Grand Canyon Adventures

On one of our recent four days Hubs and I were able to visit the Grand Canyon.  In one word.. . .AMAZING.  If you have been there you know exactly what I mean!  If you haven't, here are just a few of the bazillion pictures we took.  They don't do it justice but hopefully will at least give you an idea!

Hubs was itching to do one of the hikes all the way down into the canyon.  Unfortunately I'm moving a little slower than normal these days so we didn't attempt it.  Maybe next time! :)

Speaking of moving a little slower. . .Baby Hayes hit 31 weeks over that trip!  (For any of you who are like us and had no idea about this whole "week thing" that goes along with growing babies, 40ish weeks give or take a few is the projected end point!)

 Hubs always likes to see how close he can get to the edge of these sorts of things.

And I think he really had his eye on getting out on the edge of this thing somehow.

Or maybe going white water rafting down there.

The morning we left it actually snowed!  It made for some incredible cloud formations to match the incredible rock formations. And the precipitation even resulted in a rainbow!  Such a beautiful world God made and we are so thankful for the opportunity to explore parts of it!

Big Bear Adventures

Like I mentioned in my last post, Hubs' current work schedule is about two weeks of very crazy hours in which he may or may not come home followed by two weeks of more regular office type hours.  He doesn't get weekend off during the first two weeks of this schedule so the Army is kind enough to give a 4 day weekend at the end.  Even though we are situated kind of in the middle of nowhere we are within driving distance to A LOT of neat places and have been trying to use the 4 days to explore a bit!

We have spent several weekends in Las Vegas, several in Pasadena, and several in what has quickly become our favorite "escape the desert" destination:  Big Bear, CA.  It is a cute little mountain tourist town that boasts a ski resort in the winter and a lake resort in the summer.  It is only 2 hours away from where we live but once we drive up the mountain and start to see green trees instead of brown sand it feels like we are worlds away.

Hubs discovered a historical little bed and breakfast that is our new "go to place".  It is complete with beautiful antiques, a huge game room, fireplaces in every bedroom, huge bathtubs for soaking in their homemade milk bath, and gourmet breakfasts.  Are you sold yet?!?  

One of our recent visit there we invited some friends of ours (friends from college who also happen to be here at Fort Irwin) to go with us.  It worked out well because they are pregnant too and us pregnant girls hung out while the guys when skiing.

It was a great weekend filled with relaxing and reading (although unfortunately most of mine was reading for school instead of for fun). 

 Our stay actually got extended an extra night thanks to a combination of a big snow storm and a road closures because of a man hunt in the area.  I'm not joking. . there was a random ex LA cop who went a little crazy and started killing people who just so happened to pick Big Bear to hid out in that very weekend.  The search for him even resulted in the shut down some of the skiing areas.  If you happened to be watching CNN that day you might have seen Hubs scowling in the background of the news cameras as a result of missing out on some of the larger ski slopes.

We weren't too heart broken about spending another day though and thankfully the fugitive didn't disturb us (he was discovered hiding out in a cabin about half a week later and died in a shoot out with the cops).  And it was a great treat for us involuntary desert dwellers to get to wake up to a beautiful snow that lasted all day and ended up totaling about 18 inches!

We hope to make it back for lots more visit to Big Bear during our time in California.  We would love to get more snow days there as well. . . but I think we could do without the fugitive man hunt part on future trips.

Oh. . and Baby Hayes hit 27 weeks during that weekend!

Catch up Adventures

Wow.  It has been awhile!  Remember when I used to update this regularly?  Okay yeah me neither.  Let me rephrase that.  Remember when I used to update this every month?  I'm going to try to get back to that.  Every two months at least. :)

So....our life has been a little less "adventurous" (but still good!!) since our move to California which might be part of the reason for the lack of updates.  But mostly it has just taken a little longer than our normal time to settle in and adjust to a new life in a new place.  The Army post where we are is very remote. . as in 40 min of desert driving from pretty much anything.  So most people understandably live on post.  When we got here we had a long wait for on post housing to become available so we spent 5 or so weeks living in a hotel on post.  I know that might sound luxurious but I promise it was actually quite miserable!  Once we finally got our house (we really like it!  It's a two story duplex and even came with a teeny tiny dead patch of grass.  Hey we live in the desert, I'll take what I can get! :) it took another one and half months for all our things to get delivered.  It came over three shipments at three separate times , two from Korea and one that we had left in Alabama in storage and so took what seemed like forever before everything was unpacked, sorted, and settled.  BUT so nice to have everything under one roof again and have a new "home"!

Hubs' work schedule is a bit unique in that he generally works 14 days straight out of the month.  He may or may not come home to sleep or grab food  during random times in that block.  That has been an adjustment for both of us but we are so thankful to have the time together that we do!  I've been "finding my niche" here which is always the challenge with a move to a new place.  For the most part I am not nearly as busy as I was in Korea which I'm actually enjoying!  I started graduate school for Clinical Nutrition in January and am loving my classes but also remembering why I waited so very long to go back after undergrad. . .school is hard!  

