Sedona! Days 1-3

The first week of August, we had a family reunion for the Davis side at Sedona, AZ. Just with my immediate family. We took 2 days to drive down there and 2 days back. Kylie doesn't do great in the car, so we were a bit worried about doing a really long day. But she did better than I expected, so that was good. Sedona is a beautiful place with red rocks and pine trees. Just what my family loves! My parents rented a huge house and also a small cabin for all of us to stay in. The Patterson's slept at the small cabin and the rest of us were at the huge house. It was a really cool home that was shaped like a U and had a lot of open spaces and glass doors to see outside. There was a fun yoga room and a huge living/kitchen space. The rooms were large. Ours was kind of an Asian theme and we were able to have Logan and Kylie sleep in there with plenty of room to spare and we also had our own bathroom with a big soaker tub and nice shower. It was all black. The only downside was that the owners had recently realized that when they had too many people staying there, the septic system overflowed so they were worried about having such a large group, which is why my parents also had to get the small cabin. We didn't shower everyday and used very little water when bathing the kids. We also only flushed when it was brown.

The cute babies hanging out in the yoga room while we explored the house.

Logan and Easton sharing a big chair thing

Outside was also cool. It was a huge lot with a little creek, a pond, and a pool and hot tub.

The first day was just spent settling in. We got there around 4 pm. The next day, we went to a fun place called Slide Rock. It's basically just a river but how it has flowed and cut the red sandstone, it has made some natural slides. It was actually really slippery in some places. It was really busy and took awhile to get in. Nate and I couldn't do a whole lot since we each had to stay with a child. Nate stayed with Logan and I stayed with Kylie. So I mostly just hung out on the side. I was too worried about climbing around the rocks with Kylie just in case I slipped and fell while holding her. We also forgot to bring the bag that had our sunscreen and Logan's floatie. We had to buy some really expensive sunscreen there. Nate went down a little slide with Logan and he had fun but when we asked Logan if he wanted to do it again, he said he didn't. After we ate some lunch, we moved to a different spot where there was some shade and some of the adults and Colden & Brinley did some cliff jumping. It was really high so not everyone had the guts to do it. I was just happy to have Kylie in the shade. After some time there, some families went to a different spot with some bigger slides, but Tiffany's family and our family were done so we went back. I should've gotten pictures of the slides, but it's just so slippery! You worry about getting your camera wet!

The cliff under the bridge is where people were jumping.

The next day, which turned out to probably be the hottest day of the week, we went to an
African Safari. It was really cool. While waiting for the bus tour, we first looked at some monkeys and birds that were right at the beginning. Then we went on a tour bus and got to feed a giraffe (the tour guide and David fed the giraffe by putting the piece of celery in their mouth so they got a giraffe kiss!). We also got to see animals roaming around like zebras, ostriches, different kinds of antelope looking things, and water buffalo. Logan was in heaven. I'm not sure Kylie really knew what was going on and that it was cool.

There we are feeding the giraffe!

The tour guide with the ostrich

A lemur, before the bus tour

These were also before the bus tour.

The tour guide "kissing" the giraffe. I didn't get a picture of David doing it.

Water Buffalo. This one was named string cheese. I guess they make string cheese out of water buffalo milk.

Long-horned cows

After the bus tour, we hoofed it up a trail (we should've waited for the tram. It was so hot!) to see more animals in enclosures and especially to see the Tiger show. We ate lunch first and then went to see the Tiger show. My favorite part was definitely the Tiger show. They really are just big cats and like to play with normal cat toys, just on a larger scale. I guess they don't actually train the cats, they just play with them. And of course, they have to be really careful, which is why they have 3 workers to play with them. At one point, the tiger jumped in the water after a worker and got his claws stuck on him so they others had to jump in and pry them off. They were pretty entertaining as well so it really made for a fun show.

After the show, we were able to get a ticket for Logan to actually feed a tiger!  They put a piece of meat at the end of a long clamp and Logan got to stick it through the fence for the tiger to eat. We did have to wait in a long line in the heat, but it was worth it. And apparently, even with all of these people feeding them (there were 3), this was just like a snack to them. They really must eat a lot!

Logan was so little, he had to stand on the bar instead of behind it. He did a great job though!

After this we saw just a few more animals and watched a show until the tram came to take us back down. Some of the others stayed longer to see some sort of feeding of some animals, but the heat was killing us and I just worry about my babies, so we went back and Kylie was able to have a nap.

That night we had a fun evening of lip syncing. Tiffany was the one with the idea and at first, I wasn't really on board with the idea because we had to prepare something, but it was really awesome! So funny! I definitely think we should do it again. And Tiffany recorded it all so we all have DVDs of it now.

 We did "Shake it off" by Tayler Swift. because Logan loves that song. It was originally going to just be Logan and me, but Nate decided to join in last minute. I'm glad he did! But Logan was the star with his awesome dancing. I love this boy!

Missy's family did Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It was awesome! Shawn especially did great!

Tiffany did the Napoleon Dynamite dance and totally killed it while being pregnant. I felt like we were back at Girl's Camp again!

My mom and dad did the Carpenters "Sing a Song". They were really cute and I loved my dad's facial expressions. They also got audience involvement by having us join in with the chorus.

JJ and Kristy did "Love is an Open Door" from Frozen. Their's was really cute. 

Angie's family did "We will Rock You". So Queen got represented twice. Rob was the main singer, but Angie had an awesome air guitar solo. 

Missy's girls love the limelight so they did their own and did the Lego Movie song, "Everything is Awesome". They were darling. Brinley did the rap and the other two did the rest.

Missy and Angie did an impromptu Paula Abdul song "Straight Up". They were so good at it, especially with having zero practice. It was great!

After that, I quickly put Kylie to bed because she had had it and then Tiffany did a gender reveal! She did it all Tiffany like and had cute paper and lettering and blue and pink milk and cute straws. We put our guesses in. Most people went with boy but I chose girl. Then she opened a milk bottle and poured out pink milk! It's a girl! My guess didn't get drawn out though. Then we all had milk and cookies. Then we put all the kids to bed and played some games. I was so tired though I was really struggling with focusing on the games. I'll do the next couple of days on a different post.