Month: June 2017

We parted ways last night, we needed to leave early to get home and the others needed sleep then they would head out. 

5:30 am rang bright and early and we just couldn’t do it. 30 minutes later we rolled out of bed and were in the car by 6:30.  The sun was just rising as we drove out of Conway, AR. 

We had an uneventful first hour and then were able to stop on the side of the road and see Uncle Johnnie! His crew just happened to be working right off the freeway we were driving on! 

After a short stop with Uncle Johnnie we headed out again! 

Alan finally found a souvenir he wanted…from his favorite gas station. 

❤️ Love’s ❤️

That’s about all folks! We had an amazing trip, full of tons of memories. 

It’s so good to be home! 

The puppies sure are happy we are home! 

Until next time! 

To travel is to live!

The day I have been waiting for has arrived!!! 

I got the girls up super early this morning, 6:30 am! We left daddy at the hotel and we headed to the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile! 

We made it!! We got there 40 minutes after it opened and didn’t even have to wait in line for breakfast. The line usually has a four hour wait later in the day. 

Ryanna and I shared the Cattlemans Breakfast, steak and eggs it was so good. Bree got Ree’s cinnamon roll.  We also got coffee, Ryanna got the spicy cowgirl coffee…it was spicy!! 

Next stop shopping!!! 

So much fun, so many things too look at! I got salt and pepper shakers, bowls, measuring cups, clothes, hats, a purse, and plastic wrap! So awesome!! 

The boys arrived after we had shopped for a few hours and it was time for lunch. We opted for the dine and go and ate upstairs in the bakery. 

Meatballs, pot roast, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, alasagna and sandwiches!! All topped with fruit flavored lemonade and sweet tea!! 

A wonderfully successful trip! I feel like we experienced everything there was to offer! If only PawPaw had come in! 

After such a great morning and afternoon we had about 5 hours in the car for our next stop…unfortunately this trip is coming to an end and we gotta get a little closer to home. 

We traveled through Oklahoma into Arkansas! 

Arkansas had the best rest area we have seen so far on this trip! 

Tomorrow we go home…🏡 

Another early morning wake up call again today. I’m pretty much killing everyone with our crazy schedule, but we have done so much. It’s been awesome! (Not sure if they will ever volunteer to vacay with me again!) 😜

We started in Taos and had to make our way over the Rockies and into the Plains. It was 51 degrees, a far cry from the 121 degrees a week earlier in Phoenix. 

Taos ➡️ Eagles Nest ➡️ Cimmaron ➡️

 We crossed over the summit of the Rockies at 9,110 ft and in the clouds! It was so beautiful! 

Raton ➡️ Grenville ➡️ Clayton ➡️ 

We came down into the plains, a vast difference from the mountains we’ve been in! We started seeing tons of antelope in the fields around us.

We had to stop for goodies by this time! 

 Then we left New Mexico and entered Oklahoma…we have almost the entire state to go through today. 

Felt, OK ➡️ Boise City ➡️ Guymon ➡️ Hooker 

We also crossed at the most northwest tip of Texas and had to take Melissa to Texas! 

Texas!! 

We were 10 miles from Kansas so we made a hard left!! 5 out of 11 of us have never been there so we had to put our feet in the state! 

Liberal, KS ➡️ Knowles, OK ➡️ Buffalo ➡️ Alva 

Medford ➡️ Jefferson ➡️ Pond Creek ➡️ Ponca City➡️ 

The kids are being troopers! We decided to get out of the car for awhile in Ponca City and have dinner at Chili’s. 

We were about an hour from our hotel and everyone is done! I decided to play a game with the kids similar to Cash Cab, with questions all about our trip…needless to say I am out a few bucks, but the kids loved riding in the Paying Pilot! 

Pawhuska➡️

We sailed through Pawhuska and saw the lights of the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile! I am so excited to come back in the morning! 

We finally reached our destination of Bartlesville at 11:00 in the evening. It started raining on us about 20 miles before we arrived. We had left Taos at 7:40am, 15 hrs later we had arrived! 

Jason and I drove the entire day! We rocked the 15hr drive! 

Such a long day, but tomorrow is the day I’ve been waiting for!!! The Mercantile! 

We woke up in the morning and headed out for Taos! We only have a few hours to drive because we are planning on spending the day in Taos. 

Alan woke up this morning with his ankle throbbing. He said he hurt it at slide rock, so he had to be bandaged up and medicated. We are praying he heals quickly. 

Our drive was beautiful through the foothills of the Rockies. We passed through Abique, and by this beautiful lake. This is the setting for some stories on CD the girls listen to, so they were excited to see the small town! 

Off to the Rio Grande!! I was so excited about this part of the trip. I couldn’t wait to see the Rio Grande Gorge from 650 ft. up! 

It was so worth it! Unbelievable!!

The North side of the bridge! 

The Southern side of the bridge! 

It was such a beautiful view, I told Alan I would have bungee jumped off of the bridge…he didn’t think I would have done it! 😱

While we were on the bridge, we saw movement down on the rocks. We were so excited to see a little family of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep! 

After watching the family make their way down to the water we left and traveled over the bridge to Taos. Right after the bridge were 5 rams! Unbelievable!!! We weren’t able to get a picture of those big guys but they were beautiful! We have seen so much wildlife on this trip!! 

We pulled into Taos in time for lunch and feasted at Doc Martins on Blue corn pancakes, blue corn enchiladas, and huevos rancheros! It was so delicious…Alan had a burger. 🍔

Then it was off to shop, we found so many beautiful/souvenir things. We had a great time shopping, Alan hobbled around and then finally settled on sitting in the square as we walked around. He’s taken it easy all day so he seems to be doing better. 

Taos shopping center!

Our last stop for the day was to actually touch the Rio Grande! 

It was super cold! But we did it!!

Everything in Taos seems to close up early so we had dinner at Wendy’s! 

We ended the day with a beautiful sunset after a rain storm! 

 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. 

We left out of Phoenix early this morning. Our plan was to hit Four Corners and with the time change we just weren’t sure how long it would take. 

Wide open spaces! 

We started our travels up I-17 towards Flagstaff, but about 1/2 way up, we were re routed through Sedona because of a car wreck that had created a fire 🔥  In this heat wave any fire was bad, they had to shut down the freeway.  We didn’t mind the beautiful drive through Sedona, it just took a little longer and a little Dramamine! 

The road out of Sedona was also under construction.

 But, we made it!! 

Four states at once, the girls and I already have been to all 4, but Utah and Colorado were New for Alan! They were also new for most of the Moser’s and Melissa! 

It was still super hot even though we were now in the northern part of the state. Good thing we had umbrellas and hats to stand in line. This is our family pic standing in Utah! 

And a family pic in Colorado! 

Then we walked back over to New Mexico for some sno cones! It was so hot!!! 

Off we went again! We had about an hour left to drive. We also had to stop for dinner,  Jason and Melissa really wanted Mexican in New Mexico. So we found a delicious restaurant and had a fantastic dinner! 

We are spending the night in Farmington, NM and heading out to Taos in the morning!! 

What an awesome day!! We headed out in the morning for The beautiful red rock canyons of Sedona! 

We got there right at lunch and had an amazing lunch at Picazzo’s Italian Kitchen. It was so good, we had pizza and salads, delicious! 

Then it was off to Slide rock park. 

The temperature was still pretty hot in Sedona, 110. ☀️☀️☀️ However, the water at slide rock was freezing!! We walked back into the canyon to the part where you slide down and off we went. 

It was so cold!!! 

Melissa and Ry 

Jason and Layton

Starla and Larsen

Mommy Daddy and Bree

Alexa

The kids were so brave and had a great time…it was a little rough on the toosh so most of the adults only slid once or twice. The kids loved doing it, especially Ryanna and Layton. 

Next stop, cliff jumping!! 

There was a large rock about 15ft high people were jumping off of…none of us wanted to miss out. Jason went first to test the waters and the rest of us followed! It was a lot of fun. Bree was very hesitant but her and Larsen did a smaller one first then she was ready for the big one! 

Larsen and Bree on the small one! 

It was so awesome! Not all of us loved it, but we all did it. There was a lot of peer pressure and no one wanted to be left out of the blog post for cliff jumping! 😜 Bree said “Mommy, Sissy will be able to tell everyone she cliff jumped and I won’t I gotta do it!” And she did! I was super proud of her. 

This place was just beautiful! 

After we all changed clothes, we went and toured the town of Sedona. It was so hot, but the girls got a few souvenirs. Then we were off to dinner, In N Out, probably for the last time for awhile. 😢🍔 

Triplets…not planned this time! Great Minds! 

Ryanna got kicked in the eye at slide rock, our only incident! Such a gorgeous place! 

Goodbye Phoenix!! Tomorrow we head home, we have lots of stops in between but we are heading east nonetheless. 

Jobs may fill your pockets, but adventure fills your soul! 

Today was another schorcher in Phoenix, 116 degrees. I always knew the desert was hot, and when I heard there would be a heat ☀️wave warning  ⚠️  while we were visiting I just thought oh it’s gonna be hot. Today, I found out that it’s actually been a record breaking heat wave! The last time Phoenix felt this kind of heat was in 2008…but these temps broke those records by three and four degrees. Needless to say it’s ☀️Hot, Hot, Hot!! 

So it was off to the pool again today! 

We had a late start because we were resting up from the Grand Canyon. I love vacationing because I make these huge breakfasts, my whole family is together and we are having a great time. So I started bacon, eggs, sausage, grits, and hashbrowns! Everyone didn’t get out of bed until 10, so after breakfast we slathered on the sunscreen and headed out. 

