Tripps Fall Out West

States visited: Texas (layover), Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California 
Time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific
Miles driven: 1357
Miles flown: 3524 8 days and 7 nights

For those that have asked, here is a more detailed itinerary that includes hotels and restaurant names.

Day 1: Fly Chattanooga to Las Vegas – picked up rental car and drove to Target and stocked up on water and breakfast food and went through In N Out Burgers for lunch. They were a nice treat that we don’t have in the South! Wish we did, it was very good. We then drove a spectacular drive to Springdale UT. The CUTEST town ever. Stayed at La Quinta. Great rooms including bunkbeds for the kids, heated pool, and stunning views of the mountains. We walked this quaint, clean and sweet town that evening, ate at Amigos restaurant. Not like the Amigos we are used to, much more authentic. It was pretty good! And then of course ice cream afterwards across the street. Ended the night by driving just into the park and doing some star gazing.

Day 2: Springdale UT Slept in which made us right on time for mountain time zone. Bought a National Park pass good for all Parks, Recreation Areas, and anything maintained by the park system…for a year. A must have great deal at only $80. If you have a 4th grader make sure to go online and download a form – annual pass will be free! We drove into Zion Park and across the canyon through the looong winding roads and tunnels to the Zion Canyon Overlook trail. It was labeled as an easy 1 mile hike. It was a tough mile but felt so amazing and well worth it. The turnaround point offers stunning views of several mountains and canyons. We intended to go back to the room, eat lunch and then go hit Watchman trail. Instead, we decided to head to Bryce Canyon. We stopped at Thunderbirds restaurant, which was a great surprise! Home of the Ho-Made pies. Delicious food!! Their sweet potato fries were killer and the family said the pies were delicious! We got to Bryce Canyon with full bellies and drove through the park and hit some of the top sight seeing spots. We badly wanted to hike some trails but we were not prepared. It was sooooo much colder up there and we were frozen. Plus the altitude was making it a little hard to breathe. So we drove through and stopped at 3 or 4 spots. Ended at the national park visitor center and spent quite a bit of time learning about the geology of the area. Drove 2 hours back to the hotel and ordered Pizza to go at Pizza & Noodles. It was amazing pizza! And then of course, more ice cream.

Day 3: Springdale UT My favorite day. This was the only day on our entire trip we had something planned and were on a timeline. We got to Zion Adventures at 9am and suited up in neoprene socks, shoes and dry pants and wet suits for the kids. Shuttled into the park and dropped us off at the Riverwalk. It was a beautiful 1 mile walk along a paved path against the river. I could’ve just done that and been happy! We stopped and ate a picnic lunch. At the end of the path, you get in the river and start hiking through the slot canyon. It was amazing in every way. The kids rocked this hike against the current, twisting around rocks and going through chest deep water. The hike back went by so much faster so we decided to make a few of our own trails at the very end, which ended up being the most challenging, fun, and beautiful spots. We were early for a 4pm shuttle so we hung out by the river and snacked. We got back to the hotel and went swimming and relaxed for a bit, showered and then headed to dinner at Oscars. More delicious food!!!

Day 4: Springdale UT/Tusayan AZ We packed up early and made the drive to our next destination. We made several stops on the way to break up the trip and see even more sights. But first, since we passed Thunderbirds again, we had to have lunch there. Next up was Lake Powell (our annual pass worked here!), just a quick turn off the road. Couldn’t believe how low the water was since I saw it many years ago. Next stop was in Page, AZ – horseshoe bend. I had been looking forward to seeing this for quite some time, and it was even better in person!! It was a hot mile walk to the overlook and packed with people, but totally worth it. I could have stayed there all day just laying on the rocks taking in the scenery. Next we drove to Marble Canyon and across the Navajo Bridge. It took us out of the way but again, worth it. We drove down to the Colorado river. I realized how swift, wide and powerful that river is now. I have always seen it from above! I wanted to get in a raft and go down so badly. Someday. We stopped at a few boulders and climbed around and then got back in the car to finish the very long what seemed forever drive to the Grand Canyon. There was nothing to eat in-between except for one Burger King. We were so hungry that it tasted delicious! We finally got to Tusayan AZ pretty late and the kids were getting cranky but Tim knew that we couldn’t miss our once chance to see a Grand Canyon night sky. So we drove into the park and pulled off a side road and oooooh and awwwwwwed at the millions of stars, planets and galaxies we could see along with multiple shooting stars! It was hard to not stay all night and just stare. But a cranky tired child reminded us it was time to get to the hotel. We stayed at The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon. Absolutely beautiful and gorgeous hotel!

