AZ- Milessa's Wedding and Mauri's Race

Last weekend we headed to Phoenix for the last of the 2011 Wave of Weddings! We enjoyed various friends, family and Milessa's beautiful wedding.

Matt is in the thick of Oral Surgery interviews, and so far he is really loving all of the programs. It is very reassuring to realize we would be happy at any of them and that Matt truly loves Surgery. We are so grateful for the interviews he has and are eager to find out where we will be headed! [Match is January 30].

So, in the middle of weekly bicoastal trips, Matt showed just how wonderful a husband he is by driving John and I down to Phoenix, to only spend 16 hours there... :) We packed in some bonding with cousins and friends before dropping him off at the airport. Luckily he was headed to Atlanta, where he had a great time staying with my Aunt Jeri and Uncle Steve.

On the drive down, we stopped in Kingman and let John explore the Train Park.

He loved climbing and exploring!

After Matt headed to Atlanta, John and I went to brunch with my best friends from college. John got to display all of his favorite tricks to a very cute and enthusiastic audience!

Don't be deceived by the feigned grouchiness; he adored the attention.

Then, after setting up John for a nap at my cousins' and getting ready, I headed back for Milessa's big day.

Loved putting on "finishing touches" with my girls :)

The beautiful bride and her studly man, Jed. The wedding was beautiful, and the band at the reception was rockin'. We had so much fun dancing!

Pi Phi represents! I love how supportive these girls are. SUCH a fun night!

Sunday morning, I joined up with my cousin Jenna to cheer on her sister Mauri as she walked SIXTY miles for breast cancer awareness. She walked to honor the memory of their mom, who passed away last October. It was emotional and inspiring. We caught Maur at mile 53, and she went on to finish strong. After all she's been through this year, I am so proud of her!!!

Mauri and her walking team. Dedicated- even in the rain and humidity.

Jenna, John, and Mauri. Love these three! Oh the sadness of being contained... when roaming freely, John took advantage of all the female attention. The little ham was blowing kisses and dancing in front of random groups of attentive walkers!

Finally, on the way home, I stopped in Kingman for a delicious "mock Thanksgiving meal" at Wade and Steph's. Such a great, reenergizing break! We head back Wednesday for the real event! Can't wait!

Vegas Bucket List, Hoover Dam

We love the concept of Bucket Lists. Every place we have lived, we have loved compiling a list of recommended activities, sites, and restaurants to ensure that we fully enjoy each location. Vegas has numerous shows, restaurants, day-trips, parks, etc., so we capitalized on the past two weekends to see some of our "Bucket List" items.

Recent Bucket List highlights:

-Lion King. LOVED it. Truly theatrical eye-candy. The costumes are incredibly creative and the overall experience is delightful. Even better, Matt got day-of tickets with his UNLV student ID for $25 each. So glad we finally saw this!!

-Boulder City. A breakfast joint named "The Coffee Cup" was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives", and is famed for its Chile Verde Pork Omelet.

I tried the Huevos Rancheros; amazing!

John walked right up to the bar and pulled himself up on a swivel seat.

Then demonstrated his developing fork skills

(though he quickly resorted to his hands, so much quicker)

-Lake Mead. Warm, beautiful, and accessible. I love this lake!

View from the end of my triathlon bike route.

This hill nearly killed me, but the view sure is gorgeous!

-Hoover Dam. We drove over this national landmark many times en route to Phoenix (when my parents lived there), but never took the time to explore and take pictures. SO, we made up for lost time and took tons of Dam pictures and did the Dam tour.

My Nevada boys :)

Pointing at the Dam from the middle of the Bypass bridge.

View from the Bypass.

Note the swagger.

John's favorite part: rocks!

Turbines inside the Dam generate 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year.

Stunning bypass bridge (while driving underneath).

View of the Bypass and Colorado River from on top of the Dam.

The tourists.

Enough concrete to build a two lane highway from SF to NY.

Lake Mead. The biggest land-made lake in the States, thanks to Hoover Dam.

Fun weekend!! Next up, our trip to Valley of Fire.

Bucket List pt II, Valley of Fire

Last weekend, we took advantage of Nevada Day (no school on Friday) and checked off another "Bucket List" daytrip: Valley of Fire. The Valley is about an hour Northeast of our house, bordering a section of Lake Mead. We camped with two of our closest couple friends here in Vegas, who both have boys almost the same age as John. Such a fun trip!

Stunning rock formations everywhere. Above: Rainbow Vista.

Happy camper.

The boys: David, Traegon, and John.

Explorer Heaven. Rocks, dirt, caves, and climbing challenges everywhere!

Fearlessly trying to climb up after his dad.

Us on our favorite "hike", Mouse's Tank

(or was it Moose Tracks? I could not get this one right)

Cookie Monster.

Favorite part about the whole experience: our campsite. We were nestled in the rocks, oblivious to all nearby campers. As mentioned earlier, there were rocks, sand, caves, and hikes a plenty right at our campsite= adventurous boys' dream come true. We ate fun camp food, went all out on S'mores (Nutella was the newest confection epiphany), laughed, talked, and had a great time together. Highlights: Matt splitting his pants (trying to put me down from his shoulders), blowing off Roman Candles, viewing Jupiter and four moons through the Parkers' telescope, and an epic "fill-in-the-blank" narrative. Matt and John slept well despite the cold night (crummy sleeping pad= crummy sleep for me). Nevertheless, fantastic camping!

The cliffs above our campsite.

Moms and babies in the caves.

The sandstone is so soft, there are eroded holes all over.

The bigger boys challenging each other. Again, adventurous boys' dream come true.

The drive.

My mountain man.

Matt taming Elephant Rock.

Me repelling down a cliff; so fun!

Matt coming down the cliff.

We took A LOT of pictures. The scenery was so beautiful, and we wanted to adequately document each family. Here's an album with the rest of our pictures :) Overall, one of the more fun camping trips I've been on!

Halloween!

Halloween was great! Here are some pictures from our two dress-up occasions:

First, our ward's Trunk 'r Treat (people decorate trunks and park in a circle, kids walk around for candy, and there's lots of other food and socializing):

Minnie, Mickey, and John the Dinosaur

In action. He loved his costume, very soft and comfortable. He even kept up the hood!

He also LOVED the attention.

Second, the big night. He observed when a few kids come to our door for candy, then when I put on his costume he immediately ran to the door. No wasting time!

The only picture I managed to get at our house, with friend Max the Lion. [Note Matt's shoe in John's hand. He was trying hard to get us out the door!]

Holding out his bucket.

Helping himself.

And loving an audience at our friend's house!

John really seemed to enjoy this year, with only a basic understanding of what was going on. Can't wait for future Halloweens as the costume and candy excitement builds!