It was such a fun day by the pool. We jumped and splashed, played basketball, swam through the waterfall and had a picnic poolside…which I forgot to get pictures of! 

After a fun day at the pool we went back to the room. We just relaxed and had dinner. Spaghetti and garlic bread, one of our favorites! 

We decided to visit a hiking spot this evening hoping the heat might subside a little. 

Hole in the rock

Needless to say the heat had not subsided and it was a grueling little hike. But, we made it! 

Bree was super hot and I worried a little about her so we headed back to the air conditioned car. 

The sunset  was beautiful, but we were exhausted when we got home. Straight to bed! 

Another successful HOT day!! 

What a “grand” day we had!!

We started out super early. Phoenix is a good 3 1/2 hrs from the Canyon so we made sure to leave early so we could have the maximum time at the canyon. We left our hotel at 6:30 and headed north. 

The kids were so excited to crawl all over the sign! 

Our family has been here numerous times, but never all 4 of us together. Now, we have! 

Then there was the group picture! As crazy of a person as I am imagine me trying to coordinate this!! I was ordering everyone around…but we did it! Self timer is such a great invention!! 

We got to the canyon before 11, we saw elk crossing the road as we arrived it was so neat. Little did we know we would see tons more before the day was over. 

We hiked 5 miles around the rim so everyone got the true Grand Canyon experience. The views were spectacular! Everyone had different words to describe it. 

Bree: HOT! Alan: Grand Ryanna: Daring     Sam:Amazing, I love sharing places with people who truly appreciate the beauty! 

Jason: Awe inspiring Starla: Fun and Exhausting Alexa: Grand Layton: Amazing Larsen: incredibly amazing

Melissa: Beautiful 

After our hike we headed to lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge. It was a 30 minute wait and we were exhausted so we all sat in the hallway and waited! 

It was a delicious lunch we all devoured! 

Afterwards we went a few different directions. Some brave souls who have never been here headed to South Kaibob trail for a true Grand Canyon experience. 

They hiked a mile down into the canyon, and barely made it back. They said it was brutal and so hot!! Which was no joke! 

The rest of the group opted for ice cream and a camera hunt! Ryanna had left her camera somewhere so we were off to find it. We thought it was at lunch but we’re told it wasn’t there. Thankfully we didn’t listen and went back anyway and were able to find it! 

A totally successful day at the Canyon! We left exhausted, fulfilled, excited, and so happy to be resting our tired feet! 

We stopped for gas a few miles down the road and saw 3 elk walking around the gas station! 

Such a great day!! 

In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 

Today started out relaxing and beautiful. I got up early to go grocery shopping and was shocked when at 8am it was 97 degrees out. We had heard this was going to be the hottest day while we were here but didn’t think it would be this hot! 

Everyone slept in pretty much, we had a great breakfast and then all headed to the pool. It was so nice and refreshing. The water felt great in contrast to the hot dry wind that was blowing and the sun beating down on us. 

The kids loved being in the water. We played volleyball, rode the lazy river and water slide. Sunbathed by the pool and enjoyed root beer floats which were so good i didn’t even get a pic of them. 

There was ping pong, ladder ball, giant connect four, pool and foose ball. 
We had such a great time at the pool! It didn’t even feel that hot until we got out of the water. The ground was blistering so we ran from shade to shade and made sure our flip flops were always handy! 

While the kids were at the pool a man brought these mermaid flippers out and gave them to the girls. They loved playing with them! 

It was such a fun day! We had tacos for dinner in the hotel and then it was off to pick Melissa up at the airport! Phoenix has a super confusing airport but we managed and we got her! 

Such a great day!! 

Day 4! We headed out of El Paso around 9 am. Bree is doing much better, she got some rest and seems to be on the road to recovery. 

Our first stop was White Sands,  New Mexico. 

It was already pretty warm and we knew it was only going to get hotter so we headed out to the dunes! 

It was such a neat place. In the middle of the desert were these beautiful, giant, white dunes. No water around, just gorgeous white sand in this land locked state. 

We found the perfect hill and started racing each other. Shortly after, the climbing up the hill and intense heat, tired is all out. It was so much fun though. The kids loved it and the adults did too! 

First lunch, then it was time to get back in the car! It was time to cross the desert in 100+ temperatures. 

We made it to Arizona!! 113 degrees ☀️

We had dinner in Tucson, at of course, In n Out! The temp are rising, it was 116 at this stop. It was delicious and yummy and we didn’t mind the dry heat at all! One more stop before we headed to our hotel. 

We arrived at Saguaro National Park at sunset and boy was it beautiful! 

We saw the giant cacti 🌵 and then headed out! 

As we drove through Arizona the sun was still setting and made the sky so beautiful! 

Goodnight Arizona!!