Day 5: Tusayan AZ/Lake Havasu City, AZ We got up pretty early so we tcould get on the trails before it got to hot. Well, it wasn’t hot in the morning and was actually quite chilly to start off. We drove into the park and immediately to the Bright Angel trail head. It was a pretty busy trail but relatively easy, going down. We intended to get to the first rest house but quickly realized just how steep the climb down was, and we still had to go back up. So we turned around about a mile in. Hiking back out was tiring but exhilarating and felt amazing. Sean and I walked the rim path for about a mile and Tim and the girls picked us up at a visitors center. We all the drove to Mathers Point, got some good views of the south rim and then drove back into town for a Pizza Hut lunch. From there, we made the drive to Lake Havasu but not without exiting on to Route 66 in Williams AZ. We stopped at Cruisers for some ice cream. It was good, but the service was not. We did a little shopping at a native American jewelry store and got back on the road. We arrived in Lake Havasu and checked in at Nautical Beachfront resort. It is a cool resort and you could tell it is definitely a place to party. We ate onsite at Turtle Grille. It was pretty good, but too expensive for what we got. The convenience was nice though! They had a beautiful pool area looking over the lake but instead the kids were ready to have some screen time and crash!

Day 6: Lake Havasu/Las Vegas We were ready to leave pretty quickly and get to California! Tim really wanted to see sand dunes so we made the 2 hour drive to Mojave desert and the Kelso sand dunes. We grabbed early fast food lunch since we knew we would be in the middle of nowhere for a while. We arrived and it was HOT. We found the trail head and hiked in about a mile before you get to the actual dunes. At that point the girls were not into it, it was hot and we weren’t properly prepared. However, Sean and Tim were determined to make it to the top of one! So the girls and I headed back to the car while the boys headed up. I wasn’t a fan of this idea and worried the entire time they were gone. They finally made it back with shoes full of sand. As the neared the top and the sand was getting deeper and steeper Tim stopped but Sean was able to climb up to the peak and stand at the top! You can imagine how proud I was of them both and how excited I was to see pictures they took…but nope, no pictures. They though the GoPro was dead. That’s ok though, just so happy they returned! We headed back on the road and drove through miles of Joshua Trees. So very cool. We made it to Las Vegas pretty quickly from that point. We checked into our hotel at The Venetian and got a room in the Palazzo tower. I had stayed here before and knew it would be good place for the kids. We explored the hotel had dinner at Burger Tap and capped the day off with some “crazy shakes”.

Day 7: Las Vegas We had a well deserved morning of sleeping in before we headed on our last hike of the trip. The Las Vegas strip! We walked to where the strip starts as the kids wanted to go shop at some candy stores for their friends. It was a long, stinky, walk in the hot sun. We stopped and ate lunch at Gordon Ramsey’s, it was soooooo good! The kids then got to explore the M&Ms and Hershey stores. Lots of flavors that can’t be found anywhere else which was very cool. They were like…..kids in a candy store. When we got back to the room we went to the pools for a little while to swim, read, and relax. Got cleaned up for dinner and had our last meal at Canonita. Delicious authentic Mexican food!

