Arizona Trip

Our Adventure to Arizona

(I am using this blog as a journal to keep track of what happens with our family, so for all of my family who already knows of our adventure... just skip it if you want & look at the pictures.)

We decided to leave for our long drive to Arizona on the 23rd instead of the 22nd like we originally planned because I had spent all day in the Emergency Room with Dayton a couple days before & couldn't get everything done to leave on time. Well, we wanted to leave really early like at 3am... but well that never happened, - seeing as I am not much of an early bird. We got off at 8am all ready for our 25 hour drive to Tucson. We were about 30 minutes out (in Vancouver) when I realized I forgot costumes for the Wizard of Oz play that I had promised Teresa I would bring. So we went back home and got them & then set off again -- now at 9am(which turned out to be a blessing). Well, everything was going smoothly until we got close to the border of Oregon & California (near Ashland, OR about 5 -6 hours from Portland). The dial on the RPM gage started swinging back and forth wildly, & Don realized the transmission just died. (We just replaced the transmission on his Pathfinder a couple of weeks ago, & we just had two kids go to the Emergency Room (which we have to cover with our deductible) & we just took a vacation to CA last month, & we were headed down for another one (& being self employed we don't get paid vacations) ...so of course the van picked the perfect time to go bad... ha!) Anyway, a couple of guys stopped by and told us how to take a short cut to exit off the highway. We limped the car off (& how Don managed to do that is a miracle -- but he's a Mcgeyver kind of guy). We managed to get back to Ashland & pull into a Safeways store & then tried to figure out what to do. Don tried to find a big SUV to rent so we could all fit in it & tow the van back to Portland, but of course we couldn't find anything available. Then Don started calling around and finally found a U-haul truck and a trailer in another town. He called a Taxi to take him there. Then he came back with the U-haul. Luckily, we had a laptop to play movies on to keep the kids occupied, while we waited for 4+ hours. We finally got headed back to Portland about 7-8pm. I had talked to my mom & family in Tucson to let them know what was happening. Michael graciously offered his buddy passes to us so that we could fly down to Tucson. There were some seats available in Portland. But on the way back to Portland, the seats were sold out, however there were still some seats available in Eugene. We thought we could get into Portland, drop off the van at the mechanics, get a rental car at the airport and then drop off the extra stuff we packed at Don's parents, & drop off the U-haul & then get back to Eugene by 4:30am since the flight left at 5:20am (or something like that). Now we really couldn't speed on our way back to Portland for a number of reasons - 1. it was raining very HARD, 2. it was very foggy, 3. the roads through the mountains were very windy (long i), 4. it was windy (short i -not to be confused with the previous) & we were hauling a van on a trailer, 5. our kids were all sitting in between the two seats without any seatbelts... & to make matters worse, we almost ran out of gas. We stopped at a station and for some strange reason they couldn't get any gas to pump into the truck, so we crossed our fingers and prayed we could make it to the next exit that had a gas station (boy, I was glad I wasn't driving). So even though, we couldn't speed home, it was a mad rush. We got back into Portland about 1am. We dropped off the van at the mechanics (& unloaded all of our junk into the U-haul), & then rushed to the Airport (& luckily found a rental car place that had a car available... it took us about 6 or so calls to different rental places to finally find one). We got to the airport about 1:45 & then I drove the rental to Don's parents & he drove the U-haul. We got there about 2:15 & then quickly unloaded the U-haul & loaded the rental car, while trying to lighten our heavy load & leaving stuff at Don's parents. We left his parents house about 2:30 & then filled up the U-haul with gas and then dropped it off. We took off to Eugene at 2:45am. Eugene is 2 hours from Portland, so we sped off hoping we could get there in an hour and 45. We did & luckily made our flight, it still had seats available. But our hearts were racing madly for the past few hours trying to make that flight & get into Tucson. We thank Michael tons for letting us use his buddy passes and for staying up all night to help us; & my mom for helping us get down to Tucson. What excitement!!! Too much for one day. Luckily, our trip back was much more calmer. We had a wonderful time in Arizona. It was great to visit with all of the family. I am glad everyone was able to make it down. I was also able to visit with my friend Missy & her family, but forgot my camera & didn't get any pictures of her. Here are some pictures of the family fun.

Christmas Eve

We all got together & had our annual talent show & the kids acted out the Christmas Story.

The Shepherds

Wicked King Herod

The Cast


The Wise men and others worshipping the Christ child (acted out by Cameron).


Christmas

I don't know why I didn't get any pictures of Christmas morning... but Mel got a Make-up kit from Grandma. She was in heaven. She got a little sleep mask with the kit. She wore it every night, and it really made her sleep in. All the other kids were up & playing the next morning, & she was still sound asleep getting in her beauty rest.

