Our trip from Phoenix to Poky!

I had left my last post before we left Arizona saying that Alexis was really sick and I wasn't so sure how our trip would go. We finished packing up and went to bed ... for ten minutes. Alexis was so sick and kept waking up. We ended up getting no sleep and decided to just get up and get going. We still had things to do that next morning and it's actually a good thing we had to get up and get going. It still took us until 6 that morning until we were ready to go!

This picture is at around 3 in the morning. Alexis didn't sleep at ALL that night. We think she was getting an ear-infection! Poor thing. I had been hoping that she would do this good - laying around and "happy" to just sit - on the trip, but I thought there was no chance of that. She was awesome. Our plan was to drive to Saint George the first day, stay there a few nights, drive up to Salt Lake for a night or two and then on to Poky. Alexis fussed the last ten minutes before Saint George, the last five minutes before Salt Lake and the last ten minutes before Poky. Other than that, she was perfect!!! We have an AWESOME baby girl!!!

When we were deciding which direction to go, we chose the one of the map that looked the shortest. We hadn't noticed that we had to drive through Zion's National Park. By the time we got there, we would've had to turn around and drive around 45 miles back to the last turn off and a longer trip down through Arizona and on to Saint George. Jordan was reluctant, but we agreed that spending $25 to drive through the park would be "worth it" at that point. Jordan was still not a happy person! :o) But it was beautiful and he ended up enjoying it. Here are some pictures of the park.

I was sad about one point of the drive through the park. We went through this really long tunnel to the other side of the park. You couldn't stop in the tunnel, but they had "windows" carved out of the mountain. It was BEAUTIFUL outside of the "windows", but we couldn't even slow down long enough to get a good picture or even really see out of them. When we got to the end of the tunnel, we were looking out across the same area, but it was amazing (and sad to me) how different it looked from outside the tunnel and a different point of view. It was still pretty, though.

This is right outside of the tunnel. We pulled over to the side of the road to take some pictures. It was beautiful. And we did get a 7 day pass that we were able to give to my cousin's family. I hope you guys enjoyed that pass!!! :o)

This is Jordan while we were driving through the park. I wish you could hear what he was going on and on about ... "Stupid republicans ... let's charge less taxes and have crappy roads, but charge an arm and a leg to drive through a 'national park' that everyone should be able to enjoy for 'free'..." Something like that! He was still grumpy from the Presidential debate four days before. You can also tell how poor a person is when they say that $25 is "an arm and a leg"! :o)

Alexis and I on our way out of the park. Don't look at me - just look at the beautiful baby girl and the lovely scenery! :o)

Alexis and her daddy in Zion's National Park. She was just starting to feel a little happier, but she still wasn't near 100% feeling good. We felt so bad for her - but she was SO good on our trip! I love my baby girl!!!

While we were in Saint George staying with Grandma and Grandpa Berrett and Karolee, my cousin, Jeremy, and his wife, Kassidee, and their little boy, Tommy, came over two nights and hung out with us! It was lots of fun having them over. I was really wishing that we were moving down to Saint George when we get back from New York ... but then we started talking about Cockroaches and I changed my mind! :o) This is Tommy, Alexis and Grandma Berrett.

Cute lil' Tommy! He so sweet and it was so much fun having him play with Alexis! She loved him a lot. It was cute to see them play together.

Cousins (?) Alexis and Tommy. Tommy is exactly 2 months younger than Lexi and half the size of her. Yes - I have a monster baby! Good thing she's SO stinkin' cute!!! :o)

You can't see it very well, but we all had our toe-nails matching! Kassy painted all our toe-nails red. This is (half of) Tommy, Kassidee, Karolee, Me and Lexi. It was so much fun hanging out with them all in Saint George! Love you guys!!!

Time to go to bed! This is the last night we were at Grandma and Grandpa Berrett's house. Alexis wasn't looking forward to saying goodbye to Tommy and going na-night!

This is one of Alexis' favorite toys up here at Grandma and Grandpa's house! She hardly ever puts it down. I've tried to hide it a few times - Lexi hasn't learned to pull the arm down on her own, so we have to sit there and pull it over and over again for her - but she finds it very easily! I swear kids have radars in them for finding things we don't want them to find! It's cute, though, how much fun she has with certain toys! She's so adorable!

Our friends, Erika and Brian, and their baby boy, Ayden, came over to play a few days ago! Ayden is SO much fun! He has very expressional eye-brows! You can always tell how he feels. He's so sweet. Thanks for coming up, Brian and Erika! Love ya!

We tried putting Alexis' hair in a pony-tail. It didn't work as well as the pig-tails. But it was cute how her hair was all fluffy and falling out of the hair-thing. Too bad her mullet isn't long enough yet! :o)

Alexis is so cute with Ayden! Here, she's trying to teach him how to climb the stairs! This is one of Alexis' favorite things to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I'm glad my daughter is so patient and loving and wanting to help Ayden out ... I think she just wants a partner in crime. Someone who can join in in the trouble-making game! :o)

Lexi is all-of-a-sudden in LOVE with dolls and strollers. I went to my friend, Lindsay's, blog a couple weeks ago and she has a little girl, Mylee, just a week older than Lexi. There were lots of pictures of Mylee with her dolls and doll-strollers and I thought she just looked so much more grown up than Alexis. Alexis hadn't shown ANY interest in dolls or strollers at the time. Then we get up here to Poky and she wants nothing else! Now I know what I'm getting Alexis for Christmas! :o)

Alexis was pooped! We had spent the day getting ready for Grandma and Grandpa Hermansen, Uncle Brad, Uncle Brian and Aunt Katy-bug to get home from Disneyland! I knew she was kinda sleepy, so I brought her into the bedroom while I got ready. I turned on Backyardigans for background sound and the next time I looked at Lexi, she was out! I love how, especially when she's tired, she plays with her hair! So sweet!

Alexis may not look very happy, but she had fun on this walk! It was the first time we got bundled up and went out in the colder weather! Lexi really likes the cold. We went out again this morning and she laughed the whole time. She's such a happy, easy-going baby! We love her so much! What a good girl!

Oh! Cute doggie! This dog came over to us while we were on our way back to the house. Alexis tried so hard to touch it, but that was hard - not only because she was strapped into the stroller, but the dog wouldn't stay close to her! It kept walking away. It made Lexi sad! Oh!

We will be here in Poky until the 22nd or 23rd of this month, then down to Ogden/Salt Lake for Jordan's grandparents' anniversary. We will be in that area for around a week or so. I hope we can see many of you while we're there! We will then be on our way to New York a couple days after the anniversary celebration and we'll be there until the beginning of January. We are excited about all the time we'll be able to spend with lots of you! We love you all so much! Have an awesome day! :o)