California! {part one}

Okay, we've been home from this fun trip for two weeks now. So it's high time for me to buckle down and write about it before it slips away forever!

I was so worried about the road trip because Olivia usually cries so much in the car, but she was an angel. She didn't cry at all on the first stretch, which was to New Harmony (near Cedar City). We were blessed enough to have our good friends Chris and Natalie and their four kids along, which made our vacation even better.

We stayed the first night at the most amazing ranch...or should I say estate? Good grief, that place was unbelievable! It's the home of Chris' mom and stepdad, and they were so generous to let us explore their property, feed us wonderful food, and give us the coziest beds. There are multiple homes on their ranch, a kid-sized cottage with electricity and a thermostat, a playground nicer than any public one, a vegetable garden with rabbits hopping around, goats and lots of other animals, a house dedicated to displaying animals from their multiple safari adventures, a pool with a breathtaking view of Kolob Canyon that you can't see from the freeway...there's no way to describe it all! I loved this "Motto To Live By" which I saw inside one of their houses.

That first night we swam and had a great dinner by the pool. After getting the kids to bed (Nina was so happy to sleep in her own personal fairy room), Clayton and I went out to the hot tub with Chris and Natalie. Just as Natalie was telling us a freaky story, one of the beach balls that we had put away came rolling toward us out of nowhere....SCARY! At least Nat and I thought it was scary! So of course the rest of the time Clay and Chris kept saying, "Did you see that? Did you hear that?" just to freak us out even more. We were so far away from the house we were sleeping in, we had to ride on golf carts to get back, which was also FREAKY in the dark! Haha! I'm such a pansy.