Flagstaff with the Chicago Gang

The last weekend that the Hoyt cousins were here we decided to rent a house in Flagstaff.

We ended up renting it for 4 night because that was the minimum stay. Which meant that we had the house starting Wednesday night. I did not want to just waste a night even though our kids had school on Thursday........plus it was just the first week of school how much can they be learning yet right. And on top of the Hunter had been missing the whole week anyway so I decide playing hookie was just what we needed!

Marla had other obligations on Wednesday so she couldn't leave then and of course Justin couldn't get away that soon.

Sooooo me being the CRAZY person that I am......decided to take my 4 kids plus 3 of Marla's with me in the Yukon and make the trip to Flagstaff! Yeap that's right me and 7 kids........CRAZY!

I checked Logan and Kiersten out of school a little early to get a head start on the long trip.

You will never believe it but I promise this is the absolute truth.........we only stopped ONCE yes you read that right....ONE time! Me and 7 kids for a 6 1/2 hour trip stopped ONCE!! We stopped in Anthem to eat dinner. The kids had traveled so good for me I found a Chick-a-fila for them and let them have a good hour of play time. We made it the rest of the way without a glitch.........it was amazing to say the least!

Marla made it up late Thursday night. Then Justin and Rieley made it up late afternoon on Friday. The main reason we went up there was to ride quads and dirtbikes at the Cinders, outside of Flagstaff. We didn't do that until Saturday and Troy made it up about mid-day Saturday.

These pictures are in no particular order so bare with me!

Mr. Grant grew impatient waiting for me to get him a yogurt so he found out he could get one himself. And he knows better then anyone that hands work better then a fork any day! Logie Bear riding at the Cinders...........he was a little bummed that we didn't get his quad fixed in time but he does good on the 80. Troy's friend Warren came up Saturday when we went to the Cinders. He is always so nice to give the kids rides...........he is a CRAZY driver and the kids LOVE IT!

Rieley taking Kiersten on a fun razor ride. The kids love the new razor!

See Rieley way up at the top?

That's where we found the Geocach.

Mr. Grant was very happy with his Geocach find............the kids picked out a yo-yo for him!

Carson actually did good this year and could ride the quad all on his own.

He just had a great time! He wasn't too fond of taking turns though!

Aubrey and Kiersten were so nice to let Mr. Grant tag along on one of their rides.

He was in heaven!

This is Rieley's new ride!

He won't be sixteen til November and he already has a jeep............spoiled!!

My dad found it and it was just what Troy and Rileley wanted. So my dad fixed it up and got it painted just in time for them to drive it back to Chicago.

Good luck!

Marla and Me

I just love my sister so much! I hate that she lives so far away. So anytime we get to see each other is just a treasure to me! We had so much fun in Flagstaff!

Love you Marla!

It was great to have Rieley here this summer working for Justin. He was such a hard working and we had so much fun with him here. Justin even had him come hoe my weeds, or trees, as Rieley called them, one day. Man was I excited about that..........so was Justin I think!

Garrett is such a fun boy!

All the little boys had fun pushing the trucks down the trailer ramp. Then the bigger boys started riding down in the dump trucks. They just had so much fun!

Justin and Hunter going on a ride together.

Hunter just treasures any time he gets to spend with his dad. I know Justin feels the same way about Hunter! It is so nice to have a family hobby that everyone enjoys and can participate in. Me, Hunter and Kiersten enjoyed a ride together. I just love spending time out riding with my kids! Mr. Grant thought he was coming with us and boy was he made when he found out otherwise!

Aubrey, Me, and Kiersten

Nothing like taking a girls ride!

Hunter and his dad

Hunter showing off his coolness!

I just love Aubrey. I am pretty sure Kiersten and I both wish she lived with us!

She has the funniest sense of humor and man does she do a awesome India Indian impersonation! So hilarious!

Such good cousins!

Logan and Nolan

Mr. Grant loves going for rides in the Razor. Kiersten was sweet enough to take him on a long ride! The kids all had a wonderful time out riding quads, dirt bikes and the razor. It was great weather most of the weekend. On Sunday when we were getting the quads and bikes all loaded up it had a complete down fall of hard rain. The kids just danced away on the trailer loving the rain. We decided to take cover in the Yukon after getting pretty wet ourselves. But we were meeting a realtor in Show Low so we had to get moving. We ended up soaked to the bone after loading everything up in the rain. It made quite the memory!!!

Hunter really wanted his turn for a "Rieley Ride" in the razor.

While I had all seven kids by myself I decided to take them to Peter Piper Pizza for some fun!

Mr. Grant really spent all his time on this little ride!

Kiersten, Aubrey, Logan and Carson

Hunter had a blast with the coin toss game..........as you can see!

There was a game where you used a claw to get a ball. Well Aubrey taught everyone how to do it, apparently it's not too hard because even the little boys could do it. This just made their day!

Yep.........still there! I bet he sat in this car for a good 45 minutes at least! As long as someone would put a coin in for him he was good. And he didn't get out to talk someone into doing that for him. I am pretty sure even strangers put coins in for him because they thought he was so cute. He LOVED it!

Yes more balls......

Hunter was the top ticket winner!

Look at my group of kids!

I got some funny looks with all seven kids! I felt like saying I am a foster mom or something........LOL!

Notice ALL the plastic balls the kids won. It was crazy getting all those to the car.......they would drop some every few steps. It was comical to say the least! The boys of course couldn't just play at the park the had to climb trees. These two wanted to show off their battle wounds.

Get your good glasses on and find Hunter?

Here's the clue.........he is somewhere in the tree.

When Hunter yelled, "Mom Look At ME!!"

And I turned and finally saw where he was I just had to hold my breathe. He didn't want to get down until I had taken a picture so I hurried over and took a picture. Then held my breathe the whole time he was climbing down. Boys just have no fear...........at least mine don't! I love how adventurous they are and boy was I happy when he was down safe!

These two girls were pretty adventurous as well. They talked me into letting them hang out on the roof. They actually read thier scriptures out there so I couldn't argue with that. Having Aubrey around has just been heaven for Kiersten. Even though they are 4 years apart, they have a blast together!

Pretty happy girls!

It was a great trip! We ate good food, went to the movies.....Justin was kind enough to take the little boys (minus Mr. Grant and Garrette....Rieley babysat them at the rental house) to see "The Smurf's." Justin even said it was good. While us girls all went to see "The Help." It was super good and made me cry.

The whole weekend was fun and we made some great memories!

I was just sad to see it end because that meant Marla and her family were headed back to Chicago. I always hate saying goodbye to them!