13 months of planning, 11 days of travel, 5 states visited, 2993 mi of driving, costing $1659, with 40 miles of hiking

13 months ago, we began planning this trip. We started by buying our Phantom Ranch tickets for the Grand Canyon. 8 of us traveled to the Arizona to hike the greatest canyon of all!

Our trip began on Tuesday, March 23, we drove 15 hours from Maple Valley to Orem. We spent the night at the home of Casey Curtis, our former missionary. Brad and Casey hopped on board and we headed for the Grand Canyon the next day, Wednesday. Thanks Casey for a yummy homemade dinner and breakfast!

First viewpoint, Marble Canyon, the last bridge to cross the river before the Grand Canyon begins. Here is the Colorado River. Finally arrived at the GC around 4pm. Lys with her Grandparents.

No trip is complete without my brother Nick horsing around, dangerously horsing around.

Three generations to hike the Canyon!

The wildlife was too friendly.

Here we go, Friday 3/26. This is 6:20am at the top of South Kaibob.

Halfway down, Mike and Cindy!Big horn risking his life to eat. Rainbows are hard to come by, Casey and Brad caught this one!finally made it to the bottom and it was nice and warm. Relaxing!Deer just hang out and eat the mule food.

After hiking 10 miles, we were ready to hike some more at the bottom, so we ventured out on another 8 mile hike along this Bright Angel Canyon and creek.

Dinner at Phantom Ranch.

Saturday morning, ready to head up 5000 feet, 8 miles! It is 7am.

Alyssa made it to the top in 7.5 hours. She was the youngest person we saw on the trail, next age was a 16 year old! SOOOOO impressed with her hardcore-ness. Alyssa headed off with the Grandparents for two weeks, so Troy and I got to mozy home, visiting friends along the way. First stops Hurricane, UT.... Grafton, UT, Springdale, UT, Colorado City, AZ, Centennial Park, and ZION National park. It was amazing.

I had a lasting impression driving around Colorado City seeing the town of Polygamists. I was impressed with the luxeries they had and the freedoms I saw. It was different than I expected. Centennial Park is an offshoot of the Colorado City group. They broke off in the 80's and they are modern Poligs. They dress modern and have beautiful homes like this one. They live right across the highway from Colorado City. Top of Angels Landing.. so scary.

Troy hiking up to Angel's Landing.

Andy and Krista, our friends in Hurricane, UT.
Quick stop in St George to see the temple.

Session at the Salt Lake Temple with Stacee and Cody. Stacee was my MTC companion and we have been friends since 1997.

Stacee and Cody

Our last stop was in Boise to spend two days with the Oates. Amy and Jason have been my friends since 1998 and Amy was my roommate back then!

Details of our trip: Budget was $1400 and we spent $1659, so we are ok with that! We drove 2993 miles in 11 days, using 181 gallons of gas with 16.4 MPG in our truck. We spent 6 nights with friends and only 4 nights in hotels. We packed most of our food, preparing it in advance. It was a successful trip, super fun, but still nice to finally be home. Our animals survived without us, but the greenhouse took a major toll. We have a lot of gardening to catch up on.

We thank our very special friends and family for making this an amazing trip. We love you all.

We definately recommend a family trip to Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. WOWOWOWOW. What a great trip.

Goodbye Bianca, I really do miss you

I didn't know how much I missed her until I began this post. Friday night, I said goodbye to Bianca. She was my pal for three years. 52000 miles. Alyssa had a great time hopping in the expensive sports cars in the showroom.

Introducing Xyril. I plan to keep her for more than 5 years, so there won't be heartbreak again.

History: I had a Silver 04 Altima, Chaeli, that I loved and planned to keep, however, when Bianca came around in 07, it was a better deal to upgrade.

For the past 3 years, I planned to keep Bianca long term, so I was suprised by what happened this week. I started running numbers in my head, thinking deeply, and ran some thoughts by Jim Vach. Later Friday, I prayed about what decision to make regarding our family vehicle. I really didn't think financially I should continue with Bianca, yet I didn't think I could let go of her luxury. When I walked into Nissan, to figure out the end of my lease, my answer came; You should get a Sentra and save $7K.

