Spring Break 2013

I love spring break and this year Loren had the week off so it was even better, although my kids are growing and they were busy off doing church stuff.  Taylor and Kyley went on the trek with our old stake Wednesday - Saturday.  Here they are all dressed ready to go at 3:15am Wed morning.  They were placed into "families" with a ma and pa and all their stuff were placed in a handcart and they had to walk and walk and walk with only breakfast in their bellies.  The first day was the toughest day, then they were fed well and had games and devotionals, testimonies and down time.  Taylor talked about the "women's pull" and how it showed that they could do hard things, which is good timing because the Tuesday before Taylor officially enrolled in N.A.U. and will be going off to college in fall - which will be a hard thing.  Kyley was surprised how much she bonded with her family 9 people she didn't know but now consider friends.  We didn't have stuff like this when I was in young women, I was glad they could experience it and they both came home with a greater appreciation of the pioneers and the sacrifices they made to further this church.

While the girls were away the boys (and I ) played.  We took a southern Arizona trip.  We drove a huge loop, we first drove through Florence and the desert was so pretty with forests of "teddy bear cholla" they really looked fluffy and cute, blooms on cacti, so many wild flowers and the desert was so green.  We drove to Tucson, St. David, (we did not stop at the cemetery and look at all the Goodman names as my parents suggested we do, they were disappointed in us.)  We  stopped and spent some time in Tombstone, it was a neat town.  Ty liked shooting, Loren has taken us all out a few times and Ty is really liking his guns and he did well. I liked learning about the history and seeing the town how it must have been over a 100 years ago.  Someone recommend we continue south and take in Bisbee, AZ.  now the boys were a little burned out but I loved this town.  When you drive in it takes a while until you hit the "down town" and it feels like you have stepped back in time, it was eerie and no one else was on the road, there were a few locals outside eyeballing our truck as we drove through "their" town.  When we finally hit down town I was impressed how cool it was.  Here was this town carved out of the mountains with so much history.  I could have stayed longer but it was late, most stores were closing up and we needed to find a place to stay.  So we headed to Wilcox, AZ.

We found a Holiday Inn with a heated swimming pool and free breakfast and stayed the night.  The boys swam that night and the next morning before we took off to Safford and Mt. Graham. Wow what a sight, we started in the desert and by the time we got as high as we could the boys were playing in snow.  I wish I would have brought snow clothes, I wasn't thinking actually I was thinking southern Arizona and snow did not even cross my mind.  It was beautiful with running creeks and pine trees, we saw a deer running along the side of the road and hardly any people, it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves.  Loren had stopped and got some sticks that make good walking sticks and the boys sat and carved and smoothed their sticks.

We headed home through Thatcher, Pima, San Carlos Indian Reservation, and Globe, outside of Globe we stopped to shoot, we had been there before with the family, and again the desert was absolutely beautiful. (These pictures are taken President's Day weekend) 

 

We  needed to get home so Ty could get ready for a scout camp-out/temple trip.  He was not super excited to go since we still feel like we are new in the ward, but he went and came home happy. I wasn't sure where they were going,  I was a little worried but Loren said back in the day they didn't have cell phones and he survived, so I figured no news is good news.   Come to find out Ty hit all three temples; Mesa first, then up to Snowflake spend the night camped out, then to Gila Valley and did baptism for the dead in all three.  Our Ty did a lot of driving this week. I am so proud of him.  

For nearly two days Wyatt was an only child, we saw Oz on Friday and Saturday morning I went to my parents house and hung with Dyan, Karrie and Matt so good to see family. Saturday night everyone was home and it felt so so good as we gathered for a family prayer to all be together again - and we were only apart for 4 days man when my kids get all grown up and I don't see them for weeks, what am I going to do??