Don't tell Grandpa! (hehe)

So, a couple weeks ago I spent Wednesday night at my parents house and had a camp out in the backyard.  Guess who got to spend the entire night in the tent with 5 kids all 7 and under?  Yours truly.  The kids were actually all very good.  They basically slept through the night and nobody got up crying or mad or too crazy.  The only problem was the neighbors ratty little dog!  It would start barking at the smallest noise and not stop for half an hour.  As soon as someone else shifted it would start up again.  Hmmmm.  Anyways, the next day my sister brought over her two youngest, Lynneah and Kynzie.  Lynneah was sitting her high chair getting fussy while waiting for lunch.  My mom had finished mixing up some cookie dough when she handed me the two beaters.  (I still LOVE licking the beaters!) Mariah said, "Wait, give one to Lynneah!"  Here's what happened next.

Don't you just love that little grin?

She was VERY determined to get that beater as clean as Aunt Sassy could.

The beater was hanging in her mouth for a good 30 seconds by the time I got this picture.

She has a small mouth, but she worked had to get that entire top in.

 Once again, Aunt Sassy has left her mark!!!

Fun in the Sun

So, earlier I realized that I hadn't posted any of the pictures from my summer adventures.  So I will start with my trip to Sedona and Slide Rock with one of my friend Becky.  It was loads of fun and by the end of the day we were both sun burnt and exhausted.

We had to start driving kind of late in the day because I had to work.  Along the way we stopped at a rest stop with some of the prettiest views I've seen in Arizona.  A lot of people think of flat dry barren sand like the Sahara when they think of the desert.  Arizona has wild, rough, rugged, and beautiful.  The plants in Arizona has fight hard to live in the desert, and have to deal with extreme temperatures (over 100 F in the summer and below freezing in the winter).

We got to our campsite just before it got dark, pulled out the propane stove my parents lent us, and realized that the pipe that goes from the propane cylinder to the burner was missing.  I thought, "Grrrr!"  Becky and I eventually decided to find a restaurant still open and get firewood for the morning.  Kind of hard to find an open restaurant at nine at night, but we succeeded and enjoyed a large excellent Italian meal.

The woke up to a bright beautiful sunrise.  After looking around at the campground in daylight, it looked like it was built on old ranch land.  It was situated on a hill where we could see into the valley below.

Sedona in the valley and Jerome on the hill

Desert scrub in all its scroungy glory!

Pose sexy!  One of my best friends Becky.

That streak of green is where there is a creek going through the valley.

An old building on the campground that leads me to believe that we slept where the cows used to sleep. ;)

We had to drive through Sedona to get to Slide Rock.  Once upon a time Sedona was cute little town with funny little shops all over the place.  Suddenly tourists invaded and turned the town into a trap.  The stores in downtown looked more like the stores you'd find in Beverly Hills rather an old small western town.  Sadness.  The rock formations surrounding the valley are still beautiful.  The rock and dirt around Sedona is full of minerals, so get that wonderful rust color.

  When we reached Slide Rock Park, I saw a bunch of buildings that I don't remember from my childhood visit.  Apparently people could stay in cabins there in the park.  There was also a small orchard; I don't remember what kind of trees they were though. Then the fun part: water!  I'm not sure how long Becky and I were there.  I did pull a couple of people from the water either because they got stuck or panicked and started drowning.  Overall it was a good time.

I would totally go for a vacation cabin like this!!

The way the water goung through the rocks has created chutes that you can slide along, hence the name Slide Rock.

There are big pools in a few places.  There's even one deep enough for you to jump off a 30 foot cliff.  Ever the daredevil daughter of my parents that I am, I jumped.  I didn't even lose my sunglasses in that jump ;)

After visiting Slide Rock we went to Jerome.  Jerome was once a mining town, but when the ore ran out people left.  Apparently a bunch of hippies saw the town and decided to get rebuilt as the little old towns of Arizona.  I think they did very well at keeping the spirit of a little Arizona town.  I loved it!

The view of the Valley from Jerome.

Becky trying to eat her hamburger from the Haunted Hamburger restaurant.

My mouth is almost big enough.

This is the main street in Jerome.  Jerome is built into the side of a hill so parking is extremely limited.

This was a beautiful little church.  The windows had some stained glass so the light inside really added a little something.

There was a shop with lots of kaleidoscopes.  They even let you play with them.  The picture below is supposed to be a video of looking through one of these scopes at a plant.  It was super cool!!

I love this shop!!  I think my mom would love it too.

Half my family would want to get these salt and pepper shakers for me.  Either that or kiss my own frog.  Oh well.

Some of my adventures at home included the monsoon storms.  Right before and right after these storms come through, the Palo Verde beetles come out.  They're big and not so ugly looking.  They like to hang out around Palo Verde trees, hence the name.  So here they are!

They're big little buggers.  I'm not yet gutsy enough to pick one up.

The green tree (Palo Verde) that they like to hang out in.

Oooooo! Cool! or Ick!