Angles Landing: Zion National Park

This was our last stop before our family reunion. We woke up in Vegas and drove to Zion National Park that morning. We arrived at the park just past the heat of the day. Which was perfect because we reached the top right before the sun sank behind the mountains. Also giving us enough time to make the hike down before dark. With my very limited experience in hiking (just don't get the chance living in Florida), this is definitely one of my favorite. The hike is hard yet doable, diverse, beautiful, and not your everyday kind of thing. It's about 5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1500 feet. I'm so proud of my mom for making it the whole way, she was the oldest lady I saw on the trail that day. Making all the young folks look bad I tell ya. After reaching the car and driving through southern Utah trying to find a Cafe Rio we got a full firework show celebrating Mormon Pioneer Day. It was a perfect ending to a perfect Western Road Trip with Family. 

Monument Valley

*not sure why some pictures are uploading blurry 

 ^^Blake's toe tough^^

 ^^ Adam's toe touch^^

After four corners we were off to the picture perfect scenery of Monument Valley. We see pictures of far off places posted on pinterest and travel guides all the time. And how many times do we think and wish to see such wondrous sights or land formations, but forget how many amazing things we have here in the U.S.? I mean people travel all over the world to come see stuff like this. We have seen pictures of this place our whole lives, it is the back drop of so many western films. So it was nice to finally getting it marked off the list of places to see. Monument Valley is a nice drive through park. So we drove along the bumpy road through what seemed like endless red sandstone buttes. It was amazing that even though everything looked very much the same, at every turn we would still look up in amazement at the uniqueness of the scenery. We got out and ran around, and even found a horse to ride. It is so different from the everyday Florida landscape.  The Valley is in the Navajo Nation, so I jumped at the chance of getting a cute turquoise ring I have been wanting. It reminds me of my oh so southwestern mother and her own childhood turquoise ring (that I have been refraining myself from stealing). We ended the day with a lunch of endless fry bread and Navajo tacos. Then everyone fell asleep as I drove us to our next stop, Sedona Az. 

The Four Corners

Remember the movie A Walk to Remember? And you know the part where Landon takes Jamie to the state line so that she could cross being in two places at once off her bucket list? Well when I was a kid I thought that was the coolest thing ever. My mind was completely blown when my mom told me about four corners, where four state lines come together and you can be in four states at once! So when mapping out our western road trip we had to make it one of our stops. So after Mesa Verde we headed to the state lines. We were hungry but wanted to get there before sundown, so trail mix and beef jerky were our sustenance as we rushed off to our destination. It was a good thing we did too, because the place closes at 5!! We pulled in at 4:45, I'm still amazed we made it in time. This is like a total road time stopping point and they close?? I was not expecting that. But we made it, and we had the place to ourselves. So we took our pictures then were rushed off the grounds by workers wanting to go home. As we were pulling out a car with California license plates pulled up. I felt sorry for those guys. But really, they close?

2013 Thomas Family Reunion Video

Every four years the Thomas Family (my Mom's side my the family) has a reunion. Even though my family never lived in Colorado it is defiantly a second home. My best childhood memories of summer were spent running around the St. Luis Valley. My cousins are some of my best friends in the whole world. There has been a LOT of additions from when I was a kid, it's getting hard to remember everyone's name. And it is weird having so many gone on missions, starting or graduating college, married, and having kids (see them being called mom and dad by little people, WEIRD!). This was the first year we had our reunion outside the valley. So a week after the pioneer day celebration we all headed to Moab. We rented an amazing 50-ish person cabin and spent the weekend hiking, playing games, paint balling, talking, and eating a lot. Here's a video of all the fun.

Thomas Family Reunion 2013 from A.Russ on Vimeo.

Our Family Road Trip (minus a couple)

Well we moved to Gainesville last month. It was the hardest move we have made yet. Not only because of leaving wonderful friends like I talked about last post. But because we had to move all our stuff up 3 flights of stairs. There is a few things I learned about this move. One was not to pack in only LARG boxes, it felt like we were moving blocks of cement to our new place. Another was to never turn down help, what took us 5 hrs could have been done in 2 or less. And third is to avoid moving in Florida summers if at all possible. But we love our new place, we love having a washer and dryer (never want to move that washer ever again), and we love that our windows do not look out into a parking lot. Now all we have to do is to start living there. Since July Blake has been in Miami working, and I have been staying with my parents. We did have a 2 week vacation in the middle of it all, filled with a road trip and 2 family reunions. So there are lots of photos and videos to share. I'll start off with a video of our family road trip. It was so much fun, only wish Dad and Jari could have been there. 

Family Road Trip 2013 from A.Russ on Vimeo.

Salt Lake in The Spring Time

It seems that for the past few Aprils we have spent a few short sweet days in Salt Lake City. 2010 Blake and I where going out to BYU-I and stopped in Salt Lake for General Conference. 2011 we went to Lela's wedding. This year we spent our last night of your trip to Jari's Graduation in Salt Lake before catching a plan back home to Florida.

The past two Aprils have been cold and a little snowy but this April it was nice. We walked around Temple square and got to enjoy all the beautiful blooms. 

We made reservation at The Roof Restaurant. I had never heard of the place, and was not told it was a gourmet buffet. They had yummy Italian soda, stuffed tomatoes, french onion soup, fish, lion house rolls, and lots of desserts. Located on the 10th floor it has the best view of the Salt Lake Temple. 

After our bellies were full we enjoyed the lights on Temple Square and got lost in the shops in the new City Creek Center (so much better then that old mall that scared me as a kid).