The best vacation a girl could want!

April 29, 2009
I didn't sleep all night. No big surprise. I'm always too wired and my brain spinning too fast to get any rest the night before a big trip/move.

April 30, 2009
I finally gave up the fight (after waking at 30-minute intervals from midnight to 5am) and took a shower. I then made breakfast for the road while Levi got ready. Aunt Cindi stopped by at 5:45am to wish us well and give us a batch of cookies for the trip. We pulled out of the drive at 5:52am and so began our trans-continental journey! Our first day of travel was rather uneventful and mostly familiar as we retraced our previously traveled route. NY, PA, OH, IN, IL all went by without a hitch. I had downloaded some audiobooks to my iPod so we were entertained by Dean Koontz when conversation topics were scarce. We arrived in Moline, IL after 14 hours of driving and checked into our hotel. I had been craving Outback for several weeks previous, so I Googled the nearest restaurant and we headed out. Our room was on the 2nd floor and the staircase was straight. It had a very nice wide banister that I wanted to slide down. Levi ended up going down first and boy was it a quick ride! Here, it gets fuzzy. Levi recalls saying "You shouldn't do it." because it was difficult to stop at the bottom, but I either didn't hear him, or my subconscious chose to ignore him. :-/ I enjoyed the ride down, but I botched the landing. I rolled my right ankle a bit, but caught myself from falling too far forward... or so I thought. It tingled a bit, but then didn't hurt at all, so we went ahead and had supper at Outback. As the meal was ending, my foot suddenly "exploded" and swelled up quite a bit! OUCH! We returned to the hotel and Levi quickly got me some ice and pillows. He fashioned an icepack out of a washcloth and I propped it up on several pillows. Then we went to sleep. It had been a LONG day!

May 1, 2009
By the next morning, the swelling had reduced significantly and it only felt a little sore. It didn't hurt at all to hold my foot in the position to drive, so off we went! Cruise control is a beautiful thing! Whenever we switched places, I propped my foot up on the dash to help relieve the swelling. We crossed IA, NE and into CO that day. I don't remember much of significance in IA or NE... it all started to blur together. Lots and lots of flatness with nothing to keep my interest. CO should have been gorgeous, but it was raining and overcast so visibility was awful. It was a real bummer after another long day of driving. After we checked in to our hotel, we started looking for someplace local for supper. We both were in the mood for pasta, so we picked Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano and savored a delicious meal and excellent conversation. Levi had Ziti al Forno and I had Tilapia Florentine on a bed of angel hair. We shared Bruschetta Classico for an appetizer and Tiramisu for dessert. YUM, YUM, YUMMY! We returned to the hotel, iced my ankle again and went to bed praying that the rain and clouds would go away so we could see Pikes Peak.

May 2, 2009
"Weather conditions: Fog advisory. Visibility less than 1/4 mile." BOOO! I was not happy to open the drapes and be greeted by gray. We went to breakfast (which was a fabulous hot buffet!) and debated whether to wait out the fog so we could drive up Pikes Peak or hit the road and improvise our travels to incorporate a scenic trip through CO. After being assured by the concierge that it would be a waste of time to attempt Pikes Peak, we got out the atlas and planned a new route. My Rand McNally had red ribbon routes that the editors deemed the best, most scenic routes in the state and we decided to take SR50 to SR550 to SR160 through the Four Corners Monument and on into Arizona ending in Flagstaff. What a trip! I'm so glad we chose to leave the interstate for a more interesting drive! We really enjoyed seeing so much diversity in the CO countryside and soon found ourselves in Ouray. At this time, Levi was driving, but it was time to switch. I didn't speak up in time to stop in town, but we pulled onto a scenic overlook on one of the several switchbacks leading south out of town and took the opportunity for photos. I got behind the wheel, pulled onto the highway, rounded a curve and found the biggest surprise! The road was rather narrow, had NO shoulder, had fallen rocks and snow littering the road, and it dropped off quite steeply on the passenger's side. I was SO GLAD we had switched places because I would have been freaking out in Levi's place. He assured me it was quite all right to hug the center line and drive slowly and carefully! :) What a trooper! It had been raining lightly all morning, so the road was also quite wet. WHEE!!!! It took us 3 hours to ascend and descend 5 summits. We ran into some snow on 2 of the summits (one was elevation 10,990 ft) but I managed to keep the car on the road and avoided any road hazards or accidents. Several times I pulled off to let the crazy locals go barreling by us. I was a bit strung out at the end, but what an adrenaline rush! We would have never seen so much of the mountains had we simply ascended Pikes Peak and taken the interstate to Flagstaff. We got a lot of amazing photos, whenever Levi was brave enough to take his eyes off the road! :) Levi took over in Durango and we headed onward to Four Corners. We almost didn't stop. The published closing time on the website was 5pm and we arrived at 6:12pm, so Levi just drove on past. I happened to glance at the sign as we went by and promptly yelled "STOP!" The hours listed there were 8am-7pm, so we turned around and went in. We took a few minutes for a photo op, decided to forgo the multitude of vendors selling souveniers, and got back on the road to Flagstaff. We arrived later than planned (9:30pm PST) so decided to adjust our plans for the next day to allow for more sleeping time.

