Jam Packed Spring Break

Last week was Cliff's spring break.  We were so excited to have him home for a week and had lots of plans and events going on.

On Saturday at the very start of spring break, we picked up our BYU friend Mckell and her 6th month old little girl at the airport for her annual Phoenix trip.  On Sunday we went to church and Cliff cooked some delicious bbq.  Then Monday we went to babytime at the library and then to the Desert Botanical Gardens.

On Tuesday, we took a trip to the Phoenix temple with Mckell and Sarah.  I think it was all of our first times getting to serve there.  We took turns going in to serve and watching the babes.  At one point, Cliff was the only one out and he was walking around the temple carrying two babies (one of which was not happy that he was not her mother) as other patrons passed and asked if he needed help. Paul loved playing in the fountain rocks.

After the temple, we headed to South Mountain for a nice afternoon hike.

Then on Wednesday, the six of us took a day trip to Sedona.  It's a little over two hours away and we have been meaning to go since moving here.  With the red rocks and such, it was like a little mini southern Utah.  We did an awesome hike called Devil's Bridge because of the rock bridge at the end of the hike, checked out a church built into a cliff, and just enjoyed the sights of nature.  

Paul was loving it up in his hiking throne

Family picture on the bridge

The bridge from below

The little guy passed out on the hike back.

The girls... stopping for a chat?

On Thursday, we relaxed and had a group dinner.  Then Friday, we got some stuff done and then went to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant with Curtis and Katie.  We love watching the pageant.  It reminds us of the life of Jesus, His teachings, and His sacrifice and resurrection so that we too will live again.  It helps me get in the spirit and remember what this season is about.  

Saturday, we had a family reunion in the afternoon and got to hang out with lots of relatives that we only see every couple of years.  Then we spent the evening with my parents, who stayed with us for the weekend.  Paul loved playing with his grandma and grandpa and we all had a good time.  

Sunday was my uncle Brent's wedding.  It was a great wedding and we all enjoyed the party and spending time with family. 

At the wedding

This little guy got so much love this weekend.

Blue eyed boy with blue eyed Grandpa

Cliff's spring break seemed to fly by way too fast and we were bummed that my parents' visit was so short but we had a great break and had a lot of fun.

Valentines/Presidents' Day in St. George

We hadn't gotten away for a while when Anthony and Jessica Dunster invited us to join them in St. George for the long weekend.  We jumped on it pretty quick despite the 7 hour drive because, well, we have been itching for an adventure and we always love to see friends especially when it has been a while.  We were really excited when we found out Cliff not only had Monday off but Friday, too. So, we cancelled our Valentines roller skating date and on Friday morning, headed off to Utah.

Paul's new book kept him entertained most the way.

Paul was a trooper and didn't fuss a bit till he had already endured around 6 hours in his car seat.  He enjoyed his new book, ate lots of cheerios and poured even more down every crevice of his seat.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a quiet morning, hanging out with the Dunsters and relaxing.  Then we headed to dinner with the Sorensons who were in the leadership at our old singles ward.  After dinner, we headed to Dixie Rock for a little hike and a great view of the city.

The Group at Dixie Rock

At the top with a great view of the city and the temple.

The kids exploring some tunnels and holes in the rocks.

On Sunday, we attended sacrament meeting at a nearby chapel and then in the afternoon, drove over to Snow Canyon State Park for a leisurely stroll on one of the trails in the park.

Even the kids enjoyed the trail. (Please note, this is a trail and we are not letting our son crawl across the street)

Then we had a Valentines dinner of steak and potatoes. Yum. And the smoke alarm only went off 20 times while it was broiling.

Giant, delicious stakes.

Monday we headed to Black Rocks for some rock climbing.  Cliff and I had been climbing here on our vacation a couple years ago and there are some nice and easy walls for those of us who haven't climbed in ages.  We had a lot of fun climbing and the kids enjoyed playing in the dirt, eating rocks, etc.

Cliff and I on the wall.

Paul (aka dirty bum) inspecting our gear.

So overall it was an awesome trip with friends and we're looking forward to our next adventure!

Christmas Break

I am so bummed that Christmas break is coming to an end and we won't have daddy home to play with us everyday, but we had a lot of fun while it lasted.  I love the Christmas season and all the things that come with it.  This year we started the season off with the ward's cowboy Christmas party.  Paul got to meet Santa for the first time, too.  It was a lot of fun. 

 We always love to go see the temple lights as a Christmas tradition.  It is nice that we can still do this living in Arizona and having a temple that lights up at Christmas.  This year we went twice.  I love looking at the lights to get into the spirit of Christmas and Paul loves looking at lights, too, of course.

This year we flew to Reno to my parent's house for Christmas.  My sisters Amy and Janet were both going to be there and it was the first time we had the whole family together since our wedding over three years ago.  It was so fun to see all the nephews and niece and have us all there.  One of the other perks of leaving Arizona: we got to have our white Christmas and give our little Arizona baby a white Christmas for his first Christmas!

