Road Trip Adventure

We left my parents house on Friday morning, around 9am. The car was so loaded up, there was no view out the back and the kids had stuff packed all around their car seat

s. I'm glad we have huge car seats, because it's the only reason they had any room to breathe. Luna will be staying with Honey & Papa until we get settled.

A couple hours into the trip, we decided to stop near Flagstaff and eat our lunch. There was a cute park right off the highway, next to an old golf club. We played, ate and had a look around. 

Even though Jack has been living life on the edge, unharmed,  for the last three weeks (riding sheep, romping on his bike in the desert, jumping from bungee ropes), he managed to gash his head after tripping while walking down a paved sidewalk. Blood everywhere. I picked him up and carried him to the bathroom (he's screaming on the outside, I'm screaming on the inside), blood's dripping down his face and pooling in his eye, general gore you wouldn't believe. Shane and Avery ran for the car and the first aid kit and I cleaned him up while holding a paper towel to his forehead. Finally clean, I held my breath and released the bandage, phew! Just a nasty looking but pretty minor cut. Thankfully there was a fire station literally right next door, so we had help patching Jack up. A couple steri-strips and a bandaid, and we were on our way. (All I could think was -- if this is the kind of blood from one boo-boo, what's it like in a real emergency?)

We cruised north, amazed at the beauty of Northern AZ and it's utter emptiness. I'm telling you, that was a jerk move on our part, giving this place to the Native Americans. There is NOTHING there. It looks like the moon in some parts.

We drove through to Utah and the landscape changed again and again, mountains and rocks and desert, but different. Little towns popped up, friendly people greeted us at pit stops and beautiful weather followed us all day. 

These are the kinds of mountains you see as you get closer to Salt Lake City. And they're the mountains we get to look at down the street!

The GPS took us up a scenic road through a national forest, higher and higher, through snowy terrain just as the sun went down. Um, momma's a little nervous. Then it started snowing and blowing and basic terrible whiteness. Bad. We decided to turn our 2-wheel-drive car back to the nearest (and only) town we'd seen in the last 45 minutes and rented a room at a tiny inn. Nice older lady... I still think there may have been a stepson or deranged uncle on the property sharpening some kind of blade. I woke up in the middle of the night to check outside (for the serial killer, of course), only to see a field of snow and about a billion stars overhead. Apparently, the storm quickly passed and left one of the clearest skies I've ever seen.

We woke up this morning, ready for a few more hours on the interstate. We arrived around 2pm and are feeling a variety of emotions -- thrilled to FINALLY be here, anxious about the next couple steps we need to take to settle down (rent a house, find a house, buy a house), and excited to get the kids into a new routine with activities, friends and whatnot. We spent a couple hours at a local place called Thanksgiving Point, where they have a farm and all kinds of family stuff to do. Nothing like a pony ride to make you forget 11 hours in the car.

We miss our life in Texas, especially our dear friends. Sorry we've been out of touch the last few weeks. Soon enough, we will be back to lazy afternoons of playing in the yard and waiting for the phone to ring. Love to everyone. We'll be sending out our new contact information as soon as we get all together.