And.... We're Back!

Whew! Well, we made it back to the good US of A and boy are we TIRED! These last few weeks have been a whirlwind but everything is finally starting to slow down. I had no idea how much work goes into moving into your own house (nor did I know how much money it takes either- there are all kinds of nice little charges you have monthly that no one ever mentions!)But before I update you guys on how the move went, I have some other activities to backtrack on. So, here we go!

Sqaw Peak

A few weeks ago, Justin and I both decided that we needed to go out on a much needed date. He had been traveling for like 3 weeks straight and we both couldn't even remember the last time we had been out on a real date. So we decided to make the hike up to the top of Squaw Peak here in the Phoenix valley (and no, this Squaw Peak doesn't have the same makeout spot reputation that the one in Utah does :) The hike was a lot of fun but it definitely wasn't a nice stroll in the park! All of it was uphill and boy were we sweatin' bullets by the time we made it to the top- especially in the AZ heat! But the view was incredible... we had a complete 360 degree view of the whole valley with a beautiful AZ sunset- which if you haven't ever seen, they are incredible!

Here we are at the top


Pictures just don't do justice to the sunsets here!



Me showin off some microscopic muscle with the beautiful city lights of Phoenix below

It was so nice hiking back down. We were the only ones on the trail and we just held hands and talked while leisurely walking back down the mountain. I love spending time with my wonderful husband. He is my best friend and I cherish the time I get to spend with him! Thanks for being so amazing Justin!

Texas, Our Texas Oh Hail the Mighty State!

Did you know that Texas has its own state song? It's true. We do. Those are some of the lyrics up above but I will spare you the rest of the song and the obnoxious Texas pride that comes with it :) Anywho, while Justin was away in northern Mexico working, Ethan and I decided to head back home to Texas to visit my family there. I needed to go out there anyways to drive back my car that my parents have been babysitting while we were living in MX. The timing worked out perfectly since my grandma was having a hip replacement that week, my Aunt Kathy was in from Arkansas to help her, and my very good friends Alicia and Ashley were in town for our good friend Kayla's wedding!
Ethan and I had fun playing outside with all the kitty's, puppies, chickens, visiting my grandma and aunt in the hospital, playing with the grandparents, chatting with my brother and his girlfriend, etc. I also had fun going to bridal and lingerie showers, catching up with old friends, playing volleyball with some of my old volleyball buddies, and spending time with my family. Here are a few pictures of this trip....

I love coming home from the airport to see this beautiful place where I was raised...

Isn't it so green?! I never realized just how beautiful my parents property is until I moved to AZ to desert landscaping and backyards the size of our front porch. Someday we will have a yard like this.. someday....

Ethan was able to reunite with his favorite toy of all time while we were there as well. I think he would have walked this wagon all over Vidor if I let him!

He also loved playing with the kitties and feeding my cat, Pumpkin. He would take a piece of cat food and very patiently feed pumpkin one kernel at a time. Of course Ethan had to taste the yummy cat food out as well. I caught him eating it quite a few times so I'm guessing it must not taste all that bad!

We had fun visiting my lovely grandparents and were excited when we could visit my grandma in her own house instead of the hospital. She is such a trooper and recovered amazingly from her hip replacement...

Kayla's bridal and lingerie showers were SO much fun! There were all kinds of fun games and it was good to talk with people I havent seen for awhile. This picture below was my favorite game that was played.....

Kayla (in the middle) got to choose her opponents and had to be the first one to open a box of panty hose and put them on all with kitchen mitts on. As you can see, Alicia (far left) won by a long shot! Alicia is really good at doing really odd things.. she always wins at stuff like this!

Kayla's reception was so beautiful (and so was she!) She is an interior design major and beautifully transformed the church's cultural hall for her reception! There were white lights and greenery everywhere. It almost felt as if we were outside- but there was A/C, so it was even better! Kayla was Alicia and I's little buddy our senior year of high school (she was a freshman when we were seniors- sheesh, Alicia, doesn't that make you feel so old!) I also dated Kayla's brother in high school and became really close with her family throughout my high school years. She and her family are good friends of mine and it was so good to get to see and chat with them again!

Alicia and I's former sophomore year roomate, Ashley. She is a sweetheart from California and I just love her to death!

Alicia and I- I've known this girl since kindergarden and she is pretty much my best girl friend. She is amazing!


The three of us!

After a fun week with my parents in Texas, Ethan and I made the LONG drive across Texas to Phoenix. Luckily, Justin and his brother were in El Paso that week for work so they drove out east to meet Ethan and I heading west and we met up somewhere in between Fort Stockton and San Antonio. Ethan did great but we were both very excited when we got into our surburban with the DVD player while Justin's brother so kindly drove our little Saturn back home. Wall-e (Ethan's favorite movie of all time- will post on that later) then entertained Ethan for the rest of the drive back home to Phoenix and it all worked out well!
This was Ethan for pretty much the whole drive across half of Texas... what a trooper!


Adios Mexico...

Once we made it back from Texas, we pretty much drove straight back to Mexico to pack up all our stuff and to make the official move. 15 hours later, we were back to Culiacan and automatically started packing up all our stuff (this was Sat). Sunday we went to our wonderful ward and said our hast luego's. We are so sad to have left these wonderful people but are excited to start our new life here in the states. It's a bitter sweet situation. We are just glad that Justin will continue to work down and travel there frequently so we can still visit these wonderful people every once in a while. Yo Amo Mexico!

Here are my wonderful Young Women and leaders... I think these girls were the hardest to say good-bye to..

And here we are making our last visit to the Familia Navarro. Hermana Navarro was my visiting teaching companion and Justin also home taught this family. They are such sweet and special people!

That Monday morning we took off with a surburban chuck full of all our stuff! We couldnt use boxes (or else none of our stuff would have fit) so we just crammed in as much stuff as we could! Amazingly, we fit everything in and had no trouble getting through the border. They actually stopped us and asked to look through our car but then saw how full it was and said " Well, I dont really know what to do about this, but you guys look like good people so go ahead through" Sweet! I guess it pays to have a clean cut looking husband and a crying toddler in the back seat!

Here was how our poor little Ethan endured the 15 hour drive back up to Phoenix...

He couldn't even see out a window! We would accidentally say " Oh wow, Ethan! Look at the cows/horses/helicopter/ airplane!" And the poor kid would strain his neck up as high as he could to see out, but never could! Sorry about that Ethan!


We stopped in Nogales for the night and stayed at a brand new Holiday Inn Express. We got a free upgrade to the "family room" which has this cool kids room with bunkbeds, tv and a play table! I'll have to remember to ask for this free upgrade in the future!

And now we are finally moved into our first, real home! Our house still looks like a hurricane blew through it and we still dont have any furniture (apparently the furniture store says it's coming though in 10 days)but I think we are both so excited to have our own home that we don't even care! The last couple of days have consisted of trying to find a home for everything (which is hard to do without your furniture) and a lot of Wall-e watching for our little Ethan. I try not to use the TV as a babysitter ,but man, if you are trying to move and get your house set up, it works amazingly (as shown below)

I will definitely post pics of the house when it's all decorated and organized (which probably wont be for awhile... we need to replinish our bank accounts first!) All in all, we are so happy and love living back in the states close to Justin's family. Thanks for reading if you made it this far! I'll try to get some video of Ethan up soon so stay tuned!