Sedona!

Wow! We had a great time in Sedona. We had a slow start getting out of the house, only because check in was not until 4 pm and there wasn't a whole lot of sense driving up early when the kids needed naps, etc. So, we waited until about 2 pm and headed up. The boys did great in the car, the kept busy with books and stuffed animals and their cars , ie: gps"es". Hannah did pretty well too. She cried hard until just north of Phoenix and then we stopped at Starbucks and I fed her and she did her instant smile after coming out from the darkness of my hooter hider, so, we were good :) Moriah did well too on the ride up. She is really into reading the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit books lately. The hard part is, she has made up her own version of them so if you try to read her the books she gets upset because you are not " reading the words".

We arrived around 430, almost 5, to the most amazing resort. When we opened the door we were met by calming brown colors, a fireplace, a view that was magnificent of the Red Rocks, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, a beautiful master bedroom with a door that opened up to a balcony and a jacuzzi. We instantly felt relaxed and excited for a mini weekend get away. We made egg rolls and a Chinese meal for dinner that night, relaxed with the fire and played Slamwich.

The idea of the game is to build a sandwich together but if you get a "muncher", " stop thief" or "slamwich" you have to slap the deck as fast as you can to collect your cards. Ben and I were laughing so hard because Austen is so competitive that he would get a "stop thief" card and cautiously look at it before placing it down and then immediately yell " stop thief" before anyone even had a chance to see the card. Hmmm, playing fair? I think not. Sooo, Austen had a few turns where he had to put his "stop thief" cards at the bottom of the pile. All in all, our first night was great. After the kids were in bed we enjoyed the jacuzzi and Hannah slept peacefully on the floor.

We ended up going to bed at 10 and for those of you that have been reading my blog, that is super late for me lately so I was alittle nervous about sleep. At around 230, Moriah came in our room but was able to be put back down , next to brothers, in front of the fireplace. They all got up at 445am! So, we put a movie on for them and had them do that until six. After a great meal of lucky charms- their favorite on vacation, we got ready and all headed out to the fish hatchery. The boys loved it! We fed the fish, watched how they operate there and just relaxed. It was a very layed back time. We then, drove to Dead Horse Ranch State Park. Wow, is this a cool park. There are lagoons, trees, WATER! yes, water! We hiked slowly, very SLOWLY around the lagoons as the kids were hot, tired and S L O W. The mountains were beautiful and it was fun to try and find beavers , we didnt' see any, near the lagoon. There was evidences of them everywhere. Before we left, we walked down to the Verde River and threw rocks in the rushing current and just enjoyed.

We came back and had the kids lay down for awhile and then had an early dinner and put them down for bed after a fun time in the jacuzzi. They were splashing, laughing and rolling in the bubbly water. Then, the fun started. About 930pm, Moriah came in our room and was crying, so we layed her down. This then started and absolutely exhausting night of putting her down to bed, every 20 minutes until the point came where I looked at the clock and it read 230am and I thought, could we just pack them all up now and take the home. Thankfully Ben had taken over as Hannah was up a ton too! That morning, we packed up and were out by 8am, Ben and I stopped at Starbucks, put a sermon in and held hands the entire ride home. We are in this together baby, all the way.