Our maiden voyage

It was time to try out our new camper! We were all a little nervous. Avery was nervous because she didn't want the camper to tip while we were driving, I was nervous because I didn't want to die from carbon monoxide poisoning, and I'm pretty sure Travis was nervous to park the big rig. But we did it... sort of.

We decided to go to the warmest place in Arizona since it was January. Tucson it was. They have cool caves that we have wanted to explore. We also decided to just stay in an RV park since it was our first time. We pulled up about 8pm and everything went smoothly. We parked, hooked everything up, and the kids were ecstatic. We celebrated Brooklyn's birthday and had a great night of sleep. The next day, we went exploring in the caves. It was pretty neat! The only problem is that you couldn't touch anything! Any form of human oil or food or liquid could deteriorate the caverns, and these people really wanted to keep it safe! For a 2 year old, that is almost impossible. So Travis took on the task of keeping Isla. He did break the rule, and he snuck in 3 gummy worms. Those worms were life savers. He used every centimeter of them, ripping them apart to keep Isla sane. After the caves, we hung out in the camper and relaxed. Then Avery and I went on a hike. It was fun! Now to the fun part of the story. The camping errors. Remember, we are first time campers over here!

Camping error #1: Musicgate 2017. Remember, we are camping in Tucson in an RV park (old people central). We were really excited to make our first dinner in our kitchen. We had the music playing, we chose Coldplay because its good chill out music. For some reason, it just wasn't playing very loud inside, it almost sounded muffled. Oh well. After about 30 or so minutes, we got a knock on our door. It was the campsite host. When I opened the door, I realized that I could finally here Coldplay loud and clear. Well, we accidentally had the music on the mode where it plays outside instead of inside. We were blasting Coldplay pretty loud. The old people weren't too excited about it, and about 5 different camps complained to the guy. We were the rowdy ones. Oops! But come on people, its not like we were blasting Eminem. And it was like 8pm. Relax!

Camping Error #2: Propane much? After one good night and day camping, Travis realized that the heater wasn't working along with other things in the camper. He played around with everything, but it wasn't going on. We had to sleep that night without heat. It was freezing! Like 30 degrees! I'm so happy we had warm sleeping bags. Apparently we ran out of propane in one of the tanks, and it didn't switch over to the other tank or we didn't switch it over. We seriously don't know what we are doing! But like I said, we all survived! It was almost like we were tent camping vs luxury trailer camping!

Camping Error #3: Guess the liquid. The next morning, after freezing our butts off, we were packing up, getting ready to go. We got another knock on our door. Dreading the visitor, we opened the door to find our trusty camp host again. He said that he got more complaints from our neighbors saying that our camper was leaking something. We are pretty sure it was just water, but you never know! Travis solved the problem, and everything was good. That was our second offense to those around us. Sorry people, we are rookies! Also, you can just come and tell us, you don't have to tattle!

We learned a lot from our first time. We still have a lot to learn. The RV world is a very different world. I almost feel like we need to read RV's for dummies!

After we left, we went to Old Tucson. This is where lots of old west films were filmed. They also had live old western acts. It was pretty cool!

The train conductor

 their future for sure

 But they will find a way to bust out

Reunited and it feels so good!

It has been 19 months since we saw the Johnson's. That is roughly 570 days since we have seen our best friends. Since then, one child was born, one on the way, an almost dental school grad and lots of growing children have transpired. But we finally made it happen, we snuck a couple of days in St. George together. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous that maybe it had been too long, and that things wouldn't be as natural, and that it could be awkward sharing a house for 3 days straight. I was crazy. Things with the Johnson's are just easy. We "get" each other. We have the same "perv" level, and that is very important in a relationship. Chris talks, Travis listens, and Jana and I make fun of them. We can be sarcastic and silly, but we also have a lot of serious talks as well. 

 We had good times being adventurous outside. We went to Pioneer park and Snow Canyon. Avery was in pure Heaven! Travis almost died on a cattle guard, but he made it. The best times were when the kids went to bed and it was just the adults hanging out. We played games, and of course said about a million "thats what she said" jokes. The Dyer's were able to make the trip out and hung out with us as well. It was so much fun catching up and just hanging out. I really miss our Kansas City life. It feels like a lifetime ago! We will always have these bonds with these friends, that is one thing money can't buy! 

The great Globe circus

The smallest circus came to our town. It was called the great Benjamin's circus. I had no idea what to expect because Globe is a tiny town, so anything touring to Globe has got to be interesting. And interesting it was! We walked in, and there were about 15 other people. We did go to the matinee show, so I guess its not weird that it wasn't sold out. The acts were pretty decent as far as talent goes. There was this clown that would come in in-between the acts and do all sorts of cheesy things. I guess the way to describe this circus was old fashioned. Almost like it was 50 years behind the times. My kids really liked it. Avery was actually called down and was apart of an act. The parents were entertained by the pure oddness of it all. It made me think about all of these circus performers lives. How did they get here? They travel to minuscule towns performing for a small crowd. Is this what they thought they would do when they were little? Are they happy? What do they do on their off days? It just got me thinking. And also reminded me to put my kids in college asap!