The Trip of a Lifetime

We just came back from a wonderful time in Arizona and California. I want to document some of memories here so the boys will remember--sorry if it gets long.

Our adventure began Friday December 2nd at 5:00 am. It was a challenge to get up after staying up late to finish packing and cleaning, but easy to get out the door as everything was already in it! We got to Great Falls with no glitches (a.k.a. the border) and on plenty of time to catch our plane. It was 2 hours delayed. I was grateful for the climbing toy the airport had, and also that we had plenty of food on hand. Each boy had a carry on and a backpack and we made quite a procession!
We were lucky to sit all together on the plane. I got to sit with Ryrie and Thomas and Georgie most of the time. Before take off, Tommy was really concerned about his ears "popping." He was chewing gum hard for about 30 minutes to make sure nothing got in his ears. He was trying to visualize what I was talking about and I had a hard time explaining about air pressure. The boys all got a thrill out of watching the plane take off and flying above the clouds. It was quite a thrill for James and I to watch them experience this incredible feeling for the first time. Tommy was really into it, calling behind him at intervals throughout the flight, "Commander William! Look at the engines!" George cooperated very nicely and had a great nap for about half the trip.





We landed in Mesa, AZ on a beautiful warm, clear day. I am always amazed when traveling by air at the feeling of arriving in a totally different climate that is coexistent with my own. It is so cool and indescribable really. We gathered our luggage, our children, and made our procession to the rental vehicle. We were entertainment for quite a few people and most of them said the usual: "5 boys! Wow, you have your hands full!" But then a lot of them said, "They look really helpful though!" The twins each had a car seat strapped onto their carry on and Owen pushed Georgie's for him. My favorite thing to hear I heard only once--"5 boys! You are very blessed."

We arrived at Granny and Grandpa Williams' house a little before 5:00. I hardly recognized their house on the outside but the inside was just exactly like I remembered it. I haven't been able to remember the last time I was there, but it is at least 12 years ago. It was so wonderful to be back at Phoenix in their home. It was a real thrill to see the four oldest boys settle in to the "bunk bed" room--2 sets of bunk beds--and do all the things I used to love doing as a kid at their house. They got to watch some fun shows on tv, play some good ole games--Risk and Yahtzee--play outside (we raked up pecan tree leaves and picked up nuts and the boys climbed the tree), and eat their meals on the little stools in Granny's kitchen. We stayed with them one night and got to experience a fun ward party with a Polar Express theme that was really cute.
The next day we headed over to Riverside, California, to stay at James' Aunt Jo's and Uncle Tom's. We enjoyed the drive even though there is not much to see. It was still really different to be driving through a desert and experience some dust devils and see the difference between the desert and the oases. Water truly is life there. We had a fun time at the Bays's. They were so gracious and calm about having children climb all over their furniture and run around their house--yes, the boys did discover the magical "circular track" that exists in most houses. We enjoyed delicious potato soup and french bread, and yummy turkey and mashed potatoes the next night. Uncle Tom treated us to some delicious pancakes and we enjoyed our visits and comfortable beds. We are so thankful for their hospitality!

As we left Riverside Monday morning, we stopped at California State Citrus Park, which was close to their house. James and I were amazed as we walked through many varieties of fruit trees--all different kinds of oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, pomello, and so forth. We picked up fruit that had fallen on the ground and enjoyed that--it was mouth watering. We finished that delicious experience off by purchasing grapefruit and tangerines for dirt cheap prices.






Then we were on our way to Irvine, CA to stay with the Kupferers. My Aunt Dahrl has been telling the boys to come visit her for a few years now, and we finally got our chance to stay in their lovely home and see them for a few nights. Even though the weather was chilly (by Californian standards), we went to Newport Beach right after arriving at Dahrl's. She took us to her favorite spot and we were pretty much the only people at the beach! There was tons of beautiful sand and we were right by a really neat wharf that we walked out on and bought some yummy shakes at. The boys got in the water for a bit and enjoyed digging in the sand. There were lots of interesting birds about and right when we got there we saw two dolphins swimming away!





