Arizona, Ancient Ruins, and Gettin' Back to Nature with Family

Fun times at the family reunion! This was taken near Slide Rock.

The past few months have been filled with fun activities and side trips. We'll start with what we've been doing locally. First, Paul and I have a goal to invite over someone we know (including couples from our ward who we know well or don't know well) for dinner or to play games or some other social type function. We figure if we can't reach out and make friends with people now as a family, then we'll probably be bad at it forever, so no time is better than now to start.

We went to Bridal Veil Falls with another couple and had a BBQ. There are some cool mountains up there as well as the falls.

So... "rugged."

So... "pregnant."

So... "woodsy."

This deer graffiti was well done.

Takin' a dip?

Pregnant squat.

We've done some dinners at our house, and recently we had a BBQ up by Bridal Veil Falls (appropriately named for a place near BYU) with some friends and Paul's sister Becca. We had a lot of fun and it was nice because these friends of ours have a little boy who's about a year old, so it's fun to imagine what Paul IV might be like a year from now. They're going camping with him this summer as well, which I want to do with our one year old eventually. 

We've been trying to get outside once every week or once every two weeks. I start to go a little stir crazy without activities beyond the daily hum-drum of school and work, and I especially do when the the weather's nice and I just want to be outside enjoying nature. We've gone up to Bridal Veil Falls a couple times now and in that general canyon area, and sometimes we just sit outside at Wymount and talk for a bit. 

Provo has interesting, random things in it as well - and if you're paying attention, you might see some of them.

Here's a suhwheet Jurassic Park themed car, seen in Provo. We were impressed.

And I saw this Polaris parked outside the courthouse in Provo, what an appropriate place for it. 'Merica.

We have a crib now and some other baby stuff! A big thanks to our parents for their contributions to the "nursery," things are really starting to shape up (even though we're still in a one bedroom apt., so the baby's area is really just the living room.) It'll be really nice to have a stroller, crib, and other things already when the baby's born so we don't have to worry about it.  I'm super glad Paul's around too, because he's got the technical skills and patience to set stuff up.

We rearranged our whole living room to make it all fit.

Paul's a hard worker ;)

On Memorial Day weekend Paul and I finally went to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper. We'd seen billboards up advertising their penguins and otters, and I really wanted to go see them. It was a super fun date, mostly because I've gone to more zoos in my life than aquariums, and the ocean is such a foreign place to me in concept and in reality since I've never lived very close to an ocean before.

The sharks were pretty awesome, although they weren't super huge ones.

That unfortunate moment when it's a really good picture but one person's eyes are closed. They had various other animals at the exhibit beyond just fish, like this parrot.

Poisonous frogs. I think it was the yellow one that in the wild has the ability to kill 12 men because it's so poisonous, but in the exhibit it's harmless because it doesn't eat the poisonous ants it normally eats in the wild.

My very favorite parts of the aquarium were the cuttlefish and the otters. I'd never seen a cuttlefish before - they're like tiny octopuses, but much, much, cuter. They change color to match their surroundings and have little beards of tentacles. Cuttlefish also happen to be among some of the very smartest fish in the ocean (along with all other octopuses.) There's something weirdly adorable about them I just can't quite place my finger on.

When we got to the otter display, I was very pleased to see a happy group of the little water-ferrets swimming around and chasing each other. I can see why otters wouldn't make very good pets; they were super rambunctious and hardly stopped moving or swimming for a second (hence the fact we didn't really get . It was fun to see them going under the water with their special fur emitting bubbles as they swam. One was enjoying a "shower" it seemed as he swam right next to a waterfall feature in the exhibit. These ones were river otters, which I think are way cuter than the ocean otters. Apparently the otters live across the U.S., but I have yet to definitively see one in the wild.

This lil' otter loved the waterfall.

They're so slick and fast!

This one kept scratching himself on the tree for five minutes.

