While the weather was a bit cold here in Utah we headed to Arizona the first weekend of April {the fourth and fifth}. Brad was looking for a welding truck and found one in Flagstaff that was all set up so he wouldn't have to modify anything. I know Flagstaff seems like quite the trek for a truck but it was well worth it. The truck will be perfect for what he needs. Here is how our little journey played out ...
FRIDAY - Brad's Brithday
We flew out at 6:40 a.m. ... acutally I should say that we should have flown out at 6:40 but we missed our flight by about five minutes. We aren't morning people so we should have known better than to book a flight that early. This wasn't a good start to our trip but we managed to get on the 8:40 flight. Once in Phoenix we rented a car and started our two hour drive north to Flagstaff. Despite our delay in the early hours of the day we were still able to make it to Flagstaff by noon to see the truck.
As I mentioned before the truck was just what Brad has been looking for so we grabbed a bite to eat, drove through the town and then headed south towards Gilbert {south-east of Phoenix}.
Brad's great aunt Ann lives in Paridise Valley and we noticed it was on our route so we decided to stop. I've met her several times here in Utah but it was fun to visit her in her element at her beautiful home.
Once we arrived in at Mike and Natalie's {my uncle and aunt} we were welcomed very warmly by an excited little boy named Gabe {cousin} and a grown up Megan {other cousin}. Brad and warned me not to tell them about his birthday so I assured him I wouldn't. As we were headed to dinner they gave us a few options and told Brad that it was his birthday dinner so he could choose. He gave me a dirty look at which point I once again assured him I didn't say anything. Natalie let him know that they have a little thing called the 'family calendar' that has everyone's birthday in it so his look of anger only lasted a few seconds.
We had a fabulous dinner at Carraba's {yummy Italian}. I got the pleasure of sitting by the birthday boy {brad} and the funny boy {gabe}. Gabe kept me laughing throughout most of dinner. At one point he turned to me and asked "are you enjoying your dinner?" At which point I had to swallow my giggle and reply "yes, thank you it's very good" because this five year old was waiting for a serious answer.
The laughter continued in the car and at the Eralie's home as we sang happy birthday to brad and ate some delicious chocolate ice cream cake from Cold Stone. After cake and some more visiting we all went to bed. This was a very long day but we enjoyed every bit of ... except the missing our flight part.
SATURDAYWe woke up early in order to be ready to go to Gabe's basketball game at 7:30. This was really fun to see. Natalie was the coach and was out on the court with the kids to try and herd them from one side to the next. They {the kids} weren't allowed to to take the ball or foul each other. They could put both arms in the air, double-dribble and travel {if it was kept to a minimun}. No one was focused on who was winning ... in fact I think both teams won. Good sportsmanship and having fun was the emphesis which I thought was great and it made watching the game very entertaining.
We were able to watch the first session of General Conference before we headed to the airport and then home just in time for Brad to attend the Preisthood session.
We were able to watch the first session of General Conference before we headed to the airport and then home just in time for Brad to attend the Preisthood session.We had a wonderful time visiting with Mike, Nat, Megan and Gabe. I'm happy to claim them as family and look forward to seeing them in July.
It was a short trip but that just means we will need to go again and spend some more time.
