Madera Canyon

Saturday March 10th James, myself, and our friend Nathan Bartschi went to Madera Canyon to enjoy the nature trail. It was a leisurely trail that let you see some beautiful vistas of Mt. Wrightson, a little bit of Tucson and the beauty of God's smaller creations. It was a blast :) I'm definitely going to go again.

When we got home, James decided to trim the Mesquite trees in the front yard so Boomer and I sat out there watching him. I did hold the ladder for James so I didn't quite make him do everything *wink* Boomer found a stick and was very entertained.

On the spur of the moment we decided to have us a little date night to end the day. We went to Lowe's and purchased what we like to call a Smooth Gliding Action (a swinging bench). We've wanted one for a while and it's a belated Christmas gift :) We LOVE it! While at Lowe's and waiting for the employees to bring us the box I called Chili's and we ordered to go. We also RedBoxed the movie The Big Year. We enjoyed dinner and a movie Saturday night then put the bench together Sunday morning.

Last night we enjoyed our FHE on the Smooth Gliding Action. We went to Sertino's for ice cream and then we sat outside enjoying our treat. We used our iPhones to sing our hymns and look up our scriptures and plan our week. Man I love those things :) Good times!
James had Strawberry and Cotton Candy ice cream with Sprinkles and I had vanilla with Reece's Pieces. Sooo yummy!!

Cort's Blessing & Westward Goings

Cort's Blessing

February 26th we watched the newest addition to the Hall side of the family, Cort Ole Andersen, be blessed in El Paso. We had James' parents come in the Thursday before and spend some time here in the Ole Pueblo before we drove out there. I had to work Friday so James got some good time with his parents showing them the Biosphere and the Saguaro National Forest. Saturday we went to the Desert Museum.

So. Much. Fun.
I love that museum!

After the museum we headed to El Paso.

The pictures go in order: Saguaro National Forest, Desert Museum, El Paso & Family

Petroglyff (spelling?) on the rocks at the Saguaro National Forest

 

The Desert Museum's Hawk - a member of the Harris Hawk Family.

The crow that nearly gave James a buzz cut during the bird show :)

I touched a Gopher Snake

James and his Javelina...

 

This picture was taken on my iPhone! I put the vignette around it but that's the actual picture! Awesome huh!

Westward Goings

So James has had to travel quite a bit this year (and it's only the beginning of March!) He's traveled 3 times in the last 2 months which is much more than normal. He went to LA, DC, San Diego. Then he got asked to go again to San Diego the first weekend in March. This time I put my foot down - I was going too! :) So I did. It was a blast! It was like a repeat honeymoon - sorta...

We went to the San Diego temple Thursday night. So gorgeous. The grounds were absolutely beautiful! The flowers were soo pretty! I took so many pictures too! Hope you don't mind me sharing them all:

 

 
We ate pretty royally too. The first restaurant we ate at was called Island Prime. The view from our restaurant was this one:

Down town San Diego

I had the Wasabi Salmon and James and I split the dessert, a Lava Banana Split Cake. Deliciousness :)

The next day James was in meetings until 1pm so I spent that time at Balboa Park playing around with my camera. I looked around the science museum too but it was mostly for the younger age and there were 3 different school field trips going on so I didn't stick around too long. But I got some fun floral pics :)

When James got out of his meeting we headed out to Mission and Pacific Beach. We rented beach cruiser bicycles and rode along the boardwalk to the pier at Pacific Beach and back again. It was soo fun! I'm bummed that I have no pictures of us on the bikes but I have some of us at the pier. The waves were HUGE because it was SO windy! The pier would shake and rattle. Kinda creepy. But it was so fun to watch the waves.

We ate at The Lighthouse for dinner. This I would say was the equivalent to our dinners on the cruise. It was SO SO SO GOOD! I recommend this restaurant to anyone! So delicious! This was our view from the restaurant. The lights above are reflecting from inside the restaurant. James had Swordfish. I can't tell you how good it was! I had the pork chops - staying a little safe, I wasn't as adventurous as James - but they were still fantastic. They had honey glazed apples for a topping and mmmm...just hit the spot. And then my dessert! Oh! It was the Mud Pie: Brownie chunks, mini peanut butter cups, butterfinger bits all mixed into chocolate ice cream with fudge and whipped cream topping. HEAVEN. Not to mention their warm sourdough bread....yep, I have a new favorite restaurant I think....

Saturday was our last day. We spent it on Coronado Beach. The. Best. Beach. Ever. Sparkly sand, pretty beach area and SHELLS! I found shells and WHOLE SAND DOLLARS! About a gazillion of 'em!

creepy hermit crab. too similar to a spider *shivers*

sleeping crustacean - not a shell do not pick up :)

the "loot" we took about 12 sand dollars home as well as the other sea shells

Having fun with my camera apps. I only colored James' glasses. Cool effect huh.

The trip was a nice get away. I would go back anytime. :0)