The other thing that has been taking up lots of my energy is growing a new little addition to our family!  I'm sure all of you who read this are already aware, but we are excited to be having a baby this May!  We are hoping he/she (we aren't finding out the gender before hand.. . I know. .  how last generation of us!!) enjoys adventures as much as we do and will be up for coming along on some of ours! :)

Some of the highlights of the last few months were spending Christmas with most of Hubs' family in Michigan and welcoming our first visitor (my beautiful mama!) to our desert abode in early Jan.  Unfortunately we didn't do great at capturing much of anything on camera which makes for a post with too many words and not enough pictures! :(  

Here is at least one to tide you over until the next post. . me and the baby at about 21 weeks (sorry if you are on facebook this is an "old news" picture!) 

I'm at 30 weeks now so yeah. . lots bigger. :)  Hubs should be home this weekend (Yippee!) so I"ll work on having him take an updated one for those of you who might be interested in seeing me with a bowling bowl waistline. 

So. .that is the quick catch up recap!  Now my goal is to get on a more regular schedule of updating this before the munchkin comes.  Leaving comments that anyone out there still actually reads this might encourage me (hint, hint!!!)

Road trip Adventures

Hubs and I really like taking road trips together.  But it turns out they aren't quite as fun when you have to drive separate cars.  Especially when the drive is all the way from Nebraska to California.


I got bored.  A feeling that will probably be passed on to you as you read this post. . .

We drove through Kansas.

It was flat and windy.

Then we drove through Colorado.

It was not flat anymore.

Next was Utah.

Maybe it is because I have been away awhile and have a fresh perspective but I think I may have uncovered a clue in the mystery of America's weight problem. . .

Arizona.  Also, it appears Hubs may have been trying to loose me at this point. . .hmmm

I missed the sign for Nevada. But I figured a picture of a casino would work. . .

FINALLY (3 days later) California.

We drove so far they ran out of road names (in case you can't make it out that is Zzyxx Rd)

BUT.  It's all good cause we made it!!

Home sweet home for the next two (ish) years!!

Nebraska Adventures

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Sorry for the looooooooong delay between posts!  We have been experiencing technical difficulties with the blog but I think we finally have the kinks worked out so posting should be back to normal (and by normal I mean only two months behind instead of four . . :)).
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Our next traveling stop was my home state of Nebraska!  My immediate family all lives here so it is always a very fun/busy time catching up with everyone.  Most importantly of course is our other three nieces and one nephew.  Can't believe how much they have grown and loved seeing how their personalities have developed in just the one year since we saw them last.

Some quality time with the oldest. . .she is confident and wise beyond her years!!

The second  is such a beautiful little princess!

This fun little guy was very enthralled with this newly acquired bulldozer so it was pretty much impossible to get a picture of him that didn't include it.

And last but not least the youngest!  Doesn't that expression just ooze of spunk and cuteness?

Hubs 'parents made the trip to Nebraska as well and brought some fun yard games which made for a great afternoon of hanging out complete with lots of laughing and good food (two very high priorities in my family).

Home made ice cream is a staple at these gatherings and I was glad to see my Dad imparting the timeless art of making it to the next generation.

We spent a week in Nebraska but it seemed much shorter.. .partly because our time was kept busying helping my siblings with last minute plans for a secret party in honor of my parents!

I think they were at least a little bit surprised.

And although I'm not sure my Dad really likes surprises like this, he did at least seem excited that food was part of the equation.

Here is a shot of the whole motley crew!  I love this "pre-family photo" action shot/discussion of the best placement for the picture.  My favorite part is that our "little princess" is still photo ready despite the rest of us!!

Almost there. ..

Close enough!

It was so great seeing everyone and we are looking forward to the next visit!!  A special thanks to my wonderful sister in laws for all the hard work they did putting together my parents' surprise party (not to mention what you do on a daily basis keeping my brothers in line. :)).

Washington State Adventures

After leaving the wonderful paradise of Hawaii, our next stop was beautiful Washington State.  Hubs' brother and sister-in-law were fabulous hosts and let us crash with them for a week.  It was seriously one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weeks ever.  They truly have a knack for comfortable hospitality and we LOVED our time with them.  It also didn't hurt that they are the parents of one of our sweet sweet nieces and we loved getting to know her a little better.

What a precious family huh?  And what an AWESOME garden.  We were very impressed and JEALOUS!

Look at this little bundle of fun!!

We enjoyed a hike with some of our extended family who also live in this beautiful state.

Picnic lunch and taking in the view at the top (or if you are me, trying to mask the fact you are gasping for air and recovering since everyone else seems to be unaffected by the little "stroll").

We were so excited to find a Korean restaurant nearby and get to introduce our hosts to Korean BBQ.  They seemed to enjoy it as much as we do. . .or at least were good sports and played along. :)

Thanks for the great time guys!  Can't wait till we can get together again!