The Rock Paparazzi

Justin, my parents, and I went to Arizona for Thanksgiving this year. We had some Southwest tickets that we needed to use and decided on the Grand Caynon! I haven't been since 7th grade and Justin has never been. We flew into Phoenix and picked up the rental car and drove to Flagstaff. We stopped in Rock Springs to have Thanksgiving lunch (or blueberry pancakes and potatoes for me!) at the famous Rock Springs Cafe. They are known for their pies and boy did they look good.

p.s. Once you are done with this post you will understand why I called it "The Rock Paparazzi" haha




Rock Springs Cafe

  Our next stop on the way was Montezuma's Castle - a national park that contains well preserved cliff dwellings that were built around 700AD. It's such an interesting and beautiful place.


Cliff dwellings at Montezuma's Castle

 

Beautiful Fall Foliage

 

 

River by the dwellings where they got their water from - so pretty

 Once we got to Flagstaff we plopped ourselves in the hotel bar (with free drinks!) and watched the A&M - t.u. game. Unfotunately it wasn't the outcome we were hoping for but oh well! Maybe next time (if UT decides to quit being babies about the whole thing).
 
On Friday we drove from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon National Park. It was SUCH a pretty drive! I think Justin is ready to move - especially since it snows there!








Mt. Elden



Justin kicking the snow on the side of the road!



Pretty drive through the Ponderosa Pine Forest - largest in the continental US!



Beautiful

 Once we arrived at the Grand Canyon we stopped at the visitors center and then went directly to the rim. I took LOTS of pictures and they all start to look the same so I'll try and limit the number I share :) It was kind of hazy because they were doing some controlled burning.


Our first view from Mather Point

 

The people look so small



Dad & Me



One of my favs from the day :)



Mom & Dad!





In the center of the picture at the top of the rocks there is a building - it's the North Rim Lodge - about 10 miles from where we were standing - love my zoom!





Bright Angel Lodge

  

The Colorado River - you could actually hear it - quite amazing considering we were about a mile above



We were killing time but boy was it COLD



Ok do they really have to say DON'T DRINK THE TOILET WATER??

 We left about an hour before sunset so no sunset pictures :( But we ate at this great local place - Granny's Closet - for dinner that night in Flagstaff. Saturday morning we got up and started our trip back to Phoenix. We went back through Sedona and boy was the trip beautiful. We stopped in Sedona for a couple of hours and shopped and snacked - it was a great day!

Drive from Flagstaff to Sedona - changing scenery



Slide Rock State Park



Oak Creek Vista

Really cool bridge @ Oak Creek Vista - right outside of Sedona

Sedona

Shops (& Jeep Tour) in Sedona

Love the Christams Tree with the scenery in the background!



Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona



More pretty scenery on the way to Phoenix

Pretty colors!

That evening in Phoneix we went to Z-Tejas for dinner in Tempe and they were having a Christmas Parade & Tree Lighting ceremony - it was a great end to a great Holiday trip! Justin and I are considering making an annual Thanksgiving trip because we had so much fun! We'll just have to see what next year brings!

San Diego Has My Heart

Okay so maybe all of California has my heart - I LOVE California. When we had the opportunity to take a trip with our neighbors - Michael and Christine - we jumped on it! We left on Thursday night and came back Sunday. It was a quick trip but we had a blast. Here is our trip itinerary in a nutshell:

San Diego Zoo

Coronado Island

Gaslamp District

Point Loma Lighthouse

In-N-Out Burger

La Jolla

Birch Aquarium

Trip to the Movies

The last 2 items on the list were unexpected due to the heavy downpour that occurred all day on Saturday - in San Diego - where it rains like 3 times a year or something like that. Maybe that's an exaggeration but still - they rarely get rain and they got a torrential downpour when we're there! But now worries - we made the best of it and still had fun! If you would like a more detailed explanation of our trip - take a visit to Christine's Blog. She did a great job of recapping our trip - with lots of facts I will never remember! Here are some of my pictures :)



Michael & Christine at ABIA waiting to go!



