The Wild Wild Wests: Summer Vacation!

In August we used Aaron and Aubrie's wedding down in Arizona as our excuse for our summer vacation - road trip through 3 states!! It was a blast! Here's how the trip went:

Day 1: Wednesday 8/17 Heath got off work around 5 or 6. We packed everything in the truck and we were off! After filling up the truck with gas, we stopped at KFC/A&W to get some dinner and then were on the road. I'm sometimes a boring passenger because I fall asleep in cars often. However, I was much more fun this trip! :) We were both very full of energy so the truck was a party! We talked, watched the beautiful sunset, moo-ed at cows out the window, played a game with our ipods (one person stopped a song somewhere in the middle and the other person had to keep singing - Heath was MUCH better then me.) It was a fun few hour drive to our first pit stop: Saint George.

Heath chatting with his
brother, Brent during the drive.

Dinner! :)

The sunset was very pretty that night!

As we got into Saint George and pulled into our hotel we were... in for a surprise. To preface this: we had looked online a few weeks before at hotels to stay in for the night. We were looking for cheap rooms so we knew they wouldn't be fancy but we also looked at the pictures of the hotels to try and pick the one that was least "ghetto." The one we picked seemed the nicest of the lower end hotels and we felt fine about our decision. When we got there we discovered pictures do not always tell the whole story. Just by the look we were already a little apprehensive but we were doing alright. We walked into the lobby, the employee was from India and had a thick accent and he was talking to another man about a room. The only thing we heard of the conversation was "But I don't have my green card." Good start right there. After we waited for them to finish, he started helping us check in. During the beginning of our conversation he asked, "how did you hear about our hotel?" Oh dear, that's not a good sign either! While he continued to help us an old, bigger, shirtless man walked in asking for ice but he couldn't really hear the answer because he didn't have his hearing aide in. The response was that they didn't have ice, he had to go two hotels down to get ice. (It just keeps getting better and better!) A little bit later a lady came in saying she lost her key and she had a big ice pack wrapped around her face and was a bit incoherent. To end our checking in process, he gave us our key and told us that there would be a continental breakfast in the morning at the hotel next door. Wow, we were in for a fun night! Once we got through with all that excitement, we drove the truck over closer to our room. We were met at our room with the check in guy opening our door and telling us he just needed to check to see if we had towels (aka washcloths. :) Finally we got into our... room. As we were bringing our stuff in we realized that there was a couch, an end table, and then another couch against the wall that separated our hotel from the next hotel. Who knew we could get a couch to sleep on that seemed just as clean as the one in our room for free? We decided, since we already paid, that we'd stay inside the room. :) Anyone seen that commercial with the lady in the hotel that goes and gets her bio hazard suit on to sleep? Well that's a little how I felt. I was glad that we had blankets and pillows of our own to sleep on! Don't worry though, there were no bugs! Unless you count the dead cockroach under the sink and the dead flies on the counter, but besides that it was pretty clean. We finally went to bed, laughing to ourselves, enjoying this first "hotel stay" together (besides our honeymoon).

Our lovely bed.

No, there was no hangers and no where to really hang our clothes.

The free "room" outside the hotel

Uh... the living room?

Oh well, it was a place to sleep! :)

Day 2: Thursday morning we got up early, showered carefully in cold water, packed up, and headed out. We decided skipping the continental breakfast was the best thing to do! We first went to the Saint George Temple. On our temple blog we talked more about our temple experiences on this trip but they were wonderful! The temple looked beautiful in the morning! We did initiatories, for time sake, and had some really neat experiences! I love the temple! It was just a perfect morning (before it got too hot!) to be outside this beautiful building with my wonderful husband and to do work inside! It was the perfect way to really start our trip!

Outside the beautiful St. George Temple

It's an old temple and it was neat that the city
was really built around the temple, you could tell.

