A worthy drive

Kelly had a birthday and came up with pretty much the best idea - a Sunday drive in the mountains to enjoy a bit of Fall.  Knowing that I was still morning sick, Marty kept telling Kelly we probably wouldn't do it so he could spare me the winding roads.  I kept telling Marty it was totally fine and he said, "Are you sure?  It's like a 2 hour drive."  Thinking that we would be in the car 2 hours total, I assured him it was fine.  What I didn't know until we were loading up the car (much later than we were hoping) was that it was at least two hours to get into the mountains from Kelly's house.  4 hours round trip.  6 hours including the drive to and from our house to Kelly's, in one afternoon/evening.  I was still totally up for it, but feeling very unprepared with snacks, water, car activities.  But Christy really had our backs from the moment we got there and I was super grateful!  And I loved every minute of the adventure.  I actually love those kinds of spontaneous, crazy ideas.

I think we had already missed some of the more vibrant colors, but the cold air and the smell were exactly what this hot, sick, cabin-fevered mama needed.  This is the only out-of-the-car-window shot that actually sort of turned out.

In Utah I didn't realize what a blessing it was to be able to drive 15 or 20 minutes and be up in the gorgeous mountains.  But aside from family, that is for sure the thing I miss the most being in AZ.  Each year I find the AZ desert more and more beautiful, genuinely.  But...it will never be UT.  Also, I didn't fully appreciate the Fall in UT.  I was excited to wear my sweaters and drink hot chocolate, but mostly it meant that winter was coming and I HATED winter.  Still do.  I do NOT miss the snow.  But here in AZ I am absolutely pining for just a few weeks of a UT Fall.  It is still hot here in October and we are all pretty sick of it by that point.  But at least it cools off at night, and you usually get a few chilly days thrown in there at some point.

We were definitely not expecting snow, as evidenced by my family's flip-flops.  At one point we pulled off the side of the road and quickly shoved some snow in a bag to pass around the car.  The Johnson cousins were slightly less excited than my kids, having just moved from UT 7ish months ago.  But it's a pretty big deal for our kiddos.

Bryce was not impressed.  He really hates being cold.

Camille had a blast playing with that cold, white stuff.

Gabe was a trooper too, considering how he was dressed.

She is so darling!

It didn't take too long before it was too cold for almost all of us.

So we sat in blankets, ate some super yummy chicken salad sandwiches (a staple for our road trips), and headed home not too long after we had gotten there.  We got home pretty late and the kids went right to bed - they were really dragging getting ready for school the next morning!  Totally worth it, though!  I want to do this every year....