We Arrived

We arrived at our destination of Thatcher, AZ about 4 p.m. today! Phew! We survived the car ride. I have no complaints about the girls. They did EXCELLENT in the car. Even Nicole did great!

Instead of staying in Flagstaff yesterday, we continued on to Show Low, AZ, which was another two hours. We arrived in Flagstaff about 1 p.m. and decided to continue due to the fact that it was time for Nicole and Ashley to nap, which they did and made the additional two hours go well.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express due to the fact that it was the first one we found with an indoor swimming pool (a must according to the girls). Show Low seemed comparable to Park City. It actually did have snow on the ground and I guess people travel here for skiing. However, it was relatively warm. Dave and I went shopping at Walmart (because I forgot to put Nicole's diapers and wipes in the car. They are currently still in Mendon......good thing I had some extras in the van) and we had short sleeve shirts on with jeans and no jackets.

The Walmart at Show Low made me appreciate the Walmart in Logan. There were SOOOO many people. It made the one in Logan look great. Even on a Saturday night!

The room was on the expensive side but when you don't make reservations I guess this is what you get. When we tried to get a room they said all of the double queen rooms were taken but we could get the double queen "suite", which had the jacuzzi tub and fireplace. We were desperate at this point so we went ahead and took it.

We had fun swimming with the girls last night after a pizza party in the hotel room. We also enjoyed swimming this morning after breakfast and before needing to check out from the motel. Our girls have turned into fish. Nicole did not come in the pool because I did not have a swim suit pulled out for her and at this point in her life she's not keen on the bathtub at home so imagine how she's be in a "really big" tub....yeah, not worth the effort. She did sit on the side this morning with Grandma Welker to watch. She didn't like the idea that Dave and I were in the pool but she quickly got over it and kept taking the girls goggles from the side of the pool.

We left Show Low about 11:30 and arrived in Thatcher about 4 p.m. The drive was pretty much uneventful accept for the bought of car sickness. Not far from Show Low we ended up going through the most windy pass I have ever experienced. The speed limit was between 25 and 30 and you kept going around and around and around. Little did we know we were about out of it when Hannah started crying in the back because she "had to pee". Well after we pulled off a trail road and unloaded everyone and had Hannah try to go potty it was brought to the attention that she was car sick. Poor girl has her mom's curse! Ashley said she was sick too but I think it was more for sympathy. Everyone was given time to stretch legs and get some air, drugged with Benedryl, given a "barf" bag and back in the car we went.

We kept telling the girls we would stop in a bit to get some lunch but the towns were so tiny and we were "so close" that we pushed through to arrive at Aunt Wendy's. By the time we had dinner they were starving to say the least. Thanks to Aunt Wendy we had yummy Hawaiian haystacks. One of my FAVS!!!!

Just as we were finishing up dinner, Uncle Glade and Grandpa Welker arrived. They left American Fork this morning at 5:20 and pushed through to arrive here at 6:30. I guess you can go much faster without kids! We are glad they are here with us and arrived safely. We will be awaiting for Aunt Erin to fly in sometime tomorrow!

Thatcher is not a very big place. Much smaller than I anticipated but they do have a Walmart in the next town, which is about five minutes from Wendy's house. I'm not sure what will be on the docket for entertainment but we'll go with the flow and enjoy the down time.

O yeah, the weather here got up to 63 degrees today! Sure hope it's like this tomorrow too! I'm going outside for a tan!!!!!

The Welkers are Going to Arizona

We are loaded up in the car and are on our way to visit Dave's sister in Thatcher, Arizona.

We left yesterday afternoon after church and lunch and headed to Dave's sister's in American Fork. We got up at 4 a.m. this morning, loaded the sleeping girls in the car, drove to Dave's other sister's in Lehi and picked up his mom and nephew, Landon, and we're on our way.

The girls slept to Beaver where we stopped for a potty break and gas. Can you believe we just paid $1.89 for gas in Beaver. What's going on. We drove past the next two exits and saw that we could have gotten it for $1.43. How can this be?

The goal for the morning is to get to Kanab, which is another 60 miles and stop for breakfast. We are trying to get to Flagstaff, AZ today and stop for the night at a hotel with an indoor swimming pool. This is a must according to Hannah and Ashley. We will then head the rest of the way to Thatcher tomorrow.

