Trip Out West: Final Part

On our last Friday morning in Virgin, Chamaine, Mesha, Ansley and baby Maizy came down for the weekend to play. Morgan was very happy to have a little friend to play with again.
I think Morgan was getting a little tired of us always trying to take pictures of the two of them:)

That evening we went for another walk in Zions. I love being that close to so much majestic scenery!

Ansley LOVES her Dumbos.

Sat. morning we got up and did all the girls' hair. Auntie Chamaine did Pepper's. I thought it made her look so grown up.

Morgan looked like a huge, giant compared to petite little Ansley.

Pepper and baby Maizy checking each other out.

Such a cutie!

Since we had so much fun the last time, we decided to take everyone to the water park again.

It was the perfect day, again, and everyone loved the water.

This is Pepper saying "cheese." Don't ask me why she feels the need to bend in half?!

I love the red rocks but they get reddish brown dust on everything!

Next to the water area is a sprinkler fountain. It wasn't working the last time we went so we were excited to go play in it this time.

At first he little girls were not sure about it but eventually they warmed up to it.

We ended up dragging Pepper kicking and screaming from it so we could have lunch.

Yipee for great friends and good times!

Pepper LOVES slides and the water slide was no exception. Unfortunately, the water was a little on the freezing side and after a while Pepper couldn't stop shaking. I guess you could say she was a "Chili Pepper," heeheehee. She's just gonna love her name, I know it!

That night Mesha, Chamaine and I went out to dinner thanks to my lovely mother-in-law and sleepy children. We went into Springdale and ate at Oscars. It is such a great place with super yummy food. I've decided to start trying new things in all aspects of my life so I had the phish tacos. (This is only amazing if you know that I DO NOT like fish and seafood at all. Go me!)

On Sunday morning, the girls got ready and headed home when we headed off to church. It was so awesome getting to spend more time with them and in such a beautiful place. I cannot thank my in-laws enough for always being so welcoming and loving to everyone! I know that the Whaleys love them also. Thanks again!

On my last morning there, I headed out for another run but was interrupted by various dogs running loose and decided to go inside and ride on a workout bike. But first I wanted to capture how beautiful my in-laws' neighborhood is. Not a bad view to work out to! (Oh, and for anyone totally confused by me talking about running, I will be making that very clear after tomorrow. Wish me luck!)

Monday was our last morning there, and we spent the day packing and getting ready. Morgan fell in love with "cruiser" and helped Grandma give Kuzi a bath. Morgan has now started asking me for a dog and a cat...a lot.

On our first day of driving, we got up at 4am and headed out. We made it almost to Grand Junction, Colorado before we were out of gas and stopped for breakfast. Luckily, there was a very nice McD's with a big, empty playplace. That kept the kids happy for awhile. Then we headed out again and made it to Denver for lunch time. We stopped at a park we could see from the freeway and had a picnic lunch and let the kids play on a playground.

It was really nice to get out and stretch our legs in the sunshine.

Such troopers!

We spent the night in Kansas at a hotel after 13/14 hrs of driving. Unfortunately, and luckily too, the only room they had left was a two room, whirlpool suite. Darn! We ordered pizza, took baths and ran around the hotel. Grandma was very helpful with keeping the kids entertained while I ordered dinner and waited for it. We all slept great, despite the huge thunder/lightening storm raging outside.

The next morning we got up at 5am and headed out. We chased the huge storm for a few hours before we caught up with it. Then spent the rest of the morning driving through a horrible storm. It felt like we were never going to see the sun again. Finally, once we hit Indiana it cleared up. But with the storms, traffic and slower speed limits, our progress was not as good and we ended up spending 18hrs in the car that day!

Yep, this is what happens when you give a toddler a peanut m&m.

Morgan with a surprisingly calm face after being in the van for two straight days.

Pepper with that, "I'm a cute-little-innocent-angel" look on her orange face!

So we finally rolled into our driveway at 1am on Thursday. We were exhausted but glad to be home and not have to drive anywhere the next day! I COULD NOT have made this trip without the help of my mother-in-law. She was so fantastic with dealing with the kids and helping me drive. She has a lot more patience than I do most of the time. It was fun being able to chat so much and really find out more about her. I must say that I REALLY lucked out in the in-law department!

I will be making a post of just videos from the trip soon. I just haven't had the time or patience to wait for my slow computer and youtube to agree with each other. But I promise there are some fun ones worth waiting for. This weekend is going to be a pretty crazy one so I will try to get completely caught up before hand on the rest of the trip with Grandma here at our house. We loved having Grandma Adams and cannot wait to see them again!

We love you, Grandma and Papa!