My parents came out from Virginia for the reunion a week early and spent time with us and my siblings. It was fun to have them around, and we had a fun BBQ cookout with the family. Paul made some super delicious grilled chicken using a shrimp marinade recipe that we love, along with some burgers and various sides. Paul is seriously a grill-master. My sister-in-law Elisabeth made an awesome cheesecake that was perfectly decorated. We ate at Wymount, and were sitting at a picnic table. A funny moment occurred when there were a few too many people on one side of the table and one of us stood up. Suddenly, the entire table started tipping over and we almost lost all the food, including the cheesecake. Fortunately we all realized what was happening and saved it before catastrophe struck.

The view from the house we stayed at in Flagstaff. The family did a great job finding some really fun houses in rural locations for us to stay at this year.

This year the Larsen family reunion was held in Flagstaff, Arizona. We had a lot of fun this year! It's been a number of years since I'd been to a reunion since I went on my mission and then we got married and our honeymoon week was during the reunion last year. This year, the reunion was so much fun! It was so good to spend time with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins.

Window of one of the houses we stayed at.

Because it's Arizona - these ones were actually silk flowers, which I thought was pretty funny.

Bear totems are hugely popular in Arizona since we saw them literally everywhere.

A rather bizarre toilet cover, with a depiction of cowboys lassoing a cow embossed into cow hide that was still furry. I dunno how I feel about that being on a toilet.

I think the family who owns the place are actually cowboy hunters - this mirror had the tops of cowboy boots nailed to it like the prized hides of animals they'd shot.

View from the top of the highest peak in Arizona.

One of the first things we did was the Snowbowl skilift to the top of the highest peak in all of Arizona. Now, I will say that this reunion definitely made me hit my limit on heights for the next year. I am definitely afraid of heights, and the ski lift was the beginning of the realization of that fear. I will say, however, that the views from the mountain were amazing and the ski lift was nice since we didn't have to walk all the way up the really long mountain. There was even still snow amongst all the pines there, which I thought was pretty impressive considering we felt rather hot even while wearing shorts and t-shirts. Paul and I quickly realized that just because you don't normally burn on your legs doesn't mean you won't get burnt there at high altitudes sitting on a ski lift for an hour.

The ride up on the ski lift wasn't so bad for me. Paul didn't like that part so much, but the ride down made me super scared. I learned on this trip that my height-induced adrenaline rushes make Paul IV start kicking wildly - hope he had a thrilling trip overall!

Paul as a tour guide at the top of the peak.

Not sure why the grumpy face.

On our way down the lift, we looked over to see a very "trashy" couple riding up. ;)

There was still snow on either side of the lift, even though it was actually quite hot and the sun was very direct. 

We learned just how direct the sun was a few hours later when our really impressive leg sunburns showed up - we had been smart enough to put sunscreen on our faces and arms but not our legs. My burns weren't as bad as Paul's, but we learned a lesson early on in the week about applying sunscreen.

We went to the Grand Canyon with everyone, which was a first for both me but not for Paul. It was impressively deep and wide, and I was quite afraid of getting too close to the edges of the viewing platforms. One of my favorite parts of the whole trip was getting to pet pretty much every dog I saw, and there were certainly a ton at the Grand Canyon. I'd estimate I pet somewhere around 15 - 20 dogs during the whole trip.

This was one of my favorite dogs of the whole trip - an adorable little puppy at the house next door to ours. I want one just like him.

One issue with the Grand Canyon was that it was really quite a hot day, and I am definitely not used to that level of heat combined with direct sunlight. One of my cousins got some heat exhaustion, and I was pushing through as we walked around but it sure wasn't easy! One thing that happened a few times during the trip is that people would see me walking along in my very pregnant state and say, "You trying to get that baby to come now?" or, "You're certainly brave!" When we were at the Grand Canyon one guy said, "If your baby grows up and says that you never take him to do anything, you can tell him that he was at the Grand Canyon with you!" Nature is pretty cool, that's for sure.

