Family vacation 2022 Arizona

If you know us, we live for our family vacations!  This year was no exception.  We have been waiting to take the boys to one of our favorite places on Earth (Sedona, AZ) until they were old enough to remember and enjoy it as much as we do.  We jumped on a flight to Phoenix early morning. 

Our first stop in Phoenix was a restaurant called The Oink.  It was a super cute diner style bacon inspired restaurant. 

Carter ordered a flight of bacon and tried all different flavors.

 
Next we headed to our Holiday Inn Resort in Scottsdale.  It featured four pools...some with slides, hot tubs, and waterfalls.  The temperatures were in the 100's so the pool is just where you could find us. 






Bob's great friend from high school, Gary, and his wife and daughter Josie came over one evening.  We spent time hanging out, eating, playing in the pool, and cuddling with her.  She loved the boys.

To take a break from the intense heat, the boys played in the activity room.  There was a ping pong table, pool table, shuffleboard, and giant connect four. 


My aunt Patty and Uncle Alan live in Scottsdale and they hosted a family cookout.  My cousin Cory, his wife Kayla, and their son Jackson came along with my 88 year old great aunt Miriam who I haven't seen since I was in 8th grade.  It was absolutely delightful.  We had such a great time catching up and just being together. 

The boys spent time in their pool which had a hot tub and fountains into the pool. 

My aunt Miriam follows our blog and sends us a sweet Christmas card every year reminding us that she keeps up with what we do by the blog.  It was so nice to see her and hug her.  She looks just like I remembered from 8th grade.  

Maw Maw came along with us too!




Jackson was so much fun to meet and play with. 

The next morning Mom and I stopped by Aunt Miriams house to take her to breakfast.  

We had a great time being together.  I wish she lived closer so we could visit more often. 

That night for dinner we tried a Mexican restaurant and it was delicious. 


Bob and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary there!  The town had such cool artwork throughout the streets and we stopped many places for cool photos. 

Aunt Katie snuck in late one evening to join us on our vacation.  The first event we did was go to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game.  Landon used his own money to purchase this amazing souvenir. Yup, there were lots of things to choose from, but this one was calling his name (and it really suited him well).  

Our seats were right by the bullpen.  This was so cool because the boys could watch the pitchers warm up and stay warm while the game was going on. 

The pitching coach threw a ball up to the boys.

The next morning we all loaded up the car and Bob drove us to Sedona.  It was a little over 2 hours to get there.

We stopped at Montezuma's Castle.  It was raining just a little bit but we needed to walk around after being in the car for that long. 





Our first hike in Sedona was Bell Rock.  The beauty of the red rocks is hard to capture in photographs but it is just breathtaking. 

Creating "rock people" is one of our favorite things to do on a hike. 

With no surprise from anyone, the boys always wanted to get as high as they could on every hike.  Maw maw and Aunt Katie were a little on edge each time the boys wanted to go higher and higher.  

There is only one blue McDonalds in the world and it's in Sedona.  We had to make it a stop on our adventure!




Bob is always in charge of the planning of our vacations.  He has such a talent for this....always has!  It is something I take for granted because he does it so well!  This vacation was no exception.  The house he found for us in Sedona was amazing!  The views were awesome and it came with our own pool and hot tub. 

This rock formation is called Coffee Pot Rock however we called it "Mighty Eagle" because it reminded us of the movie Angry Birds.  You could hear one of us singing "Mighty Eagle"! anytime we caught a glimpse of it. 

One of the excursions that we made sure to book was a hot air balloon ride.  When Bob and I came 16 years ago this was something we did that was unforgettable and we wanted the boys to experience it too! Oddly enough the same guide we had 16 years ago we had again when we went this time.  We had perfect weather. 

After landing, they serve an orange juice or mimosa toast on the top of the red rocks. 

Sitting pool side taking in the sunshine


We grabbed an air mattress at Target for Aunt Katie to sleep on in Scottsdale and we brought it with us to Sedona where we used it as a pool raft in the pool. 

For mother's day Bob got me a morning hike and yoga class on the red rocks in Sedona.  Aunt Katie and Bob joined me.  Our instructor was named Scot and he was as hippie as they come.  

