A Little Bit of Heaven

We were privileged to go to San Diego for the 4th of July. In short, it was Heaven on earth.

There was much beach going and boogie boarding (it was Nate and Rob's first time, and later we taught Lucy and Grant so it was basically a boogie boarding initiation trip)

Cute Nate

Cute Mom

I caught my dad laughing right as I was taking the picture.

Nate's first Boogie Boarding experience!

Our little spot on the beach.

Like Father like Son-in-law? This is my dad teaching Nate how to nap on the beach.

My mom in one of our 'shelters'. They were really useful in providing shade and blocking the wind.

Dad and Lucy. She was a natural.

Every time Grant rode a wave in, even if it was only three feet, he'd give a little  yelp of joy. It was so cute.

HG loved the sand.

Molly

Nate

 We also had a fantastic BBQ, which is a necessity on the 4th.  Someone brought my dad a chef's hat that said "Bacon is my favorite Flavor". It became especially funny when one of the little girls said "Bacon is my favorite color!"

Bacon

 Speaking of bacon, that reminds me of a little ditty -

Roses are red,

I like bacon,

Poems are hard,

Bacon.

[disclaimer: I don't know who wrote that and therefore cannot attribut it to anyone, just know it didn't come out of my own clever little brain]

Molly took this picture

We were skirt twins

Touring the USS Midway. 

Nate and Dad in "the brig" (wearing their best sad faces)

Little known fact: HG is in fact a pilot

Up on the deck was so cool, they had tons of planes and you really got a feeling of how huge it all is. There are also a lot of mannequins on the tour, so naturally my dad had to pose with one. 

This shot is from the parking lot. I really liked seeing the ship all decked out in it's patriotic  decor.

 Point Loma

It's always fun to see a lighthouse! There aren't too many of them on the west coast.This lighthouse isn't in use anymore, there's another one lower and closer to the water they use now. There's a neat little museum inside this one now that tells you what it was like to be a lighthouse keeper back in the day. 

 Point Loma Light house

There are also some cool tide pools at Point Loma, but unfortunately we were there during high tide. It was still fun to  play on these rocks though.

We love the beach.

Our last day we had a picnic on the beach right before we left to drive home. I could have sat there forever, basking in the cool-but-not-cold weather, listening to and watching the ocean there in front of me. I'm sure I get nostalgic because I have so many great memories growing up of being at the beach, but apparently the beach magic is still there as an adult because we had an absolutely wonderful weekend. 

I Say Po-TAY-to, You Say Po-TAH-to

I found these interesting maps depicting regional variations in how Americans say certain words. Most of it isn't all that surprising (we all know they say y'all in the south), although I did learn that some crazies in Wisconsin and Rhode Island call drinking fountains "bubblers". Why in the world didn't that catch on to the rest of the US?! 

Also, while I'm at it, has anyone discovered GeoGuessr? It's a fun little game that drops you somewhere in the world on google streetview and you get to guess where it is based on the picture. It's amazing how you really can guess successfully (and sometimes totally wrong) based on what you see.

The Allen Family Came to Visit

I thought I was safe when I decided to follow David's blog schedule, but now I'm not so sure...

Luckily, we did something fun this weekend!

Our good friends the Allens came to visit this weekend. Jessie and I have been friends since I was a freshman at BYU. She's one of my most favorite people in the world and we have done all sorts of things together, from attending the temple every Saturday morning all through college, to sleeping in a garage with six other girls for two months in Uganda. We always have a great time together. Now the good times continue with a few more people....husbands and kiddos... which only make our visits more fun! Nate and Scott are both physical therapists and have so much in common it's uncanny.

Saturday we BBQed and hung out at the pool. Corn off the grill is amazing.

Obviously, we ate copious amounts of watermelon. It's just what you do on Memorial Day Weekend (and all summer long)

Jessie and Scott

Little Addison, who is a gem of a baby.

Nate gets along great with babies!

Come visit us again Jessie and Scott, we loved having you!

We Went to the Grand Canyon

Well. I decided if David was going to post something on his blog, then I better too :)

Nate and I have both lived in Arizona for almost four years and neither one of us had been to the Grand Canyon (not counting Havasupai). And it's only a few hours away from us! So we went up after work one Friday, camped, and hiked around the next day. It was a great little weekend trip. I don't love the city all the time so weekend trips are always appreciated. I feel so lucky that I married someone who loves to camp and hike as much as I do.

There are lots of cool things about the Grand Canyon, and one of them is that if you camp up there, you might get to eat breakfast the next morning with an elk (that's an elk, right? I need to take wildlife 101). We were SO CLOSE to it. There are so many people around up there it doesn't phase the animals at all. I was resting on our hike later that day and I swear a squirrel actually came up to me and posed for a picture on a rock.

Saturday we hiked down the South Kaibab Trail (we were at the south rim). The weather was fairly nice, I would recommend visiting in May because we didn't freeze at night and it wasn't too hot during the day. But still, the lower you go into the canyon the hotter it is and there is no shield from the sun. There were park rangers everywhere talking to every single person on the trail (and there were a lot of people) to make sure they had plenty of water and food. At first it came across as pushy and invasive to me but then I thought about all the people from all over the world who go there (we heard at least 20 different languages while we were there), with varying awareness of the desert and hiking in general and realized they've probably learned from sad experience that they need to do that. So, good job park rangers.

As we hiked down it was neat to see the trail dirt change color and realize we were traversing the different "layers" of the canyon.

Overall, we had a fun trip. There is a lot more to do at the South Rim than I originally thought. We want to go back and do more hiking. They have a pretty cool visitors center with a giant wall map that blew my mind. We left through the east entrance and stopped at Desert View, where you can actually see the Colorado River, and where there is a watch tower from the 1930's you can climb up.

 

The Canyon was beautiful. And really really big.

Nate took a cool panoramic shot with his phone.

Merry Christmas!

The Cool Thing

The cool thing about having a really sore throat is: coming home from work and telling your roomate that you have a sore throat, and then having your roomate say "hmmm, eat some marshmallows. I read on Pinterest that they soothe sore throats."

And then it's even more amazing when you find out that it works! Marshmallows, I already loved you, but now I can justify consuming you in large quantities for 'medicinal purposes'. Amazing!

[apparently it's the gelatin in the marshmallows that soothes the soreness]

Here's to Marshmallows!

Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a Map!

So. I got a new job. Hello Colliers International!

Even though I've had a job almost continuously from the time I was 16 (that makes it about 14 years) I feel like this is my first "real" job. Yep, I'm almost 30 and just starting my first real job! Truth be told, all my other jobs were real too...I mean, they were legal and I got paid for them...but this one feels like THE real job because it's in my career field. I went to school and earned degrees for what I'm doing. I'm qualified! I work in the GIS/Mapping department for Colliers International, a commercial real estate company. Here are some of the reasons I like it so far:

1. I like the company because they're international...if I want to put in for a transfer to New Zealand, I can.
2. Work hours are really flexible, I can work remotely, and most of the work is completely at my own pace.
3. Great benefits and lots of time off.
4. Two other people from my graduate program also work there. Everyone is nice.
5. The office is in a great location. It's right next to the grocery store, bank, and other frequented places, which means I can swing by on my way to/from work. I guess I'm a real adult now too because I care about stuff like that and good benefits.
6. Best of all, I get to make maps all day long. I love it! We do mostly maps for the US, but there is occasional international work. I laughed the other day because my co-worker was making a map of Yuba City.