I knew my credit was flawless, so I would qualify for their best offer. As a Microsoft employee, I was able to do have a haggle free 5% under invoice deal, so I saved a few thousand. 0% financing made the math easy to understand so that I wouldn't get confused by the car salesman sneaking in other numbers into the price. The car came to less than $20K and had most of the features I truly enjoy. I gave up only 2 perks, (garage door opener & power seat adjustments). Since Troy, Alyssa and I are small people, the lost cabin space/leg room suits us just fine. Being in the compact car category, also saves us money on insurance and will when we have a teen too!

This car could be a great car for Alyssa in 5 years, if she saves her pennies and wants to buy it from me.

Funny, I think I am over having tinted windows and don't plan to waste money doing them again. It's been about 10 years since I had no tint, but I feel I have outgrown that need. I like the changes I am feeling regarding wastefulness. This new monthly payment is less than I had with Bianca and it was the smarter decision for our family. I still feel sad abandoning her though. Goodbye, farewell, much love!

7 years ago...I bought my home

7 years ago at the young age of 27, I was preparing to buy this home. I started scoping out my first home back in November and so by March, it was nice to plan to get this process overwith. I was approved for a $250K loan on my measely salary. I was so scared to take on this 'big' risk to me and I felt so young and immature.

My real estate agent was Craig Roberts of Prudential and his wife Charlotte was my Mortgage Loan officer. I knew them since 1995 when I was their nanny in West Seattle. I loved them so much and totally trusted them. Craig had been bothering me for 6 years to buy a home and I kept putting it off, toooo scared.

The funny thing though is that I did all my own research and so did Craig and when we came together to view homes, he let us see all the homes I picked out first. We went to Covington and Maple Valley homes, about 10 of them. Then, when we were done, he turned to me in the car and said, "NOW, ARE YOU READY TO SEE THE HOME YOU ARE GOING TO BUY?". I laughed at his cocky statement. He showed me this address in Maple Valley. It had gone on the market just 2 days prior. It was exactly $249,900. Here were some crappy camera shots I took of our first walk through. The backyard sold me.. it was HUGE, over 10,000 sf. I put a full offer in and it was accepted. On March 12, we signed the papers. My stepdad co-signed for me. We took a chance and did an FHA loan which meant that I got a 4% arm loan, but paid in $100 per month insurance. It was my only option to make it work since I put down such a low down payment and maxed out my possibly loan.

The goal was to get a 20% increase in value in 2 years and I would get all my insurance returned to me, take my step-dad off the loan, and lock in on a 30 year rate.

It worked perfectly! PHEW!!!!

Just a few days after I signed on my new house, I was laid off from my job of 4 years. I couldn't believe it. I was a frantic mess and I immediately cancelled my 6 week Europeon Vacation that I was planning. Fortunately, I got a new job and I was able to keep my house. What a nail biting time in my life though. I didn't know if I was more happy my employer waited to lay me off after I got my house, or if I was more mad that they let me buy a house knowing they would lay me off. Oh well, water under the bridge now.

I still feel so lucky and I thank the Roberts for helping me. I also thank my step dad for taking a chance on me.

March 7 - two year anniversary

For those of you who forgot or never knew, Troy and I secretly were married by Bishop Lake on March 7, 2008.

Three months later on 06-07-08, we had a wedding in Oregon for our family and friends to celebrate with us. Few people knew we were already married.

WHY, you ask? 1) to give Troy and his girls insurance right away 2) importance of being married by Bishop in an LDS church 3) wanted a private ceremony

March ceremony attendees only included Bishop and his wife, Bennetts, Diane, my auntie and my mom.

I love looking at this picture because it was such a sweet and simple, yet super important day. Thank you to Diane who made us beautiful place to stand up in.

Who knew a relief society room could look this nice in a photo?