Zion and Bryce Canyon

We finished our tour of Southern Utah with Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks yesterday. Didn't do too much hiking since we had Reese but we got to see a lot of beautiful scenery. Check it out:CK and Reese hiking in Zion
Driving up to Bryce Canyon, this is where the landscape completely changes. As you can see there's an actual dividing line in the mountain.
The natural bridge (which is actually an arch, not a bridge).
Some great shots of the hoo doos in Bryce
Here are some more pictures from last weekend in Phoenix:Reese and Great Nana
We tried to interest Reese in Isabel, the turtle, but she didn't really care...

Pat's Run (PHX)

We're just now returning "home" to Provo from our 10-day trip to Southern Utah, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Last Saturday, Mom (who was also visiting from back East) and I walked 4.2 miles with Reese in Pat's Run (a benefit race for the Pat Tilghman foundation) in Phoenix. My Uncle Tom, Aunt Jane and cousins all ran the race. Here are the pre and post-race pictures.
Those last few miles really tuckered her out!At the finish line: all smiles :)

Utah Rocks

I took Thursday and Friday off of work this week for a mini family vacation. Reese, CK and I woke up to this in Provo (keep in mind that it was 65 degrees two days before):

We then headed south to Arches National Park in Moab and did some hiking among the natural rock formations there. Pretty incredible sights (and much warmer weather!)

Friday we met Tom and Jane in Show Low, Arizona to check out their cabin property for the first time. It's a beautiful piece of land (but of course we didn't take any pictures!) We are currently headed to Phoenix where we'll be all weekend before I head to Las Vegas on Tuesday for a conference. Next weekend we hope to hit 2 more National Parks on the way back to Provo. A few more recent pictures of Reese from before our trip:

The best toy ever

What fun you can have in a Jumperoo 

Rice is the yummiest

Reese's first meal - 6+ months

Our Water Baby

Here is a video of Reese in Lake Havasu City, AZ

Weekend in Lake Havasu

CK, Reese and I headed down to Lake Havasu, Arizona this weekend to visit the Matthews family (Craig's sister and her family). Sue and Larry just bought a house in Havasu and are now officially snowbirds. They'll be returning to Malta this week so we figured we'd better get down there and see them before they left for the summer. Their three kids were also visiting for the weekend and to celebrate Lyndon's 21st birthday. So we took off mid-day Thursday and drove through Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam (see below) on our way to Arizona. Reese got to meet two of her second cousins, J.J. (4) and Ava (14 months). Ava referred to Reese as "bay-bay" the whole weekend. I'm sure she can't wait until Reese can run around so the two can get into all kinds of trouble together :)
Here was our Friday night poker game which CK managed to win but only afte he lost out and started playing for Laura. Does that really count? From L to R: CK, Sue, Lyndon, LD, Josh (holding Ava) and J.J. in the foreground.

We enjoyed the 70-80 degree temperatures (a nice change from Provo) and took Reese swimming for the first time. As you can see, she loved it.

Laura and Ava with Lyndon in the background hydrating while trying to recover from his 21st birthday the night before :)

CK and Reese with Sue and Ava

And Reese with her new favorite toy. Not it's not some fancy, expensive educational one. It's Daddy's shoelaces!