Vacation Road Trip to Arizona

We made it back from our road trip to Arizona. We had a great time. To me it was one of our best vacations. I enjoyed all the stops along the way and seeing things I have never saw before.

Our first stop was the Petroglyphs. The first sign on our small hike was to watch for Rattle Snakes.

Our next stop was to the Continental Divide. Yes, I couldn't remember what it was so I had to google it before we left.

Then we stopped at the Petrified Forest. I could have spent days here looking around.

Painted Desert in the Petrified Forest National Park.

We then made it to Jerry's house and celebrated the 4th. After that we went looking around and ate at the really neat ice cream shop.

The next day we went to the Science Center. I really enjoyed the weather simulator.

The had an electronic/digital room which was so neat and Emma was on the Radio.

After all the fun. We had to take a day off and relax. The next day Wednesday was Breanna's 16th birthday and we celebrated with a girls day out. We went to shopping, to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and of course pedicures and manicures.

On Thursday we packed up and headed out for the Grand Canyon. On the way there we stopped at the Montezuma Castle.

We went by a real Ghost Town.

Took a scenic drive threw Sedona. If you ever go to Arizona I highly recommend this drive. It was absolutely beautiful.

On Friday we celebrated Jacob's birthday

With a trip to the Grand Canyon. I would love to go hiking or rafting there. If we ever go back there, I would like to plan an extra day to do one of those things.

Our last stop was to the Cadillac Ranch.

There were many other sights in Arizona which we didn't stop at. Hopefully we will get to go back sometime and see more.

Christian turns 14

Christian's Birthday was last Sunday (Father's Day). We met Kim at Fast Lanes Saturday morning for tons of fun. We bowled and the kids played video games. My favorite was the laser tag. The girls beat the guys!

The 29 inch pizza was awesome!

Bree's New Room

I have wanted to change Breanna's room since I moved in. The color "sea foam blue" was just terrible and I hated the way it was painted with the walls, ceiling, doors and trim all being the same color. We have promised her for years it would be redone but Scott wanted to wait until we had new windows put in. Well, I decided not to wait. Before:

What kind of room does a girl fixing to turn 16 want? Well of course racer pink and opera purple. She picked the colors but hasn't seen it yet.

The curtains are a birthday gift for her from my mom. On the purple wall is a pink curtain and on the pink wall is a purple one. The comforter is a gift from us.

I'm so jealous. I want to live in her room! I would have never got finished in a week if it wasn't for my mom helping me. She is the best painter I have ever seen. I had it all ready her to come home on Friday (except for hanging some stuff on the wall) just to find out they are staying another week with their mom so I have to wait another week to see the look on her face.

You tell your kids to dream big! But. . . .

We always have the kids make a birthday wish list. All we have heard from Breanna was she didn't care what kind, she just wanted a car. Well, we sold our motor home a week or so ago and while Scott was out side completing the paperwork, Breanna sat down at the computer and made us her 16th birthday wish list. . .As you can see her dreams are a lot bigger than anything we could ever pay for. I mean who would ever think of a Mercedes at 16. I don't think anything on her list was under $20,000 and everything was 2002 or newer. Scott has to break the news that she was looking at too new of cars. So, I guess we will see what happens.

Free Landscaping

Vikki (my boss) decided to give away all the plants in one of the flowerbeds at work. The city workers messed up the bed while widening Industrial Park Road so she just decided to start over. I picked out the plants I wanted and had no idea they would be loaded with a backhoe and take up the whole back of Scott's truck. One of the other ladies at work has 16 acres and she had a whole truck and trailer full. I couldn't believe how massive these plants were. Thank goodness, Scott helped me get them out of the back of the truck! I got them planted all by my self. These things were huge and heavy. It was wet and muddy last Saturday and I had mud from head to toe which Scott thought was quite funny. I got the job done and think it looks much better. What do you think. I dug up everything that was there except for the rose bush and planted these shrubs. I also planted a thornless yellow rose that my Aunt Susan had given me a start of. Now if I can just get them to grow. I don't have much of a green thumb.

Scott had a little accident with the wheelbarrow. Doesn't it look sad?

Book Signing

I have read thousands of books over the years and have never been to a book signing until today. Yesterday, Scott was checking out the net and happened across a small ad that said Kate Gosselin would be signing books at the Bentonville Sam's Club. He knows how much I love the show and I already had the other book she wrote, so we got up bright and early and headed out. After reading on the net that she was hateful to anyone who was not her immediate family, I didn't know what to expect. She was fashionably late to the signing by about 12 minutes. I must say she was very nice, pleasant, and great with the kids who had colored her pictures. She is very pretty and really thin.

We then went and spent a little over a hour with my cousin Jess who I haven't saw in quite a while. After that, we went and had milk shakes and ice cream with Kim and family. We had a great day!

Back From Miami

I don't even know where to begin describing this trip. I will just start with saying that I think the Cox Bobble Head had more fun than we did. There were several of him floating around and he was photographed several places in Miami. The resort we were at in Miami was definitely not for the average person. It was a very expensive luxury resort. Just to give you an idea of the prices we were faced with, it cost us $43.50 to sit on the beach with 2 chairs and an umbrella. Needless to say we only did that one day. With my fair skin, we had to have an umbrella. (We were the only ones with a cooler on the beach. Everyone else just ordered what they wanted and it was brought to them. At around $16 a mixed drink and $7 for beer or soda, we brought our own.) We did not eat in a restaurant the whole time we were there. The average plate was about $35 a person with steak costing between $52 and $95. We found it cost less to dine in (about $20 a person) and then we ordered Pizza and ate on it for a couple of days. This is the first time in my life I have been to Florida and did not eat sea food. The only thing we found within walking distance was a Walgreen's where we got snacks and a liquor store. The cost to get to the indoor/outdoor mall (as seen on Miami Vice) was $45 a person. Needless to say we didn't go (by the time we got there we wouldn't have any money to spend) so we brought back no souvenirs. We walked the boardwalk which didn't have anything on it and car watched from our balcony. We saw Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, BMW's, Mercedes, and stretched limos coming to the resorts LIV Club. While at the Blue Bar (bar outside of LIV), one of the guys that was there with Cox ordered 2 drinks and it cost over $40 so he had the waitress take it back. I'm sure she wasn't happy. We didn't even bother going there. Another set of 4 people went out to a night club and it cost them over $300 to get in. That doesn't even count their drinks.
We had alot of strange looks from people who were there. I guess they could tell we were out of place. I didn't know I needed to wear short tight shorts and heels all day long. We were also the wrong shade of white and spoke English. Everyone there was a size 4 or smaller and extremely tan and spoke foreign languages. I'm sure the people who were willing to spend alot of money had a good time but I think the majority of the Cox people can say it was not a fun vacation. We can cross it off of the list of places we have been. We will not be going back!!!!!!! We are GLAD to be back in Arkansas where people are normal and speak REDNECK!

The cabanas have a flat screen TV, phone, and fridge. They rent for only $250 a day.

You even had to rent the chairs at the pool! Made me wonder if you got anything with the cost of the room.

The only drinks we had from the resort was the ones we got free at the Cox gathering.

The ocean was beautiful. I don't know what color you would call it maybe emerald green.

If you look close you can see the row boat. They were out every evening.

We saw Regis and Kelly.

We watched the paparazzi. (The lady dragging the cooler was a employee. . .)

My night pictures didn't turn out so good. I only took my little camera and couldn't get the setting right.

Scott helped with this post. Thank goodness he didn't take his "Welcome to America NOW Speak English" shirt with him.