Goodbye GJ

Woops I forgot to post about our trip home from GJ. Because of snow and road limitations we had to take the long way home.

We drove through these beautiful canyons!

Chandler wanted a picture!


And we got stuck at a Navajo POW WOW. IT was SLOW MOVING forever

Great Grandma part IV

One day we took a tour of GJ. I LOVE GJ. And I would totally live there if it wasn't so cold.

My in laws met and fell in love in Grand Junction. Lots of family history there!

One knock on the door changed our family forever.... This is Don outside his old apartment. The missionaries knocked on this door and shared the Gospel with Don. This moment was very emotional for me. Probably my most FAVORITE part of the whole trip.

HEY 14 is my favorite number
All because 1 knock we are an eternal family...
Same picture just further back
There is a story behind this buffalo... I can't remember it off the top of my head
Downtown... I can't wait to go back!
The crew with the family lot behind them. The house they grew up in burned down so that is a new house behind them
The crew close up
Grandma grew up on this street
The street Uncle J lived on
The corner store that had penny candy... It is still open just not when we were there
When Kathy was a teenager she was told to find out for herself whether the church she was going to was true by checking out other churches. So she walked down the block to this little church and began her journey to find her testimony. LOVE this picture!
Grand Junction Grand Central Station... I love this picture of our little family of 4!

Great Grandma part III

When we got there to Grand Junction we got the warmest welcome from everybody! So many cousins came over to Great Grandma's house to meet us. We were blown away by their kindness and friendship. I felt like I have known these people all my life. We sat and visited forever and it was like we were long lost friends.

The first night some of the girls ventured out to a church meeting to learn about bread. As I was talking with one of Troys cousin we found out we were related. Yes you heard me right I am related to 10 of Troys cousins... So does that mean I am related to Troy? NOPE... Trust me my heart just about dropped for a minute. Lets see if I can explain this one...

Kathys brothers married sisters... So 10 of his cousins are cousins twice. Does that make sense?

The sisters that married the brothers have an aunt Ada Kay... Pictured below....

That Aunt Ada Kay married my Grandpas brother.... So we are related by marriage....

I know complicated but its kind of cool! Troys aunt had a family book that we looked through and it was neat to see family pictures that I had seen before and people I have met are people they know!

Okay enough of that complicated family information.... I found this at wal-mart and I was SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! We bought about 6 cans I think for this winter...
We picked up Kristin at the airport. I was absolutely SHOCKED that ALL of the family members who live in Grand Junction and who were not working came to the airport to pick her up. WHAT AN AWESOME FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THOSE PUCKETTS!
Friday afternoon we spent in Troys cousins salon in her backyard. It was a sweet experience hanging out with the girls while the kids ran around outside. I am telling you those family members taught me some great lessons while we were there. I love each one of them so much and felt so accepted by them! I think I could spend weeks there just chatting and visiting.

I love this picture of Troy and his Grandma

When we were getting our hair done I found this recipe in a magazine. I don't think I have mentioned it before but I LOVE QUINOA. LOVE IT! And I am excited to make this new recipe. My sisters introduced me to it this summer and I am HOOKED on it. YUM!
We stopped at a Cafe Rio... DOUBLE YUM! And we got a free cheese quesadilla for the boys... Did you know they did that?!
This is Hinckley with his new BFF. My kids played so well with all the other kids running around. I LOVED that he had tons of friends to play with. And he loved it too.
LOVE THIS PICTURE of mother and daughter.
I am so excited to go back this spring or summer!!!! We already have plans to go on the train with the family next summer. I am just sad we wont make it back until then with winter coming!

Great Grandma Part II

One of the days we were there we just sat and played songs, told jokes, played musical instruments and played games. I have some video of Great Grandma playing the piano. It was INCREDIBLE for her to play her honky tonk. LOVE THAT LADY!

Uncle J and Grandma and Great Grandma

Great Grandma

My boys snuggling

Uncle M
Troy trying to play the turkey baster
Uncle M playing the turkey baster
Hinks trying
Up close
He almost got it
Playing I can do this, you can do this game
Our little Chandler LOVED... I mean LOVED his Great Grandma
CHEESE!
You think I am kidding but I am NOT... This little boy has a special relationship with his Grandma and Great Grandma
See how happy he is!
She was bouncing him on her knee
Hand game
Giving Great Grandma a sweet hug
Hinks and Grandma doing the hand game
Another picture

Over a few mountains and through the woods to Great Grandmothers house we go

Before Troy came home from Iraq we began talking about going to see Grandma Puckett and that side of the family and when he got home we decided to put those plans into action. Hinckley had last Friday off from school so we decided to take him out of school for a few days and enjoy a trip to Grand Junction, Colorado. And boy did we ENJOY IT! Every second of every minute of every hour of every day we were there did we ENJOY it!

We drove about half way on Tuesday and stayed the night in Durango, Colorado. It rained our whole drive there and all night long. We got settled in our hotel went to Applebees to eat for dinner and then we went back to the hotel to swim. The boys were up early so we took off for the red mountain pass. I kept checking the road conditions to make sure there wasn't much snow. Red mountain pass is absolutely BREATHTAKING.... For more ways then one.... About half the time there are no guard rails.... And you climb up to just under 13,000 FEET! And of course you have to climb down. We were surprised that Red Mountain pass had little to no snow and Molas Summit was the one we hit snow on. Red Mountain pass is known as the million dollar highway (if you want to know why go google it!) The views of the fall colors were magnificent. I felt nostaglic for America as we drove through the beautiful canyons and mountain tops.... You twist and turn and dip and climb...

I took some of these pictures from my iphone.... I LOVE MY IPHONE!

Just after we came down from Red Mountain pass Chandler puked. Poor little guy. I was feeling car sick too from all the twists and turns and Chandler lost his breakfast. Nothing like driving for another 2 hours with constant wiffs of regurgitated yogurt and juice. YUM! We did try to clean him up the best we could and the car seat... Now we know to give him a little ginger pill for car trips...