Maxwell Reunion

This past weekend, Jodie and I went the Maxwell's Family Reunion in St. George. It had been a long time since I have hung out with that side of my family and we really enjoyed ourselves. So, we left Wednesday night, after work, and met up with Robert and Emily in Kingman, AZ. We got there at midnight and the hotel was... scary. We picked it because it was rated 4/5 stars on google by over 30 people (I'd be interested to know their thought process when rating hotels), but it was definitely a little scary. But anyway, we survived the night and I took an online exam that morning for my summer class and Jodie went out with Robert, Emily, and crew to get breakfast. After that, we drove the rest of the way to St. George. So, here are some pictures along the way of the Hoover Dam- Jodie's first time seeing the dam.

So, here's a view as you approach the dam.
A view of Lake Mead
The new interstate bridge being built to bypass the Hoover Dam
The side of the dam
The AZ clock
The NV clock
Jodie's tribute to Chad's new interest in mountain climbing (note the statue at the bottom of the picture).
Jodie's tribute to Shaun and a view of the Vegas skyline.
Once we arrive in St. George, we were all pretty tired. So, we ended up stealing Annie from Robert and Emily and she fell asleep in my arms. Shortly after, I fell asleep. So, here's a picture that Jodie took and I just happened to wake up as she was taking the picture.
After a quick nap, we met up with the rest of the Maxwell family for dinner.

The next day, I forgot my camera in the morning- so no pictures. Sorry. But anyway, on Friday, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had fun playing different games and puzzles and listening to Grandma's life story.

That evening, however, we went to see a performance of Tarzan. It was really neat because it was done in an outside amphitheater nestled in the red rock cliffs. Here are some pictures...
Jodie and Emily
Jodie and I
John
Some more of the group (Uncle Bruce, Catherine, and Uncle Paul).
The stage
Grandpa Maxwell and Uncle Mark
During the performance, no pictures were allowed. But some of the characters went out afterwards still dressed in their costumes. So, we got this picture with the main gorilla.
Jodie and I
The next day, we had some more games and activities- one of which was bingo. James loved calling out the numbers and did a very good job at it.
Picture of half of the group playing bingo
Another shot
Later that night, I found a monkey that had velcro on this paws so that you could put him on- James really like it. So, here's a picture of Grandma putting the monkey on James.
Later, Robert was reading a book to James.
That night, we stopped by the St. George temple with Robert and Emily. It was very pretty to see it all lit up.
On the way home, we passed by fairly close to the Schultz fire in Flagstaff. We were really glad that we got through when we did because they closed down Highway 89 about 10-15 minutes after we passed through. They even had us stopped on the highway while they evacuated people from their homes. Kind of scary and hope that they can quickly contain the fire- it's currently burned 15,000 acres around Flagstaff.

Here's a picture of the smoke cloud- it extend all the way up to Cameron, AZ- some 70 miles north of Flagstaff. We could also see the cloud when we left St. George too.
The fire coming towards the homes and the highway
Looking back into the fire from the south
After passing the fire, it was smooth sailing to Phoenix. We stopped off in Phoenix to wish my Dad happy father's day. After a short visit, we got back on the road and drove the rest of the 2 hours to Tucson. Needless to say, we were spent when we arrived and quickly fell asleep.

One last note on the blog- A big thank you to Mom and Dad for a fun package from Hawaii!
We love you all and hope you have a great day!