That night we got to hang out with the fam and eat a delicious BBQ feast and listen to the boys tell about their "sweets and sours" of the day--a fun dinner time tradition. We planned a bit with Steve and Dahrl for the upcoming days--Disneyland--and hit the hay. I have to say that George was a real trooper on this trip. He adapted really well to each new house, although he was a bit more clingy than usual. We are grateful for the time we got to spend with the Kupferers and are so thankful for their willingness to put us up for three nights and give us lots of great advice and food.

The next morning the boys were up very early. Don't remember exactly the time, but it was VERY early. :-) We were so excited to get to Disneyland and the excitement lasted for two days! What a magical place that is. James and I both commented on how much we loved it, although neither of us really enjoys amusement parks. We are so grateful to Marilyn and Sam for the tickets--we couldn't have done this trip without your help! We spent the whole first day at Disneyland and the second day we spent the first half at California Adventures and the second half doing all our favorites at Disneyland. I made the mistake of taking Tommy on the Matterhorn early on in our day and then James took all the boys to Space Mountain. This turned out to be a bit too intense for Tommy and William also didn't like S.M. This turned Will off of roller coasters until that night, when he tried Splash Mountain and loved it. Tommy asked before every ride (after those two) "Is this a roller coaster?" Owen and Ry loved every ride and William got excited about roller coasters again too, later on. I have never been on that many roller coaster rides in a row and it was a lot of fun. We all agreed that the scariest ride we went on was the Ferris Wheel. It moves and rocks as it goes around! We all screamed pretty loudly and that made us feel better. :-)







The ride we probably went on the most was the teacups. The boys just loved these. In fact, we watched the parade from the teacups! A little blurry, but fun. The fireworks were absolutely incredible and we loved being there at Christmas time--everything was even more magical. I have to say one of my favorite rides is It's a Small World--it was Christmasy and neat. Tommy was a lot of fun on that ride. I also really liked Peter Pan. :-)





Thursday morning we headed for San Diego. We went to the Old Town which was a really neat experience. We started at the Mormon Battalion. James and I were a little worried that we had spoiled our boys by taking them to Disneyland first, but they enjoyed the Battalion presentation a lot and Owen even said it was better than D-land. They enjoyed panning for gold and doing the other fun hands-on things there are to do there. San Diego is just a beautiful place. I love being by the coast. We ate at a delicious Old Town Mexican restaurant. We got to watch some Mexican women making tortillas with their hands and we were serenaded by a man with a guitar (I'm sure there's a name for him, but I can't think of it) while we ate really really yummy food.









After wandering around for a bit and looking at some other neat old buildings (and to be honest, letting the boys run around the park and climb trees and otherwise burn off some energy), we got back in the car and drove to the Whitemans' house--my aunt and uncle. It has been about 12 years since I was at their house and it was so fun to be there again. I loved visiting with Kristen and John and their kids and the boys were very happy to relax and hang out after three pretty busy days of traveling. They fed us delicious food and even celebrated Tommy's birthday the next morning by making him a birthday waffle shaped like Mickey Mouse! Needless to say, we got pretty spoiled. Unfortunately, the first night there Owen and Georgie got the stomach flu. Kristen was so kind about letting us do load after load of laundry! We spent the day (Tommy's birthday--the 9th) in a very fun way. We went to the Birch Aquarium right on the coast. We spent some fun hours there looking at the amazing fish and sea creatures, and then we walked right down to the beach and went to some real tide pools. The tide was very low when we got there and we were able to see starfish, anemones, crabs, and lots of beautiful birds--sandpipers, cranes, and pelicans. I tried to take deep breaths of sea-air and drink in the sight before me--white cliffs, a beautiful sunset, the water stretching away forever, and five little boys wandering barefoot over some really beautiful ground. I couldn't believe it was December! We found some fun shells there and I almost lost my shoes--James ran all the way back and found them for me--and then we drove back to Whitemans'--sandy and tired--and found them making us some delicious Guamanian food. What a treat! We are so thankful for the time we had with them and the kindness they showed us.





