truck they call "Tow-Mater" in the spirit of the Disney movie, Cars. Thank you to Lynne & Frank at Seligman Sundries for a fun visit at your place!

Last day at Lake Mohave

Here is Sarah going for a wild ride!

And both the girls with my Brother, Phil.

Lydia's trip to the ER

We spent last nite at the ER - Lydia cut her foot on a piece of glass on the beach. She was a big girl & did very well. They put in 3 stiches to close the cut. The hospital staff was awesome & took really good care of all of us during the visit. Lydia is resting comfortably now, but no more swimming. :(

Lake Mohave

Enjoying the sun at Lake Mohave!

What a treat! We get to stay for 5 days on my brother's houseboat! It is HOT here though...about 115 degrees. With 2 air conditioners going full blast, inside only gets down to about 85. Swimming is the only way to cool off!

Our Grand Canyon West Adventure

Our Grand Canyon West adventure began with a visit to the new Skywalk - it was so awesome! 4,000 feet high and the bottom is made of glass! You can't even get a grasp of how high you are or how small you are in comparison to the Canyon - big trees below look like little shrubs.

Next we visited Guano Point - another amazing view!

Then we went out to the Hualapai Ranch, where we got to spend the night in a little cabin that looked right out to the Canyon - there were cowboys and wagon rides, campfires and horseback riding...there was even an old jail - of course we locked up the children right away.

One thing I forgot to mention about this adventure (BTW, no one mentioned it to us before we went!) You have to drive 21 miles on a dirt road to get there! Going in wasn't so bad, but we actually got stuck at the ranch because of a flash flood that washed out the road! After waiting a couple hours, we were able to get out (barely!)

Sarah's in heaven at the Sephora store

At Caesars Palace

On our way to Las Vegas

Sarah watching a movie...

while Lydia listens to ipod...

and Dean drives thru the desert.

My first royal blog

Not to be outdone by my hubby, I am now an official blogger. But a royal blogger.

Our family is on day 2 of our Grand Canyon adventure...we have driven 900 miles so far from Bothell, WA to Ely, NV and expect to be in Las Vegas by lunchtime tomorrow. Sarah (13) and Lydia (8) are excited to see how huge the casinos are.

Tonight we are sleeping at the Copper Queen Casino in Ely (no, I did not pick it just because of the name!) It's a pretty nice place - Lydia and Dean are in the pool right now.

OK, enough for now...I will now attempt to load a photo from my phone to this site!