On Friday, we set out on for the second half of our vacation in Arizona. Driving out of Zion's National Park we passed some of the most beautiful and unique mountains and rocks-it reminded me of ice cream swirls, the way they were so smooth and spiraled, and once again the colors were too much. There was even one called the checkerboard, because it naturally looked exactly like it was a giant version of the game board. We pulled over several times along the way, sometimes to see the mountain goats or other wildlife up close, sometimes to take a quick climbing break or check out the view. We also stopped at a delicious and super random German bakery along the way, but eventually, we made it to the Grand Canyon. After hiking around viewpoints and up the Watchtower, we all finally caved and decided that rather then camping again as we had originally planned, we would get a hotel right outside the entrance. No regrets though, it was the right choice. We were able to spend some time there, then have a nice dinner and dessert, go for a family swim at the pool, and even shower and do laundry. This was just the refresh we needed, because the next morning we set out at 5:00 am to see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. It was breathtaking-the colors truly do change an already beautiful landscape. The rest of our time there we took the buses throughout view points and little hike areas-Lester said he felt like the Grand Canyon was kind of like a toy you didn't know what to do with-really cool and fun, but unless you were a hard core backpacker and had a lot of time to do it, all you could mainly do was stare in awe and wonder at how vast and lovely it was.



















After doing all that we wanted to do, we headed back to the hotel to grab all our stuff, have breakfast, and get back on the road. We drove to Mesa, stopping to admire Sedona [kinda like a desert version of Tahoe-beautiful!] along the way and eventually arrived at my cousin Natalie's house where Hillary and family are living for the summer. After such a long, wonderful but sometimes intense trip it was SO nice to be with more family at a home. All day Addy had been asking for Audrey and Hadley and it was so nice for us to be able to deliver and give the girls some play time. Isla crawled and smiled to her hearts contents as well, and we loved being with the adults as well.