Saturday we piled in the car once more and said goodbye to California. The drive back to Phoenix was so fascinating to James and I. There was one place that looked like it was the garbage disposal of earth-building products. There were just mountains of broken up rock everywhere. We were fascinated by this! It was like some giant had bitten off a mountain and chewed it up into uniform pieces and spit them out again. After that, we drove by the sand dunes--I guess they are famous for being in Star Wars--and again we were fascinated by the smoothness and uniformity of the dunes. There were some quad competitions going on there that were fun to watch as we drove by. George slept off the rest of his sickness and Owen was doing much better as well, so that was a pleasant day.



We went back to Phoenix and headed right for the Jones' house, just down the block from Granny and Grandpa's. All the Phoenix folk were gathered there for a BBQ which we gratefully joined. It was so fun for me to see our boys playing with the Jones kids and the Francis girls. I loved just sitting and visiting with all these aunts and uncles of mine. They are very special people that I really miss seeing. It was also really cool to me that we had a bbq in December. And some of dessert was fruit off the orange tree in the backyard! The tablecloth was Christmasy! This made me smile. :-)
Sunday was a pleasant day in the church building I remember visiting so much as a girl. I got to spend Sunday with George in the nursery, and got some good visiting in with Aunt Karen, who was helping out in there. We got to enjoy a Williams potluck lunch afterwards and lots of good visiting and napping. :-) Very enjoyable. That evening James and I had the treat of going with Ruth, Nathan, Karen, Sean, Casey, and Granny (and George) to the Messiah Sing-In. I haven't been to one of those in years, and it was a very joyful experience. There is something so marvelous about singing praises with a whole roomful of other people. It really got me in the Christmas spirit. George was funny through out. He had to sit on the bench with his own book, and he pointed to the words and did his own form of singing.

Monday was an interesting day in Phoenix--it rained non-stop! We had a fun "down" day with Granny and Grandpa--visiting, eating, and playing games. That night the family all gathered again to celebrate Grandpa's 83rd birthday! It was fun to see Steve and Brookie and their kids and visit a bit more with Karen, Paul, Ruth, Charles, and Bekah and JD. It felt so good to be reestablishing bonds with these wonderful people again.


Tuesday morning we drove down to Tucson and beyond. We visited a really fascinating old mission called San Xavier. It is amazing what people have done in this world--so long ago and without any of the conveniences we enjoy today. We were interested in the meshing of the cultures of the native people and the Spanish missionaries that came. James especially was captivated by the native people's image called "The Man in the Maze" that was included in the chapel. It is a picture of a man standing outside of a maze and it represents life--we enter the maze and make various choices which bring us eventually to death, where we exit the maze. A very apt pictoral image of what we experience on earth.





We left the mission and arrived about 30 minutes later at Grandpa and Lorraine (Gram) Halvorsen's house. They live in a really beautiful place in the high desert, so the mountains are right near them and there is a lot of wide open space. It was pretty wet there, so we couldn't hike around too much, but we got to see lots of animals and tracks--there were wild pig tracks by our vehicles in the morning--and lots of beautiful birds. The red cardinals were the most amazing to me. Grandpa took us to see another mission and a neat little town where Lorraine used to live and work that was nearby. We saw lots of wonderful art and pottery. Then we came back to a delicious taco casserole and the boys enjoyed some wrestling on the couch and floor. After dinner Grandpa showed us the video of Lucy's stunning Sophomore recital which was very moving and inspiring, and then I put George to bed while he started showing the video of their African safari a few years ago. That was pretty exciting and held the boys interest even though they were pretty tired out. Owen and Tommy made some forts to sleep in and Will and Ry had fun sharing the hide-a-bed. We had a great sleep that night and the next morning we enjoyed breakfast together (although Will and Ry soon lost theirs as they had the flu all that morning). :-(

