Grand Canyon

 So on our way home from Scottsdale we decided to stop by the Grand Canyon.  It was an interesting experience.  For some reason I had it in my head that the Grand Canyon is a large desert area with a big hole in the ground.  What I did not expect was to be in the Grand Canyon area and see so many trees and deer.  You literally go from the land of the Giant Cactus to a Forest in what seems like seconds.  Because my husband had a few meetings in the morning and needed to help pack some work stuff up we didn't leave till the afternoon.  By the time we got to the Grand Canyon we had maybe an hour of light left.  But it was worth it to give our kids this experience and for me as well to have the experience of seeing it for the first time in my life.  Someday we will have to plan a trip to actually see more of the Grand Canyon but for now with small children I would say it was sufficient.

Deer near the Rim of the Canyon.  Just behind those trees is the Canyon.  Crazy huh!  To think that you are so close to a GIANT hole in the Earths surface and still you can not see it.

 Some shots of the big hole known as the Grand Canyon.

Maybe you remember a  picture I took at Independence Rock in WY a few years ago of a flower growing in a rock.  If not here is the link to that picture.  I find it beautiful that things grow from rough circumstances.  I find these pictures a metaphor for life.  That just because we aren't in our ideal situations in life that if we persevere we will find life, we will be beautiful and we will inspire others by our determination and continued effort.

 This was fun to find outside the visitors center.  There were little round plaques in the cement with little poems telling you about the Grand Canyon.

 Our family.  Even the baby who didn't get too many pictures showing her cute face.  But you can see her cute little feet and a cute little hand.

 

 

 Once we were on the road again we only made it to Kanab.  We actually planned on stopping in Page but there were no vacancies.  So we called ahead to Kanab and reserved the last room in that town.  We were so glad to get there and stop for the night.  So if you are traveling in Fall and would like to stop in the area and don't want to sleep in a room with torn carpet and outdated facilities just plan a week ahead and plan to stop.  Lesson learned.  Also if you want to find breakfast don't sleep in expecting all McDonald's finish breakfast at 11 am on a Saturday.  Not all was lost though.  We found a Restaurant after asking the lady at our Motel that served breakfast.  It is called Nedras Too.  They are a Mexican restaurant with American breakfast options.  They had toys for the kids to play with and Coloring books.

They had a very hot and spicy pepper to go along with my biscuits and gravy.  Their pancakes were huge so we split that between the kids and my husband enjoyed a Mexican skillet breakfast.  The food was delicious.  It will definitely be a place if we are in the area we will stop again.

After breakfast we got back in the car and headed home.  It was so nice to be home.

Scottsdale

One week after school started my husband had his Annual Meeting for his company and like usual we took the kids out of school and tagged along with him.  We figure there isn't much our preschooler would miss in one day of school and when talking with the teacher there wasn't much our daughter would miss because what they were learning she already had down pat.  She missed out on some of the friendship making time but hasn't really been hurt by it.  This was my biggest worry for her though and it has been nice to see her talk about her friendships.  

So on the drive down we were making good time.  That is until we hit Vegas.  Well we could see Vegas.  There was a flash flood on the freeway outside of Vegas and so they closed the freeway for an hour and we waited in our car grateful for snacks a DVD player and a chance to let the baby out of her car seat.  When we were able to move again our baby was content and we were happy to stop in Vegas for a quick dinner that we ate in our car to make up for time stuck on the freeway.  By the time we got to Scottsdale we were so grateful to get out of the car and so very tired.  

In the morning we enjoyed the breakfast provided by the hotel.  It was nice we had a kitchen in our suite and they provided breakfast and a light dinner for their guests.  This was the first time we had this experience and it was nice on our budget.  After breakfast my husband went to his meetings and the kids and I went swimming.  They put on their floaties and enjoyed the pool.  While we were there some of the other wives came swimming with us.

 Don't you find it amazing how even when you don't do much in the pool the water will zap all energy from you and all you can do is sleep.  Here is our baby taking her nap after swimming.

 

 We brought the food back that the hotel provided to our room.  We enjoyed some tasty Chinese and Cranberry and Apple Juice while my husband went to the Annual Meeting Dinner and enjoyed some steak.  Normally I would have gone but this year we weren't lucky enough to have someone watch our kids.  Which is all good the kids and I did a puzzle and enjoyed our time together.  I enjoyed being with my husband so that at the end of the night I still got a chance to kiss him good night and he was able to help me the rest of the time while not in meetings.  Totally worth it. 

 The next day of our trip we enjoyed exploring the hotel after breakfast while daddy was in meetings.  Everywhere you go in Arizona it seemed you could find a Giant Cactus.  It is so much a part of Arizona that they even have them in planter pots in the hotel.

 Proof he was working.  If you notice he has a sling on.  He had to wear that for a while because he was trying to be a Manly man and use an Auger to dig holes for our fence that he was trying to repair from that wind storm last year.  He was allowed at this point to hold the baby, drive, type and be gentle with his usage of the arm.

 Even our daughter had to do some work.  The teacher told us to just have her work on her Skill Set Book while on our trip.  So tried to get done everything that she already knew.

 When she finished her pages for the day we headed over to the Train Park in Scottsdale not to far from the hotel.  I figured my son would like it.  Here we are riding the little train they had.  My daughter hopped into the little kid box car and my son sat with me.  Ironically it took some work to get my son to ride.  He saw a much bigger train and was hoping to ride that.  But the big train was only for show.  Thus the big pouty face of his.

