Cruise America!

Well, after a very hectic week of being at Girls Camp, Jeremy working, the boys camping with Gramma and trying to get everything ready and cleaned up (Jeremy did a lot while I was gone including getting groceries, and going to Target), we actually left home right about on time Saturday morning at 5am. We had to stop a few times to fix a vent cover that was loose but so far nothing serious has been going on. We are so thankful for that. It is now Day three and we just crossed over into Oklahoma, so in honor of being in OK, we decided to watch the movie, Oklahoma!

Saturday, our first big stop was at the Grand Canyon! Our kids have never seen it and were very impressed by the "Big Ditch." We got there right about 4:30, walked around a bit and then made some delicious gourmet tostadas and burritos. AS we were walking back to the RV to make dinner, we saw a female Elk grazing in the parking lot! It was very cool since she was only about ten feet away from us and very nonplussed about so many humans watching her as she ate. After dinner, I had the kids run up and down the parking lot row, with that same Elk watching us as she chomped away, to get some energy out and blood flowing. The weather was perfect. Not too hot, with some dark looming clouds to our south. As we left the park, we saw more Elk, even a full grown one with his big antlers and a teenage boy one with his. They are beautiful animals.

Driving towards the 40, we saw tons of lightning! What a show we got as we drove all the way to Snowflake. Rain included. The cooler weather was much appreciated since the AC in the main part of the RV isn't blowing cold air. We are hoping to get it checked in Kansas tonight.

We got Snowflake around 10PM to a warm greeting from our Flake family. They let us park in their driveway and the teenagers went out into the pasture to use their zipline with Mckay and Abe in the dark. All we could here was the zip going back and forth and the kids laughing the whole way!.

After a good night sleep, we ate a yummy breakfast casserole with Pam and Shon and got ready for church. Jeremy and were trouble shooting the AC, but to no avail. Sacrament meeting was wonderful.  I'm so grateful to be able to go to church anywhere in the world and know that I will be able to take the Sacrament. We got to hear from a sweet young woman who talked about family unity. The next speaker was a young man who is getting ready to leave on his mission soon to Colorado. He talked about the good examples of friends he had who helped him get ready for a mission. After that there was a beautiful rendition of The Lord is My Shepherd by a family. Their teenage son sang while the dad played the violin and the mom accompanied them on the piano. The spirit was strong! Another young woman spoke who just recently got back from her mission in Salt Lake City Utah. We found out she actually served with a friend of ours from Denmark!

After sacrament, Uncle Shon drove us to the temple in Snowflake. It was fun to go by there and take the kids. The girls hadn't been since they were 3 and 1. It was built in 2002 when my grandparents lived there still. We will see lots of temples on this trip and I am so grateful to know that I am sealed to my family forever thanks to the temple (For more info on temples, check out lds.org).

A cool moth on the temple that was the size of the palm of my hand. 

Snowflake also has an old log cabin where my 4th great grandmother lived with her 13 children! She was asked to move there from Utah with her husband and children to help settle that part of Arizona. She was a midwife and helped deliver over 1400 babies! Her name is Margaret McCleve Hancock. My mom and Aunt Pam told us some stories on the front porch of the cabin to share with us what a hard working, loving woman she was.