My favorite story from this event was at the end Scot had chocolates for us to place on our tongue and let them melt on the hike back reflecting on our intention for the day.  He passed one out to both Katie and Bob then he came to me and I picked one out of the bowl.  He then said, "Yes you left me the smiley face one that is the one laced with Ectasy, yours is laced with THC, and theirs has CBD" I was instantly shocked and saying "Oh no I am a teacher, I could be drug tested..." He laughed and laughed. I bet he uses that joke every session. 

John Wayne has a restaurant in Sedona called The Cowboy Club.  We stopped by for lunch.  We ate prickly pear cactus fries, rattlesnake sausage, and buffalo bison steak bites. 

Next we went to Slide Rock State Park.  This is a naturally formed water slide made from the water flowing through the red rocks.  The water is ice cold but so fun. 

There is a ledge where you can jump off into the water.  The boys spent most of their time doing just this. 










 
A local suggested that we hike to the top of Sugar Loaf Rock for the sunset.  We jumped in the car and started to hike and on the trail we spotted a trantula. Actually I spotted it as Nolan was about to step on it and I said, "Watch out for the trantula"...it went up on its back legs and it scared Nolan. We were so happy to see wildlife up close. 

Maw Maw at the top of Sugar Loaf with her boys

These dudes are pretty awesome! 

We watched an incredible thunderstorm roll over the mountains and it was epic. 

One excursion that Carter wanted to do was a ghost tour in Jerome, AZ.  It is considered the most haunted town in the United States. Aunt Katie, Maw Maw, Carter, and I jumped in the car and drove there to experience it.  The town of Jerome is one of a kind.  It is literally hanging on the side of a tall mountain with a narrow one lane road.  

We spent the night hours with a speaker box that we used to talk to the paranormal spirits. 

Bob stayed back with Nolan and Landon for a fun game of disc golf that they could walk to from our house.  

Every day we were there we tried out a new hiking spot.  We found one in some caves on the edge of cliffs. 

Next, we drove up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a beautiful church built into the red rocks. 

Our last fun experience was on the Pink Jeep Tour. This is where you head out in open-air Jeeps to drive on the red rocks.  This was the roughest ride I have ever been on in my life. 

Landon and Nolan selfies

On our way back to the airport in Phoenix we stopped at Cathedral Rock and the kids splashed around in the water. 

Thankfully Bob drove to the airport because we were exhausted. 


We totally lucked out because Bob had to travel to Dallas, TX for work immediately after Sedona so we continued our trip to Dallas from Phoenix.  We were able to stay with Danielle and her family while Bob worked in northern Dallas.

Ice cream was on the menu everyday.  We stopped often at Braum's to eat yummy ice cream. 

We were missing our sweet dogs Penny and Paisley.  Thankfully Nala let us love on her while we were there. 


Addie, Lincoln, and Maylee had already started school so after school we would sneak in fun activities.  Snow cones!!!



Texas sunsets are beautiful.

One lucky day we pulled the kids from school to spend the whole day at a local waterpark. 

It was so much fun.
Luckily the air mattress made it to Texas in one piece and we tossed it into their pool. 

Bob and I love Incubus and they were playing in Dallas while we were there.  We took Carter with us to experience his first concert of a band that he knew most of the songs. 


We had great seats under the pavilion. 

Unfortunately 45 minutes into their performance a severe thunderstorm came through so they ended early but we enjoyed ourselves while we jammed out to their performance. 


Lastly we talked Aunt D into going ziplining with us while her kids were in school.  It poured down rain and this is not Danielle's ideal weather choice but she was a trooper and she went along for the ride!


The coolest thing happened...Kortney, one of my volleyball teammates from college lives less than 15 minutes from Danielle so we grabbed chips/salsa/ and drinks.  It was so incredible to see her and catch up about life!  


The last night we were there we went to Chicken N Pickle.  This is an outdoor restaurant where you can eat and rent pickleball courts to play.  We had a great time!  Just so you know Bob and I were victorious!

It was an absolute amazing vacation that we literally didn't want to come home from.  Vacations are what we live for.