Grand Canyon, Vegas and A Few Peruvians

Last week, Justin had some visitors from Peru come into Phoenix for a week full of what they like to call "work" :) I always like to tease Justin about how fun his work is even though I know how tiring traveling and hosting groups like this can be. Anyways, since I speak Spanish Justin wanted me to help him hosts this group of guys and join them in all of their fun adventures!

First stop- The Grand Canyon. White Water Rafting.

On our way down to the river, we stopped for a pretty photo op...

The group! Jose Eduardo, Sal (he is Justin's distributor down in Peru), Carlos, Felix and

Ale-Ale-jandro. I couldn't resist singing the Lady Gaga song to him :)

Justin in front of our awesome bus that we drove down the canyon in. It had at least 2 inches of dust all over the seats and floor and it was quite a roller coaster ride going down the canyon in that thing!

As soon as we got down to the river, we boarded the raft- type boats and headed toward the rapids!

Oh, it was SO much fun! We hit some 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s and one 8 ranked rapid!

The water was nice and refreshing at a year round temperature of 45 degrees. Ok, the water was freezing! I had to wear a poncho to try to keep the water off of me due to my super weird disorder called cold urticaria <-- you should read this.. it's really strange. We all got drenched though. It was well worth it :)

After a while, we stopped off the side of the river and hiked up to some pretty water falls...

This pic below is where a fault line runs which is why the rocks are crooked.

Oh please dont notice my pathetically white chicken legs and lack of make-up in any of these pics :)

We did it! This was at the end of our rafting adventure... Don't these guys look like so much fun?! They were a blast and we were very sad to see them go home. We felt like they were our children (since we left ours with Grandma Smith).

We then flew out of the canyon on a helicopter and they landed us at the SkyWalk!

The SkyWalk was pretty cool to do (once in your life). I didn't think I had a stomach problem with heights until I started walking around on that thing.

That night, we drove up to Vegas. Needless to say we were super tired once we got there after a full day of rafting! We stayed at the Monte Carlo and we were quite impressed with the rooms...

It may not look like it but that is a huge jacuzzi tub you see. Not one of those wimpy ones...

This was the view from our room of some of Vegas

We shopped at the outlet malls, walked around the strip at night, and stayed up WAY past my usual bedtime. We also were able to make it to 2 shows...

Justin got us tickets to Phantom of the Opera and I must admit... we loved it! It wasn't the full broadway production (it was an hour shorter) but I couldnt even tell you what they cut out! It had all the songs and the theater was amazing! Built especially for Phantom.

It was at the Venetian... I would have loved to go on a gondola ride but will never pay 45 bucks for it.. I'll just wait for Italy itself :)

We saw the volcano erupt at El Mirage which was pretty cool..

And we saw the water show at the Bellagio. Love the guy totally ruining our picture in the background :)

This picture remind me of another one kinda like this...

Oh yes. There we are. 6 years younger (and me 20 pounds heavier). What a lovely couple :)

I think we were all pretty wiped out by the end of the trip...

We had so much fun and loved getting to know these awesome guys! Justin works with such great people both in and out of the country! HUGE thanks to Mom Smith for watching our cute little hoodlums. We owe you one. Or two. Or ok, more like fifty :)

Ellie- 6 Months

Even though Ellie is almost 7 months old, I still wanted to write all about the 6th month. Am I the only one who absolutely LOVES this stage? I feel like I say this every time :)

Our monthly "photo shoot" is getting harder and harder to do. This time she refused to smile and she was only interested in destroying the paper that said 6 months. It is so fun to see her become more and more mobile!

Ellie Facts:

-Ellie is an awesome sleeper: 7:30am-7:00am, and takes 2 2 hour naps everyday.

-She is eating some baby food (squash, peas, pears, avocado, bananas, etc) and I am actually making the baby food this time around. So cheap and super easy!

This is serious business right here...

-She nurses every 4 hours (or 4 times a day) and eats solid foods twice a day (lunch and dinner)

-She has no intention of crawling anytime soon but if she gets upset, she like to put her face in the ground and get up on her knees.

-She can roll over whichever way, but doesn't know that she can roll to get places. Or maybe she just doesn't care to :)

-She is an awesome sitter upper and started doing it on her own when she was about 5.5 months old

-She is SO easy! She is super easy going and is perfectly content to play with her toys, watch her big brother, and of course let her mommy cuddle with her.

Dont you just love those pursed, beautiful lips?!

Here is a video of her cracking up at Ethan while he is being silly in the bath tub. It's a rare occasion that she will crack up like this, so I feel as if I need to document it every time :)

I know she is little but I can already tell that this little girl just radiates pure love. She loves everybody and everything. I think she will be someone very special someday :) We just love our little munchkins!

Far, far away

Yesterday Ethan said:

Ethan: Mommy, my birthday is far away huh?

Me: Yes sweetheart, it's pretty far away

Ethan (I can just see his little brain wheels turning): Well, do you think somebody could take me there? ( Pause) Maybe Grandma and Grandpa could take me there!

How cute is that? This kid just melts my heart :)

Cool FHE Activity

Last night we played the coolest Family Home Evening activity ever. Please see pictures below..

It is so easy to play and it is pretty much rule-less. All you have to do is take a big box, cut out holes for eyes and arms, or if you are feeling adventurous you don't even need to cut the holes and can just run around blind - Ethan really had fun with that, and then run around like crazy chasing each other while making weird noises.

Sure it has nothing to do with the lesson and how Ammon was such an amazing missionary, but it sure does provide hours of fun, entertainment, and one tired little boy :)

This fun activity also provides for awesome pictures such as this:

and this:

Who ever said white 28 year old boys can't jump?!

Weekend Getaway to Pinetop!

This last weekend we went up to Pinetop, AZ for a fun little family weekend getaway. Justin's grandma has a condo (of some sorts) up there and let us stay for the weekend. The weather was absolutely beautiful! It was so nice to escape the valley heat and get a breath of fresh air up in the beautiful pines of AZ!

The resort had this old train out in front and this is where Ethan wanted to spend 99% of time. He was in little boy heaven..

Ethan and Daddy putting on the brakes, "just like in Polar Express!" as Ethan would say..

We went put-putting and had fun watching Ethan try to get the ball into the hole. Look at that form! Tiger Woods, watch out!

Justin unfortunately beat me by 2 points but it was a close game! I had a 6 point lead on him and completely lost it on one ridiculous hole... I think he just got super lucky on the hole. It was a hard one :)

If there is one thing I pride myself on, it is that I put up a good fight and sometimes win at silly games like put putt, air hockey, etc. Just recently has Justin got to the point of being able to beat me at ping-pong :)

We went on a walk around a pretty little lake one evening and had fun tricking the ducks into thinking we actually had food for them

And little Ellie enjoyed watching from her stroller

I just love little vacations like this with my most favorite people in the world :)