Sedona, AZ - Labor Day Weekend 2011

I'm WAY behind on blogging . . . again!

So let's talk about Labor Day weekend, shall we?

We spent it in Sedona, AZ with my parents, Lindsey and her family.  We had so. much. fun!!!  We already can't wait to go back there.

And I'm just gonna warn you now, this is a LONG post with LOTS of pictures!

On the drive there (which is a long drive - especially with kids!), we decided to take a detour to the Grand Canyon.  It was amazing.  So beautiful!

We had to get the family pics there, right?

So here we have Linds, Derek and their fam:

Me, Jake and our fam:

And my parents:

All the girls, minus Kate, who was probably running around the gift shop . . .

We ate dinner at a restaurant near the lodge at the North Rim and had ice cream after:

It's not good unless it gets all over your face, right?

Can you believe that background?  Gorgeous!  There was no photo editing at all in the pic above and the pic below.  The colors are amazing.

I couldn't resist posting these pics of Emmy.  She started posing and my dad started taking the pics.  Pretty girl :)

We made it to Sedona that night.

The next day, we went to Slide Rock.  It was the coolest place.  It's a river with these rocks that you can slide down the river on.  The rocks are super slippery, you can't even walk on them - you seriously just slip and fall.  We found out when we got there (from seeing other people) that if you wear socks, you can walk on the rocks.  Something to remember for next time!  Because it seriously took us, like, 10 minutes to get out of the river.  We just kept slipping!

The temperature outside was hot, but the water was FREEZING!!!  No joke.  Seriously, so cold!  I wasn't even gonna get in.  But I did after I saw Jake and Emmy slide down the river.  I had to be a good mom and take Kate.

Sitting down cuz you can't stand or you'll fall:

Sliding down!  See Emmy's face?  Yeah.  Freezing.

It took sitting in the water for a good 15 minutes until I finally got up the courage to get all in the water and go down the slippery rocks!

Kate and I had so much fun going down!  The cold water didn't even phase her.

These pics are hilarious.  Kate and I have the same looks on our faces -

Yay!

Aaaaah!

These two little stinkers always have so much fun together.  Kate always asks me if we can go see Dawsey.  They were little trouble makers on the trip.

Getting into books . . .

Spitting (yes, spitting) in the shower . . .

The next day was Sunday.   We went to church in Sedona (that's why I love the church!  I can be anywhere and still go to MY church.  I know what to expect and what will happen there.  It's comforting :)  ).  After church, while the babies took naps, we left Dylan in charge (he's almost 12, can you believe it!) and the adults went out to Enchantment for lunch.

We always go out there when in Sedona.  For the nachos.  You can see why . . .

Derek tried the cactus fries.

Interesting, but not my fav.  I wouldn't order them again.  Really rubbery.

But we did order some yummy guacamole, too.  So good!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the condo (which was huge and fit Lindsey's family and my family - my parents stayed in their own room at their timeshare).

The last day in Sedona was Labor Day.  My parents rented some five and six people ATV's.  We had fun driving out to some Indian ruins.  Plus, we got to wear some really cool goggle's . . .

Hi Linds!

Poor Emmy had an allergic reaction to some sunscreen I put on her face.  Her cheeks were all red and puffy :(  That girl and her allergies.

Everyone on the trip, minus my dad (taking the pic) and you can see one of the cool ATVs we were riding in on your left :)

Kate just chillaxin'

My hotty husband, driving like a madman pro!

We were super hot (and dirty!) after riding in the ATV's so we headed to my parent's hotel, the Hyatt, to swim.  Their pool was way nicer than ours.  We had a blast!

See how gorgeous Sedona is???  We really love going there.

PS - ignore the man in his swimsuit in this pic.  If I cropped him out, it would have taken too much of the pretty scenery out, too!

It was serious business for Kate and Dawson.  They kept jumping off the stairs.  Then Kate and Emmy kept getting out and jumping in the pool together.  It was cute.  Those moments, the ones where they get along, are few and far between!

That night it got rainy.  We wanted to walk around some shops in this pretty shopping center in Sedona (it has a European feel) but we got rained out!  So we got some pizza and ate it at our condo.

The girls, before we got rained out.

We were supposed to drive home early Tuesday morning but decided we might as well drive home late Monday night so the girls would sleep and we wouldn't have to make as many stops.  We left after 10:00 pm and got home around 4:30 am.  Not ideal.  But we made the trip a lot faster since the girls were sleeping the whole time.  Well, almost the whole time.  Emmy totally wakes up but she's not really awake and starts saying things that don't make sense.  It's funny until she starts freaking out and there's nothing you can do about it.  And at 2:00 am, and then at 3:00, and then 3:30 and 4:00, not so fun.  But we made it home safe and sound!

We had SUCH a great trip!

We already can't wait until we get to go back to Sedona!