Phoenix Arizona 2023

 Fall Break in Phoenix was a very good choice.

Back in the summer Quincy's family had invited Shane on a "boys trip" to NASCAR in Las Vegas.  I told him he should definitely go... but he couldn't remember the dates for sure.  So he said yes and then told me the dates.  It was over Fall Break... and I reminded him then that if good flights came up somewhere that I was still going to take Lydia and Jadyn somewhere.  Well, good flights came up... I used sky miles, paid for the hotel with points and booked our trip to Phoenix. Shane picked up a job at the San Antonio Temple and then flew straight to Vegas to meet up with the "boys"

We had a blast enjoying the warm weather! The only sad part was that poor Lydia had a bad cold, that's not fun at home... but definitely not fun on a vacation. :(

Our flight got in extra late on October 10th, so the next morning we started our fun...

First at the Sea Life Aquarium... I had too high of hopes for this aquarium. It ended up being in the mall... IDENTICAL to the one in the Layton Hills Mall.  It was fun... but definitely NOT what I was expecting. haha

We were then off to the Phoenix Zoo.  It was a pretty great zoo!

The camel ride was a must do.

Dinner at "The Organ Stop" was such a blast.  It's hard to explain the atmosphere, basically a HUGE dining hall lined with long tables and a MASSIVE Wurlitzer Organ with over 6000 pipes around the room.  The organist was phenomenal, and we of course loved all the Disney music played!  Plus the pizza was pretty great too. We'd definitely recommend!

The next morning we headed out early to the Phoenix Temple for baptisms.

Followed by breakfast @ T.C. Eggington's, then on to baptisms at the Mesa Temple.

What a great way to spend the morning!

(We WOULD have gone to the Gilbert Temple as well, but it was on shutdown.)

Our next adventure was a Segway Tour in Scottsdale.

This was ALL of our first time on a Segway and it was a great adventure.

Honestly, I was pretty nervous at first, but once you get the hang of it it's a lot of fun!

We had headsets and we also had a great tour and background of the city of Scottsdale from our guide.

Ice Cream @ The Sugar Bowl.

Then time at the mall, rounded out a pretty fabulous day!

The next morning we woke up early and drove 3.5 hours to the Grand Canyon.

This was also a first for all of us.

Although Mom, did we go there when I was little??? If so I have no memory of it.

As expected... it was GRAND and INCREDIBLE.

We first stopped at the Visitor's Center where we watched the Grand Canyon Imax Movie. Then we headed into the park.

We drove the bus to the "South Kabob Trail" and did the 1 mile hike down to Ooh Aa Point.  It was breathtaking and the 2 miles was just enough hiking for us. ;)

This mountain goat came around the corner in front of Lydia and understandably startled her just a wee bit. haha

This is the lookout from Ooh Aa Point.

It was a beautiful day that ended with a gorgeous sunset.

Jadyn met up with her friend Dillon Geddes, he and his family had hiked the 24 mile rim to rim that day and after a frantic drive worrying we'd miss the sunset we found him. haha

We got back to our hotel pretty late after our 3.5 mile drive back to Phoenix.

The next morning we were off to the Goldfield Ghost Town.

But not before viewing the eclipse from our special "eclipse glasses" I brought with us.

Pretty cool!

+ a stop at Trader Joes.

Trader Joes were EVERYWHERE in Phoenix... we stopped at three of them looking for Lydia's favorite chocolate chip cookies.

The Goldfield Ghost Town was great.

We took the Gold Mine Tour, explored all the shops and restored buildings.

We didn't pay to pan for gold... but I had them pretend they did.

These two went on the"Goldfield Zipline".

Jadyn touched a cactus and can attest that they are very pokey.

Those are the "Superstition Mountains" in the background.

My great... or great great? grandfather hunted for gold in them there hills.

There are some crazy stories about people "disappearing" mysteriously in those mountains over the years.  Hence the name...

These two tested out their skills at the shooting gallery.

They need more practice. ;)

I felt like I was in Frontierland @ Disneyland or the shooting gallery in Lagoon's Pioneer Village.

We didn't have ANY pool time except this afternoon.

Although the air was warm... the water was NOT.

When these two don't even want to get, I know there is ZERO possibility I'm getting in!

After swimming we headed to "The Bat Cave" which is really a flood control tunnel where 10-20,000 bats live in the height of the season.

We DID see hundredsof bats, but nothing that looked like this from earlier in the season...

It was cool though! We drove around and ended up eating at Torchy's Tacos for dinner.

Sunday was a relaxing lazy morning, we checked out and sat BY the pool until it was time to head to the airport.

Lydia read a book, Jadyn cross-stitched her stocking and I worked on binding Max's quilt.

We probably looked a little strange sitting there fully clothed with all our activities, but we were enjoying basking in the sun before heading back to Utah... which wasn't QUITE as warm and sunny as Phoenix. ;)

Imagine our surprise + fan girling as we waited for Emily Belle Freeman (the new YW General President) to finish talking to Steven J. Lund (YM General President).

We've loved her in "Don't Miss This" over the last few years.
I think her General Conference talk this October "Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ" was so beautiful and inspiring... it definitely ranked in my top 3 talks of the conference.  I was grateful to be able to tell her that two weeks later.

They were both on their way to speak at a youth conference in Snowflake... I think??  

Finished binding Max's quilt on our quick flight home.

And yep, we got the "back row" with those free sky mile flights... but it was totally worth it!

What a fun time traveling with these two cuties is.

Shane was off enjoying the loud, crazy experience of NASCAR this day, but he missed being with us. Thanks for letting us go anyway Shane.