June Kickoff- Phoenix

We started June off by going on our Family Vacation!  We had plans to hit Pleasant Grove, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Montezuma, the Grand Canyon and finally SLC. (June 2- 8th, 2013)

I'd love to recap it all,
but pictures and short sentences are about all I can handle right now.
So.... let's go!

We hit up a Play Center in Utah with our Passes and the kids had a blast.
We did have to do some major convincing
for them to try some of the rides, but in the end, they loved it!

I can not look at these photos without DYING.  Brooklyn was hilarious.  She was terrified, and Kyle
did a fab job of catching it on camera.  Now, she's over her fear and LOVES the Froggy!

Leaving Utah was bittersweet, and Landon was super sick.
He was throwing up and it wasn't fun.  Brooklyn was silly, and said
she was going to take a nap in the car.... and actually fell asleep.
I don't think she meant too.  Vegas was a blur.  We didn't even stop.

The reason we hit Phoenix?  TO SWIM like crazy! It was a little insane to see them harvesting hay alongside the Palm Trees.  We swam so much the kids were prunes most of the time we were there.

Annual Family Photo in Swimming Suits.... makes me think of those Awkward Family Photos
Oh well.  It's something we just do now.

How to get the attention of the cute lifegaurd?
 Cut your toe up on the smooth concrete.
Not sure how Brooklyn did it, but she did.  And she had the cutest 17 year old boy fix her up.
She was worried she couldn't swim anymore,
but he was nice to her and told her just to wait it out for a little bit.
20 minutes later and after consuming a bunch of treats, we were back at it.

Nothing like The Big Jump In

  We also spent an hour checking out the temple and then a fun candy store!

So pretty, but terribly hot!

 BEWARE....
the following photos might cause one to lick the screen
and suffer from sugar induced comas...

So there's this store called SWEETIES
in Phoenix that is awesome!
The kids had the best time!

These are genuine facials, people.

Some of the candy was hilarious, some brought back memories, and some just sounded gross.

Yes, they're Cigarettes!  Yikes! I remember them too.  What were they thinking?  UGH.
Makes me sick now that I'm a parent.

We may or may not have spent nearly $80 in candy.

After several days of Phoenix, we started to work our way back to Utah.
We had to stop and see MONTEZUMA.
Seriously, so cool.

  Then, as we got to northern Phoenix, I could have sworn that it was Idaho/Montana and that we were at the gates for Yellowstone. I didn't expect that at all.  I was expecting to see desert still and I realized the Palm Trees and Cactus figures were gone for good.
Kinda made me sad.
But we were all excited to see the Grand Canyon. 

{Which in humble opinion is OVER-RATED, however it's a right of passage and something one should definitely experience at least once.  It serves as a reminder (to me and my family at least) that God's creations are truly humbling and amazing. If you have spent ample time in Yellowstone, it's kinda a let down. Especially for the kids.  No boiling mud, no animals, no geysers, no petrified trees..... etc. It's kinda just a big hole in the ground. So unless you have (loads of money) 2 weeks to float the Colorado river
which cuts through it, spend a few days hiking it, or can afford the 

Helicopter rides to see it from that view, it's just not as fun as one might expect.}

We were not on the side that had the glass walk out, because we've heard that is like $25 a person.  Maybe it's worth it.  We went to the Visitor Center (where I laughed my head off at the video... good grief! Oh, but I did so quietly as to not disturb the other guests.) and walked around to see the canyon. 

 I think we only stayed about 2 hours.

Seriously, looks just like Yellowstone's entrance from West! TRIPPY!

Here she is.  You can BARELY see the Colorado river from this angle.

Worried they might fall over?  Me too.

And there we have it.  After this, we drove and drove and drove to PG, which was miserable because of HORRIBLE construction signs that made you think you couldn't drive to Page, Arizona using some road, but it turned out, that the SIGN was WRONG.

We got into Chad's at 2 am, and slept in a bit before hitting up another play center and driving back to Idaho that evening.