This is my sanity today.

 I have two sick kiddos dozing on the couch.  Spud and I have played with every toy in the house (half are already packed), we have taken a walk to the mailbox, read books, and colored.  It's not even lunch time yet, so he is out doing his one of his favorite things - playing with the hose.

 It kept him busy for about 30 minutes.

The Great Arizona Road Trip

Our road trips of ALL road trips (at least in the past five years) was a big success.    Over five days, we spent 15 hours in the car and traveled approximately 900 miles.  We went as far north as Flagstaff and as far south as Coronado National Monument.  We ate famous pie, "Salsa trail" Mexican food, and some other not so great food too.  We swam in pools, sled down snowy hills, explored caves and hiked through desert mountains.  The only thing we didn't do much of was sleep (unless you count me dozing off every time we started driving).

Here are the highlights of the trip:

First stop: Montezuma's Castle -  Curly and Lou particularly thought it was cool to see the ancient Native American Dwellings.  We saw more later in the day at Petrified Forest along with some very interesting petroglyphs. 

Petrified National Forest - An ancient forest that was covered in ash, rock, dirt and then as water seeped into the tree cellulose, over time it hardened into mineral.  Curly decided she wants to be some type of earth scientist after this day of exploring.

Hard to imagine this was once a lush forest

Happy Shadow Family

 

Colorful petrified wood

Can you spy Curly and Lou?

The girls had fun with their camera

Sunset over painted dessert

Eastern Arizona - We drove down the eastern side of Arizona stopping in Snowflake to see the temple and eat some famous pie, then continuing on to Show Low where we tried to drive to a mountain lookout and were foiled by mud and snow.  Instead we dug some shopping bags out and attempted sledding.  We continued through the Gila Valley.  It was a very windy day and unfortunately the dust was so thick that we couldn't see much of the mountain scenery.  We stopped in the Safford/Thatcher area to see some sites and have some yummy Mexican food for lunch.

Gila Valley Temple

President Spencer W. Kimball's home

Lou having fun taking selfies - I don't know where she learns these things!

We stopped in the very touristy "ghost town" of Tombstone.  Fisher and the girls went to a gun show inspired by the "Shootout at the OK corral."  We walked the old west streets and headed back to the hotel for a swim.

The cast of the shootout

OK Corral

We enjoyed the quaint, artsy feel of the old mining town Bisbee.  We learned a lot about the town history at it's Smithsonian sponsored museum and the enjoyed a walk up the main road. The town is built up the hillsides of a small valley and filled with art shops and restaurants. 

Main road through Bisbee

 From Bisbee we headed to Coronado National Monument.  This is the place that Coronado and his explorers came into the what is now the United States.  We hiked to a cave and then drove up the pass for an amazing view into Mexico on the South and Arizona to the North. 

South

North

Beautiful Day, Beautiful view

Our final stop was Kartchner Caverns near Tucson.  This is an amazing living cave that was discovered in the past 40 years but kept secret for a very long time.  The National Park Service invested a lot of research into how to protect the cave and keep it alive.  To protect the humid environment, you walk through a series of sealed vaults and then a misting tunnel.  In the cave you stick to a man made cement canal walkway that is hosed down each night to wash away human "toxins."  All the efforts are well worth it as the cave is amazing!  Unfortunately no photos allowed but there are some cool ones online.

Spud and Curly with the Giant Sloth

Happy Family!

For sale

We came home from soccer this morning and found this in front of our house. It's the culmination of several weeks of very hard work to get our house ready to show.  We couldn't have done it without the help of many people.   Is there an emoticon for bittersweet?

February

 It is the time of year when our freezing family in the North likes to come join us for our beautiful winter weather.  Next year we will be freezing with them, but for now we are soaking up as much sun as possible.  In February we had a quick visit from my parents right before dad had his transplant.  We visited the beautiful Gilbert Temple during its open house and had a nice time seeing our family out in East valley.

Sunday Naps

 My Aunt and Uncle are talented home decoraters, builders, and artists and have created an awesome playroom.

Spud going for baby S's pacifier

Family time

Waiting to see the temple

 

Our ward had it's first family Valentine's dance this year, hosted by the Primary.  Some were skeptical but it was a blast.  DJ Darrin got everyone involved with games, singing, line dances and contests.

A nice summertime treat for a beautiful winter day.

Spud and Baby S spend lots of time together.   Spud loves him - but his love can be a bit rough.  Cousin S is a great sport.

Shopping buddies

 

Near the end of February, K-Rae came for a whole week.  We had a great time.  She was here to celebrate my birthday.  We went our for breakfast, gave each other pedicures and she and Sharla made it special with an amazing gourmet Asian dinner.   We spent the weekend visiting the Grand Canyon.  The girls loved the Junior Ranger program and worked really hard to get their badges.  We walked along the viewpoints and did a short hike together.  We drove back through Oak Creek Canyon and made a stop in Sedona..  It was beautiful!

 

Watching the Sunrise - Brrrr!

Future Jr. Rangers

Berry and K-Rae

 We asked a passerby to take a photo of the group and as we gathered other tourists stopped to take pictures of us as well.  The couldn't believe how many kids we had - I guess the 8 cousins all together is quite a sight.

Spudman was thrilled to be there.

Beautiful view on the hike with the sun in our eyes

Sedona red rock

The end of an Era-zona

I am not proud to admit that when we accepted a job in Phoenix almost five years ago I was NOT thrilled about moving to Arizona.  It had never been on the list of places we wanted to live, we knew very few people here, and it was really, REALLY hot.  I worried about the people, the schools, the lack of seasons, finding friends and all those unknowns.  During the months before we moved I had to continually remind myself of something that I had been taught during the April General Conference by President Monson, "The future is as bright as your faith." 

Fisher and I spent three days looking at houses with no knowledge of the area and made an offer on the one that we felt good about.  Little did we know that our faith and prayers landed us in the middle of wonderful neighbors and a great LDS ward.  We arrived on a Saturday, we did not ask for help to unload but as soon as the truck pulled into the driveway five members of the Rose Valley Ward appeared and unloaded our small U-haul in 30 minutes (during the middle of a BYU game).  On Monday morning, my neighbor Micole showed up on my doorstep and offered to watch Curly and Lou so I could unpack.  I did not know then the impact she would have on my life as she has become a dear friend.  During the first weeks and months we met more great neighbors - The Sheppards, Quinns, Wests, and Sos. As time has passed and we have made many friends.   We often say, "What would we do without _________ in our life?"   Then Tim and Shar moved here in 2012 and it sweetened Arizona even more. We often reflect on the fortuitous circumstances that brought us to live in a place where we could be surrounded by such good people.  We know we have become better people through all of their examples.

When we came here, we thought we would stay a few years to get the training Fisher desired, and then move back north closer to family, but as time has gone by we have grown to love Arizona more and more to the point that we thought we could stay here forever.   However, over that past six months we started to feel a tug to move closer to our families. 

We are leaving Arizona.  We have been blessed to find a good career opportunity in Idaho and realize that the time has come to go.  Our emotions have run a wide gamut as we think about leaving the dear friends and familiarity we have here and at the same time we are excited to live closer to our families in Idaho, Utah, and Washington.  We are once again, moving forward on a new adventure knowing that "the future is as bright as your faith."