We came what may and loved it

Wooeeee! What a weekend. So I planned what I thought would be the perfect family getaway this weekend. We got the Ricedorff's to come with us and I was ready for a good time, the only problem was, the weather wasn't quite on board with my plans. We had to put to good use the title of my blog. In fact, at one point we jokingly told the kids, "That they WILL come what may and love it, dangit!"

I asked each of my kids their favorite thing of each part of the trip. So here's how it went down.

Friday morning we left at 12:15 for our 2:45 reservation at the Temple open house in Thatcher. We rolled in with about 3 minutes to spare. No surprise, but the temple was absolutely gorgeous.

Favorites:
Jake: Everything
Abby: Looking at the baptismal pond and looking at the crystals
Hannah: Angel Moroni
Annie: I give Jesus hugs
Jeremy: We were there as a family
Karrie: Same as Jeremy, of course, and for sure, the chandeliers.

After a few pics we were off to go camping. Only problem was it was so freakin windy and cold that it just didn't sound like much fun. The Ricedorff's threatened to back out and go to a hotel, but I was standing tough. We got to the campsite with a lot of snow on the ground. Oh no, flashbacks of our family camping trip were pouring out from 2 years ago when we went camping on Memorial Day weekend and woke up to a few inches of snow and the kids were hysterical. I could not have a repeat. What to do, what to do.



So we packed up and headed down to the mountain to warmer weather and found a spot to hang out and build a fire. We stayed there a few hours.



The Favorites:
Jake: Eating chocolate
Abby: Me as a hunter for footprints and following them with a flashlight
Hannah: Hot dogs
Annie: Give her (Kate) loves
Jeremy: All the bears the kids kept finding and the tinfoil dinners
Karrie: The tinfoil dinners that were "Oh my gosh" good, and lots of laughter.

After much discussion we collectively decided that we were all on board for being wimps and headed to the Quality Inn in Safford with the indoor heated pool. When we got there I realized my kids never stay in hotels, so this was a real adventure for them.


Favorites:
Annie: Party in a hotel (Jay knocked on our door around 9:30 pm and invited us to a party in their room. The kids literally bounced all around and ate all the camping junk food until they all crashed together), and fwimming in the hotel.
Abby: Swimming and Exercising (the kids would run down the hall, down the elevator, and then run up the stairs to the 3rd floor and then repeat over and over and over again)
Jake: Same as her (Abby)
Hannah: swimming, and exercising, and party
Jeremy: The Ricedorff party and Kate's stash (she kept stashing all her food- string cheese, oreos, fruit snacks... in the AC control thing
Karrie: The party, the free hot breakfast and watching the classics - Dirty Dancing and Legally Blond

The next day we headed off to the EAC campus for a picnic.


Favorites:
Jake: Catch with Ricedorff's and the 1st inning of the EAC baseball game
Abby: Drinking soda and going to the bathroom, and playing Duck, Duck Goose
Hannah: Drinking soda and watching the game with Daddy holding me
Annie: playing hide (whatever that means)
Jeremy: The Weather and Reminiscing of the good ole days
Karrie: The memories from 15 years ago that kept flooding through my mind, and the warm sun

Then it was off to the Red Knolls to visit where Jeremy and his friends had their terrible accident 15 years ago (that's for another post)


Favorites:

Abby: Going in where there were tunnels
Annie: Flaying duck duck goose (just a little off, but that's ok)
Hannah: Going in the caves
Jake: The caves and going where Dad cut his head open
Jeremy: That the kids didn't fall in
Karrie: I couldn't really enjoy it for fear one of the kids would take a tumble down a cliff or down a hole. I just kept thinking about how lucky Jeremy was that fateful day 15 years ago.

This is where we parted ways with the Ricedorff's. They headed home and we headed back up the mountain to our original spot. The snow was melted and the temperature was much warmer. We enjoyed our little campout.

This is where I would put pictures if I took any here, but I didn't.

Favorites:
Jake: hiking and Go-Fish
Abby drinking hot chocolate
Hannah: Hiking and Seeing the world (it really looked like you could see forever)
Annie: Flaying Go-Fish
Karrie: Laughing as I figured out that whenever Annie said, "I want coca-pella" she really meant "I want hot cocoa". Coca-pella became our new favorite word for the weekend.

On our way home we took a drive up to the top of the mountain and had a killer snow ball fight.



We really did "come what may and loved it". It could have been a total bust, but we had ourselves a lot of fun, and I'm pretty sure that's how my kids saw it too.