Fall Break in Utah

So this post is a couple months late but that is how life goes sometimes.  Back at the beginning of October, Paul and I flew to Utah the Thursday before general conference so that I could attend a big Korea mission reunion celebrating the 60th anniversary of missionaries in Korea.  It was an awesome event with returned missionaries who served from before I was born to now.  There weren't a ton of people I served with but it sure was great to see the ones who were there. 

Janet had law school fall break, so we spent the week with her.  Paul had a blast with CJ and Julien.  They were so good to him and he loved playing and trying to do everything that they did.  We were also able to attend my cousin Kaya's wedding and see my parents and lots of other family who were there for the event.  

Then Saturday, Cliff's fall break started so he drove up to meet us and we had a reunion with most of our canyon crew.  We hiked to Willow Lake and had a lot of fun catching up with friends and watching all the toddlers run around together.

The whole group at Willow Lake

Paul loved chasing the ducks, playing in the water, and even did a side hike with Lucy.

 Then one day when the other dads had gone back to work, Cliff and us moms took the kids to Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.

 Paul especially loved the unlimited pony rides.  He kept asking to ride again and again.  I think he went 5 times and rode every pony.

After an awesome week (2 weeks for Paul and I) of friends, family, and fun, it was time to head back to Arizona.  Of course we had to drive the Alpine Loop first to see the fall colors we so long for in our new fall-less home.  

We did a stop off at Kolob Canyon, a less busy but no less beautiful section of Zion National Park.  We did a nice little hike and obviously, the 2 weeks of not sleeping caught up to Paul.  

Well after midnight and a run in with Wickenberg police for being a perdiddle, we made it home safe to Phoenix.  It was nice to have some cool weather and real fall and always great to see family and friends but it is always nice to be back in your own house where your toddler actually sleeps through the night.

Paul's First Camping Trip

At 19 months, Paul doesn't have a whole lot of firsts anymore but somehow or another, he has managed to avoid camping since the womb.  Could be because our glory days of camping on the side of roads for canyoneering are behind us, or at least aren't very conducive to bringing children along, or that daddy gets his share of camping on his nearly monthly trips with the young men.  But either way, this is definitely a blog worthy milestone that will hopefully be the first of many for this little adventurer.

We drove about an hour over to a free camping area in Buckeye Hills Regional Park.  As soon as we got there, Paul was loving the whole idea.  He was running around like a mad man, tripping over rocks and not letting it phase him each time he ending up face first in the dirt.

Collecting firewood

Just sitting around the fire

The whole family

Dinner time!

Paul was obsessed with the lights

Tin foil dinner

Paul roasting a marshmallow for his s'more. 

The weather was good.  It was a little chilly in the night (around 50*) but it was warm enough in the tent with sleeping bags.  The sleeping situation was alright, daddy slept on a camping pad and mommy and Paul got the air mattress.  We went to bed around 8 since it was already dark out but then Paul was ready to play at 3:30 am.  We probably could have rocked him back to sleep but it was cold out and there is no standing room in the tent so, he watched cartoons on the kindle so as to avoid yelling and waking the neighbors.

All in all, it was a fun time and we'd be up for taking him again.

The Conclusion of Summer Break

The last week and a half of Cliff's summer break was awesome because it was packed with family.  Cliff's family came for a short visit because of a funeral.  We didn't think we would see them until Christmas so we were so happy they were able to come visit and play with Paul.  He loved having them and all the attention he got.  He had fun getting tons of attention from Grandma Chandler, playing ball with Grandpa, and having great Grandma Peine read him some books (or one book over and over). 

The day after they headed home, we got on a plane to Reno.  Cliff and I took the opportunity to leave Paul with my parents for one night and take a little early anniversary trip up to Lake Tahoe, where we spent our honeymoon four years ago.  It was hard to leave Paul but pretty great to just spend some time together without all the chaos.

We also had a chance to visit the Reno Temple, where we were sealed, and participate in proxy sealings.  It was special to be back there and remember our special day.

Then Janet came to Reno and we all took a trip up to Sand Harbor together.  Paul still doesn't love beach water but it did start to grow on him in the end and he did love playing in the sand and eating watermelon.  