Us with my awesome cousin Rachelle at the Grand Canyon! Paul looks uncertain.

A group of some of the Larsen relatives at an overlook.

My grandma is definitely the coolest!

A classic shot of the canyon.

We also went to see some really cool Native American ruins during the week in Walnut Canyon. It was a decent (and hot) little hike down to them, and I was definitely huffing and puffing by the end of climb back up. The cliff dwellers, as they are called, literally built their homes into the overhanging alcoves of the canyons. It was  pretty exciting to see these ruins left by people thousands of years ago, and take a moment to be grateful that we're no longer living in rough stone buildings tucked into the cliffs like they had to do in the past.

I think you can see why I was huffing and puffing by the end.

One of the houses built into the cliffs. They're not in super great repair because looters got to them in the 1800's and used dynamite on some of them.

Slide Rock was a cool experience for us - it's a natural rock slide tucked away in a national park. When I say "slide" I mean smooth rocks that form a channel with water running through it, but it was certainly a cool formation. We went swimming (although Paul and I didn't really get in much - it was pretty cold water) and some of the family went down the rock slide although it didn't look very pregnancy friendly so I didn't go.

Near Slide Rock were some Ponderosa Pines, which Paul's grandpa told us we should smell. Here's Paul smelling one - I think they smell like vanilla ice cream, which is pretty awesome. Apparently they do use the inside bark of the pines to help create fake vanilla flavoring.

Here's some pretty Arizona scenery.

One amazing thing that happened at Slide Rock was that Paul was helping bring lunch down in coolers for the family, and he noticed a somewhat older man trying to carry a cooler and struggling some. Paul, being the naturally service-oriented person that he is, went over and offered to/ started carrying the cooler for him back up the hill to where all the cars were parked. He helped the man to his car and then quickly ran off to help with the rest of the family's lunch items. He then saw the man again and started talking to him, and it turned out he was also a BYU graduate. The man said Paul should meet his wife, and took Paul over to his car. His wife was there, and after brief introductions the man said to Paul, "I saw you have a pregnant wife and I know how things go when you're a college student still - here's this for helping me earlier." And he gave Paul $100. Paul tried to object, but the man said, "Go and get your baby some shoes." So, Paul ended up seeing a very surprising physical reward for his helpful attitude and nature.

My cousin's cute daughters really liked playing tether-ball with Paul.

My Uncle Brad brought in these super delicious pies one night - this Oreo cream type one was definitely my favorite.

Paul really liked this strawberry cream pie.

 After Slide Rock, my Aunt Merina taught us all how to prepare real Italian cooking since she visited there with her family recently. It was very fun to see how they actually cook in Italy, and we helped make a truly delicious dinner (and now I have the recipes for it as well.) We made bruschetta, hand-made ravioli, and some tart-like things with jam. We used fresh basil straight off the live plant for the first recipes, and Paul and I took the basil plant home with us so now we'll have some delicious fresh basil at home, possibly to recreate these same recipes.

Aunt Merina, the head chef, chopping a boon-ton of garlic.

The finished product with some of the chefs.

On Thursday we went to Sedona, a somewhat touristy area near Slide Rock and went to "The Cowboy Grille." It was in a fun old building, and they had some awesome specialty menu items. My favorite was the cactus fries with prickly pear sauce - yep, literally fries made out of cactus. I ordered a buffalo burger which was really good (we think we found a couple strands of buffalo hair in it, but whatever), and my mom shared her order with us which included rattlesnake-and-rabbit sausage, which was rather unusual but certainly didn't taste bad.

Cactus fries and prickly pear sauce. Super tasty.

Paul explaining the virtues of cactus fries.

Inside one of the stores in Sedona, they had a bunch of cowboy outfits and these shotgun shell shaped lights.

