Arizona Trip and a visit to Sweet Sedona

Stan was asked to attend a conference in Scottsdale after we had already planned on going to Sedona in April. We decided I would take the boys to my parents and we'd pick him up from his conference and head out to Sedona. It worked well overall and was a ton of fun to be with family and then have a perfect little vacation just us.

We stopped by Wendy's in Gallup on our drive. We had brought Scott's tools as something to play with. He had to "fix his french fries with his fliers"

 We sure missed Stan for those first few days, and he missed us to and sent pictures to prove it :)

 We had fun playing with my family.

I love watching my mom with the kids.

Scott still asks to hold Sterling but his interest does not last long.

 Stan flew in on Monday evening and was able to come to my parents for dinner on Tuesday. Scott was so excited to see his dad.

I love watching these two play

Post bath do

Putting on Emily shoes to go play outside:

A little photo shoot with Jenni after Sunday dinner:

Jenni and the boys

We were at Walmart getting pictures printed so that my mom could have updated pictures of the boys. Looking through the millions of pictures of my boys, I didn't have a single one of Scott that was good, especially since he has been so anti pictures lately. Emily stepped away for a minute with him and caught this one. Awesome picture award goes to Emily!

FHE with Grandpa

Stan's conference ended on Thursday evening so we went to pick him and and stopped for Sushi before we headed out for Sedona. Scott was such a fun boy to have at dinner, he ate great and was so polite, and then he loved this escalator.

On our first day in Sedona, we decided to do the typical touristy things. We went on a couple different trails looking at ruins, which there are a million of. There were a couple places on the trail where Stan just skirted up behind all the brush to see what he could find back there and found a couple of ruins off the beaten path. Pretty amazing!

Scott grabbed a hiking stick and his dinosaurs and said "Let's go!" What more do you need for a hike? :) He was a good little hiker and actually went for a good mile before we put him in the carrier, against his will :)

I LOVE this picture :)

Grinding spots

A collection of pottery made by not us :)

Springs out of the wall of the cove

pottery shard

He played with the hiking sticks every chance he got.

This stick was first his horse and then he charged at me with it!

After we had seen a lot of stuff, and were too tired to hike anymore that day, we decided a drive was in order. Stan found a route through some mountains we decided to take and off we went. We stopped at Little Caesar's to pick up some dinner and got on the road. We ended up driving through Jerome, Arizona and were amazed at it's awesome quirkiness. Built as a mining town on the side of a mountain it has had quite the history. We loved the old looking buildings and the fact that it was a very, very, very steep mountain. It'd be easy to lose a frisbee if you threw it too hard :)

As we drove back into Sedona there was an absolutely beautiful sunset.

The next day we decided we were going to go find an adventure where we wouldn't see anyone else. And that's what we did.

A beautiful meadow we drove through to get to our spot.

Getting ready for the hike

Scott was ready to go, "Come on guys!"

On our way

This hike had beautiful views. We looked down over Sedona and the surrounding area. So pretty!

Scott was such a great companion during this hike and Stan was great and entertaining him!

This man loves a good view and I LOVE hiking with him to them.

All done and still smiling

Scott started and finished the hike on his own

As we drove back into Sedona, there was traffic that backed us up for a good half hour. Scott was being such a happy kid and we looked back to see him enjoying tearing up tissues and putting them where torn up tissues belong:

:)

We went to dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant in Sedona and this boy was happy down in his seat

 A walking stick we found on the last morning before we left.

We woke up Sunday and headed to Flagstaff for church then on home. It was such a wonderfully fun trip with our little family. Can't wait for more adventures together!