SPRING HAS OFFICIALLY SPRUNG!

I was so excited to come home to a yard full of beautiful spring flowers! "Oh ye of little faith", spring has come, it really, really has! Hurray! Just go out and enjoy it....and if more snow comes....go and enjoy that to!

Spring Break Day #9 Heading Home!

Our fun trip has come to an end and after snatching our last bit of fun and sun at the pool we loaded up and headed home. One more fun stop along the way was a restaurant we saw on the Food Network's Diners Driv-ins & Dives. It's called Brandy's and it is in Flagstaff, AZ. When we got there they had a tape of the episode playing on tv and we got to meet the chef who was featured on the show. He was very nice and told us all about how exciting it was to tape it and that it took 2 days of taping to get 6 minutes of air time. You could tell he was enjoying his 6 minutes of fame! Too funny!

After a yummy lunch we launched into the rest of our 9 hour drive home. So we end with our traditional shot of everyone in the car, happy as clams to be driving and driving and driving! Oh what a vacation!

Spring Break Day #8 More fun with the Fields!

Since the girls had missed our first outing with the Fields we had to do it again and of course nobody minded a repeat of eating at their yummy restaurant! The kids had fun goofing around and Paige and I still had much to talk about!

Spring Break Day #7 Sedona, AZ

On day 7 Brad and I took a quick trip to Sedona. I have always heard how Sedona attracts hippies and freaks and being a little hippie and a little freaky myself I wanted to have a look. As we rolled into town the view was breath-taking. Beautiful red rock towers that looked like temples on all sides. We had booked a night at the Hilton...which was also wonderful with the rooms decorated in a decidedly southwestern flair. We had dinner at the barbecue place in town (Brad's idea) and dessert at the American Bistro (my idea) both pretty good choices. A little shopping and site seeing in between made for a good first day! The next morning we went in search of a short hike. We took the dirt road and it eventually connected up to I-17 and it was a little bit of an adventure, too bad we were in a mini van and not a 4 wheel drive! We had some great views along the way never did find the hike but oh well....Brad was happy for that! We headed back to Phoenix!

Spring Break Days #4, 5 & 6!

My how the days fly by when you are on vacation! This is a particularly lazy vacation and I love those kind! I can sum up the last few days in just a few words, "Pool, Friends & Food"! Brad and Mackay and I have been lazing around most mornings and hanging out at the pool, dressed by afternoon and off to find good food and friends for lunch or dinner. We spent Tuesday at the Hincy's with Christena, Tyler and of course all three darling kids! They made a yummy dinner for us and we had fun laughing and talking until quite late!
On Wednesday we met our good friends and former neighbors, Jim & Paige Field and their 4 boys for lunch at their yummy restaurant The Market Bistro! This is the second one they have opened and it is very successful! We loved seeing them again and catching up with their growing family!

This morning brought more pool time and this afternoon the girls fly in to join us again....Mackay will be glad I think he has had enough of being an only child this trip! Brad and I decided to take a quick trip to Sedona, I have always wanted to go there so we will leave the kids here to enjoy the resort and go for a fun over-nighter!

Spring Break Day #3

Alexis was the cutest Birthday Girl on Easter Sunday! Happy 26th Lexie!

Did the Easter Bunny find you for Easter? He found us and the kids were amazed that he could find us even in Vegas. Especially since we were hip hopping all over the place. We hopped on over to Dodie's (my sister) Ward for 9 am church and then hopped on over to Brad's parents house for a lovely brunch, then we hippety hopped the girls back to the airport (see previous posts if you wonder why) and once more we hopped, hopped, hopped over to Dodie's to see more family (loved seeing Jared and Mindy and all the cute grand kids), then we scurried over to meet Chris and Nadia for dinner, which was very fun and finally limped our way back to the hotel to rest our weary bunny ears for the night! Loved it.....so...much....FuN!

Spring Break Day #2

This has to be the craziest vacation that the Beagles have ever taken. So it was already arranged that the girls would be driving down with us to Las Vegas and flying home on Sunday night so they could attend college classes that couldn't be missed. Then flying back to meet us in Phoenix on Thursday and driving home with us on Saturday. Oh how they hate to miss out on any fun and just so you know they had to pay for all the flights, so it must be worth it?! So that wasn't crazy enough apparently because friday night Brad gets a call and has a new resident who needs to move in to the Beehive Home the next day...which is a good thing, only problem is the one who is moving out still had all of her stuff there. So Brad, being Brad, books a flight and flew out this morning to go and move all of the stuff and get the room ready and then he is flying back in tonight??!! Just a little dose of crazy?!

So day two for the rest of us was very fun! We picked up Nadia (Chris had to work) and went to lunch and then did some shoe shopping for Nadia's Birthday....I found a cute pair too so it all worked out swell! Very fun, just to hang out together! Tonight is a family dinner with my sister and her kids so all in all a great family day....well if you don't count that Brad is in Utah.

Spring Break Day #1

If only you could travel with the Beagles....it is SO magical! Here is how we start every trip. Karen: racing around the house, washing everything, calling someone to take care of the animals, making sure everyone is packed (including church clothes), loading the dishwasher so it can be turned on at the precise moment so that every dish is clean before we leave but not to be running while we are gone, yelling at the kids who keep turning on the tv as if they have nothing to do to get ready for a trip and generally panicking because she is leaving her house for a week and wants everything to be perfect when she comes home.....it's exhausting. Brad: Fills up the car with gas, makes reservations at the hotel, packs himself, sits in the car and honks for Karen to hurry up! I told you, it's MAGICAL :)

A little further down the road Brad decided he had a hankering for SIZZLER. Yes, I said SIZZLER. Not that I have anthing against it but we probably haven't eaten there in about 15 years or so. And just to confirm this Mackay (who is 14) says about three times, "Sizzler.....since when do we eat at Sizzler?" Well, just so you know....maybe in another 15 years we might hit the Sizzler again.....maybe!