Paul was a perfect angel on all of our flights.

 Paul started to crawl pretty good and got better and better at it everyday while trying to get in on the action with his older cousins.

Paul and his cousins

He was excited about all his goodies from Santa

 When we got back to Phoenix, we took a trip to the Zoo for the zoo lights.  They were fun but we wished we could have also seen some animals.

Paul with all his awesome surprises from Grandma and Grandpa Chandler

We even got to have a little second Christmas and see Paul spoiled all over again when Grandma and Grandpa Chandler's package arrived!

Paul spent the whole season getting into all the fun Christmas things around the house.

 We are sad to see daddy go back to work but glad we got him to install pretty new sink faucets and a whole new shelf in the closet while we had him ;-) We hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday with friends, family, and the spirit of Christ!

Happy Halloween!

So, we are wrapping up Paul's first Halloween.  We had a lot of fun.  We didn't know for sure what we were going to dress up as but the Chandler's sent us a little lion suit for Paul.  At first, we weren't sure he would wear it because the weather is still so warm but we tried it on him one day and it was too cute to pass up.  Being that it is our first Halloween with a child, I really wanted to do a fun family costume so I asked my mom to make me a Dorothy costume and a scarecrow so we could be a Wizard of Oz family. 

It turned out really fun.  We (especially Paul) were a big hit at the ward party.  A little princess told me I was really pretty too, though.  And, our primary class kids mostly didn't even know what the Wizard of Oz is (kids these days). 

The ward Trunk or Treat is a huge deal, with hundreds of people including members friends and families and people who never come out to church so it was pretty crowded.  We had dinner and  a little carnival where Paul tried the fishing game and caught a glow bracelet.  Then we did trunk or treat. 

Then tonight, Halloween night, we got together with Nathan and Erica for dinner and passing out candy.  We decided to do it at our place since we have a real house now and hoped to get some trick or treaters.  We got Sophie and Paul into costumes for a few pictures but it was just too hot in the house to stay dressed up.  Then we hung out and waited for the masses.  We got about 70 trick or treaters! Good thing we over prepared with the candy.  We have been in apartments for the last few years so it was really fun to see all the kids dressed up and get to experience that part of Halloween again. 

Happy Halloween! Now we wait till next year when the kids are old enough to trick or treat!

Fall Break Fun

Last week was Cliff's fall break.  We were trying to think of fun things we could do that didn't involve flying, hotel stays, lots of money, ect.  A while back, I had seen someone share some pictures of 10 things to do in Prescott, AZ.  It looked awesome.  One lake in particular, Watson Lake, looked like it would be a beautiful hike.  With it being only 2 hours away and considerably cooler than Phoenix, it made the perfect day trip.

The hike around the lake was about 4.8 miles and had a lot of changes of scenery.  We hiked through some trees, around the lake on rocks, across a bridge, by the dam, next to a green algae creek.  This was Paul's long awaited first hiking trip (you just don't take a baby out hiking in 110-120* summer).  He loved it.  Cliff carried him facing out the whole way and he loves being outside and looking around.  He didn't even mind keeping his sunglasses on the entire day.

Ready to get hiking!

Last year for fall break, we headed to California and enjoyed a couple days at Redondo Beach and then visited my old mission comp Whitney and her husband Kyler.  We really miss living near the Ocean and before work trips to the beach from days past on Jeju Island so we decided another fall break beach trip was in order.   This time, we headed out in the morning, spent the afternoon at Huntington beach, and then headed to Whit and Kyler's for a couple nights.

This handsome guy HATED when the waves came in and hit his feet.

On the other hand, this other handsome guy loves playing in huge waves.

The waves look tiny in this picture, but there were actually way huge ones, too.

A quick group shot after church.

All in all, we had an awesome fall break.  We (mainly Cliff) got quite a few little projects done around the house, spent some much loved family time, and had a nice little trip.

Back to Adventuring

Last weekend, we finally went to do our first post baby canyon.  It has been a while, especially for me considering Paul is 3 months old and my last canyon was at like 30 weeks pregnant.  It was hard to leave Paul but it was awesome to get out on an adventure.

We spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Swenson's house up in Payson and then met our friends in the morning at a canyon just a half hour away called Christopher Creek.  It was a fun Canyon with lots of swimming, some water slides, a few little cliff jumps, and some rappels.

Payson is so different from down here in the valley.  It was nice to be up in cooler weather and greener pastures.  

Paul had a fun day with Grandma and Grandpa and only screamed when she tried to feed him a bottle but he really enjoyed spending time outside with her since he barely ever gets to go out in the heat of the valley. 

All around we had a great weekend filled with adventure, fun, friends, family, and delicious home cooked meals from Grandma and even s'mores in the fire pit.  Can't wait for our next trip up there!