Sunny Days in AZ: Promotion, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon

First of all, Kyndall was promoted from 8th grade to high school a week and a half ago. I know, promoted sounds weird, but it's not "graduated" here in Phoenix...it's promoted. Anyway, we are so proud of her and had such a good time celebrating with her. She has a good friend whose mother rented a NICE limo after the graduation, I mean promotion ceremony. All the kids and parents ate dinner together and then off they went for a couple hours. We were happy to know that a couple mom's hung around for the ride too! That's right...I am officially a mom to a high schooler now....crrrrazy!

Daddy and his little girl before the ceremony

Kyndall and her principal, getting her certfiicate

All of us, after the ceremony

Bobby's brother and family all came for the event too - left to right - Brenda, Ray, Keely, Kyndall, Jenni, Nate, Stefan, Tyler

The limo - pretty sweet ride- they had a blast

Just this past weekend we had three of Ray and Brenda's kids for the weekend. Unfortunately, Brenda's grandpa passed away and Ray and her went to Pennsylvania for the memorial service. We took care of Stefan, Nate and Keely. A while back, once we knew that they would be staying with us, Bobby and I decided that we should head north for a night to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. We found a house to rent in Flagstaff and headed up mid-day last Friday. We got there in the early afternoon and enjoyed the COOL temperatures. The house was perfect for a us...had a trampoline, outside deck, basketball hoop, and even a Wii. We all hung around and enjoyed the house and nice weather and then had a little cook out too. After that, we found out that in downtown Flagstaff they have a movie every Friday night in the square. It was fun to go down there and just walk around, grabbed a coffee at a cute shop and waited for the movie to start in the square. We actually didn't stay long at all once the movie started - too cold for us Phoenicians! Regardless, it was fun to spend a little time out and about in Flagstaff.

The next day, we went got up, I went on a walk with a wonderful view and awesome temperature outside...then we packed up and headed further north another hour and a half to the Grand Canyon. It looked stormy on the drive up, and once we got to the park entrance, it looked a little better. But...it figured, once we drove all the way to the rim, it was raining big time. We had packed a lunch, so we had a closterphobic lunch in the car with seven people...not exactly the picnic at the Grand Canyon we envisioned, but we tried to kill a little time and hoped that it would clear up by the time we were done. After it didn't...we decided to brave it and just go in the rain. It was freezing - I think the temp was in low 40's and rainy, of course. The view wasn't the best with all the foggy/cloudiness, but it is still the Grand Canyon and pretty amazing! I still can't believe I have one of the seven wonders of world practically in my backyard! At one point, Stefan was making fun of Megan's hair because it was frizzy from the rain and some pieces were standing straight up...and that made something click in Bobby's head (yeah, not mine...I still can't believe it didn't click with me!)..if Megan's hair is standing up...there is definitely some electricity in the air...and we need to get away from the rim and openess and get back to the car PRONTO. So we did...nothing hurt...and didn't really think about it again until we were leaving the park and I started reading this newsletter that the Grand Canyon people put out and give to you when you enter the park. In the middle of the paper was a warning to visitors that with stormy seasons in May and June, watch for anyone's hair that is standing up due to lightning around. And it said, if that happens it means that a lightning strike is highly possible and everyone should quickly get away from the rim and get into a house or car! Yikes!

We took a few pictures and admired the canyon a bit more and then we were too chilly and it just kept raining and raining....so we decided to head home. We made the 3.5 hour trek back to Phoenix, travelling through horrible torrential rains the first 2 hours. Finally, as we headed back down into the valley, the skies miraculously cleared and we were back to the sunshine and warmth that we know and love in the valley. The temperature outside literally went from 41 degrees up at the Grand Canyon to 95 degrees once we were back home.

Today we got up and Stefan and I went on a walk...then we all went to church, swam in our pool a bit, and then Kyndall and Stefan went to youth group. All in all, this weekend has been wonderful. Our nephews and niece are kids that you love to have around. I can't believe there have been five kids with us since Thursday, because it doesn't feel like that at all! Seriously, Ray and Brenda's kids have been such a treat to have....Stefan has even willingly been my exercise partner a couple of the days, which is cool because it's a great chance to talk and hear about what a sophomore/junior in high school is doing and thinking. All three of them are the kind of kids that just make everything more fun - and they thoroughly enjoy themselves with everything we have done...and appreciate it all too. I can't tell you how many times they have said thank you or that they have had so much fun with us this weekend and/or the best weekend of their lives (wow!) - and without Bobby or I prompting them to say anything at all! We will miss them when they leave tomorrow, but luckily they only live 20-30 minutes from us!

Here are a few pictures of the weekend, and then a link to my Facebook page with more pictures and even a video.

Bobby and the house we stayed in in Flagstaff. He's so cute. =)

Nate and Keely on the trampoline - Keely loved that thing!

The neighborhood view at the house we were at

How cute are they? Stefan, Nate, Keely, Kyndall and Megan at the coffee shop in downtown Flagstaff

The clan again on our walk back to the car - acting a little crazy
One good shot of the Grand Canyon - many of the pics were foggy - this was the best one!