Interview at Midwestern University, Glendale Arizona 10.16.09

Day One: Friday, October 16th: We met Steve and Laurel in Provo at Grandma and Grandpa Ostergaard's and started our journey to St. George, Utah.

This is my peace of mind, because the kiddies were having their own peace of mind...ahhh.

Until....

Andrew was tired of being in the car, but we only had 45 minutes left! When we got to St. George we went to visit Kyle at work (he manages movie theatres). It was so good to see him. We haven't seen him since July at the Campout.

Porter gets bored with visiting so he found the video games much more interesting. You think there is money in there? Nope. This kid doesn't need money to make him happy.

Day Two: Saturday, Oct. 17th-Woke up at the CRACK OF DAWN to get ready to go. These boys were pretty snuggie and it was hard to wake their sleepy little buns.

Mike was RISE and SHINE like he always is. He even went for a run. This is 6am on vacation.

We started our drive headed to Flagstaff, Arizona. Here are the daily pics...

Andrew

Laurel's such a trooper all the way in the back seat this WHOLE trip. Porter was glad to have his buddy watching movies with him the WHOLE trip. Thank goodness for modern technology.

A happy-go-lucky guy.

Steve loves tootsie roll pops. :)

Jenn can't have tootsie roll pops :(

We made our way to Colorado City--The Famous F. LDS polygamist ranch

(not to be confused with L.D.S.)

Then to Pipe Springs National Monument

This is where the Windsor Family was called on an LDS Mission to take care of this ranch. It was a tithing ranch where they kept the livestock that was tithed to them. They also used it to make cheese, butter, etc. etc. and fed it to those who were passing through as well as sending it to St. George to feed the folks who were working on the temple. They didn't know it but their sheep had eaten all of the grass and the water was being used up so the Pia Ute tribe that shared this land with them were dying off. They of course stopped doing this once they realized the cause.

During the tour, Andrew had the biggest blow out diaper of his life. I had to be escorted out and re-start the tour when he was all cleaned up.

This is also the place of the FIRST telegraph in Arizona.

Porter went on a hike around the monument and circled all of the finds on his map so they crowned him Jr. Park Ranger.

This is an interesting stop if anyone is ever in the area. It looks like it would've been pretty horrible if you were called to serve in this desert!

Next Stop, the Colorado River

First family picture since Andrew has been born.

Porter is surprisingly NOT scared of this creepy river.

We had to keep telling him to stay by us and stop running around. We then got this sweet shot and Mike and I came up with the slogan for this horrific tragedy.

Jenn and Andrew. Best buddies.

Steve was so afraid that Porter was gonna do something stupid, he had to get off of the bridge. He kept saying "Porter, get away from the edge buddy!" Laurel was ....you guessed it....shopping! At many of the tourist stops they have native Americans selling their jewelry and pottery.

Mike and Andrew. No, Mike is not a paid model.

There was a pile of rocks, just before the bridge and Porter of course was climbing all over it.

Then Grandma led him down to walk across the bridge and find a potty.

Flagstaff Hotel

We made it to Flagstaff at a great time. With an easy check-in and surprisingly clean and comfortable rooms that Steve found for $50 a room! (It was a mystery place. We didn't know if it would be that great.) But it turned out to be a GREAT find! My props go out to Steve for that one! We got some DE-LISH Mexican food for din din and then snuggled right up for a great nights sleep.

Day Three: Sunday, October 18th:

Flagstaff Driving around the town to find a Church. We ended up at Church #1, they started an hour early because the building was under construction. Church #2 was a little harder to find. We drove around a lot of Flagstaff to find it. It was a cute building nestled in trees in a quaint neighborhood. It's always interesting to see the church in other states.

The morning pics...

Port and Grandma

Andrew.

Mike is driving, not sleeping, believe it or not! :)

Steve is trying to Navigate us through this sticky situation.

After Church we headed to Phoenix.

Of course today couldn't have gone as smoothly as the first two days.

Drove to Phoenix, INSANELY Bad Traffic. We were going so slow, I took Andrew out and fed him. Porter had to pee, so it was the first time we used the

"Pee in the bottle" trick. (I'm really lucky I have boys!)

And by the time we got to the hotel, there were 4 people in line and it took about half an hour EACH to get checked in. (This was another internet find that we were sure about.) While we were waiting, Porter had to go number two. So there weren't any bathrooms to speak of so we drove down the street to a seven 11. Where he did not go number two. We got back to the hotel where he played around the office for a while. And had to go again! We just waited this one out.

Once we got into the room. It was a single bed, when there were suppose to be two beds. But the good news was that it was VERY clean! Thank goodness. So while Steve and Laurel entertained Porter and got the room thing figured out (in that grueling line!), Mike and I drove to Glendale and figured out where the school was and where he was suppose to go in the morning. We then stayed up and worked on his interview skills and had some Burger King for a late dinner.

Day Four: Monday, October 19th

Midwestern University Interview.

The interview went really well. Mike said that there are only two questions that he would've answered differently.

1. Who would you eat dinner with?

2. What makes you the happiest?

You'll have to ask him about that cause it's late, and I've been working on this post for over a week now. :)

While Mike was interviewing we drove all around the Pheonix Area.

We were looking for the Mesa, Arizona Temple. Which up until this point, I wasn't too sure that you could make Arizona beautiful. But once we saw what could be done with the place, I thought it might actually be okay to live in the desert.

Grandma and Porter ran all around the temple and got some energy out. Porter found every sprinkler and got himself pretty wet. Luckily it was warm enough that he was all dried off by the time we had to get back in the car and leave.

After the interview we hopped ship and drove all the way back to St. George. But we didn't make it past this little BBQ joint. Which was featured in some Arizona travel something or other. I don't like meat very much, let alone BBQ. But Joe served up some pretty tasty wings.

We drove through the Hoover Dam where Mike almost got caught peeing over a rail. (At least it was dark out.) The baby was screaming a lot of this leg of the race. We were all Pretty tired of driving.

Day Five: Tuesday, October 20th Drive from St. George, Utah all the way home!

We had stopped at this little cheese factory in Beaver, Utah on the way to St. George and of course on the way home. But by this time it had been FIVE days since I had had any really great sugary products (because of the milk allergy). I saw these people walking out of the store eating giant yummy ice cream cones, licking away. Enjoying a little luxury. I felt like all was lost! These are just a few of the treats that I missed out on.

Maverik Frozen yogurt and Beaver's freshly made Ice cream.

peanut m&ms.

And tootsie rolls. That aren't my personal favorite, which is why I brought them for others to snack on. It turns out that those are even a real delicacy when you can't have dairy.

Andrew. He is a sweet treat that I DO get to eat up! He is the reason I sacrifice my greatest desires! :)

To mom and pop Cranney--It was a wonderful trip and I am SO glad that we could enjoy this trip together! Lots of fun memories and laughs! If anyone is looking for fun, easy going people to travel with. You've found 'em! Steve and Laurel Cranney.