May 3, 2009
Grand Canyon Day!! Whoo Hoo!!! I was quite excited to begin our day. Having already been to the Canyon twice, I was more excited for Levi to experience it than to see it myself. I was still blown away, though. Each time at the Canyon is like seeing it for the first time. It always takes my breath away. So powerful and majestic! It was invigorating to worship in God's sanctuary this Sunday morning. We went west on I-40 to 64 and arrived in the park just before 9am. We stopped at Mather first and Levi got his first look. The Bugger wouldn't close his eyes and let me lead him to the railing to maximize the impact of his first look, but was duly impressed nonetheless. :-p We spent some time taking photos before moving on to the next overlook. We continued on to the Village and then headed back to South Kaibab trailhead for a hike down into the Canyon. My ankle had recovered quite nicely although I didn't yet have full mobility. Armed with water, snacks, and Advil (for me) we started the descent into the Canyon. It was AWESOME! Levi was in the lead and I followed at a careful pace so as not to aggravate my injury. I felt guilty for slowing him down and eventually cutting the hike short, but he was very gracious. We went in for approximately a mile to a place where the trail rounded a point and exposed so much more of the Canyon to our line of sight. We took lots of pictures and rested a bit before beginning to climb back up the trail to the rim. We met quite a few people on the trail and had fun guessing where they came from and what languages they were speaking. We walked back to the car and left the park. As we headed south, we decided to save Sedona and 89 for another time and headed down I-17 to Surprise. We arrived at Heather & Kristen's in time for supper and enjoyed great fun and fellowship. After supper, we went for a walk around the Stadium and then wound down the evening with conversation before heading to bed.

May 4, 2009
We were greeting in the morning to a breakfast of Heather’s famous baked oatmeal. YUM! After seeing Heather and Kristen off to work, Levi & I packed up the car again and headed out for San Diego via Joshua Tree National Park. The unrelenting miles of desert west of Phoenix were a bit much for Levi, so he caught a nap while I drove. J We switched places in Blythe, CA and pushed on toward JTNP. We chose the route that bisected the park and started driving. There wasn’t much to see in the first half of the park, but we finally came upon something of interest in the form of a Cholla cactus garden. There was a walking path through the garden and a brochure with points of interest, so we got out of the car and started exploring. I was rather preoccupied checking the shadows for snakes while also avoiding close proximity to the cacti, but I still enjoyed the venture. We got back in the car and continued our search for Joshua trees. At another spot, we pulled over again to take a look around. As I was driving toward the pull off, Levi spotted something that looked like a snake, but we went by too quickly to confirm. On our way back out, there was a long “stick” across the road. As I drove by, it moved and I couldn’t avoid running over it. Immediately I heard a familiar sound. It was a rattlesnake!!! I put the car in reverse so we could get a better look. He was under a shrub on the side of the road by that time, so Levi had a hard time getting a good photo. We didn’t have any trouble hearing him, though. He was rattling quite vigorously! At this point, Levi decided to keep his arm inside the car instead of out the window and we continued on through the park. We made several more stops for photos of the Joshua trees and then exited the park and resumed our journey to San Diego. Once again we decided to skip the more scenic (and therefore LONGER) routes and took the interstate down to SD. After checking into the hotel, we went in search of a beach and the Pacific Ocean! We headed toward Imperial Beach, but found Silver Strand State Beach first, so we stopped and walked down to the water. Levi went in first so I could get a photo of his first time in the Pacific, then we both went in to play in the surf. It was cold, but not unbearably. After 10 minutes or so, we were both chilled and decided to get out, dry off, and take a walk while watching the sunset. After the sun went down, we got even colder, so we went back to the hotel to clean up and thaw out before supper. It was a very fun and satisfying day and before bed we had a discussion about the next day’s activities. We decided to wait until morning to make a final decision and hit the sack.

May 5, 2009
We decided to head to Coronado Beach for a few hours before heading to the airport. It was a very relaxing morning under the sunshine. We built a sand castle (more like a Tudor Mansion) and then went for a walk on the beach. By the time we returned to the car, it was time to leave for the airport so Levi could catch his plane home. I dropped him off at arrivals, said goodbye, and headed back to Phoenix by myself. Levi’s flight took off as scheduled and he arrived safely home after midnight. I drove on I-8 to Phoenix and arrived home at 5:30pm, thus concluding the move. Thanks for the memories, Levi!

Forgiveness

Last Thursday, as I was shoveling wet, heavy snow because Grandpa didn't plow the driveway, I found myself getting so angry and frustrated! In my head, I started running through his whole list of offenses over the past year. God spoke His truth to me in the middle of my internal rant and told me I need to forgive AND forget. It's not for me to hold Grandpa accountable for his actions (or lack thereof) and this anger I was feeling was a barrier in my relationship with God. Matthew 6:15 says "But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." I had been telling myself all this time that God wanted me to develop patience and show kindness, but I was withholding forgiveness. I was keeping SCORE! I justified my attitude and behavior based on my scorekeeping and let that bitterness and resentment build up inside until it overflowed and poisoned all my other relationships. I had become a person that no one wanted to be around! By God's grace and mercy, I let go of it all and was liberated by His forgiveness. I feel happy, positive, optimistic, refreshed, cleansed, relieved! The burden has been lifted and I'm FREE!!!

It isn't always easy, and I sometimes fall back into the old thought pattern, but with His help, I'm learning to embrace the freedom that comes with receiving God's forgiveness and passing that forgiveness along to those who hurt me. I'm trying to live out Matthew 6:14 and 7:1-2 on a daily basis, all for the Glory of God.

Ladies Tea Party

Michelle hosted the loveliest Ladies Valentines Tea Party today. We had a slumber party last night: ate Garlic Ginger Chicken Stir Fry, watched a chick flick, and prepped food stuffs for the party. This morning we continued prep work and had so much fun bonding in the kitchen. It reminded me a lot of the parties Heather and I hosted. The finished products were amazing (Michelle is such a fabulous master planner/cook) and we had a great time chatting and eating the delicious food!

Raspberry-filled scones with a rose-water glaze

Ham, asparagus, & Gruyère quiche

Smoked Salmon tea sandwiches

(I had fun with the cookie cutters!)

See the photo album for the full menu and presentation. It was quite fabulously wonderful.