Getting out of town

A couple of weeks ago cabin fever finally got the best of Mark and we decided on Tuesday afternoon that we were going to go to Arizona the next morning. July was the last time that we had been to St. Johns, the kids were dying to go play with their cousins, Mark was dying to get out in the hills and I was dying for my family to see Clara while she was still a newborn. So after frantically packing up everything we were off. Let me tell you how much work it is to get 6 people ready to go... lots of things to remember and pack.

Twenty minutes into the drive and Cameron was already asking "Are we in Arizona yet? How much longer?" Didn't he know how long 10 hours could be when you ask those questions every 5 minutes?!

Unfortunately the 10 hour drive turned into 12 hours because of a freak Spring snow storm in AZ. We were only an hour from SJ when it started snowing-lots of snow. As we left Sanders there was 8 inches of unplowed snow on the road, there were no other cars and it was dark outside. After driving for about 30 minutes at 15mph we ended up stuck trying to go up a hill. YEP, STUCK in the middle of the road. I had been silently praying that we would make it to SJ and then there we were stuck in the snow in Arizona in March!!! What the heck.

Luckily we had cell service.

I called my mom and she sent my dad and brothers out to rescue us.

After a few minutes our prayers were answered and we got moving again. Slow and steady but we were moving.

We met up with my dad and brothers about 10 miles outside of SJ where the snow seemed to just stop. It was like there had been a line drawn and it couldn't snow past the line.

When we finally got to Gma's house the boys told Gma that they said 20 prayers of "please help us." and 15 prayers of "thank you."!

We could drive down there 1000 more times and that would never happen again.

Needless to say we were all very happy to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

JJ & Clara.
JJ & her mom gave Clara this cute outfit.  JJ calls it her 4 o'clock clothes because everyday at 4 o'clock JJ changes into sweat pants with a matching shirt or jacket so she thought Clara would like some too!

Clara finally gets to meet some of her cousins.  Maci really loved her & tried to crawl all over her! And hard as we tried, Kaci & I couldn't get a good picture of the babies.

It was so great to see family that we haven't seen for so long, also to meet Ms. Parker who is just 6 days younger than Clara. Little Miss Maci Jo was only 4 months old the last time we saw her, she will be one in a few days. Man is she cute and her mom inspired me to make bows for Clara.  Jodi had cute bows to match every outfit.   

Parker Heap

Maci Jo Heap

For my kids, being in St. Johns is better than being anywhere else on earth.

Colby, Dawson Winsor & Tuff Zieler
Cameron & JJ Zieler

The weather was pretty volatile the whole time we were there. It even delayed us for a day coming home. These are pictures of the morning that we finally did come home. Lucky for us the sun came out and the snow melted quickly and our trip home was pretty smooth sailing. Clara was a great traveler only waking up when we stopped for gas and food.

Below are pictures of how my boys entertain themselves when we turn off the movies!

We got home on Monday night and just six days later Mark and I were on our way back to AZ for the unexpected funeral of my Uncle George Proctor. Mark's parents were nice enough to keep the three boys so we just had Clara on the trip back down. Traveling with only one little baby is EASY and I quite enjoyed the time spent with my husband. I just wish we were not going down for a funeral. The Proctor family did a great job of honoring and celebrating the life of their dad and I am really glad that I was able to be there.