Once we finished at the temple we were on our way again! While we were driving we called Shelby, just missed her before she went to school, and sang her happy birthday on her voice mail. That girl turned 14 - crazy!! :) We then found a gas station to change out of our Sunday clothes. Unfortunately, it was the gas station with the SMALLEST bathrooms in the world! So, that was an adventure but we made it! We got back in the truck and were trying to figure out which was to go to get to the Grand Canyon. It's a big whole in the ground, you'd think that would be easy! But our GPS wouldn't give us directions at first so we went inside the gas station to look at a map. That helped a little so we went back out ready to see where the roads would take us. Fortunately the GPS had picked it up and was giving us directions. We were on the road again and had a great time along the way! We had some road trip scavenger hunts with us so we were looking for things on that. I was a slow picture taker so we didn't get all of them but some of them we did and it was fun to look for the random things it asked for! :) We had to stop at the Utah/Arizona line to snap a picture! Heath was not overly enthused but he humored me! :)

We made in to Arizona! (kind of cool - our camera
was set up on the hood of our truck so we got a
picture of us and our reflection on the hood! :)

This was the sky to the left of us when we stopped at the
state sign. So neat!

We stopped at one of the stores when we got into Grand Canyon area and got a little souvenir for our house. It's cute! We then went in the East Rim entrance and just stopped at most of the areas along the way. Since we were there in the middle of the day we didn't go down and hike or anything but just drove along the rim and had a great time looking at the beautiful canyon! Pictures explain best:

Look at that Stud!

This was at a lookout before actually getting into the park. Pretty!

Our shark cloud!

Going into the Grand Canyon National Park.

First stop

First view of the canyon! It's amazing!

There was a mirror along the edge of the walkway that you
could look down at and it gave you the reflection
of that part of the canyon. This is the picture of the reflection.
Very cool.

Heath's grabbing the canyon. :)

We went up an old look out tower. Heath's up ahead of me.

It was so neat to look at all the old carvings on the walls.
There were a lot! And there were several spiral staircases to
get to the top. A bit scary once up there but so neat!

View from the top

Can you see me? :)

The tower we climbed up.

yay!

Stop Two - A little ways away from the tower now.

What' up?

Heath jumping in!

So incredible!

The next three pictures are of Heath on a rock that he climbed over to. From a distance it looks like he had to jump from the side onto this small rock sticking up and that if he didn't make it he'd fall. We didn't realize this until we were taking pictures and we heard a girl behind us say, "Well what if he misses when he jumps?" her brother responded, "Well, then he'll die!" She was very worried for him until she got closer and realized it wasn't a free standing rock. :) Very cute.

King of the Rock!

Egyptian man

Looking off into the distance. Isn't he handsome? :)

One stop we made had old ruins of a civilization that used to live here. We got caught behind a guided group while we were looking at the ruins. The park ranger was very serious about her job! She gave many lectures about saving these places so that our history isn't lost!! We thought it very melodramatic and entertaining.

We found this ironic...

Just looking up a number in...
A phone booth! Remember when those were everywhere?

Now making a call!

Heath's been trying to get me to buy a beenie since we met.
He put this one on me and I thought it was pretty cute - so we got it! :)
He was thrilled.

Saying good bye to the park!

Once we spent a few hours at the Grand Canyon, we said good bye and headed to Phoenix! On our drive there we saw fires happening off the road a ways (with signs that warned of smoke covering the highway because of those fires - so sad), rainbows after a few light showers on us, and then we got caught in a big dust, wind storm. It was pretty crazy! It happened when I was driving and I was glad that Heath offered to drive through it for me. After that craziness, we made it to Phoenix - were it cleared up - and we went to Maurah and Theresa's house (they were kind enough to let us stay with them!) We had a fun evening chatting and catching up with them and , of course, playing with Sydney - their yellow lab! :) It was great!

Rainbow!

Sunflower seeds were wonderful during our long trip! This,
we called my "trucker picture" ha ha and gross!

Heath was trying to capture the fire smoke - can you see it?
The picture, overall, is so cool though!