Day 8: Las Vegas/Chattanooga Packed up, hit the airport and flew to Dallas. Ran into some CSAS friends in Dallas and were on the same plan to Chattanooga. That is always a nice treat to see familiar faces 😊

Day 9: Chattanooga – pick up the DOG, yayyyyy!!!!! Laundry, grocery shopping, homework, real life. The family consensus is that Springdale UT was everyone’s favorite town and that the Narrows at Zion National Park was everyone’s favorite day. Oh, and Liv LOVES Las Vegas and can’t wait to go back while Lyla dislikes it and wants to move to Utah. 

"Hammers and Nails" the twins turn FOUR!

It's been a while since I posted, simply because I have SOOO much to post. So many amazing memories, thoughts, pictures that it is so overwhelming where to even start that I just don't do it. In fact I honestly forgot how to post a new blog for a second.
However, it is birthday time and I am quite proud of the birthday party we just threw for Sean and Liv, who turned four. Yes, four. Not sure how that happened since they were JUST born.
There was a lot of interest in the party theme we chose for them this year as it is unique and we came up with it completely on our own. I knew I wanted to do a party at The Home Depot because it was different, but I just didn't know how to incorporate a girly theme for my sweet Liv. I discussed a few ideas with my husband ....hammers and bows, tools and crowns, ummm....no. He came up with Hammer and Nails, as in fingernails. Winner! Was very proud of his creative moment. Now, leave the rest up to me....

First I had to order the outfits and do the birthday photos. I immediately went to my niece who owns and operates Pickle Fish and she came up with the idea for the shirts.
I ordered tool belts from Amazon, the are the born tough brand.
Plastic hats from Amazon as well.

We recently moved to our new wonderful, awesome home, and I no longer have the wooden fence we use as a backdrop, so I found this cute little cabin at a retirement home minutes from our house. I love it even better!
I loved how it all turned out.

I used the wonderful ladies at my work  to do my design and printing again. We have these all on file, Leave a comment if you are interested in ordering any of these customized materials.
I did the usual, invitation, banner, water bottle labels and thank you tags.

The Home Depot was fantastic to work with. They normally only host these parties for 12 kids as it is a small room but with double the birthday comes double the guests. The did their best to accommodate 24 kids!
When you book a party with them and purchase the package it comes with all the paperware, balloons, building kits, paints, stickers, and they set it all up.
This was the less stressful, most fun birthday party to plan yet!

We welcomed each kid with their own Home Depot apron

The kids all began with building their kits with the help of adults and then painting them. We choose the toolbox kit since it went best with our theme. They have a few to choose from. It was chaos and noise at it's best. 24 hammers all banging down at once. It was awesome!

We had a nail painting station set up and my sister gave all the girls manicures. The girls loved it!

We then had some snacks. It was a morning birthday so we did fruit, pretzel sticks and doughnut holes. Easy. Yummy.

Time for happy birthday singing and cake time! Yesterday, I asked the twins if they each wanted their own birthday song and they said in unison "No, we want our names together". Can they stay like this forever? My heart melted, so sweet.
I opted for cake pops because I knew it was going to be a tight squeeze and lots going on. Minimizing the mess was definitely a priority. Another mom at my daughter's school made the cake pops and even went the extra mile and set them up in a tool box. It was perfect and they were delicious!!
We got them each their own doughnut for the candles. This was after I lost count how many doughnut holes they had eaten.

Time for presents. They went all in, opening left and right, paper flying, toys opening, chaos. They had so much fun! I have no idea who got what but that is OK, I just hope everyone knows how much we appreciate every single gift. They really got some great stuff, we are so thankful

Every birthday my sister makes them a keepsake number. They spent the last two days guessing what theirs would be!

We handed out some simple goody bags to add to their tool boxes they got to take home. Some squishy hammers, annies crackers and annies gummies and then the girls got a lil something extra...nail polish and emory board.

It appears all of the kids had a fantastic time but most importantly Sean and Liv had a blast celebrating with their friends.
Happy Birthday my miracle babies!!

How did we get here?
Twins birth story
Twins turn ONE (raggedy ann and andy)
Twins turn TWO (dora and diego)
Twins turn THREE (princesses and dragons) - no link, I just realized I never blogged this one. Whoops!

hairbows: win or fail?

