Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Day 7. Get Your Kicks.

Route 66 led us safely to the petrified forest, and the painted desert. Both would have been much more spectacular had we not been so afraid to leave the comfort of our car. Outside, 38mph winds kicked up dust making it quite unpleasant outside.
Most of our pictures were taken from inside the car haha. I got some great pictures of some classic cars along Route 66 though.
The Wigwam Motel was what the “caution cone motel” from Cars was based on. That was what I was comparing the road to the whole time. The animated movie cars lol. The petrified forest was…interesting. Not tall lush trees at all, just logs that have turned into rocks and look like giant loafs of poop. Mom liked them though ;)
 Dinosaur statues tower everywhere, apparently they used to live here?
The painted desert was pretty…hard to see because of the dust storm. What we could see though was beautiful.
BK Lounge for dinner. I’m growing fond of Arizona. I’ll miss it when we leave. Their license plates are so much prettier, and their hand painted billboards so creative. Oh, and another glorious sunset.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Day 6. Rest.

God did it on the 7th, we’ll do it on the 6th :) Rest. An entire day at the Grand Canyon, 6am-10pm, left us all exhausted. We unaminously decided today would be our lazy day. Morning consisted of breakfast [poptarts], shower [long], comfy clothes [Alaska shirt], tea [good earth], and quiet time [sitting on the deck with perfect weather].
 I’ve been reading Galations and it has been focusing on how it is not by works that one will go to heaven, but by FAITH. Galations 3:23-25 “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” I feel that the verses in Galations are great tools for witnessing. Helping people realize that it’s not all about following rules, rules, rules. I love how simply having a quiet time every day, and staying in my bible allows God to show me things and give me tools like the verses in Galations to share with people. I love being used by God :) We did end up doing hiking in the afternoon and stayed out long enough to see another incredible suset.
Leftovers consisted of my fajitas and 2 bites of Navajo taco. Only 2 ;) Another fun day with the fam. I feel blessed to have such a great family. Truly blessed :)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Day 5. Grand Canyon.

5:30am came once again, too fast. We start our 2 hour journey to the Grand Canyon with Needtobreathe waking us up. Our first stop was the cinder cones, rather anti-climactic, but it served as a good bathroom stop :) Next stop, some ancient ruins.
It is absolutely crazy to think that people actually lived in these things. Our bathroom in our condo is bigger than most of their bedrooms! Next step, lunch! Although they tasted good, Navajo tacos = poison farts. We practically drove the rest of the way to the canyon with the windows down haha. We finally make it to the Grand Canyon and it was indescribable.

A picture could not capture how many layers and the spectacular depth of the canyon. God did a good job on this one guys :) Every picture we took that required nearing the edge freaked Mom out. She would hold her breath and hold onto us for dear life ;) We ventured down the path that goes to the bottom of the Canyon (a couple yards haha)...
...ate some delicious ice cream, and then jumped on the shuttle bus to get to Hopi point to see the sunset. And what a sunset it was. Turqoise, pinks, purples, all spectacular. Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” So true…

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Day 4. Off-Road.

Rise and shine at 5:30am! We bundled up in layers upon layer [Mom wore sweats over jeans haha] and we headed into Sedona to catch our 7am pink jeep tour. But wait. Mom forgot sunglasses. Let’s go back. But wait. Mom forgot the tickets. Let’s go back. But how could we possibly be in a bad mood with “Albi the racist dragon” coming out our car speakers? We finally make it, with spare time to scope out the gift shop. Summary of jeep tour: Beautiful, terrifying, the ‘Ultimate’ off-road experience.
There were points where we were going practically vertically down rocky slopes.
4 wheel drive and a 4.0L straight-6 did the trick though. It felt as if the jeep had legs and was crawling up the rocky terrain with us on its back. As we would come up over a huge hill it felt like we were little foot and the gang when they see the great valley for the first time. So beautiful :). After the tour we checked out an art fair thing haha [I’m not sure what it was called].
I got a super sick ring and some awesome bracelets. Then we came back to the condo to nap and relax.
[I wrote some postcards :)]
Next we are on our way to see Devil’s Bridge [one of the larges arches ever/maybe just in Arizona lol]. It was now Dad’s turn to be the pink jeep driver, except in our Charger haha.
Who knew a charger could off-road so well?
The arch was amazing once we finally made it to the top.
We even walked across it!
Mexican deliciousness ended out fun filled day.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Day 3. Evening Hike.

Today is the first time I have slept in for months. It felt great :) And boy have I underestimated a good piece of toast in the morning. It hit the spot. As soon as we finished breakfast [around 11am] we headed out to explore scenic areas and scope out a good hike for later in the afternoon.
I have never seen anywhere like this. Every time I look out and see the huge rocks I just stare in awe. And all the dirt here is red!
[It's shaped like a heart!]
My dad says the rocks are rusting, but I think some fool painted them all to trick us. It looks so fake! We came back to the condo, then headed back out to hike around Bell Rock. We got halfway around it when we decided why not go up it? So we started to climb.
As difficult as it was, it was totally worth it. The view was spectacular, especially as the sun was setting. Meryn got stuck halfway up the near-vertical wall I didn’t even attempt to climb, and we got our laughs in for the day. We took some amazing photos and I’m getting pretty slick with changing lenses in a timely manner ;) I can’t wait for pink jeeps tomorrow!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Day 2. Fly.


Up and at ‘em at 5:30 am! Breakfast and then straight to the airport. We all made it safely through security and hung out in the food court for a while watching planes take off as we waited for our flight.
I absolutely love sitting by the window watching as we take off and land. Being pushed back in my seat because of the sudden acceleration isn’t so bad either :)
[We thought this was funny]
 I love the perspective from up in the air. It was absolutely beautiful.
The clouds looked like a huge layer of mashed potatoes. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs anyone? The only sketchy part about our plane experience was when we were landing in our second plane. We started to drop faster than Meryn and I expected. We looked out the windows and all we see is forest. Then we hit turbulence. I felt as if I was re-living the crash in Lost. Apparently though our selective side window vision excluded the runway, and thin air is common and it was what caused the turb. We’re alive. All is well :) So we walk out of the airport expecting our rented Chevy Impala to greet us. False. Dodge Charger at our service. We did some grocery shopping, checked into our condo, and ate some yummy dinner. I did some running on the treadmill and am now, absolutely exhausted, going to bed.