Phoenix

My brother recently moved to Phoenix and took his cute family with him.

Relationships take work when family is close and it's even harder when the distance increases. I'd been thinking a lot about how to keep our relationship strong when they are so far away and was talking to my mom about this when she mentioned maybe we should go visit them and their new baby, Dallin. I jumped at the chance. My sister Angie came and brought her 3 young kids and I brought Alex and along the way I was able to surreptitiously cross "go to Grand Canyon"

Okay, this picture makes me look fat. I'm not really that fat. I promise.

and "go to Lake Powell" off our Summer Bucket List.

Ha, ha. My kids didn't go for that. I am already planning a trip to take them because both places are awesome.

Phoenix was wonderfully hot. Can you tell who had been traveling for 10 hours and was ready to cool off a bit?

5 of my mom's 7 boy grandchildren (missing Erik and Nathan)

Reed and Brittney were excited for us to come and I'm glad we made the trip. I arrived home to find the rest of my family anxiously waiting on the front porch for our return. And for some reason, I had this funny feeling that they weren't overly anxious to see me as they were to see their brother. He was greatly missed.