We took our annual trip home to Phoenix in the Spring this year, knowing that we would be busy having a baby in the summer. Our timing turned out to be a blessing in some ways and a curse in others. One blessing was escaping the cold Kansas winter and enjoying the beautiful Phx temps. It was so warm we were able to take a long hike into a canyon in Cottonwood with our Gordon cousins. We hiked down to a river where some of the brave kids did a little cliff jumping. Colby was one of those brave kids. Scott and I were surprised he had the nerve! It was so, so beautiful and a good hike was just what I needed after a long winter on the flat plains.
Another stand out experience from this trip was seeing the Phoenix Temple and bringing Nolan for the first time. I was so pleased and grateful for how hard some of my wonderful family members worked to make this happen...especially Melanie who gathered up some family names, and Uncle Rus and Aunt Karen who got us in at the last minute and gave us a tour of the Temple President's house, and my mom and Lori who rearranged their schedules to be there. Mark's wife Laura also came and went to lunch with us after, and Chandler and Makenna were there to perform baptisms with Nolan. We had such a great little group, and I doubt Nolan will ever be able to forget it. After we were done and came out, he was all ear-to-ear smiles. He said, "I can't stop smiling." I could understand why...I felt the same way. After the temple we stopped to see Grandma Gilliland and tell her all about it.
The rest of the trip was spent getting around to reconnect with as many family and friends as possible. We spent a lot of time with our favorites the Eastmans of course (although, I somehow ended up with hardly any pictures of that)! We also met up with the Spencers and had a pizza/game night with all the Wellman cousins. It was fun swapping belly sizes with Chrysta. I never thought I'd be pregnant at the same time with a sister who is 12 years younger than me!
The trip home was when the curse kicked in. As soon as we left the Arizona sunshine, winter was waiting for us again. We hit black ice traveling at a high speed on the freeway outside of Albuquerque. We swerved off the road, across the oncoming freeway and busted through a guard rail. My perfect family car was totaled, but my perfect family was saved. So, even though it was costly and traumatic, we were SO thankful for a happy ending to our Phoenix trip. As soon as we got home, we bought another Expedition. We probably wont take this one on any long road trips in the Spring.
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