One Long Road Trip

This past week we made a trip out to Artesia, NM for Aaron's graduation and I still can't believe we actually drove out there. I'm not one for long road trips, especially with kids (just going to Layton or Provo is long enough for me) so ya, it was one long road trip. Although, I really have no room for complaining since Aaron's Dad drove almost an extra 4000 miles just to pick us up and make it possible for us to be there - big thanks to Bill. I thought he was crazy and not serious when he proposed the idea that he was willing to drive from Ohio to pick us up in Salt Lake and then take us down to Artesia.

So here is our week day by day, sorry probably too many boring details.


Monday we left around 9:30 am stopped for lunch (20 min) then one more 15 min stop and made it to Flagstaff around 6:00 pm to stay with Aaron's sister Rachel for the night. It was so great to get out of the car and let the girls play.

Tuesday we had to head out by 6 am for another long drive to Roswell, (yes, the UFO capital of the world) thankfully both Kamaile and Emmy finally fell asleep for good long naps in the car, so we didn't stop once and made it to Roswell by 2:30 checked into the hotel, got freshened up, then drove another 45 min to surprise Aaron in Artesia (turned out it wasn't a surprise at all, he already figured it out) We spent the rest of the day with him which was great.
Roswell actually has a UFO alien museum, a crash sight were the UFO landed and a bunch of alien stores around. If any of you have wanted to ever go there, these pictures are pretty much all you need to see.

Wednesday was his graduation from the basic training. He did really well and was awarded the PT (physical training) award as well as 1st in academics and he was nominated by his class to speak at graduation. I was really glad we were there to hear him speak and receive those honors - it made all the long driving worth it. They only gave 5 awards, so to receive 2 of them is impressive. Now he has 8 weeks of Spanish and then he'll be done finally! The rest of the day was spent with him in Artesia.

Aaron and his buddy in their smokey the bear hatsAaron with some of the instructors and 2 of the other students who received awards

Aaron did a great job with his graduation speech

Since his Dad held a government position working for the FBI he was able to award Aaron his pin.
Thursday morning it was off to Phoenix to stay with Aaron's brother, Spencer. It took us 13 hours to get there, but we did take a little hour detour down to Sierra Vista, our soon to be home. It was good to finally see the place that I've been trying to picture for the past 5 months and actually I think it was better than I had imagined, I'm not sure if its just because we had been driving past and staying in some pretty run down towns and seeing nothing but dessert and brown as far as the eye can see, not to say that Sierra Vista wasn't brown just not as brown. Sierra Vista was very refreshing and so modern looking, it got me excited for our new adventure. I have to admit, though, it kind of freaks me out just how much of nothing ya have to pass through to get there, we really will be right down by the border. So anyways after looking around there for a bit we had another 3 1/2 hours to reach our destination. At least, Maile finally fell asleep on that last leg, the entire 7 hours before that she wouldn't sleep.

Friday was nice and relaxing. We just chilled and recuperated from the long journey. Aaron flew in late that night and Rachel and Donivan also journeyed down so they could watch the girls the next day while we went house hunting-thanks guys, that was so helpful.

Saturday bright and early Aaron, Spencer and I made the 3 1/2 hour trip back down to Sierra Vista (much nicer without the girls) to look for a house. After looking for a few hours we decided on a new community where we will probably build. It is a perfect neighborhood with all the things I love- pools, park, playground, sand volleyball, a running trail, and just to own a house will be very exciting. My mind has already been going wild with decorating ideas.

Sunday was great cause we were able to just relax and spend all day with Aaron until we said one last farewell for 8 more weeks. We actually flew home from Pheonix just me with the 2 girls and even though it was hard at times mostly because it was a 10:30 pm flight it sure beat a 10 hour drive. Aarons dad left Pheonix Sunday morning and didn't get back to Ohio until 11 pm Monday night, I don't know how you did it Bill, but I sure am glad you were willing.