The Waiting Game

With our due date on August 8th, we're really just playing the waiting game at this point. I've been having small contractions and such, which are good signs my body's getting ready for the big day, whenever that may be. I personally won't be surprised if Raleigh (pronounced like Sir Walter Raleigh - yeah, for now, that's the official nickname, based of off his middle name "Herald" sort of - at least the first three letters kind of match!) It's pretty crazy because there are several girls in the ward with due dates very close to mine, and they've already had their babies by this point. Raleigh's taking his time though, but my OBGYN said that he's welcome to come at any time now since at this point he's completely developed.

Sir Walter Raleigh - English poet and explorer, among other things. We just liked the name - but maybe we should just upgrade it to Sir Paul Herald Risk IV?

I've been feeling pretty much like a whale lately, since in total I've gained probably about 40 pounds with this pregnancy (I have a feeling he's probably gonna be bigger than a 6 pound baby.) It's very difficult and takes me about 30 seconds just to try and roll over in bed now. When things drop on the floor, I generally think of it as gone forever - it's rarely worth it to try and pick it up again. The other week I was in the grocery store with my hands full of stuff, trying to fine Paul and the cart, when I dropped something. A nearby lady stopped with her cart and offered to pick it up for me - I assured her I could do it - and did, taking my sweet, sweet time to do it from a very strange angle. Random strangers also ask me when I'm due all the time, and I think our ward at church is hedging bets as to whether we'll be in church this upcoming Sunday or at the hospital.

People keep asking us if we're ready for this lil' guy to come. There's really not too much of a good answer for that - we realize this will definitely be changing our lives drastically, but we're excited and have all the basics at least. One thing I will say is that we have a decent amount of clothes for him at this point, but since they were all free (and we're grateful for that!) I haven't gotten to pick out very many that I really specifically like - and he doesn't really have Sunday clothes, which are in my opinion the cutest thing for little boys (otherwise seems like boys clothes are pretty boring.) I'm sure at some second hand shop we'll be able to find him a cute baby suit and suspenders or whatever other hip stuff they have available for little boys these days.

I'm sure someone will have a perfect suit in Raleigh's size.

Paul got some cavities filled this past week, which was not his favorite (I am still very happy that I've never had a cavity except for one in a baby tooth, and therefore I've never gone through that ordeal.) He's had at least one of the cavities for a long time though, so we're pretty glad to have that taken care of. We also got a used window unit air conditioner a couple weeks ago, which has literally saved my life - it's been in the 90's for most days lately, and even though the unit is really only enough to cool off our bedroom, that's all it really needs to do. Super props to Paul (and our home teachers) for being willing to install it. I need to give credit where credit is due - Paul has been stupendously helpful all throughout this pregnancy, and has helped make everything go as smoothly as possible. It's extremely, extremely nice to have his support and help all the time. Seriously, don't know what I'd do without him (I also wouldn't be pregnant without him, but since he's pulling his "weight" in the relationship although mine's more literal it only serves to bring us closer together, haha.) Despite the fact that I haven't been wearing my wedding ring for about a month and a half now because of swollen pregnancy fingers, I'm exceedingly grateful for him (sorry for the sappiness) and I'm so excited to see him be the great dad I know he will be.

Paul and I went up the canyon to Provo river last week because I start going stir crazy if I've been in the apartment for too long without doing something fun. We dipped our feet in the freezing cold water and were just sitting by the bank when we saw a small critter across the way, swimming around in the water. He eventually made his way over to where we were sitting, and came very close to where we were sitting - we could see his cute little face that looked just like a ferret. He hung out around us for about a half hour, getting really quite close. We just watched people on tubes ride by, and I lamented that tubing would be pretty impossible for me at this point since there's no way I'd be able to hoist myself back up onto one if I fell off. After some research, we're pretty sure it was a mink that we saw. I don't know why anyone would want a mink coat when live minks are so adorable.

You can kind of see the mink's head peeking up from the water underneath the bridge.