It seems the new trend is posting blogs and articles about what not to be. Don't be the mom that coordinates their kids clothes, tries hard at school projects, makes goody bags for birthday parties. The underlying tone that I feel this is giving off is "if you try to hard, you are selfish and materialistic".  I have seen numerous friends post stuff. I will read it and think, "oh crap, that is me" and then the guilt sets in.  Some of these articles are quite funny and humorous, like the mom who posts about the last month of school.  I first read this and thought, yeah...that will be me when my kids start school.  But it wasn't. My first year as a mother of a public school kid was awesome and I loved every minute of it. In fact, I gave it my all until the last day of school. Yeah...I am sure that will change as all three kids go through school and the years go on and on. I am probably still in the honeymoon phase of elementary.

SCREEEEECHHH. Wait a second. Why am I feeling guilty?

Yeah, why am I feeling guilty?

I am going to admit something. Not everything I do as far as the "cutesy" stuff for my kids is for them. They could care less if their clothes coordinate in the family picture. I care. But not to the point that it makes me self involved, narcissistic, materialistic, and a bunch of other negative words. I care, because it is pleasing to my eyes. MY eyes. I like it. It's cute. It's fun. Just because I like to do that doesn't mean it is the most important thing in the world, or that I spent unreasonable amounts of time and money on it.

My children are groomed, dressed nicely and the girls always have their hair done and are presentable most of the time. This doesn't mean I am raising spoiled, high maintenance children. I spend MORE time teaching them what beauty really is than worrying about what they are wearing.  You can ask my three year old daughter what makes you pretty, and she will say "when you are nice to people".  Now some days, she will say my princess crowns, but I am working hard to keep the the true meaning of beauty as a priority in my family.
Manners are very important in our family. How you treat and respect one another are the most important thing. My husband and I pick this battle, daily.

I know plenty of people that let their kids dress themselves in mismatched clothes, don't do the matching outfits for family vacations, coordinating outfits for family photos, themed birthday parties, the dreaded goody bags, etc.  And this is great!! I don't for a second judge them or look at them and think "oh my, they don't even match". No way!!! In return, I would hope that people don't look at my kids in their matching 4th of July clothes on the beach and think "she is trying too hard, she doesn't know what is important in life".

I would like to think we all have the same thing in common and the same goal....to love our kids unconditionally!

Lake Winnie

February 13th Remembering Lake Winne

I haven't been to Lake Winnie since like, the 10th grade? That was *&#@!*& years ago. Alot of years ago. I never really thought about going with the kids, because I honestly, I forgot about Lake Winnie. Yeah, I hear about people going but just either didn't think my kids were old enough or the amusement park was fun enough.
A wonderful person I go to church with had some free tickets and offered them to our family. We were so grateful!!! We even had enough to invite some friends, so Greg, Alexis and Alana joined us. We had soooo much fun and it will definitely be an annual trip.

The park hasn't changed much, but they did add on a water park! We went the week after the water park closed for the season (beginning of September), which was actually nice. It wasn't very busy and there were hardly any lines to wait in.

Liv REALLY enjoyed her ice cream

The cooling off sprinklers turned into a water park for Sean

Hated it...Hated it....Loved it.....

Only awesomely handsome daddy's can pull off a green turtle hanging on their back

Right after Greg and Alexis came off this ride, I was in line to get on. As I was walking towards my seat, a giant lightening bolt and thunder came out of the sky. We ran for cover and then the downpour came. One strong thunderstorm rolled through. It passed pretty quickly and cooled things down. It got scary for a minute!

We rode the indoor fun house ride a couple more times, then called it a day. Six hours at the park was just enough for everyone!

Oh what fun. Can't wait for this year!

(on a side note, just got the call that school is out tomorrow too. This winter won't go away!!!!!!!! I am just going to lose myself in blogging all the warm and fun days we have had)