Day 3: Wedding day! We got up and got ready in the morning and headed out to the Mesa Temple. We got ready and went out to get Heath's shirt. Our careful placement of the hanging bag apparently wasn't so careful so we had to go back in and iron his shirt before we headed out. We got to the temple a little later then we had planned - thinking their wedding was at 10 we didn't want to not be there when they came out of the temple so we just went and did sealings instead of a session. Sealings were really wonderful though! It made me think of my parents being sealed there 26ish years ago. It was a special morning in the temple with Heath. We got changed and came outside to wait. We had some snacks and then sat, in the shade (it was HOT!) and talked and looked at the trees and flowers on the temple grounds. While we were sitting there we saw Aubrie and Aaron walking in together. We gave them hugs and told them congrats. (Apparently I got the time wrong so we were there way early but that was okay, better then late. :) We saw that the bush on the grounds was painted white. We didn't believe it at first and then, when we took a closer look, we realized that it was! (I think I remember having this conversation with family in the past now but I didn't then. When we asked Maurah and Theresa about it later they told us it's like sunscreen for the trees. Oh, you know it's too hot when the trees need sunscreen too!) We had a good time sitting out there and then went to the visitors center and walked around there for a while too. After being there for quite a while, we had fun watching Aaron and Aubrie come out of the temple married!! So excited for them! We stayed to congratulate them, stood in some group pictures, watched them take some more pictures, and got a picture with them. Then, we headed to the Bass Pro Shop to look at it before the luncheon. It was so cool! Heath had always wanted to go inside one and I was glad we did. It was very neat!! :) After that we went to the luncheon - so cutely decorated and Aaron and his family/Aubrie's sister put on performances for Aubire - also so cute! The rest of the day, before the reception, we just drove around the area. Our first stop was at the house I lived in when I was a baby. As soon as we drove by it I recognized it from visiting it in the past! You can't miss it from the huge cactus in front! And, of course, I had to point out the culdesac where the helicopter landed when I had to be airlifted to the hospital after hitting my head when I was like 1 and the house who got it's shingles blown off by the helicopter. Quite exciting things happened in that house. :) Then we went out and did some store hopping. We were actually looking for New Mexican type stuff to have in our house (we realized that we aren't very proud of New Mexico because we have nothing from there in our house. We didn't luck out in finding anything on this trip so we're still working on that but we'll get some pottery or something someday!) So, we went around the area looking at stores, walking through malls, just hanging out... it was fun to just hang out together! :)

In front of the beautiful Mesa Temple.

It was obviously the first Arizona Temple

Messin' around while we waited

Playing with the camera color settings

with Mercedes!!

Yay for marriage

Helpers cleaning the bird poop off Aubrie's dress - I guess
he didn't like them standing under his tree. :/

Old Roomies

Can't believe three years a go we were telling each other about
the letters we were writing to these two great guys!

Heath sold him that suit - very nice eh?

In front of my old house! Heath wanted me to lay down on
the driveway where I hit my head 20 years a go... I wouldn't do it. :)

The reception that night was beautiful and fun to be at. When we went through the line, Heath was famous! I talked to Aubrie/Aaron and her parents more and introduced myself to Aaron's parents. Heath, though, was "the suit guy." He helped Aaron get the right suit and at the best deals and Aaron's dad was VERY appreciative! (Heath is definitely very good at his job! I'm so proud of how hard he works! :)

After the reception we went over the Brent and Charmaine's house to see them and their girls! When we knocked on the door we heard, "They're here, they're here!" Kailey and Taryn are the cutest! It was fun to see them. When I said hi to Taryn she said, with the cutest little grin on her face, "You're my cousin!" It was great to see Brent and Charmaine too! They'd never met Heath so that was especially fun to have him meet them finally. We spent the rest of the evening with them just chatting. It was wonderful! Often I wish that family could just all live in the same place - it's so fun to be with them! I guess we'll just have to take more trips to Phoenix/Chandler in the future! :) The girls were cute and very full of energy. Brent was tickling Kailey and she said, "don't man-handle me" and she told us that Charmaine "knew all the tricks of being a good mom." She is one smart girl and it was so fun to be with the four of them! We were there late, we didn't want to leave! :) It was a great day!!

