The second weekend of June, our family left for our "family dream vacation". Jeff and I had been planning for years to take our boys out west to see the Grand Canyon. This was the year it finally happened! We took my father-in-law Neal Messner with us. We all had such a wonderful time. We went to Branson, MO first to see "Noah, the musical" put on by Sight and Sound Theater. Wow! If you are ever in Branson or Lancaster, PA-I highly recommend seeing one of their productions. This was our boys favorite part of the whole trip. Next we stopped in Tulsa, OK to visit with Jeff's cousin Gerald and his wife Jerri Ann Messner. Their daughter Jamie and her two sons, Landon and Logan were there as well as their son Brad, his wife and baby son. I had never met Jamie and her family or Brad's wife and baby, and it had been about 17 years since I met Brad (not sure if we even remember that). It had been about 2 years since we had seen Gerald and Jerri Ann (on a visit to Ohio). They are all so sweet and their hospitality was outstanding. We spent one night with them. Next we drove across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. We made stops in Albuquerque, NM, Holbrook, AZ and Williams, AZ. We spent the night in a "wigwam", went sledding in White Sands, NM, hiked in NM, rode a train to the Grand Canyon and met about 25-30 new Messner relatives. We also visited Santa Fe, Carlsbad Caverns and Vicksburg, MS. God kept His hand on us the whole way-we had a wonderful time! My favorite part was the Grand Canyon. Words or pictures can not describe the beauty of the canyon. I could have just stood and looked at it all day-but my boys were not thrilled with that idea. They don't understand "beautiful scenery". We spent two nights in Tempe, AZ with Dad's sister Ruth. She is such a sweet heart! We had a Messner family get-together at her son Bob's house and met family that we didn't even know we had. The boys had a great time meeting new cousins.