Move Over, Chevy Chase!

We're thinking of hitting up some producers to turn our vacation into National Lampoon's Arizona Vacation.

Yes, short of tying a dead aunt to the roof of our car it was that crazy. Crazy, but fun!


We drove down to Arizona on a Thursday and spent a few days relaxing and swimming.



On Saturday we headed to the cabin in Snowflake. Matt's mom had knee surgery the day before we got there, but she was a champ! She made us yummy food, watched the baby while we went on 4-wheeler rides, went on 4-wheeler rides herself, and entertained the kids when it was raining outside (which happened pretty much once a day).

We stayed at the cabin for 5 days and enjoyed exploring (Matt & I both found arrowheads), watching movies, riding the 4-wheelers, painting rocks, having strange encounters with the locals, and seeing mysterious lights in the night sky (not so good after just watching Fire In The Sky).


Landon got in on the 4-wheeling action and loved it. It put him right to sleep!







Matt found us a pet.....which we promptly set free moments after taking these pictures!





Matt bought Landon this sweet hat at Dollar General so his head wouldn't get burned. Can you say Red Neck?!



Chillin' in the cabin


Jackson in his movie-watching gear





hanging out around the campfire



Sounds like a pretty normal vacation so far, right? This is where it gets good.....

On Wednesday we headed out. Everything was going smoothly (despite the torrential rain) until Matt tried to pass a car and noticed that the van was struggling. We continued on until we got to Payson, AZ where we were stopping for dinner. When we were idling at a light the van started shaking. A lot. We pulled into the Chili's parking lot, ate dinner, and tried to find a mechanic who was still open. Our only luck was a Checker Auto Parts store. They did a diagnostic test and recommended a mechanic (Steve) who did road side service. Boy, was he a piece of work! We never actually met him, but Matt had several interesting conversations with him on the phone. We ended up leaving the van at Checker and Steve said he'd come check it out in the morning. Luckily Matt's parents have a big car, so we all piled in and headed the 1 1/2 hours back to their place.

Long story short, Matt and Curt drove back to Payson on Friday to pick up the van, which had been fixed (maybe), left an envelope of cash with the guys at Checker to give to Steve (he was very mysterious...and really busy apparently) and headed back.

I must mention here that on Thursday Matt's mom went in to get her stitches taken out and found out she had a blood clot in her leg. Matt and Curt went to the office to get her and take her to the hospital, where she stayed until Friday night. Matt's dad was in Utah and had to get a flight back. Meanwhile Alayna came over to bring me and the kids food and keep us company while we waited to see if Marla and the car were going to be okay!

We spent Friday and Saturday watching movies and swimming. After swimming on Saturday morning Rich was drying off and got stung by a scorpion that was in his towel. His thumb and then eventually his arm became numb. Luckily it began to wear off later in the day and we didn't have to make another trip to the hospital.

(are you getting all this, producers?)


Landon ready for movie time

Saturday was the first relaxing day we'd had since Tuesday (well, except for the scorpion sting). Marla was home and giving herself shots to thin her blood, Alayna took Kensie and Lincoln to see Despicable Me, the cousins came over to swim, we had Cafe Rio and played a fun game with Alayna that night.



Jackson, Ty, Lincoln, and Jake


Sunday morning we began the journey home. You know what's going to happen next, don't you?

About 70 miles from Page, AZ the van started struggling again. Same as before. We kept going and prayed we'd make it to Page, all the while texting Matt's parents to look up mechanics and car rental places. We made it to Page, but there were no mechanics or car rental places open on Sunday. We called Steve who told us he thought we could make it home (he had told us when we picked up the van previously that mechanically everything was fixed and working great but that there was something wrong electrically that was causing the problems). With all other options exhausted we were forced to continue on in the van the remaining 350 miles home- praying all the way! It took us 13 hours to get home, but we made it.

The kids did really well despite all the drama. We tried not to stop unless we absolutely had to on the trip home. That meant that the kids ate a metric ton of fruit snacks and chips for dinner, with Dr. Pepper to quench their thirst. At that point I seriously didn't care. Although I was just waiting for one of them to puke.

Maybe the producers can work that into the script.






*taking the van in tomorrow to get fixed. Again.