Canyon Lake and Goldfield Ghost Town

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had plans to drive up north and spend the weekend in Saint George. Instead we decided to change our Saint George plans and go boating with the Harrells.
We met up with them at Culver's and drove out to Canyon Lake. We were excited because boating in general is super awesome, but we had no idea what was awaiting us!!  The drive was long and it got tiresome but then we started weaving through the Arizona country side only to emerge on the other side of the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. It was freezing but simply breathtaking.

Chelsea and Lina were so cute with the girls. They kept wanting to hold their hands, get them treats, and pretty much everything else.

It really was such a beautiful lake

It was all fun in games until the boat started. Madison hated her life jacket and Kelsey was scared of the turns (she thought the boat was going to flip) Once Madison got used to the jacket and once Kelsey started to understand that the boat wasn't going to fall, things got slightly better.

  

We spent the morning boating and tubing and by lunch time, they had to get going so we decided to stop at Goldfield Ghost Town. The girls had fallen asleep so I had to walk through by myself but it was still super cool. I didn't spend a ton of time there but it was the cutest little western town Ive ever been to. It was also the first one I have ever been to so the stakes were not very high. 

Airforce Comemorative AirBase

Before Arizona got really hot, we tried to quickly do as many outside things as we could. One of the things on my list included the Air Force Commemorative Air Base out in Gilbert area. It was quiet a drive but totally worth it. I don't remember a lot about the Air Force. In fact the only memories I have include standing in a parking lot while I saw cars crashed together, clapping at a table (apparently in the Pentagon while my dad got something),  walking into my dad's office and seeing someone with a mustache (again in the Pentagon), seeing movers in my house in California, watching my Dad on TV for something, and going to temporary housing in Spokane and thinking it was the coolest thing ever because we ate out. Pretty sad. I know.

Regardless of the sad memories I have about the Air Force, it still means so much to mean. As I've gotten older, I think I have learned to appreciate just what it means to have a spouse or parent in the services. Maybe it was watching Carolyn go through 3 deployments with all those kids or listening to my mom tell stories about flight training. I don't know. once I had kids I think I really started to appreciate the sacrifices that were made to make this life possible. I LOVE hearing planes fly over, I LOVE seeing planes, I look forward to patriotic songs and being in crowds that truly honor those who serve, I love watching videos of soldiers coming home and the emotions that everyone feels being reunited, and I love knowing that I was born at the Academy. I take a lot of pride in the few years I was able to associate with the Air Force.

With that knowledge, I hope it is clear why I find old air plane museums super cool. We went to this museum and it was just awesome. The museum consisted of two hangers: one for repairs and one for the planes fixed up. They had some very old planes there and I was just loving it. The girls made it hard to really enjoy it, but KaMaili came with us so all the kids kind of entertained each other. It got hot near the end but it was such a fun field trip for me.

 The crazies in action! So in the middle of the all the models, there was this tiny plane that the kids could ride. Naturally that is where they wanted to be the whole time and between the two of us we had 5 kids. The workers were amazed at how well the kids behaved but let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I think the biggest problem was managing who's turn was next on the little plane!

Took this pictures specifically for Poppa! 

 We were a week late, but normally the museum has 4 bombers that you can go into. Unfortunately they were all on tour but we were still able to go into this one. Hoover vacuum company bought it so the inside now looks like a commercial plane, but it was still fun especially for the kids.