Day 4: Fun, fun, fun and off to Luna! We had planned on getting up early and going to the Snowflake and Gila Valley Temples before heading to Luna. We were pretty tired of all the driving, though and wanted to just take it easy. We talked about how these two are temples that we'll get to again. Even after we have kids, we could leave them with grandparents in Albuquerque and make a day trip to Snowflake to go to the temple. :) So we relaxed in the morning and then Maurah and Theresa took us to a yummy place for breakfast! We were glad we got to spend more time with them and had a great morning chatting and laughing! Once we got back to their place we packed up and headed out. One funny story with Sydney: we were standing in their front room one of the mornings we were there and Heath started talking in his funny little voice and making quacking sounds and stuff... freaked that poor dog out! She was determined to find whatever was making that noise, with no idea that it was coming from him. It was quite entertaining for Heath, Maurah, and I standing there watching her. What a fun time in the Phoenix area - full of family and friends! :)

Before we headed out, we stopped to have some more fun! We stopped at a mini golf/water park place. We didn't have swim suits and we didn't want to get wet before driving... but we did do mini golf and go karts. It was hot but still lots of fun! Of course, Heath beat me at both but it was funny anyway! This course had moving parts on different holes, "hole in one" boxes if you hit it into a certain hole... all kinds of fun stuff we'd never seen before at a mini golf place. We had lots of fun and got tan too! And I got to wear my new hat... I never knew how much they help in the sun because I almost never wear one! :) I have to say, though, that in go karts I got shafted! My car was super slow! Heath lapped me - he said it was because of driving skill but I still will argue that it was because my car was a little old and didn't have much pep in its step. :)

First Hole-In-One!

I soon followed!

He got one too - and is so excited about it!

My "grandma" car :)

After having a fun time there we headed to Luna! On the way we saw where the fire burned... very sad! Thank goodness they got it stopped when it did! I'm so grateful for that! We got into Luna around 5 and were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa who were already there! Oh how I love that place! It is somewhere that will always be very dear to me. The memories that rush back of spending summers with family are so sweet and I love the quiet and peacefulness and beauty that is there. I also love being with family! :) Very soon after we got there Mom, Dad, and Shelby got there too! It was great to see all of them - we hadn't since Kyle left on his mission. The evening was wonderful - fun chats, yummy dinner from Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom, delicious pie from Myrna, and - OF COURSE - some card playing! :) That evening we were over at Myrna's and all the family in town was there! They're so wonderful - love them much! We also got to go see the horse that lives behind them. We had a great time!

Day 5: Sunday - it was wonderful! We went to church in the morning and it was a good and interesting meeting. :) We only went to sacrament because Mom, Dad, and Shelby had to leave before too long. We had a fun afternoon together. Food, games, talking, horseshoes (Shelby and I put up a good fight against my cowboy husband :) - it was fun! We also went and saw Jimmy and Marie's place - so nice - and then went and saw Stan too. We were sad that Dad, Mom, and Shelby couldn't stay longer but school and work call. We were so grateful they came up and so glad to be with them that weekend! They are the best!! After leaving Stan's place and Mom, Dad, and Shelby headed home, Grandpa, Grandma, Heath, and I drove up to past the cemetery and the rodeo grounds a ways. We looked at all of that - all beautiful as well! The fire got some parts up there too, which is sad, but it still looked good! That evening we saw the little elk that was hanging around the old store and Myrna's place. He was not nervous at all and all by himself. He was a cute little thing.

