Our trip to Pine AZ

Pine, AZ where Blake’s grandfather owns a cabin. It took us about 10.5 hours, but the drive was well worth it. Along the way we stopped near Albequrque to look at a house Blake’s sister was considering to buy—they we moving there soon. The house had been vacant for over four years so all sorts of little critters had started to make a home there including a lizard that Blake caught as soon as walked in the door. Luckily Kelsey had brought the bug home she got for Easter to have somewhere for the lizard to go. So he/she came with us to Pine. We arrived on a Saturday meeting up with Blake’s brother Trent and his wife Emily and kids Heidi and Nathan; Blake’s sister Monica and her husband Matt and kids Oakley and Payton; and Matt and Monica’s friends also came up with their two little girls—one of them was named Miley like our Mylee. In fact Mylee started calling her My Miley. We had such a wonderful time. We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed visiting into the night. It was so nice to stay up and enjoying playing games with adults and enjoying adult conversation. It was almost like therapy for me!



The next morning we went to church, but only stayed for sacrament meeting because our girls weren’t feeling well due to lack of sleep. It was a nice Sunday. We enjoyed visiting with one another and again staying up late playing games. Trent and Emily left that evening to go back home.

The next morning we went to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, about 15 to 20 minutes away from Grandpa’s cabin. Before we left though, my brother-in-law Matt pulled out his workout video insanity. Me, Blake and Kelsey did it with him that morning. It was so cute to see Kelsey try to do all the different moves. When we finally made it over to the state park, we ate a sack lunch and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The park features a rock bridge that had formed over the years due to erosion. We all hiked down a carefully carved out path to see underneath the bridge below. The bridge formation was beautiful. It even had a tiny stream of water that cascaded over the top of the bridge creating a beautiful little waterfall. Everything below the water was covered with green moss and plants. There were all sorts of neat caverns and pools of water underneath the bridge. We all really enjoyed it. Eventually we made it back up the trail—it was a lot easier going down!! I’m glad Blake was carrying Lanaea on his back and not me! We found another short little hike that led to another small waterfall on the other side of the park. We all then went back to the cabin to enjoy a campfire, smores, a yummy dinner, and of course talking and board games through the night. I should note that our girls were on cloud nine, including Lanaea. They loved playing on the giant swings, playing in the woods and enjoying nature. Each night we also kept warm from a pot belly stove that Blake and Matt kept stocked with wood.
The next day Blake’s Grandma and Grandpa showed up to visit and be with us for a while. That morning we had planned to go shooting with Grandpa. Grandpa had been to a spot to shoot but couldn’t remember where it was exactly. We took a couple of wrong turns and never ended up finding the spot he remembered, but we eventually found a spot that was open enough to shoot. This was manly time!! Blake even got me out there to shoot—only my second time ever. I shot a 22 and a hand gun (I’m sure it has a name, but I couldn’t tell it to ya). I mostly enjoyed seeing Kelsey interact with her Great-Grandfather—it was so precious. Monica and her friend had stayed back at the cabin with the rest of the kids. We mostly relaxed the rest of the day and all of our company left for home that evening. It was nice to have a quite evening together with just our family.

The next day we went hiking up the mountain that backed Grandpa’s cabin. The terrain was a little rough, but we eventually made it to the top and back down. We then hiked to what was left of a little creek and let the girls play in the water for a while. We spent most of the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying nature. Blake even caught another lizard that day which Kelsey was thrilled about! The next morning we left for home. Stopping at a Navajo Indian Jewelry store along the way where Blake got me a really pretty coral ring for Mother’s Day. We hope to make a trip to Pine at least once a year while we are still living in Lubbock.