Arizona or Bust

I've been meaning to blog about our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving but just haven't gotten around to it. We decided to drive because it was cheaper. We left Friday morning and stopped at Kneaders to have breakfast (GO AND TRY THE FRENCH TOAST...YUM!).

We stopped in Las Vegas on Friday night. We stayed at the Red Rock Resort and it was BEAUTIFUL!! It is a little out of the way but definitely worth it. The restaurants, staff and accomodations were amazing!

We reserved our Harry Potter tickets in advance at the movie theater in the hotel. It was opening night and we didn't want to take any chances. It was well worth the wait.

We arrived in Queen Creek the next afternoon and were greeted by all of our amazing family. We had been waiting so long to see everyone. We got some rest that night and went to church with Jeannie & Glen the next day. They were splitting their ward so we just had sacrament meeting and then got to go home. That night we made a really yummy dinner...pork chops in a mushroom sauce. Jeannie let me get in her way in the kitchen and learn how to cook some of her amazing meals/treats (cinnamon rolls, enchiladas, etc.).

The next day I went into work at the Tempe branch. I am going to be taking some billing over from the girl in that branch starting January 1st and thought it would be a good time to go and learn what I needed to know. We went to lunch at a downtown Chinese restaurant and it was pretty good. That night all of the Purcells and Weltons that were available came over for a Mexican feast.

On Tuesday we went to the mall with the rest of the Purcell's. We stopped by to visit my Aunt Diane and her daughter Emily. Emily just had her 2nd baby and we were so excited to see both of her girls. We enjoyed catching up with the family. Then we went over to Scott & Kitty's condo to play games. After we left there we went to Tom & Joannie's to hang out for a little while. They are so awesome and we LOVE being with them. Riley and the girls came over and we had a great time watching the kids.

Over the holiday weekend we played a lot of Wii and xBox Kinect. If we weren't dancing then we were playing sports. On Wednesday night Kevin and I were having a dance off to Proud Mary (see picture of Tina & Beyonce below...I'm sure we were at least that good) when I came down on my foot wrong and sprained it. For the rest of the trip (and still a little bit) I could be called a complete gimp but it didn't stop the fun of everyone else dancing. Those are some memories that we won't soon forget.

On Wednesday Kevin & I decided that we wanted to spend some time together since he had been gone so much with the play. We decided to go see Burlesque (not ground breaking but the music was good) and then grabbed something to eat at Johnny Rockets which we loved on our cruise. Then we headed back to Jeannie's to make cinnamon rolls and hang out.

Thanksgiving Day was just awesome. It was sunny and warm outside so we were able to set up the tables outside. We had around 50 people there. Grandma drove down from Punkin Center to be with us but had to leave early because she wasn't feeling well. We had an amazing spread with so much yummy food. The only thing missing was celery with pimento cheese (which I bought but forgot to get out of the fridge...sad) so I guess I'll have to have that at Christmas.

On Friday morning we got up and went to see Tangled at the movie theater (we loved catching up on our movies this trip). It was such a good movie and I'm so glad that we saw it. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it. That evening we went to a BBQ at Scott & Kitty's condo. It was a little cold but we still had a good time with everyone.

We were going to drive to Las Vegas again on Saturday and then come the rest of the way home on Sunday but when we checked the weather report on Saturday morning it looked like Utah was going to get a HUGE storm on Sunday so we decided to drive the whole way on Saturday. It was a long day but we had been listening to "The Host" on CD and that made it pass quicker. We stopped in St George and ate with Tony & Brady at a Mongolian BBQ. It was really yummy and gave us the much needed break to finish the trip.

We arrived home at midnight missing the entire storm. It was a wonderful week with lots of family, food & fun. We are so grateful to have so many people in our lives that love us and are excited to see us. We hope that we can go back soon.