Surprise Trip to AZ

Caution - Picture overload!

My dad was having a birthday and my mom wanted some ideas about what to do.  He didn't want to do anything for it - I won't say how old he was turning, but it might be one more than 69.  Anyway, I couldn't come up with anything fun other than a surprise visit from us!  

But, he was heading to San Diego during part of the time we had to go, so we decided to make it a good road trip.  The first day, we headed down the road with our stopping first at the Red Barn for some ice cream and yummy different hard candies.  I think my favorite was key lime.  Mmmm!  Scotty got the licorice ice cream and it was amazingly delicious too.  Mostly we stopped to get Grandpa his present of choke cherry syrup.  

Then on down the road to Beaver to sit in the giant rocking chair.

Then we headed to Bryce Canyon to hike and swim...

It is so beautiful here!  Next time we need to forget the tennis shoes and bring water shoes!  We ended up sticking our tennis shoes in the backpack and mostly walking around barefoot!

How did I get to be one of the shorter ones in the family?

It was so fuzzy!

Then we headed to Aiken's Lodge to sleep for the night.  If you ever want a super clean awesome hotel to stay at in Kanab, UT, pick this one!  It is one of the cleanest hotels I have ever stayed in.  It isn't the fanciest, but it is clean and I so appreciate that!  First order of business was to go swimming.

We always go to the Junction to eat, so we decided to try a different place out.  I spent way more money and time going there and it was not that good.  Next time we will be back at the junction again!

The next morning, after a good visit with Kris and Bill, we headed off to the Grand Canyon.  Our original plan was to go to Lake Powell, but since the road slid off near Page, we couldn't go that way.  We hadn't been to the Grand Canyon for a long time, so we headed there.  

Fist thing we saw as we entered the park were the beefalo (cow and buffalo mix).  They were right there off the side of the road.  Pretty cool.  

Then we parked and went exploring...

Poses on rocks, one of our favorite things and everyone has to do it...

There it is... still on my bucket list to hike it!

Don't fall in!

We found bloody noses!

Man our Heavenly Father did a good job.  This is beautiful!

 We love our bloody-noses and we found them all over!

This is how we hike...  Walk a little way...Ooh mom, take a picture of me...walk a little way...mom take a picture of this!  I LOVE IT!!!!

 

After a couple of hours messing around in the mountains, we got back in the car to head to Phoenix.  Haha we took this on the way out!  

 Next we were off to Jon's house to spend the night!

 

 

Finally it was time to go surprise Grandpa.  We called him as we left Jon's house to wish him a happy birthday.  He asked us what we were doing that day and we told him, hanging out with friends.  Then when we pulled in his driveway, we told him we had to go because we were at our friend's house.  Little did he know he was our friend!  So we knocked on his door and said hello friend!  This was his reaction:

That was so much fun!  We gave his syrup and then headed to Macayo's for lunch.  YUMMY!

Jon had made us all reservations at Golden Gate for dinner and we ordered just a little too much food.  Including Cassie's favorite, lemon chicken, that I was so kind to eat in her behalf!

We sure love grandpa!

We were stuffed to the gills so what else would we do, but go back home and go swimming!  

Sunday we headed to church and then the kids made slobber snacks with Grammy.

Monday morning we went to the aquarium at the mall.  So fun!

Lunch was smoothies and pretzels because we were holding out for dinner at our favorite place, Kona Grill.  Scotty of course got the kids sushi and then he and grandpa had a wasabi eating contest!

It was a very short time with Grammy and Grandpa, but it was great!  We had so much fun surprising Grandpa and hopefully making his birthday great!

The drive home was super interesting.  My dad said family prayer that morning before we left and prayed for our safety unusually.  I can't remember exactly what he said, but I remember thinking it was unusual.  Anyway, we got on our way. (after stopping by Dunkin of course - they didn't have my favorite kind again!)

So by the time we hit Kanab, I am usually pretty tired.  But for some reason I wasn't this time.  I remember thinking I should let Missy drive since she hadn't driven yet that day.  But for some reason the next thought I had was - no you drive, you're fine.  So I drove on down the road again.  About an hour later, I was coming to the turnoff for Bryce Canyon.  I wasn't turning and I didn't have a stop sign.  But, I noticed that there was a car that stopped at the stop sign and was going to turn left.  I felt strongly that he was going to go.  Either he didn't see me or he thought he had enough time.  I slowed down some, but knew that I wouldn't stop fast enough to avoid a crash, so instead I slowed and swerved, barely missing the car on my left and a metal post on my right.  It was scary.  I was going 70 MPH.  I would have hit that other car right in the drivers door and we were on a curve.  The resulting accident would have ben ugly.  I can't imagine having to carry the guilt (even though it was not my fault) of injuring another person.  Missy almost immediately said she was so glad she wasn't driving because she didn't think she would have been able to avoid the crash like I had.  I immediately knew why I felt awake and like I should keep driving.  The next thing we did was say a prayer of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for our safety.  I called Corry and told him my story, with a very shaky voice.  He told me that he had had a distinct impression that afternoon to pray for our safety.

I learned a few things from this:

The Lord hears and answers prayers. although not always how we expect them to be answered.

Each of us has a purpose here on the earth and we will stay here until that purpose is fulfilled.  My kids and I still have a purpose of some sort.  We need to figure out what He wants us to still do before our time here is up.

He truly can be with us at all times and in all things and in all places.

I am happy to be alive.  I am so grateful my children are alive.  But if we hadn't been safe that day, we know we can be together again.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is great.  I am a better person because of it.