Taking a Break in Arizona

I love being a Mom but I won't lie...sometimes I need a break!  It truly is a 24/7 job and this Momma needed to get away for a bit.  So...I called up my friend, Jill, who lives near Prescott, Arizona and asked if I could come visit for a few days.  Lucky for me she said yes and Paul agreed to take off of work to stay home with the kiddos.  So, last week I was on my way.  I got very motion sick on the itty-bitty plane that I flew out to Arizona in but luckily the rest of the trip went more smoothly - until I had to fly back and they put me on an even smaller plane...

I'm a girl who gets more rejuvinated from a day outside in a beautiful, relaxing setting than I would at a spa so this was perfect.  We took a little hike at a lake where all the rocks looked "bubbly".

We also drove to Sedona to go to Slide Rock State Park.  When Paul and I lived in Arizona, we visited Sedona several times to get away from the scorching summer heat in Phoenix.  On a few different trips up North, we had visited Slide Rock and I loved it.  Jill had never been so I wanted to show her this little treasure.  

It's a beautiful area in Oak Creek Canyon where the rocks underneath the water are slippery and smooth and they form a natural slide.  The water is extremely COLD but if you're brave enough to get in, it's quite fun to slide down the rocks.

Jill bravely went first

BRRRRR!!!!

Jill even was brave enough to jump off a little cliff into the water below.  I taped the whole thing on my camera but FYI if you tape something with your camera, don't hold the camera up and down because otherwise your footage will be sideways....oops.

The best part of Slide Rock if you ask me is when you get away from the crowds by hiking up the Canyon a ways.  The creek is not very deep so you can actually walk in the water and climb around all the rocks.  Luckily, Jill had perfect shoes for the occasion which made it less likely to slip on the rocks.

It was a wonderful day!

I saw quite a bit of wildlife during my trip including lots and lots of lizards,

One of which had a blue belly,

A quail,

And his quail babies,

Beautiful butterflies,

And even a snake while we were hiking in the water at Slide Rock.  Sorry no picture of that though - I was busy running as far as I could away from the thing.

We went to two movies while I was there, did a little shopping, and Jill inspired me with her craftiness.  We made beaded lanyards to hold our work name tags and she showed me how to navigate Pinterest so I can start making all sorts of fun stuff - I'm sure Paul is going to be thrilled.

It really was a great trip!  I had a chance to relax and catch my breath which was very needed.  So, I'm now back to the daily grind but refreshed and ready to go.  Bring it on!