The End

Today is March 30, 2015. It marks two important events in our life. This is the last day of our RV trip, as well as Matt and my 19th wedding anniversary. Both make us reflect on what a journey each has been.  We have enjoyed the highs and have endured the lows, and wouldn't change a thing. I feel incredibly blessed to have taken this 5 1/2 months with our family, in our 40 foot RV, learning to bump into each other with a little more kindness then we started.  Our perspectives have changed and our fears have decreased. I think we could do just about anything. Hopefully our kids have a new appreciation for the beautiful America that they are blessed to live in.  When we arrive home, there will be a flurry of unpacking, cleaning and then getting big Mama up for sale. What mixed feelings we have.  It's the end of this journey but because of this amazing experience, I KNOW there will be many more crazy dreams ahead for this crew of five.

This last morning, the kids were sound asleep. I had to capture this quiet comfortable moment.

The road home with surprises

We traveled north from the Grand Canyon, up through northern Arizona and Utah. The landscape year continues to amaze us. We wish that we would've had several more days to spend there. Page, Arizona had a spectacular Walmart we boondocked at that was definitely in the best setting we have ever seen. Matt was able to take a phenomenal bike ride around the rim of this beautiful city. He wanted us to experience the beauty and so we all took a hike looking over at Lake Powell.

Onward we went to St. George, Utah where Aspen Carroll had invited us to stay at her family's home. St. George turns out to be another phenomenal Mountain Bike area with spectacular scenery. Again, we wish we had more than just a day. The kids enjoyed a homemade 450 foot zip line and swimming in her aunts pool.

We started our trip in Salt Lake City with my brother, Ryan and his wife Shauna.  And we ended our journey at their house in Salt Lake City again. They always treat us to a great feast and the cousins have a wonderful time playing together.

Family fun in Arizona

We had a great time at both grandma and cool and aunt Teresa's pool. Each day the kids had a blast playing with all their cousins.

After a few days of family fun, we continued on to Williams, Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. We had a few more mechanical issues, but had a great mechanic in Flagstaff that helped us out. The RV is now running beautifully.

Once in Williams, Debbie surprised us with a first-class train tickets to take up to the Grand Canyon. What a fantastic experience that was! The kids loved that we had the whole car to ourselves with food and drink the entire way.

That night, we met up with another family right across from us in the campground. They turned out to be a homeschool family that was traveling with four kids in a 32 foot RV. We had an instant connection, and our two youngest, the girls became fast friends. Their three boys were wonderful too and we were able to connect with them, swim, share a campfire, and many travel stories. What a blessing this trip has been for meeting up with these families that are so similar to ours and yet come from all over the United States. We only knew them for one night, but felt a strong connection and exchanged contact information for the future.

Back on the road again

A lot happened from the time we left Texas, had the RV towed in New Mexico and left it in Las Vegas for the winter. We returned home, where our kids were extremely happy to see friends and family again.

This is our beautiful niece, Samantha. We got to meet up with she and her husband in Las Vegas.

A photo with our Besties in Boise. 

 We spent a good month skiing on our beloved mountain, Bogus Basin. 

And then the weather changed, we bought a house, moved in, and two weeks later, we were on the road again. This time we were headed to Arizona to celebrate Papa Eds 80th birthday.

Boulder city, Nevada turned out to be a gem. We toured the Hoover dam, but enjoyed the small town very much. The kids had a nice bike track trail to practice jumping.

We traveled from Boulder city on to Phoenix. We stayed at Lost Dutchman state park, which turned out to be one of our favorite parks. We had the most beautiful rainbow the night we arrived and met back up with our friend Debbie.  What a great reunion that was!

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