Arizona Christmas 2017

Christmas with Derek's family 2017

Boxing Day December 26, Tuesday.
We did another drive through the night deal. We traded places around Mt. Caramel and I drove until just outside of Page where I napped and Derek kept sleeping until right outside Flagstaff.
Our view of The Grand Staircase area where we were napping.

Leg stretch in Flagstaff at the Elden Pueblo Ruins. It's right next to the road, free, and smelled amazing with all the trees. A nice little walk around. 

We didn't do much stopping this year because we wanted to get down to his family and do things with them.

Wednesday Dec. 27
After a nice long run in the morning with some yoga, we just chilled during the day and played games.

Thursday Dec. 28
Back to Flagstaff to go hiking at Sunset Crater. We would've stopped on our way down since we made good time, but we had already talked about hiking here with Derek's parents.
We started the year hiking volcanoes and ended the year hiking volcanoes.
I love these funny looking squirels! 

It's not as steep or long as it looks, I only took it from this angle to tease Alicia.

There's the volcano.  This is as close as you can legally get to the cinder cone. 

 A hornito aka spatter cone.

The backside of the volcano.

Was such a cute photo until Derek's face got washed out and looks like a grandpa :(

Of course all the hot air balloons on the way back.

And then some minecraft quests to finish off the evening.

Friday Dec. 29
Hiking at Lake Pleasant while Rachael preps for her party.

This is why we came here.. because Derek didn't believe that that burro crossing signs are because there's real live wild burros in the area. 

Watching the burros.

Then it was game time!

Rachael made a Clue themed escape room party!

Goodwill costumes included!
We were Mr. & Mrs. Green... arms dealers.

Derek thought I looked a lot like The Childlike Empress/Moon Child, guess I have my next Halloween costume.

Solving puzzles.. and learning about "Horse Chip".

Then a 7 course dinner.. 7 courses!!!

Monkey Brains.. pasta salad with veggies.

Col. Mustard Chicken.

Palate Cleanser of flavored ice.

Miss Scarlet Stake and Potatoes.

Mrs. Peacock fruit salad.

Mrs. White Cheesecake.

So much fun! Rachael did a fantastic job! 

Saturday December 30
Derek took his sisters and Cameron out shooting. I stayed back and read. It was amazing.. for me :)
The spot we had gone shooting at last year was taken, so they had to drive farther and then hike in.  Derek said it wasn't the best and there were a bunch of hill-billies out there that probably could use some safety lessons.
After they all got back, had a nap, and showered- we played more games, watched clue, and had our own mock-tini bar that Janae wrote up all these fun drinks to try.

The trip went by fast! We left Sunday Dec. 31 morning so that way we could get back in town with enough time to relax before I bad to pick up Jordan for the Beat The New Year.

Midway Ice Castles

Tuesday January 9
Derek and I went with the Nelson's to Midway Ice Castles.
We watched Frozen on the ride up.

It was raining but that's no big deal. 

The Nelson family.  TJ just wasn't having it and wouldn't smile for Derek.

Lots of slides!

Oh yes.. I paid the ridiculous amount for coco and "souvenir" mug.. only because it's a triangle. 

Then we watched Beauty and the Beast on the drive home. 

You'll see Thalia and Sabrina mostly in the video and photos because we were watching them while Tyler went on the bigger slide. 
Surprised that Derek actually made a family video within 5 years of the trip? Well because he was also making a camera lens review and using footage from this trip. 

I'm sure if we went during a more wet winter where Utah actually had snow.. this would be more impressive.  It was fun going with the kiddos but overall kinda a let down. I do however want to go swimming in the crater. 

Books to Movies & The Best of 2017

Books to Film and the Top 7 of

hyperlinks included

Books read that have movies/tv shows:

Island of the Blue Dolphins in the 1964 version.

Books for Psycho (1960) and also Bates Motel tv show.

Invisible Cities is based on the travels of Marco Polo.. several movies and a tv series made. 

Fairest of All is a Snow White story.
The Beast Within is a Beauty and the Beast story.
Poor Unfortunate Soul is a The Littler Mermaid story.
A Wrinkle in Time from 2003, but a re-make is in the works to come out in 2018.
Girl on the Train came out in 2016.
The Three Musketeers and 1993 version.
The Monuments Men came out in 2014
The Zookeeper's Wife came out this year 2017
Washington's Spies was a TV series that started in 2014 and ended this year 2017. I know that the war ends, but the way they had started plot lines and such seemed like they were planning on a 5th season and so the 4th and last season felt rushed to close off ties and not really tell how everyone fared after the war.  Sometimes I just get too emotionally tied to books.
The Call of the Wild has several movie adaptations .
I Am Not A Serial Killer came out in 2016 but I just happened upon it randomly looking for the movie I Am Number Four and I got really excited to watch it. And then I was super disappointed 5 minutes in, just the way the actor/writing team portrayed John was just horrid.
Hidden Figures book wasn't as fun as the movie.
The Witches: Salem 1692 and it's classic movie.
The Outlander books have tv series on Starz so you've been warned.
The Neverending Story and it's 1984 movie.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. We listened to this book on one of our adventures and both of us were not impressed.  It had so much potential, maybe if a different person wrote the book. But the movie was ok.
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage has many documentaries and a few movies/mini tv series.

Top 7 of 2017

1) The Trails of Apollo books 1 & 2 by Rick Riordan.  The rest of the series haven't been published yet.

2) The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton series is quickly becoming an addictive read.
3) The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. I've read many books that discuss the importance of having nature in their lives and every time it just makes me more of a believer, that I fear my kids will be tree huggers. 

4) Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
5) Heartless by Marissa Meyer
6) The Turn #0 by Kim Harrison. Oh man I was so excited when she decided to do some back stories! Bonus I won this book.
7) I Am Not a Serial Killer (The John Cleaver Series #1-3 are the better ones) by Dan Wells.