Road Trip

Dee's mom's family planned a reunion in Utah the weekend after Memorial Day, so we decided to drive up to it and go early to spend a few days with his immediate family.

Here are a few of the places we stopped at on the way between Arizona and Idaho (where Dee's parents live.

On the way to Page, at the top of the mountain, there is this great scenic overlook. You can see the beginnings of the Grand Canyon in the distance.

It was also a good point to take a well needed leg stretch.  This was the point that the wind started to pick up.  Note Carrie's hair below:

We also decided to take a small detour up the Colorado plateau toward Brian Head. Neither of us realized that it was volcanic until we saw this outside our car window. Lava flows for miles. And this was at ~9500 feet.

Again, note the breeze.











Then came the lake. I don't know the name of it but it was pretty. 10000+ ft up.

And on to Cedar Breaks. If you have been to Bryce Canyon, it is like that but a little smaller and maybe prettier. The pictures don't do it justice.  Mostly because it was hard to keep hold of the camera. the wind was fierce 50+ mph. 10600 feet up.

Like the hair shows... again.

You had to hold your clothes down. Temps were cold too. Bring a windbreaker. Driving up from 100 degree heat, we weren't thinking that it could be this cold.

But the view was worth it.









Then finally we made it to Provo where we stayed the night at Dee's grandpa's house. 13 hours of driving and we were glad to be there.  After a good nights rest we were off again to make our way to Idaho to Dee's parents.

The New Look

It is time for a change when your hair gets caught rolling over in bed or in the door of the car on a windy day. About 2 years ago I was in the same situation and decided to donate my hair. It was a good experience, so I thought I would do it again. The person that did my hair before retired from a shoulder injury, so I found a new hairstylist, Moriah, and she did awesome!

 Here are the before and after pics:

 

I think that it's pretty cute. Dee wasn't too shocked (since I've done this before) and he even likes it. It is weird to feel hair bouncing around when I move. It feels so light and fluffy. Perfect timing for summer, and it is long enough that I can still put it in a pony tail when I need.

 They even gave me a certificate...how cute:)

The Mini-Vacation

To celebrate our anniversary, we decided to do a mini vacation here in Arizona. It was so nice to take a break from work and life and spend a few days together with no worries! This time of year there are so many things to do in AZ, because the weather is so perfect. We spent the 4 days around the Phoenix area. Wednesday, we went to the Mesa temple, which was beautiful with the flowers in full perfect bloom.

Thursday, we did a Tom-car tour (like dune-buggies) in New River. Other than being dusty it was great. Note that in the pictures we had bright yellow bandannas that the guides provided to prevent inhaling too much dust as we drove madly through the desert. We went to an old copper mine, to some great views, and to an old Hohokam fort.

Friday and Saturday we went biking at Papago park, swam at the hotel, and visited with Dee's roommate from college (John and his wife Marti).

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Mystery Dinner

Last week we went to a fun mystery dinner. Nicole (Carrie's sister-in-law, Danny's wife) wanted to have a murder mystery dinner party for her birthday. Yes, those of you who know Nicole will say..."Wait a minute, her birthday is in January." It is true, but life gets busy and you need time to prepare for one of these parties.

If you have done one before, you know that you are supposed to dress up as a character. And these characters were entertaining. 

Work and life and my calling at church has been really busy, so of course I procrastinated making or getting a costume. Well... Thursday I went to the store and found the least expensive fabric that I could find that was appropriate for our characters. ($2 for 5 yards!) I brought it home with the intention of getting started before I had to leave to help with our young women activity that night, but my sewing machine decided to go on the fritz. I panicked a little and then called up my mom and borrowed her machine after the activity ended at 9PM. I got home tired... and sewed like mad! I got Dee's done that night and most of mine. I ended up redoing part of mine the hour before the party of Friday.  So here is how they turned out. Two costumes about 4 dollars each.

I played Rotunda Immaculata a Vestal who protects the eternal flame of Rome. 

Dee played Bogus Fortunata, a Roman priest/fortune teller.

Here are the other players:

Cesar (Danny), Cleptopatra (Nicole)

Mercedes Accelerati (Shanna), Maximus Testosterous (Ben)

Herangus Adnosium (Dad), Flotilla Submergia (Mom)

Getting The Garden Going

So this year we decided to do a garden... not such an easy task in Arizona. A couple of years ago we started trying and had mixed success. This year we figured if we were going to try again, we would do it right. We have a space all planned out, it has a lattice covering to protect it from the heat of the summer, a drip system running to it and everything.

So we dug it out. Taking about 3 different Saturdays to get it deep enough. We broke through the layer of caliche (Basically dirt Arizona has turned into concrete) and removed the bad, sandy, silty soil.

We ordered REAL soil and were shocked at how rich and dark it was. What a pile! Dee and a couple of the men from church helped shovel and wheelbarrow it into our back yard to fill the hole we dug.

We hooked up the watering system and bought plants and seeds.

They have started to sprout forth:) It is such a joy to see these little green sprigs poking out of the earth. With any luck we should have a productive garden in a month or two. 

 Dee even left me a message when it was all said and done: