The boys and I embarked on a road trip by ourselves to Arizona in July and it was so much fun. It had been 2 years since I had been back to AZ and seen my sister, brother, and the rest of the family. I was a little excited! After a super long drive across Texas our first stop was in New Mexico to see my niece Dawn Sheree and her family. She has two little boys Garth (4 months older than Jacob) and Colt. The boys were so excited to meet their cousins and it was so much fun seeing them together. They had a blast playing in their awesome back yard.

Then onto Aunt Debbie's house we went for a few days. It was so good to see my sis! The boys fell in love with their "big boy" cousins and had a blast seeing all of the awesome animals at their house. Kody said it was like a farm and they couldn't decide what they liked the best between the horses, lizard, cow, chickens, pig. Kody got to ride one of the horses and he thought it was pretty neat. We had a blast, but Meema and Papa were anxious to see us, so up to Prescott we went.

On the way we stopped in Mesa to see Robin, my roommate from Rick's, and her family. We had lunch with them and it was so much fun to remember the good old days of college. Now look at us we are all grown up and mothers!!! We also got to see Auntie Karen for a little bit and she spoiled the boys with books and ice cream. She is amazing. And finally we made it to Prescott!!! The boys were so happy to be out of the car and so excited to see Meema and Papa.

The main reason for the trip was that my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary and we had a party for them to celebrate. And what would a get together with all of us be without turning it into a family reunion. Everyone was able to be there to celebrate their special day, all 28 of us, siblings and our spouses, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Garrett and a few others had to leave early, but it was good to have everyone together for the party. After the party it was reunion time. We had so much fun just being together, playing, and of course laughing until our sides hurt. Derick and Cheryl put together the tradition game afternoon and it was a blast. We did some service projects for mom and dad. An just had some plain old good times being together.

What an accomplishment for my parents and what a great example they are to all of us! 50 years!!! That doesn't happen too often now days, so I am so grateful for my parents and for all the many years of love and sacrifice that they have put into their marriage. Thanks for all the fun times, memories and letting me be a part of it all. I have the greatest parents and family in the world!!!

After 3 weeks it was time for us to head home and boy is it good to be home after the super long stressful drive back to Arkansas. I proved that I could do it on my own (though it would be easier with Garrett) and it was so much cheaper than flying from Alaska. Road trips are so much fun, but the next one is going to have to wait for a while cause our car and I definitely need a little break after all the traveling that we have done this summer.

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