Us at ABIA ready to go to CA!



Elephant!

 

Sky Tram @ San Diego Zoo



Baby (2 yrs old) panda!



Tigers! (the one on the left is a baby)



Galapagos Turtles that loooved their heads scratched



Our "excited" faces for the Sky Tram - or Justin's - "do I really have to do this?" face




so fun! Michael & Christine are in # 28



Wouldn't want to run into this guy in the wild



Giraffes! Love them!



The boys



The girls



View of the peer from the ferry to Coronado Island



Downtown San Diego



Carrier Classic Basketball Game



Old Point Loma Lighthouse



Getting rained on at the Birch Aquarium



La Jolla Cove - see the Sea Lions at the bottom??

 

La Jolla



Rushing water on the way back to the car that we all got soaked by!

 It was a great trip and I can't wait until our next weekend getaway!!

Travaasa - Our First Anniversary

I'm going to back track a little bit. I have a few posts coming that I'm really excited about but first I wanted to share about our First Anniversary. Justin and I went to a resort - Travaasa out by Lake Travis for our Anniversary. It is such a beautiful resort and I never even knew it existed! We got a great Travel Zoo deal on our stay. It included breakfast, dinner, wine tasting, and all activities - such as ropes course, yoga, cooking classes, equine exercises, hiking, and so many more. Unfortunately since we were only there for one night we didn't get to take advantage of any activities except for the wine tasting, but hey - at least we got to enjoy that! When we got home on Saturday we watched the A&M game (aka napped through it) and then went out for dinner for my Dad's birthday. My mom got us a gorgeous (and yummy!) anniversary/birthday cake to celebrate with. My Dad's birthday is on October 21st and our Anniversary is on October 23rd...I think it's neat that every year we will get to celebrate these two special occasions together :) Here are some pictures from our little getaway weekend!

Our beautiful hill country view out off our balcony



Infinity pool overlooking the lake (or lack of) and hill country



The only picture of us from our stay - too bad it was soo sunny!



Sunset at dinner



Our 3 desserts - the waitress couldn't remember which 2 we ordered so she brought us all 3! - Delish!






Our room was in the building in the middle





Our Anniversary/Dad's Birthday Cake

  

Happy 1 year!!


It was a great first anniversary and I can't wait to celebrate 2 years next year! I think we will make it a tradition of doing something special each year because we are so busy - especially at this time of year...it's important to take some time away and relax!

Walking on Sunshine...Uh I mean Laminate

Last month Justin and I made the decision to remove all of the carpet in our house and replace it with laminate floors (faux wood). Hardwood is too expensive - and not dog friendly, and the carpet was holding so much dust/dog hair we thought it would be best for my allergies - and for looks to go with the laminate. The kitchen, dining room, hallways, enteryway, living room, bathrooms, and laudry room are all tiled so we added the laminate in our bedrooms and our master closet. I am definitely glad we decided to do this now rather than wait a couple years because it looks amazing and now we get to enjoy it for years to come!! (hopefully with less allergies too). So I took some before pictures that morning, some during pictures of what the house looked like with all of our stuff crammed into the living room, dining room, and guest bathroom - and some after pics.

Before



Our bedroom before



Another before shot



Middle bedroom before



another before



Front bedroom before



another before



 During



Our living room slash temporary closet



Our dining room slash storage area



Can you say hoarders?! the bathtub is full!


 

more hoarding...at least it's colorful?

 

Of course I had to take one of my sweet Hunter

 

And Lexie had to follow me around the house while I took pics



After



Our bedroom after! excuse the mess - this was literally right after



Another after view

 

The office/guest bedroom after...yes I know I need to fix our diplomas - it's on my list

 

More office after



Front bedroom after



More front bedroom after

 It's funny...we've only had these new floors for a month but after going through these pictures and looking at the carpet - I can't imagine ever having the carpet! I was a little skeptical about not having a "soft" or "warm" floor but I have no regrets - I love it!


Coming soon to the blog....San Diego, Winter Wreath & Bedroom makeover!