We peeked in Lorraine's art studio and around the grounds a bit--the sun had come out but there were still a lot of puddles--and then we piled into two cars and went back to Tucson where we went to the wonderful Desert Museum there. This museum was so unique because it was mostly outside. It was kind of like a zoo in that there were lots of live animals, but there was also lots of information about dinosaurs, rocks, and the desert plants. It was very interesting and beautiful. We had fun walking through a mock cave and looking at some beautiful gems. It was exciting to see some coyotes and pigs and bears and wildcats. The kids were interested in all the different kinds of snakes and lizards and we were all a little grateful that it is winter time and there weren't any snakes wandering around on the same paths as us. Grandpa and Gram were wonderful hosts and we are so grateful they were able to have us come visit and gave us such a great time. We waved goodbye to them in the parking lot and continued on our drive to Phoenix through a beautiful saguaro national forest. The saguaro cactus is sacred to a lot of native peoples in that area and I can see why. They are an incredible plant.







We drove from Tucson to Gilbert, AZ and arrived at James' cousins Brad and Tawnya Crane's house at around 5:00. They have a beautiful home and a fun neighborhood of kids and Brad entertained James and the boys out on their golf cart and quad while I chatted with Tawnya in the kitchen. She had decorated her cupboard doors in wrapping paper which was very festive and creative. After a delicious dinner of minestrone soup, cornbread to die for, and bbq-ed salmon, we all drove over to the Mesa temple to see the lights. There were a LOT of people there, so it wasn't quite the spiritual experience we were kind of hoping for but it was still really beautiful. I loved the decorative orange trees with white lights on them, and I loved the palm fronds that were all lit up. Things I just so rarely see.

We got back to Granny and Grandpa's late Wednesday night, really tired and happy to be "home." Their house really was a home base and we are sooooo thankful for their kindness and patience and willingness to let us camp out and live there.
Thursday morning everyone was healthy and ready for our last day in Arizona. Ruth and Granny had magically managed to get lots of free tickets to the Children's Museum. Ryrie mentioned that he was a little "museumed-out" but I told him this was a unique museum, and he was not disappointed. This place is totally amazing. It is so hard to describe, but just so fun. It is a beautiful combination of art and play. Everything is designed for kids and geared towards them and their size and needs. We were intrigued by the bathrooms even. We spent about 6 hours there--we LOVED it. This is a Must-see if you have children 11 years and younger and are going to be spending time in Phoenix.















We hurried home and were treated to some delicious Granny food before dressing in our Oilers clothes and saying goodbye to a crying George (who did not go to bed for Granny at all) and heading out to the hockey game of Oilers versus Coyotes. The game was so much fun. The boys really got into it, and it was fun for me to sit beside Tommy who kept yelling, "Taylor Hall, score a goal!" Which he did--twice--but it still wasn't enough to win. :-( Sad to lose, but still fun to go. We splurged and got the boys all kinds of junk food to eat. The people sitting behind us gifted the boys with four Phoenix Coyotes' scarves. That was really kind and fun of them, even though they apologized that it wasn't Oilers stuff. Apparently we were shown on TV in Canada, so that was pretty cool. We got home late and were greeted by a very tired but cheerful George and Granny and Grandpa. Thank you G and G for all your patience and help and loving kindness! Thanks to Aunt Karen who came over to help with the baby too.






We went to bed late and got up at 4:50 to get to the airport again--just in the nick of time this time! We were last to board the plane and the stewardess shuffled some kind people around so that we were mostly all together. George and I were a few rows back and every time he caught sight of Will he would shout, but other than that the trip home went pretty smoothly. James taught Tommy about lift-off and thrust and now Tommy is happy to tell people that we went on "an airplane AND a jet!"




We are thankful to be home in Canada again and it is a cold but very beautiful place to live. It was wonderful to spend this time as a family bonding and seeing new and wonderful sights. We live in a beautiful world and we are thankful for family and the Gospel that brings us all together. It was wonderful to see so many family members and we are thankful for the way they treated us all. We will always remember this trip.