One of Paul's favorite parts of the trip was the Lowell Observatory. At this observatory, they first discovered Pluto and went through the process of naming it. Apparently, the people there were pretty sad about Pluto getting demoted from a planet. I really liked the presentation they did which showed the size of our sun compared to different suns throughout the galaxy. They also had some large telescopes set up, and we saw Saturn and its rings through one of them, as well as the very large star cluster M5 through their 2 ton 112-year-old telescope.

We don't have any pictures of the observatory because it was too dark, so here's some pictures of Paul and Dad playing tether-ball. Apparently Dad is quite good.

Note - my dad actually does smile on occasion.

My dad served a mission on the Navajo Indian reservation about 40 years ago, and learned to speak Navajo while he was there. Since we were in the area, we went through all of the areas he served in and he showed us several places of interest. It was awesome to get to see that part of his life, even though a lot had changed, a lot stayed the same. He still is able to speak some Navajo and it was fun to hear him and the people he talked with speak it.

Grandma and I at a historic trading post Dad remembered from his mission.

Canyon de Chelly, where dad took a picture with his two brothers and Grandma right after he finished his mission. I did not like being that close to the edge.

Dad and Grandma - quite cute.

Despite our sun-dazzled expressions, we really liked Canyon de Chelly. We liked it even better than the Grand Canyon, honestly, because you could see a lot more a lot closer and there was more green in the bottom of the canyon. It was also trippy because the way the rocks were arranged seemed to alter our depth perception making it hard to grasp how close and far away the features were.

We saw a lot of horses on the trip just meandering by the road, and these ones happened to have a cute little foal with them.

It's definitely a cool canyon.

Inside a Navajo-style rest building (they wouldn't live in something like this, but it's more like a public pavillion.)

When Dad was on his mission 40 years ago, this lot just had some trailers on it the missionaries lived in including himself for a time. Today there's this cute little church of ours there, along with a rabbit and some prairie dogs and some trailers that missionaries probably still live in (although fortunately not the same trailers dad lived in before.)

Shiprock, a super cool rock formation in one of Dad's mission areas.

We were trying to find a place to get real Navajo tacos the whole trip, and finally we did when Dad asked some locals about the best place to go to get some. These tacos were HUGE although you might not be able to tell from the picture. They were also quite tasty - far better than when we've tried to make them at home.

Inside the building of the restaurant we ate at. It was kind of a community center with some businesses attached to it as far as we could tell.

Evenings in Arizona.

I unfortunately noticed by the middle of the week that my hands and feet had become swollen, likely from all the heat and walking we'd been doing. I managed to get my wedding ring off before it became too much of a problem, but it appears to be going away somewhat now.

One really cool opportunity Paul, Brooke, and my mom had was to climb to/inside some ruins at Mesa Verde. It was surprisingly green there, and the ruins were really still quite intact. Paul said the dangerous seeming climb was his favorite part of the trip, and I was pretty glad after seeing the pictures of the climb that I didn't go - might've just refused to climb at all, especially since my sense of balance is quite a bit off with all the extra weight I'm carrying.

Mesa Verde.

The base of the climb where the ruins were - apparently this was the natural spring the inhabitants would use to get their water after they climbed all the way down to the base of the cliff.

The scary ladder to climb to the top where the ruins were.

The awesome ruins.

The pit-like living room or ceremonial area.

Yeah. Don't look down.

Apparently Brooke hated this part, which I can fully understand looking at the thin chicken wire to hang onto.

A successful trip since they survived!

Some ruins Grandma and I saw from afar while other people were climbing scary ladders. Apparently they're having a hard time preserving these ruins because the alcove roof is slowly caving in on top of the ruins - hence why they no longer let people walk down into these ones.

We had a ton of fun this reunion, and Paul had a good time meeting all the rest of the extended family he hadn't met yet. The Larsens are a pretty chill, fun group, and it's always good to spend time with them. I hope that we can keep going to all the family reunions for many years to come, because I certainly had started missing them for the past three years I wasn't able to go.

We're back at it with work, and I'm finishing up Spring semester this week. We've had some exciting times recently and it's certainly shaping up to be a great summer!