We did have a good Christmas at our house. It was a busy one and so I'll have to post about this later. I did remember to bring the camera but not the card reader to upload pictures. Oh well, I'll do multiple posts when we get home of Christmas and our trip.

Wish us luck in the car with the girls! The two oldest will be entertained by Landon and movies.....the concern will be Nicole.

Here we go!!!!

This is my life.....

The house was sparkling clean on Saturday and then we had Sunday. We tried making a new treat to pass out for our neighbor gifts this year and the girls had a good time entertaining themselves. As Dave and I went to bed last night, I noticed all of the "little things" scattered on the floor. I made the comment that raising three kids is quite interesting.

I was searching for a little saying to put on my neighbor gifts and I came across this saying that I want to hang up in my house. It fits my life perfectly so I thought I'd share:

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk while it's still snowing!"

Enough said.

Decorating the Tree

Who me????

Yes you! Thus, no decorations on the bottom 1/3 of the tree!

Let It Snow!!!

After we got home from work and school today, the girls bundled up in their winter clothes and went outside to play in the first real snow of the year! They stayed outside for about an hour. I didn't get a picture of them on the golf cart but Hannah was ecstatic that it can go in the snow!

One's making a snowman and one's making a snow angel....

More of Princess Ashley

Here's Princess Ashley in her new Christmas dress.....we can't get it off her!!

First of Three TaVaci Performances

On Thursday, Hannah had her first of three TaVaci performances this month. It was for the Petersboro Relief Society Enrichment night. Hannah is so amazing when it comes to wanting to perform infront of a crowd. She did tell me she didn't do the moves too big because there were "thousands" of people watching. She did great though.

The lightinging was terrible in the cultural hall of the church. My pictures with the flash were dark and my pictures without the flash were blurry. Dave informed me that there was too much lighting for the flash but we were too far away to not use the flash. Oh well, at least she has two more peformances that I can get pictures of!

Don't forget Ashley.....she wants to be a princess too.....

O Christmas Tree

Tonight we loaded everyone in Dave's truck and headed in search of the perfect Christmas Tree. For the past four or five years, we have gotten our tree from the Merrill Family Christmas Tree stand. They have always had a good selection at a reasonable price.

This year it took us awhile to find the "right" tree. Everything seemed to be a bit on the scrawny side. After much searching, we were able to find one to bring home. Hannah and Ashley started getting a little too much energy by the time the tree was paid for. They were ready to go home and decorate it right away. They didn't understand that it needs to sit in the garage for a couple of days so the branches can unfold.

After picking the tree, Dave surprised us by taking us to dinner at Pier 49 Pizza. This is the first time I have eaten at the Providence location. Dave has been there a couple of times for lunch. Sad to say, we were not impressed. We had to wait 25 minutes for our pizza. They packaged it to go instead of to stay. The guy was suppose to bring us plates but Dave finally had to go ask for them. Our bread sticks came out after the pizza and the guy tried to take them away from us to give them to the table located behind us. Yea, not impressed. The price was outrageous too. We should have gone to Firehouse. Oh, well. Lesson learned. I'm pretty sure we won't be going here again.

Even though it ended on a bummer note with dinner, we still had fun. We came home and got the girls in their PJs and then went in the garage and cut the bottom off the tree and took some quick pictures before heading to bed.

All-in-all, it turned out to be a fun family home evening. This week is jam packed with activities, dentist, and night working for Dave so today was the only day we could go get the Christmas tree. I have to say the weather was wonderful. I'm use to picking out the tree in either the rain or snow accompanied by the cold wind. Tonight was rather pleasant.

Nicole was too busy checking out things in the garage and wouldn't hold still by the tree for a picture. This is why there's only Hannah and Ashley in the photos.

Here's a couple of pictures to enjoy......

Using the hand saw is for sissies......we go for the "real" saw.....

Doesn't Hannah look so sad? The Christmas tree stand gave each of the girls a glass heart ornament. Hannah's fell on the bathroom tile floor and shattered. It was a traumatic moment.

I'll post more as the events of the week pan out!