Sedona and Phoenix

Last week, I got to enjoy 5 wonderful days in Arizona with some of my family. The first part of the five days began in Sedona. My brother-in-law and I ran the half marathon and my sister Cara ran the full marathon. It was a hard course because it literally went straight up, straight down, straight up, straight down... Crazy and it was totally beautiful.

 Cara and I. I finished the half in 2:17 and showered (No I did not run in a skirt. It would have been wonderful prepartion for Nauvoo though ;) then went back to cheer Cara on when she came in for 4 and a half hours for the full!

We spent the day in Sedona. Sedona is like a lucrative, super artsy, "meditative," "energy" city. More to explain below.

Intersesting art.

Or psychotic readings.

There were special crystal shops everywhere and fun little boutiques like these...

Hippy clothes

I had to do something artsy too. Like take a picture of my mom standing in front of a cool looking wall.

There were a lot of cool churches too. Like this one built in the rock.

It was just as neat inside.

Sedona was fun, then we spent some days in Phoenix where my sister lives. She knows all of the best trendy little cafes and restaraunts down there. We had some fine dining.

My favorite place was Arcadia farms in old town Scottsdale. It's an organic, artful cuisine.

We all shared warm brie with carmelized apples and I had this tasty thing...chicken, wild mushroom and leek crepes with goat cheese.

We also went to the coolest museum ever! The Musical Instrument Museum with musical instruments from all over the world.

The african drums were pretty sweet, as well as the Steinway exhibit.

But I'm pretty sure this was my favorite. I kid you not!...The musical glasses. Unfortunately they were behind glass so people are not tempted to touch or play them and sorry for the glare.

Prepare to laugh because right under the musical glasses was this caption...

No wonder they have them behind glass. They don't want anyone in the museum to have a panic attack or a nervous breakdown by their piercing sound.

They even had a room where you could try out a bunch of instruments from around the world.

We made Valentines cookies one day.

And we had my friend Sam over for dinner who is doing his internship there right now.

Grace was inthralled by his guitar playing.

Ah. And there she is, the little beauty.

And you can't forget the lovely cactus in Arizona. Yep it was a fun trip in the 80 degree weather, then we came home to a blizzard. Spring is on it's way.