She couldn't convince him that she was mommy.

We weren't abusing him.

We had a great time at my parents.  Paul loved that he could play outside all day since we rarely let him out in the heat at home and he loved playing with all the relatives.

Roasting marshmallows

It's hard to believe from this photo that Paul spent the first day having a major meltdown anytime Tod looked at him.

We love our family.  It was so good to see everyone.  We are still getting used to Daddy being back at work and having to entertain ourselves all day.

DIY Kitchen Update

Before and After

As you probably know, Cliff and I bought our house a little over a year ago.  It is a nice little house and is only 14 years old so it wasn't super outdated or anything but everything is plain old builder grade.  I love all those shows on HGTV about renovation and all that so I really wanted to be able to do some projects in our house.  I wasn't sure how much I would be able to do since everything is perfectly livable and we don't exactly have tons of extra mula floating around on one teacher salary. However, when I realized we could DIY our whole kitchen for the same price as replacing our old, stained, faded, and peeling laminate counter top with a new, cheapest laminate installed, we knew we couldn't go wrong.

In order to stay in the price range of a laminate counter for the entire kitchen and get the look we wanted, we knew we wanted to do butcher block counter tops and paint our cabinets ourselves.  

These are the pictures that inspired me

I thought I wanted white cabinets but when I saw this green, I immediately had to have it.  It helps that green is Cliff's favorite color so naturally, he was also on board.  

I started painting way back at General Conference in April and completely forgot to take any before pictures.  Luckily, they have all that stuff on the old listing so here are some before shots with someone else's coffee maker, accessories, ect alongside after shots.

Left Side

Right Side

I love having a sink that the high chair tray and cookie sheets fit right down into.

It was a lot of hard work.  Neither of us have really done any of this stuff before so we just kind of went for it.  Also, it may or may not have ended up costing more because I forgot we didn't own any tools.  Now Cliff has a nice collection started. 

But worth it.

We LOVE our new kitchen.

It's Officially Summer Break!

We are finishing up Cliff's first week of a well earned summer break.  We decided to start the summer off right, with a little canyoneering and a family vacation.

School ended just in time for Memorial day weekend, so not only did the teachers have off, but our other friends with, shall we say, less noble professions were off too.  This made Monday the perfect day for a canyon.  We decided to do Christopher Creek again, it's close to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Paul to stay the day, and is a great canyon with lots of bang for your buck.  We headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house Sunday after church and stayed the night, along with Sarah and Jeff, and Dustin and Chanel met us at the trail head.

Christopher Creek is such a fun canyon with lots of swimming, jumping, rappelling, and natural slides.  We even learned about a slide we had rappelled last time that had a crazy drop off at the bottom and was so fun.  It is also so pretty and reminds you that Arizona isn't all just dirt, rocks, and spines.

Then we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a nice bbq dinner.  Paul had a great time with his great grandparents, too.  They took him out shopping, for a walk to the neighbors, and I am sure chased him around trying to keep him out of all Grandma's awesome treasures.

On Tuesday morning, we left for our family trip to San Diego.  Cliff got us free passes to Seaworld for being a teacher, so we wanted to take advantage of the chance to take Paul.  On Wednesday, we spent the whole day at the park.  It was a chilly 70 degrees and overcast (personally, I was wishing I had a sweater).  We looked at all the sea creatures, went on a couple of rides (not Paul's favorite), and saw the shows.  Paul's very favorite was the sea lion show.  He was clapping along with the music and had a grand time.  It was so neat to see all the sea creatures close up and learn more about them.

At the end of the day, we headed to a delicious Korean restaurant and then to take a look at the San Diego temple.

Then on Thursday, we headed to the beach to play before heading back to Phoenix.  Paul enjoyed playing with his toys in the sand but still hates the ocean.  He got real mad when I stuck his feet in the water and when the waves knocked him on his bum.

As you can see, Paul also snacked on the sand throughout our time at the beach.

I would say we had a great kick off week of summer break.  Now we are back in Phoenix, and its 110° F (117 tomorrow).  So I think it is safe to say, we need another trip.