A fun memory of this place:
I thought it would be cool to buy my dad something B52 related. I saw these coookie cutters and thought that that would be a fun gift. Either for the cookies or even just to hang on the tree etc. Anyway, I went to buy one but as the 95 year old man was swiping my card I realized I had grabbed a B25 cutter and not a B52 cutter. My brain had  done one of those flippy do thingys and I had read 25 as 52. "I am so sorry to do this to you, but I am not going to purchase this cutter anymore." You would have thought I told him WWIII was starting! He tried his hardest but just could not figure it out so he went to go get Janice to hopefully help him. After 10 minutes, Janice couldn't figure it out so they got Phil. After 20 minutes of all three of them trying to return my cutter I told them that it really was okay. My bad! No biggy. They INSISTED on helping me. As a result from their kindness I ended up returning the original, buying two more, returning one, and keeping the original. :) Lets remember too, while this was happening, all 6 kids were outside with KaMaili in the 105 degree weather singing primary songs to stay happy as their hungry tummies were pushing them to misbehave.  As I was walking out the door I said, " I'm not stealing this right?" You would have thought Jim Gaffigin was in the room by the roar of laughter I got. It made me feel so good. Bless all the sweet little hearts to try to deal with new technologies just to correct my error. And bless KaMailis heart for keeping all the kids at bay while I went through this headache! Happy Father's Day Dad. I got you a B25 cookie Cutter!! Thanks for your service and for flying B52s!!!

Summer Nights

I had a friend once say that "the best nights are usually unplanned and spontaneous". She was able to put into words the feelings I always have felt, but have never been able to express.  The best memories are created on those unplanned nights. We had one of those nights. I made a salsa for dinner and out of no where decided to eat it outside. I'm not one to just up and do something: I always want planning. We grabbed the paper plates, grabbed the picnic blanket and had one of my favorite nights.The weather was perfect, the food was perfect, and the company was perfect. It was summer.

Dear Kelsey: You didn't want to be in a picture because you were having so much fun. I hope you understand :) 

 Because this is my blog I am going to put this picture up. I don't know why I love it so much but I love it so much. Its not because I look a certain way or because it was awesome hair or because my shirt rocked. Its none of those things. I think I love it because I look genuinely happy. I remember when this picture was taken and I remember at the time thinking "I just feel so blessed and happy." I feel like I can see that on my face making this one of my favorite pictures of myself.

Memorial Day Weekend

We found out Ethan didn't have to work Memorial Day so we decided to take advantage and head up north for the weekend. As it turns out, Scott and Karolyn were also taking advantage of Memorial Day weekend and heading South for the weekend. North for us and South for them = WE MET UP!!
It was so much fun. I don't want to say it was a surprise because it wasn't but it was just one of those things in life that line up so perfectly that you can't pass it up. We had to drive little bit further than we had planned,  but it was totally worth it.

We met up in Saint George, where our hotel got upgraded to a super roomy suite, and then headed over to Sandy Canyon Lake (or something like that) to use their wave runners. Needless to say, it was an awesome weekend! As an added bonus, Skyler turned 9 while we were with him so we got to watch him open presents. That was fun.

We ate at Black Bear Diner. That was cool

The sun was super bright!

We literally spent the whole day taking turns on the jet skis. The lake was really small so as more boats came, it got choppier and choppier which consequently is perfect conditions for jet skis. At first we were terrible drivers, but as the day went on we got less and less terrible. Towards the end we were getting some "serious" air and cutting through the bottom of waves.  I think my favorite part was driving with Skyler and having him tell me how bad I was at driving. It was hilarious. I really was terrible at driving, but in my defense I always had to have the green one and the red one was way easier to control! To prove my point, Ethan and Skyler made the green one flip so there's that.

 We couldn't get Kelsey on the jet skis, but thats okay. She was so happy to splash and swim with the cousins. Her cousins mean everything to her. She loves them! Madison had fun too, but got super tired. She just didn't know what to do with herself, was wandering around just moaning when Karolyn picked her up and held her and before too long she was fast asleep. Sweet girl. She stayed asleep for a few hours too. 

Me vs Skyler

I've been through this pass before but it was one of my favorites. This and the pass right before Provoish: can't be beat

Well like all fun days, this one came to an end. A storm started to roll in so we quickly packed up our things, said our goodbyes and headed for home. On the way home we decided to stop in Vegas for the night just to ensure safe driving, but it kind of turned it more into a vacation. We stayed at the Station hotel, went to their buffet, watched some basketball and went to bed at like 8! Thanks to Madison, we were up by 5:30, packed and loaded by 6, and left for home around 6:15 which turned out to be fine with the time change. The drive was long, but it was so much fun to see family. Kelsey talked about it for days after.