Our trip to Yuma!

In case I haven't mentioned it, Derk accepted a job in Yuma, Arizona. We came down last week to meet his employer and look for a house. We found a condo -- 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, granite counter tops, tons of counter space, and we have the option of buying it if we like it. The owner is super nice and is really desperate to get rid of it. I have tons of pictures of the condo, but I'll be posting tons of other pictures, so I'll spare you any further picture overload. :)

Anyway, we've had a pretty eventful week here. We've learned a few lessons throughout this week that will stay with us for the rest of our lives:

Lesson Learned #10-- Never try and save money by booking a cheaper hotel room again. Because cheaper apparently means the room comes complete with bugs, mold, stains on everything and nasty used condoms on the floor.

Lesson Learned #9-- Having a puking child with diarrhea is even less fun when staying at said hotel.

Lesson Learned #8-- Receptionists at money-saving hotels don't like having to get up off their rears to get you clean towels and bedding.

Lesson Learned #7-- There simply cannot be another town in the entire world that has as many dollar stores as Yuma does. I've counted 8 so far.

Lesson Learned #6-- Kids don't care if the car you're driving is a snazzy 2008 rental car. They'll puke in it anyway. Lots of times.

Lesson Learned #5-- Never buy a puppy from a guy on the streets, who claims the dog is a purebred and is worth far more than the $120 he's charging, no matter how unbearably adorable said puppy is.

Lesson Learned #4-- Some guys think it's cool to lay around in nothing but their underwear with the doors and curtains wide open.

Lesson Learned #3-- You can scarf a meal down in 3 minutes flat when you're afraid your kid is going to puke in the middle of a restaurant.

Lesson Learned #2-- My sick 18 month old would rather sleep on the floor, under a table, than on the bed.

And my favorite Lesson Learned of all......

Lesson Learned #1-- When you see armored cars, military dudes with guns and huge search lights, it's time to turn around. You're on the WRONG ROAD, buddy!

Let me explain that one a bit. Derk heard about these crazy cool sand dunes and wanted to go check them out. He decided to take the "back way", which was my first clue that this wasn't going to turn out right. How would he know what the "back way" was in a town we've never been in before? But, alas, I had to let him learn the hard way, just like any good mother would do for her kids. Because, yes, I do consider him to be one of my children. Sometimes.

So we're driving down this "back way", and the pavement ends. It's gravel from here on out. That was the first time I said, "Derk, I think it's time to turn around." But it wasn't the last time. He wanted to keep going, he could see the dunes off to the right, there had to be a connecting road. Somewhere. We drive a bit further, and we drive past the armored cars and big military dudes with guns. Time #2 for telling Derk to turn around, but he wants to keep going, now the dunes are just right across this ditch thing, which must be for irrigation, there has to be a connecting road.

We keep driving, and now we start passing border patrol vehicles with these cage type things in the back. Time #3 for telling Derk to turn around. He still insists that this must be the right road. I had to ask him if he was seriously that ignorant, and his reply of "I'll turn around in a few more minutes if I don't come to a connecting road, okay?" proved to me that the answer to my question was TRUE, TRUE, TRUE!!!

He finally realizes that, hey, there's no connecting road here, I'd better turn around! So he turns around, and we get pulled over by border patrol. Luckily he was a nice guy. He said the dunes across the ditch, which Derk learned was actually to catch illegal aliens, NOT for irrigation, were actually in Mexico. We were RIGHT on the border. 10 feet the other way, and we'd have been in deep doo-doo in Mexico with no passports to get back into the USA.

Derk's response to the whole thing? "Okay, I concede. The dudes in armored cars with guns and search lights should probably have tipped me off that this wasn't the right road." Does that mean he was saying I was right? Yes, and I actually made him say those 3 words (you. were. right.) just so I could really savor the moment.

Now on to the pictures from our trip.

We had to wake up way too early to catch our flight.


But she was all smiles by the time we were in the air.


It's amazing what things keep them occupied. She buckled and
unbuckled that seat belt for a good 15 minutes.


Mommy and Bri on the second flight (from Salt Lake to Yuma). She was
exhausted and was desperate for a nap, so I
strapped her in the Mei Tai so she'd stop
fighting and fall asleep. So smart. :)

Some highlights of Arizona scenery.


Here are the dunes we were TRYING to locate that night.
They're enormous.


Illegal aliens even try to sneak across the border over the dunes,
so they have border patrol dune buggies.

Derk and Cambria swimming at our hotel
(she's freaking out because there's a leaf in the water).

Cambria and I in the hot tub at our hotel.

Beautiful Cambria admiring a beautiful flower.

We wore her out. :)

My poor sick baby.

Trying to figure out how the fountain works.

It's been a fun trip, but we're anxious to get back to our other babies. They've been having such a fun time with my sister-in-law, Rebecca (you can visit her blog to see pictures of their fun week), and we're so grateful to Rebecca and Drew for watching them for us. It's been so fun to get to know the town and to scout out all the fun things for us to do when we move down here, and we can't wait to take Kyrie and Asher to all the fun places we've found. In just 2.5 short weeks we'll be Arizona residents!