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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!! 

Drive, drive, drive all day long! 🚙 We left Ft worth this morning with a long day ahead of us. The first 6.5 hours was a lot of driving! 

Not too much happened, we checked off a new state for the Moser’s when we entered New Mexico. We looked for tumbleweeds, talked, slept, sang, drew, colored. A long day in the car. But, we arrived at our first destination! 

Carlsbad Caverns! 

We were ready for a break from the car!

We enjoyed two different things at the caverns. 

Some of us did not want to take the 750ft elevator down into the pits of the earth so we walked down to the natural entrance. 

The other half was ready for the elevator and enjoyed the caverns. 

They loved it! They all said it was amazing and they enjoyed every minute of it. 

We had dinner in the parking lot while we waited for the bats to emerge from the cave at dusk…it was a little underwhelming but we enjoyed the time and saw a couple hundred bats. 🦇 

While we were waiting Bree got stung by a bee 🐝, only her! I didn’t even get a picture of that it was so stressful!! 

We headed out of the park at 9 with a little over 2 hrs still before our hotel. As we left Bree was complaining about her stomach, it steadily got worse until she was in agonizing pain. I was terrified something was very wrong, so I prayed for God to take it away…he did! All the way to our hotel, she barely made it inside before what I think is food poisoning hit. She is resting now but has had a rough night. Pray for her that she recovers quickly. 

Even though today had a few bumps I was reminded Christ never leaves us, I was so scared in the car that something was really wrong and my Lord calmed me. When we got to the hotel her pain was so intense we considered taking her to the hospital. I didn’t know what the right decision was, I cried out Lord help us…and seconds later she began to be sick and her pain was pretty much gone answering our dilemma. Just a reminder that Christ cares for us, always. 

Tomorrow is a new day, I pray Bree recovers quickly. 

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:6

This morning we woke up bright and early! 5:45 am to be exact! 

We started the day singing to Daddy! What a way to spend your birthday, driving across the USA! He’s such a good sport! We let him pick where we were gonna have lunch today and dinner today, he knew exactly where he wanted, Chic fil A  🐥  and Taco Casa 🌮Taco Casa is one of our favorite fast food restaurants only available in Texas. Since Texas is our end goal tonight he was pretty excited. 

Our first state of the day! Mississippi 

We moved right on through Mississippi. A short drive later we were crossing over the mighty Mississippi River into Louisiana! 

We are having such a great time driving along and are so thankful for our travel mercies from Jesus! Our cars are running great!! 

First birthday stop, Chic fil A! This place was so busy, it was packed! However, the service was fast and the food was good. It was even sweeter when we walked outside and saw a mini dachshund! It reminded us of the babies! 🐶 

The next Birthday stop was Duck Commander! We have never really followed this show but our friends did and really wanted to go here. Turned out to be a super fun vacation spot!! 

There was a tour, and you could make your own duck call, plus get some free souvenirs so the boys were all over that! Off they went to make a duck call! 🦆 

Such a fun break from riding in the car all day! 

State #3 for the day, Texas!! We still have a few hours to drive but thankfully we are in the state we are staying in! 

The kids have started to get a little tired of riding. We have every device imaginable from the Wii to the DS’s, TV, and iPads. There are toys and coloring books and reading books, but everyone just has a limit for riding in the car…12 hours is just about it for this group. 

As a seasoned car rider who loves to travel on four wheels I was so proud of this group for pulling a full 12 hr travel day! 🚙

Almost done! Last stop, Taco Casa 🌮 for dinner! 

The sun was setting on a beautiful day! 

Happy Birthday babe! 🎂We love you so much! Hope your day was amazing just like you! 😘

After a fun little drive through Dallas with road construction, blurry lines, and a indignant setting sun we finally made it to the hotel. 

Goodnight, Texas…tomorrow we’ll see you again! 

This vacation started out like any other, driving down the highway, feet on the dash heading out! Only this time to the airport! ✈️ 
Don’t be fooled we weren’t going anywhere! This vacation we are traveling with some friends! Most of them have never been to the Grand Canyon and when we heard that we jumped at the chance to go with them! So, we had to pick Jason up at the airport after his week at work! And away we went!! 

It was late/early morning when we pulled into our hotel in Alabama. We were exhausted but we’re just happy to be on the road! 

Early wake up call in the morning! ☀️

We made it home! We had such a fantastic trip. Daddy is the last one who needs visit all 50 states. He has 6 left! 

We enjoyed trying to get our picture taken by each state sign on this trip! 

Georgia’s own version of potato heads! 

Until our next adventure!!!!