Arizona- There and Back Again in 4 days

Tanner and I just got home from Arizona last night after a whirlwind of a trip. We hadn't planned on going because we didn't have the money to buy tickets and I hate traveling alone with Tanner. Chris couldn't come because he had drill and so we just decided not to go. But then my siblings all decided to go and since Mom really wanted us ALL there, Tanner and I joined the road trip crew.
So there was David, Joseph, Julieta, Sarah, Laura, Tanner and I. Keep in mind, Julieta is 34 weeks pregnant right now and they just moved here on Monday from Utah (another very long drive). But she was a total trooper.
So we left Wednesday night around 8:30 and started on the expected 18-hour drive. 18 hours??? YEAH RIGHT!
Because Julieta is so far along the doctor didn't want her going longer than 2-hours at a time in the car without getting out and walking around. So every two hours on the dot we'd pull over at a gas station and have her stretch her legs and walk around to prevent blood clots. Now this wouldn't have been a big deal except we also had Tanner in the car and he wakes up whenever the car stops for longer than 2 minutes. So every time Julieta got out to walk around Tanner also woke up. UGH!
But that wasn't even that big of a deal compared to what happened next.

It was about 3:30 am and my brother David is driving along I-40, when all of the sudden we hear something metal hit the side and back window of the car. We tell him to pull over and so he does. We get out and I run to the back of the car and look on top where are luggage was tied and EVERYTHING is gone. The roof of our car is completely bare except for the suspension straps we used to tie everything down. They are still intact.
So then Joseph and David find a flashlight and start scavenging the roadside for any trace of our luggage. They are fortunate enough to find Sarah's bag all wrapped up inside the tarp and mostly untouched. They also find Julieta's duffel bag still intact. David's bag was inside the car with us because he had the DVDs and games in his and we wanted those where we could get to them for the trip, so his bag was also fine. And that's about where our luck runs out.
They find Laura's backpack, open and missing all her t-shirts, but mostly OK. My suitcase with all of Tanner's baby stuff and my clothes and bathroom stuff is in shreds. Literally the lid is torn from the suitcase and the bottom of the suitcase is held together by a few leather straps. The suitcase is completely empty which means my stuff is all over the road. We couldn't even find Joseph's bag, but we did manage to find a few articles of his clothing.
So its 3:30 am and we parked on the side of an interstate that is teeming with semi trucks and we're watching our stuff get run over by those massive semi wheels over and over again. Julieta is having a meltdown because she is so sad about whats happened. She keeps trying to help run onto the interstate in between passing semi trucks and get stuff and I'm running after her trying to get her back in the car because she's 8 months pregnant and insane. But of course she doesn't listen to anyone but Joseph and so I'm having no effect at all on her. The boys are still out in the dark trying to scavenge some more of our stuff and Sarah and Laura are trying to sort out what little stuff survived. It was CRAZY!
About an 30 minutes later we pile everything we found into the car with us and decide to head to a nearby Wal-Mart to sort everything out and replace stuff we lost.
Luckily Laura found a few of her shirts and so she didn't loose much. Joseph and I however were not so lucky. I lost 3-4 shirts, underwear, all of my makeup and bathroom stuff, earrings, straightener, curling iron,phone charger, camera battery charger, two books I'd just bought, and most devastating- my scriptures I got for high school graduation. It may not sound like a huge deal, but they had all my notes, insights, highlighted verses, stickers and much more. I'm still not over that loss.
Because I was trying to save room and packed Tanner and I in the same bag, he also lost a ton of stuff including sleepers, a pair of jeans, 4-5 shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, a whole package of diapers, two cans of very expensive formula, all his bottles, bowls, spoons, and baby food.
Joseph lost all but two pairs of shorts, some underwear and a shirt I think.

Isn't that the most horrible story ever? luckily we didn't loose any laptops or cameras. We bought alot of stuff at Wal-mart but we're still missing a ton of stuff. The clothes we did salvage were covered in mud and dirt and something that smelled alot like cow poop. We could only hope that our hotel would have a washer and dryer. It was horrible.

That entire ordeal took about 3 hours to sort out before we were back on the road, covered in highway grime and exhausted. But don't worry- we sprayed each other down with febreeze to staunch the smell. We still had about 12 hours to go in the car together. I'm sure the people who watch Wal-mart security cameras are going to have a good laugh. Seriously, Febreeze showers? That's just how desperate we were!

After stopping every two hours the rest of the trip, we finally arrived in the beautiful mountains of Arizona around 8:00 pm which was 10:00 for us since we were on AR time. We were exhausted, smelly, a little grumpy and cramped. Since we didn't risk tying our stuff on top again, we stuffed everything in the car and had no leg room the rest of the trip. It was hysterical. When we arrived we couldn't help but laugh and relay our adventure to our family there. Luckily there was a washer and dryer in the cabin my mom was staying in so we got some laundry started, everyone took showers, said a few brief hello's to people and headed to our hotel room to pass out. The trip that should have taken 18 hours, took us 6 hours and about $350 more than we had expected.

And now that I've written a novel about our eventful trip there, I can give you a BRIEF- (I promise) rundown of our short family reunion.
Friday morning we eventually woke up and ate breakfast, played with our cousin's millions of kids and ate some more. Visited, played games, visited some more and finished our laundry so we'd have some clean clothes to wear.
Saturday morning we had a baby shower for Julieta and my cousin Kamala- they are both going to be first time mommies and both having boys. It was fun with all the girl cousins and aunts. Then we just hung out more and Saturday night was the talent show. The talent show is always the funniest part of the reunion because kids are SO DANG FUNNY! Then after the talent show we said our "good-byes" and load back up into our car and started that 18-hour drive home. This time it only took us 19 1/2 hours to get home. Much better!
Here are some pictures from our quick trip! Oh and I hope all you ARIZONA FAMILY know how much we LOVE YOU GUYS!

Tanner before we left for our forever long trip! Yeah, we busted out the big boy seat for the drive. I think Tanner would have gone crazy in his rear facing infant seat.

Tanner sleeping in his big boy car seat

Tanner loved the sand box. He's is such a little boy.

And of course he had to taste it.

Being a little boy again

Tanner getting to know his sweet cousin Jace. Jace loves to give kisses and Tanner loves to get them. Don't mind the tongue- I don't know where Tanner learned that.

Tanner and his buddy Grant. They're about a month apart and because they both have a head of dark hair, all the kids thought they were twins. It was so cute!


Seriously, could this picture be any sweeter? Tanner stared at this picture of Christ for honestly 10 minutes. It was like "Jesus, I know him"

Here are a few family pictures
Nanny and her boys, minus Chris and Dad.

Tanner helping his Uncles learn to walk.

Family shot. Too bad the lighting didn't turn out- so you could see the beautiful mountains in the background

One more Family shot with little Porter. He is the SWEETEST little boy!

Tanner and I. Yeah we're wearing sweatshirts. It was chilly there. Which is so refreshing because its SOOO hot at home!

Ok finally I'm done with the post. Sorry its so long, but I had to paint a clear picture of our adventures!