 

They also had a merry go round which my son also usually loves but he was still upset he had to ride the small train and not the big train he wanted to ride.

 

 The infamous Big Train that my son wanted more than anything to ride but it only a museum and to make matter worse was closed for the day.  On a side note I think these two are very cute kids. =)  Yep some mommy gushing.  Cant help it I just love them.

 Next we entered the model train building/museum.  they had a fun trolley to sit in.

When you entered the building they had this fun piece of artwork.

 They even had a Thomas the Train engine that you could make go by toughing a metal plate on the glass.  You can kind of see my daughter touching it to make Thomas go for her brother.

Then we entered the gift shop/ lunch counter.  Their food was decently priced and the kids had fun playing on this train table while we waited for the food.

After my husband was finished with his meetings we took a drive to visit with my sister that lives within an hour of where we were.  We enjoyed some pizza and great company.  I noticed afterward that I missed getting a picture of our princess and one of my nephews but that is because they kind of disappeared and played in his room away from everyone else.  She has missed seeing her cousin.  He was the first name she knew and could say as a baby after Mama and Dada.  I had to get this picture.  Apparently my nephew loves to climb on the table to eat and he is so proud of himself.  My son kept telling us that the baby was up there and thinking it was so funny for this baby to do that.

 Proof we got to spend some time with him on this trip.  And that the baby wasn't always in a carrier.

 The twins and their baby.

 Had to get this picture.  I thought it was very sweet.

We then headed back to the hotel for our last night and after some meetings in the morning headed home with a plan to stop and see the Grand Canyon on our way home.  But this blog post is long enough and so we will finish this trip in another post tomorrow.

First Day of School 2012

Yes I am late doing this and I have lots to catch up on.  Please be patient with me while I try to catch up.  As soon as I get through the last 5 months I should keep up much better.  I now have a computer to blog on that is open for my unlimited use.  YAY!  

On their first day it was a little crazy.  Our daughters orientation finished as our sons orientation was beginning.  So luckily my husband took the morning off and helped me make sure we were able to support both of them.  It made my son a little sad that he had to wait longer than his sister to go to school.

All happy and excited to go to school 

Here he is sad because his sister got to leave before him to go to school.  So he didn't want to show off his backpack.

 

 During orientation the kids in our daughters class got to decorate a cupcake.  Something that all the kids were very happy about.

 

His preschool had fun little footprints for the kids to follow so they could know how to get to the classroom.  He gets to go with his best friend next door and has lots of fun everyday.

Local Train Park

We decided to check out our local train park back in September before school started.  However we got there after the last train ride left.  So checked out the other stuff the park had to offer and discovered a fun playground.  My train loving son was in Heaven.  He are a few shots of our trip.

Always wanted to take a picture of the family on train tracks and here was a fun opportunity without having to worry about a train that might come by.

 

Playing in the caboose

 

  My son in his element as the Engineer.

 

Checking out the big trains.

 

 My daughter enjoyed the swings.  And don't you just love those socks.  I had a plan once to make leg warmers for her for dance but never got to it.  When she saw them she had to wear them everyday even if the temperature was in the 100s.  She loves to express her own fashion and she makes me smile.

County Fair 2012

 Just some pictures from our trip to the fair this year.

 

 

 

 The only ride our son enjoyed beside riding the pony ride.  He only wanted to do it once though.

 I know you think you see our son on the ride below and you are right.  He thought he wanted to ride this until they strapped him in and then he cried to be let off and so the ride attendant unlocked it for him and he sat with me and the baby while our oldest daughter and her daddy enjoyed this ride. :)

 Well bounce houses don't count as rides so he enjoyed the bounce house.

Tile in the bathroom

 This is something I did not realize we had pictures of.  I just wanted to show off the work that my husband and our home teacher did.  Our bathroom last year flooded a little due to a leak in the toilet.  Luckily we caught it in a decent amount of time.  The previous owners had laid vinyl tile squares on top on the vinyl you see in the first picture.  The toilet leak actually loosened the glue and caused some smelly mildew underneath that first layer of "tile".  So we ripped up the tile squares to clean the mess and revealed some flooring underneath that would have to do till we could tile.  It had holes and was pretty beat up but it worked for a temporary fix.  Then fast forward 9 months and our home teacher actually helped get my husband motivated to finish it.  Well that and I very pregnant forced him to the local Lowes and helped him get the supplies needed.  Lucky for him he finished right before our baby's due date.  Not so lucky for him I was a mess but he was used to it since the previous 9 months I had been a permanent mess.  Our home teacher spent long hours helping and we couldn't be more grateful.  They even got some help laying the tile from a sister in our ward who was kind enough to get some of the girls she works with to come finish any cleaning I didn't get to when the baby came due to my house being in disarray from the construction.  

 Our home teacher cutting and ripping up count it 1..2..3.. layers of floor.

 Isn't this flooring pretty?  We almost decided to stay with this except we had the tile and figure what the hey! 

 Tile cut, measured and in stuck in place.

 Tile grouted and ugly wall.

 Placing tile border on wall.  My husband cute the tile to make the border so it would match and spent time on making sure it looked just right.

The finished floor with border.  You notice the vent whole under the cabinets?  We actually were worried that would cover that up and have to move cabinets and such.  Luckily removing 3 levels of floor boards and vinyl fixed that problem.  It looks so nice.  Now trying to decide on a nice wall color for the bathroom.  Now that I had the baby I can help get that done once I decide.