Day 6: We had a good morning complete with a very yummy breakfast! We hung around the house, the four of us and Susan, in the morning and then we said bye to Grandma (she had to get back for work the next day) and then Grandpa, Heath, and I went to Stanley's to go on a four wheeler ride. We had planned on going back this day but Heath got off another day of work so we were able to spend another day in Luna before heading back to Utah on Tuesday. A lot of today was spent on our four wheeler ride. It was so fun - Stan's a great tour guide. :) We went up the mountain to Adair springs (so beautiful) and then went up to the top as well. We got off and sat and talked there for a while, Stan was telling us about when the fire was happening and the trail it followed - you could see it clearly from up there. Sad sad sad. Although, there was way more left then I thought, which is a blessing. We went around a lot of that mountain and just before a storm came over Luna we headed home. We had a great time! The one unfortunate thing that happened was that our camera broke during that excursion. It was in the pocket of the bag attached to Heath's four wheeler. That pocket wasn't zipped up and when Heath took off one time I watched the camera fly up, bounce a few times, and then land in front of me. I stopped and got off - had to find the memory card and battery that had come out - and then put it back together. The camera still worked, amazingly, but we couldn't take videos or view the pictures anymore (that part broke) but the rest was just a bit banged up. Pretty sturdy little thing. I gathered it up and Grandpa helped me and then we were off again. Pretty soon Heath came flying back with a panicked look on his face. I asked, "missing anything?" "The camera?" was his response. I showed him it and he apologized - but it wasn't anyone's fault, just unfortunate - but, thankfully, it still worked so we could still document the rest of our big trip! :) The other exciting thing during our ride was that Stan saw a light brown bear running in front of us. He was leading us so he was the only one that got a look at him before he ran away but that's pretty crazy, huh? We also saw a few deer. There aren't much deer up there anymore, mostly elk, so that was neat and they were pretty! It was such a fun, peaceful ride with three wonderful men! :)

He's definitely in his element :)

Me and my papa

The four riders (with Heath behind the camera)

Leading us along :)

The other wildlife we saw - see him?

Beautiful!

My sweet Grandpa

Some of the roads were dusty so goggles were helpful

me and Grandpa matched :)

This is where you can see the black from the fire...

Uncle Stan was showing us what happened

Those are two great men!

We're glad he let us come stay with him!

The wildflowers Heath picked for me on the
way back home. He's the sweetest! They made our
kitchen beautiful for the next week or so. :)

After our adventure we went back to Grandpa's place and saw some prints on our truck. They are still convinced that either someone is messing with us or something but we're not sure that something didn't stand up against our window. ha :) After exploring that, we rested a bit and played some horseshoes. :) Heath got a little cut up from the fence and we realized we were more then a little sunburned from the day but we had a good time! It sprinkles most of the afternoon and it was so nice. Later we went over to Myrna's where they helped patch our cuts and sunburn up and then we played some games. Very fun! Susan and Grandpa joined us soon and we all played some games - including canasta, Heath had never played. I must say, my family has definitely converted him to a card player! :) It was such a great day again! And before going to bed, the three of us sat in the living room and talked about our family, stories from the past, the future... it was fun!

Animal?

See them?

Heath's battle wound from horseshoes

Day 7: Heading home. Grandpa made us another great breakfast and we sat around the table for a while and talked. Heath was showering and getting stuff ready for some of it but I sat for a long time and talked with Grandpa. He was mostly telling me stories from when he was little, when his dad was younger, when he met Grandma, when they were first married, when he was in the army... I love listening to his stories! It was a perfect morning! I miss being so close to them and my parents and sis! So I'm very grateful that Luna was able to be part of our trip! :) We got out on the road about 10am and then drove all the way home to Provo. We stopped in St. Johns, AZ on our way to try and see if Heath's companion was there. His sister answered the door and told us he was in Thatcher for school. Heath was bummed but it was fun to meet his sister. :) The rest of the trip went smoothly, we still stopped at some places to try and find pottery or something but no luck. :) We got home exhausted from all the driving but it was so worth it! We got to visit two temples, the Grand Canyon, and lots of friends and family! It was a perfect trip! And it was so great to be together so much - I love Heath so much and am so grateful to be married to him! He makes me laugh, he's so kind, he's so fun.. he's perfect for me! What an incredible trip to take in between school semesters. :)