The Wizard of Oz
All of the kids had fun singing the songs from the Wizard of Oz.

The Cowardly Lion

The Tin Man

The Wicked Witch of the West

The Wicked Witch of the East (?)

Dori, Dorothina, & Dorothy

The Good Witches of the North

Jolene & Lisa singing "Munchkin Land."

Audrey & Mia singing "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead!"

All the kids singing "We're off to see the Wizard"

The Scarecrow

Brianne, Tara, & Alyssa singing "If I only had a Brain"

Oz (Whitney singing "The Merry Old Land of Oz")

The Fabulous Narrator

Dorothy (Kayla singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow").

Michael singing nothing less than Gilbert and Sullivan's -- "I am the Monarch of the Sea."
& Ryan as backup.


Gingerbread Houses

Jolene helped Dayton make one.

Melanie & Teresa & her girls working on their houses.

Audrey, Emma, & Mia working/eating their houses.

Abby, Michael, & Courtney hard at work.

Brianne, Tara's friend, Tara, & Spencer -also working on their houses.

Last but not least, everyone working on their houses.

The Annual Broderickathon

Darn, I didn't get any pictures of this... We had a contest to see who could do the most push-ups & sit-ups- for more info see Jolene's site. However Jolene forgot to mention that I won in the female age 20 and above age group -- j/k! Congrats to Spencer & Brianne & Courtney!! I'll be working out for next year -j/k :)

Playing at Los Ninos Park!

We said our "good byes" to Ryan & Dana & gang as they departed for the Airport to fly back to New York City. However, their flight was delayed for an hour, so they came back to Mom's & we all went to the park to play.

Dayton loved sliding down the slide. He even did the big ones by himself.

One of the twins - K2 or K3

Solving the world's problems

The other twin (K2 or K3)

Abby having fun on the swings.

Emma enjoyed the swings too.

A swing built for two.

Another swing built for two, but Emma & Dayton didn't enjoy it as much as Cameron & Abby.

Dayton having fun, (going back for another trip on the slides - his favorite).

Melanie's ready to slide down.

Audrey sliding down the slide.

Kayla swinging

Courtney on the swings too.

Dayton was scared to swing at first, but his mean mom made him do it and...

...he got use to it & enjoyed it after all.

The Arizona Temple

We also took a trip to the Arizona Temple. We went to see the movie about Joseph Smith that is playing in the visitor center. What a wonderful movie!!

The girls in front of the Christus at the Visitor Center.

(Scenes from the temple), Mary & Joseph on their way to Bethlehem.

The Nativity - Christ in the manger.

Inside the visitor center, they had a Festival of Nativities. We enjoyed seeing all the Nativity Scenes from around the world. Here is the one from the USA. I should have taken a picture of Mom's collection. Her collection is wonderful too.

New Year's Eve

Greg & Shelley had a fun NewYear's Eve Dinner/Party at their home. What Fun! Thanks, Greg & Shelley!! Courtney was crying in the car on the way home, because she had so much fun playing with her cousins & it would be another whole year until we would be back again.

Playing games

Spencer & Emma watching movies.

Trent & Lisa kicking back.

Dayton enjoying his lollipop.

Grandma, the twins, Cameron, Dayton & me relaxing on the couch.

Happy New Year!!

Enjoying all the good treats that Greg & Shelley & Michael & Katie provided us.

Happy New Year. The kids were given horns & hats & the house became very loud!

Reid Park Zoo
On our last day in Tucson, Don took a break from all the projects he was doing for Mom & we took the kids to the zoo. How nice to be in the sun in the middle of December.

Welcome to the zoo!

The monkeys

My photogenic child

Dayton - being cool & just hanging out.

Riding the wild Elephant. Can't you tell how much fun they are having from looking at the expressions on their faces.

Of course, we had to take a picture of the kids posing inside this egg.

Having fun, sliding down the bench structure.

Dad
After the zoo, we stopped by the cemetary to visit dad's grave. I really miss him.

The bench for Mom & Dad, it says exactly what is in my heart.

Family
We had a great trip down to Az. We enjoyed the sun, but the best reason was seeing all of the family. It was wonderful to see & visit with everyone. We love you all & wished we lived closer. (Well, hopefully we will live a bit closer soon!)

Mom & Don

Dana & Ryan & girls

Jolene & Wade

Shelley & Greg & kids

Lori & Matthew -they came down to Az for a short visit too:)

Michael & Katie & kids (I just love Abby's expression)

Trent & Lisa & family (minus Brianne)

Lisa & Brianne

Aaron & Teresa & girls