See pictures of our trip to the Grand Canyon.
Read Madeleine's account of our trip.
This year we actually went camping! Ok, so it was only one night, but we did hear coyotes howling in the wee hours of the morning! That counts, doesn't it? Actually it was very fun, even if we were a little cold in the evening and in the morning due to lack of sweatshirts. Well, I figured we would be in Arizona in July -- how cold could it get? The elevation at Jacob Lake is 7925 feet, so we built a fire and toasted marshmallows and all was well.
Anyway, the vacation went as follows: We met our good friends the Collettes from New Hampshire at Jacob Lake were we camped that night and had a yummy cookout breakfast. We packed up and drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Our kids had never seen the Grand Canyon before and we figured every kid that lives this close should be able to say they've seen it. I think they all enjoyed it and we got some fun pictures.
We mixed up our families and drove our vans (using walkie talkies for entertainment) to St. George. We got our kids situated with pizza and videos and then the four parents went out to Tuacahn for a delicious Dutch Oven dinner and to see Oklahoma. None of us had ever been to this wonderful outdoor theater before and we really enjoyed ourselves. Steve and Stephanie (our Breinholt cousins) had parts in Oklahoma and The Sound of Music and it was very fun to know some cast members.
The next day was the 24th of July and we tried to find a parade and ended up in Ivins to see the dinkiest parade ever held, but Steve was in it, so it was all worthwhile! So we hauled all the kids to the Brigham Young house for a tour and then headed over to the Temple grounds. We were all in Hugo (our 15 seater van) and if one of the husbands had been missing, it would have looked very much like a guy with a couple of his wives and a bunch of his children. Ha ha! That afternoon the kids had fun swimming and Melora and I went shopping for Thomas's birthday gift (it was his birthday that day!)
That night we took all ten kids to see The Sound of Music. We had tickets on the fourth and fifth rows right in the center. We really had such a great time! We stayed a while afterwards to visit with the cousins and other family who were there and ended up getting to bed really late, but what are vacations for!
The next day we headed for home. It really is quite a kick to go on family vacations in Hugo with our small TV that we watch movies on. I'm sure our whole family will always remember the fun times we have had.