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Jen's Holiday Getaway

This year was a MAJOR travel year for me! I have always loved traveling to new places, but 2022 was the year I dove right into planning as many trips as possible (both for business and for fun!!!! Sometimes both!!!)

We ended the year with a family trip to Sedona, Arizona and of course it was full of crazy moments and beautiful scenery. I appreciated that we had days where we did lots, and other days we didn't get out of our jammies! It's nice to come back from vacation refreshed...and not exhausted!!!

I thought I would share some of the highlights!

We arrived in Phoenix around noon on Christmas day and had no problem finding grocery stores and restaurants that were open. We found a small mom & pop diner and had the best french fries ever! When we drove up to Sedona. The pickings were slim...REALLY SLIM!!! When my husband ventured out to get our Christmas Dinner...he quickly learned that his only viable option was CVS pharmacy and their fridge & freezer were broken. He came back with protein bars, cookies, cheetos mac & cheese and pre-made margarita (a pitcher of it!!!). I unpacked it all and asked where was the butter and milk...and he just stared at me like "NOT TODAY, HONEY!" so I grabbed some creamer packets from our little cabin, rehydrated it with some pasta water and we were in business! Not sure why...but it actually tasted good and was the most interesting Christmas dinner I have ever had! Maybe next year we won't travel ON Christmas day!


Oh! And when we got to our little cabin, we discovered it was only 1 bedroom, when I reserved a 2-bedroom. I called down to the desk and they told me to go outside and across the patio and I would find our second bedroom! So, maybe I should have researched things a bit more! However, it turned out really fun. The kids got the main house and we got the little house! The picture below I took standing in the door of my little house and taking a picture of the kids' big house! Of course, even the "big" house was maybe 400 square feet total! :)


We scheduled a tour and got there a little early...when we got out of the car to walk around and waste time...guess what I saw?????

I thought there was a yarn shop but their website was down and I never looked up the address. But it was kinda meant to be....so Piper and I went in and got yarn. :)


The views in Sedona were just STUNNING! We had family photos taken at sunrise and they are so beautiful and we had a lot of fun with the photographer. For the record, Piper is NOT taller than me...but she found a spot in the rock that made her taller and she was so excited. 




They are growing up SO fast! Piper was in preschool when I opened the shop!



The kids were OVER pictures at this point

After getting up insanely early for family photos, we drove up to the Grand Canyon and words (and photos) just cannot express how stunning the Grand Canyon was!


Piper and I wore our new Grand Canyon beanies from the Knitting the National Parks book (by the way, we will have 20 more books arriving soon...if you want to be on the waitlist, let me know!) It was SOOOO windy...and I'm not usually a hat person, however it was COLD and I was so thankful for the hat. I did a folded over brim on my hat, but by the time I got to Piper's hat I knew I wouldn't be able to finish in time if I made hers long. So she got a normal brim and alllllll of the ends are shoved up in there because I ran out of time and didn't have a tapestry needle with me at the time...so we just worked with what we had! It was really fun to wear them at the national park and I can't wait to travel to a few more parks with my cute, hand-knit hats!!


I'm so thankful for the time we got to spend together, and the fact that cell service kinda sucked. It was nice to unplug and relax! 






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