Page, Arizona

A few months ago, my dad called and asked if we wanted to run in a triathlon at Lake Powell at the end of October. We would have ten weeks to train. Pat and I said, yes! We knew it would be tight, but were up for the challenge. The night we registered, I got horribly sick. I literally laid on the couch for 3 1/2 weeks with the flu and bronchitis. By the time I felt well enough to work out, I just didn’t have time to train. – so I backed out…. (Next year!) Pat on the other hand, well he broke his toe in the middle of training. I’ve made fun of him, but the poor thing really did break his big toe which left his foot black and blue, and extremely swollen. (I had no idea a toe could do so much damage!)  So we were both out. But we still made the trip to cheer everyone else on.

My parents rented a large house in Page, AZ with an amazing view. Both of my brothers came, along with my Uncle Mark, and Uncle Randy (and all their families). The weather was low 60’s with wind, and too cold to boat, but we still had a blast.

First stop, The Grand Canyon! No one in our group had been there, so it made for a fun day. At the last stop I was taking pictures when I heard the people around me gasp… I turned right in time to see Pat grab Ledger and pull him down off the edge. He wasn’t close to falling, but it still scared everyone standing there. Other than that, the kids did pretty darn good.

(Cannon)

  
(Cruiz)

 

Ledger was giddy with all his cousins around. He had his very first sleepover and is still talking about it!
He played his little heart out with all his cousins.

(Ledger, Bree, Sophie, Charlize, Jack, Kyla)    

Alisha asked if I wanted to go tour Lower Antelope Canyon with her and my little brother, Rhett. She showed me one picture of a canyon wall, but I didn’t look into it any further. But with how excited she was I said, “Sure!” When we pulled in and I saw the desert, I was a little confused with what we paid to see…

We were assigned a guide, named Megan, (We loved her! If you go, I’d really see if you could request her). Our small group of 5 walked out into the desert and stopped when we came to the picture below. Just a little ways off is an opening with a few flight of stairs that you take down into the canyon. I was blown away with what was down there. It was a neat place to explore, and grateful my SIL brought her camera, she was busy taking pictures while Rhett and I explored and asked our guide questions about the Navajo Indians.

(This is the top of Lower Antelope Canyon. You would never guess there was anything below it.)

(Alisha, Me, Rhett, Megan our guide)

Saturday morning my Dad, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Randy all ran the sprint triathlon at the lake. It was a tough course (I was happy I didn’t try to muscle my way through it) and they all did great! I’m so impressed with my dad and uncle, they just started running sprint tri’s in their 50’s! And Mark rocks at these, he took 1st in his age group.

Last stop was Horseshoe Bend.
We decided not to take the kids since you have to look down over an edge to see it. It’s so neat to see what a river can do to the land around it. And I love how open it is in Page, AZ, it’s incredible. I’ve missed open spaces since moving to SLC, UT.

  
(Horseshoe Bend)

 
 
Thanks mom and dad for organizing it the trip, we really did have so much fun. Pat and I left motivated to get back in shape and sign up for a couple of races next year. And Ledger is still talking about Jack and all the fun they had together.

Page, AZ, we’ll be back. Hopefully next time, it will be for boating :)