St. George & Angel's Landing 7/2010

In July, Darrin & I took a week-long trip. In a way, we were making up for the honeymoon we never got because I had to get back to school right after we were married. The first stop on our trip was St. George. My sister, Mindy, and her husband, Jesse, live there so we got to spend some time with them and their little boy, Lincoln.

On a Saturday, we drove into Zion's National Park with Mindy & Jesse. We decided to do Angel's Landing, a famous hike in Zions. It was a really hot day, but we still made it. On Angel's Landing there are some cliffs that drop off so at parts they have chains that you can hold on to.

Here is a picture from the top, you can see how small everything looks down below.

Here we are at the top-We made it! :) Jesse, Mindy, Darrin, & Me

We ate a snack at the top to keep us going so that we could stop in some shade on the way down to eat our lunch. I thought it was funny that Darrin chose a Butterfinger as his snack before lunch.

Here is Mindy, eating a little bit more nutritious snack.

Darrin and I at the top. It was so pretty up there!

After St. George, we headed to Los Angeles, where my brother and his wife and three kids live. We did a lot of driving on this trip and going through the Mojave Desert was hot and bright. Darrin needed a little shade for his eyes and so I let him borrow my flowery sunglasses.



This last one might only interest those who have read Fablehaven. There is a prison in the series called "Zzyzx" and I was happy to find another place named the same thing going through the desert. No wonder he named it that...

More to come on our trip: Los Angeles & San Diego

Part dos

Above is a video of our cute niece, Maia. We got to have her stay at our apartment overnight when her parents went on a getaway for their anniversary in June. Before we put her to bed, we watched a little Tom & Jerry on Netflix. She thought it was so hilarious. Every time one of them got hurt she laughed at least this hard. We had to get a video of her cute laugh.

For the 4th of July, Darrin and I went to Idaho Falls. They always have a big fireworks show, among other things, so we decided to go. I didn't get pictures of everything we did, but here are some things we did:

-Ran the annual Freedom 5k: My sister, dad, Darrin, and I ran it together. I hadn't run in a 5k race since high school and it was fun.

-Went to the annual 4th of July breakfast: A woman in my parents' ward holds a breakfast in her backyard for the whole neighborhood and 2 wards. It is so generous of her! (and yummy!)

-Had a barbeque in the backyard

-Went to the annual fireworks: It is put on by a wealthy guy and he likes to top other fireworks shows around. We sat further away this year so it wasn't as good as usual.

-Roofed our shed: Darrin was so nice to stay extra long to help my dad and brother-in-law put new shingles on our shed.

Here is my mom with my cute nephew, Matthew. He is so fun to be around and his personality shows more and more each time I see him.

Hannah, my oldest niece, with my sister (and her mom) Angela in the background. Hannah likes to be silly and I thought this made her look a little like a duck.

Princess Hailey. She is a very girly girl and very quiet. She is growing up so fast!

Matthew showing off his "smile" for the camera.

Matthew and I. Matthew calls himself "Eye-oh". Darrin and I picked up some of his language while in Idaho and continue to use it.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great time!