Family Vacay

This weekend Brett had some extra days off, so we decided to head up to the Grand Canyon since we have not been since we moved to Arizona.

It was fun to take Hailey on a trip, even if it was just a short one.  The Grand Canyon was beautiful, and pretty much exactly how I remembered it.

We obviously did not do much hiking with a baby in tow, but we enjoyed walking some of the easy access trails along the rim and taking some pictures.

Hailey did well and was adorable, as always.  She attracted many ooohs and ahhs from passersby. 

My baby carrier was put to the ultimate test and Hailey loved riding around in it!

Grand Canyon Baby!

I took a rapid series of pictures.  All put together she looks like a tour guide: 

On my left you will see the Grand Canyon...

And the Colorado River...

So cute.

If you'd like to see more pictures from our trip, you can check them out here:

Grand Canyon 2011

Greetings from Phoenix!

Hello All!

I just wanted to say a quick hello from Phoenix! Brett and I took a last minute trip to Phoenix for a seminar. We haven't had much time for pictures, since we have been stuck in a hotel conference room the majority of the time. Yesterday, we were able to sneak away for a bit to visit some of Brett's family that live in Mesa, AZ. I took a picture of some pretty clouds over the mountain.

...and of the clouds as the sun was setting.

...and of course of the family german shepherd, Jaylee.

More pics to follow.

Viva Las Vegas!

Earlier this month I had a week off from work. Brett & I decided to get out of town and head to Vegas for a couple of days. Here are our excited "We're taking off for Vegas" faces. (Brett's is a little over-the-top).

*Please forgive the quality of these pictures. We opted for convenience over picture quality and just took our little point-and-shoot on the trip rather than my fancy camera.

We arrived in Las Vegas Monday night. We were starving so we headed to the food court in the hotel. We stayed at the Monte Carlo. You wouldn't believe how excited we were that they had a Rubios!


Oh, Rubios... we've missed you so much!

Here's the first official slot pull of the trip:


There was a TON of construction going on. Every building in this picture is still being built. This is the new City Center, and our view from our hotel room.

We ♥'d the lazy river at the hotel:



More slots!


We saw the lions at the MGM:


And then we went to this cool store that is made to look like the Grand Canyon.


These people were stopped watching Michael Jackson's memorial on the big screen. People were stopped EVERYWHERE watching it.


We checked out the conservatory at The Bellagio:


Then we walked over and checked out Planet Hollywood, which actually turned out to be our favorite casino.


We saw Blue Man Group while we were there, which I have been dying to see for years.

We also checked out M&Ms World. We mixed our own M&M color combination (mine was a fun combination of pink, purple, and teal) from the M&M wall, and then we posed with our favorite M&M.

Canoe Trip!

For the Fourth of July weekend we went on an AWESOME canoe trip with Dean & Michelle.

We all drove up to Sauk City, Wisconsin and camped on a beach on the Wisconsin River the first night. We set up camp, cooked some dinner, and then set off fireworks (which, by the way are totally legal in Wisconsin-in case you were wondering). It was the perfect way to spend the Fourth of July. We were able to see lots of fireworks from our location, plus we had our own!

The next day we canoed down the river for a few hours. We stopped on a beach for lunch and some swimming, and then canoed some more before we found a place to set up camp for the night. We camped overnight again on an island in the middle of the river, and then canoed downstream some more to the pick up point where The Canoe Lady picked us up and took us back to our car.

All in all, we had a really great time. It was a weekend full of firsts for me: first time camping, first time canoing, first time in Wisconsin, first time swimming in a river, first time lighting fireworks...I'm sure there's more. If you would like to check out more pictures from our trip, click here.