This is pretty much exactly what he looked like. I couldn't even handle how cute he was.

Can't even deal.

Anyway, things are going great, and hopefully by the time I next write a blog post it will be all about Raleigh and our adventures with him. I'm still doing homemaking interviews and reading various books for my internship, and Paul's still working for BYU IT, which has been going well. Here's a picture of a rainbow we saw from our apartment one day. Looking forward to great things to come!

New Car, a Big Baby, Pokemon GO! and a Firework Fire

For starters, we went to visit the OBGYN a couple weeks ago for a 3rd trimester ultrasound. Everything looked great, and it appears that "Lil' Paul" as we occasionally call him may not actually be so little. He's measuring about 3 weeks ahead of where his due date anticipated he should be, which doesn't surprise me since very large heads as babies runs in my family and Paul was a 9-something pound baby when he was born. According to the pregnancy app I have on my phone, Lil' Paul is about between 17 and 19 inches at this point, and might weight between 4 and 6 pounds (most likely the 6 in his case.) He's gaining a half pound a week and I'm gaining a half pound in amniotic fluid and placenta mass etc., so thing are going at quite a clip at this point (and I'm sure feeling it!)

We got to *sort of* see Lil' Paul's face on the ultrasound, and he sure looks cute to me! Just a little over a month before we get to meet him, instead of just get kicked in the ribs by him. You can see we're still at somewhat of a loss for what to call him, since the nickname changes pretty much every blog post. Still open to suggestions!

We had a lot of fun a week ago with Paul's sister Becca (who lives out here now and it's great to have her here) when we went to a place called "The Puppy Barn" in American Fork. It's essentially a store where they get rotations of puppies from breeders all around the area, and have them there for people to hold, cuddle, and buy. It was so much fun to hold the lil' guys! We had a few favorites while we were there for sure. As a friend of ours who recently went there said, "Don't take in your wallet - or you'll definitely leave with a puppy." Good thing we didn't, cuz our car broke down shortly thereafter and we needed all our cash!

At the puppy barn - this was one of my favorites. He was some sort of Yorkshire Terrier mix (as a teenager I had a yorkie and he was the best.) I really like terriers a lot.

Paul interacting with some puppies - they kept them in these large open containers so people could just reach down and hold them.

This was my absolute favorite one. He's a border collie/Australian heeler mix, and was absolutely precious. Very cuddly and kept licking me the whole time. Also one of the cheaper ones at $350 instead of the running rate of $1,000 something for a lot of the other breeds there.

Becca and me with some English springers (I think that's what they were.)

Paul with my favorite one. Soon that's gonna be a baby he'll be holding :)

Paul really liked the German Shepherd ones. I like German Shepherds, but we'll probably stick with "smaller" dogs while we still have young kids around just to be safe - not too small though. Corgis are kind of our current dream breed to start of with.

This lil guy was some sort of Maltese or something and was determined to eat my hair. I think small dogs are cute but it can be hard to find "smart" ones with real personalities sometimes.

I'm really not too hard to please - when it comes to hanging out with puppies or dogs or cats or kittens, that will definitely make my day. We had a lot of fun.

The two cars side-by-side, our old Toyota Corolla that bit the dust and our new Toyota Matrix.

And now I will tell the saga of our first time car shopping. This has a happy ending, but was quite the process. For starters, we had issues with the Corolla beginning a few weeks ago when it began overheating out of the blue (we've never had an issue with this car) and when Paul checked on the fluids, sure enough, the oil and coolant were both completely dry. 

Normally the car did burn oil quickly, but not THAT quickly, and when we took it in to the mechanic it turned out it had a blown head gasket and even if we had replaced the radiator, the engine would have killed it very quickly. The mechanic we went to (who is very nice and we trust them a lot - Master Muffler and Break in Provo) told us he was sorry for the bad news since we obviously have a baby on the way, but that it would likely be best to just get a new car since replacing the engine and radiator would cost as much or more than the car's even worth.

So, we thought about our options. We could wait for a while and just try to make it without a car for a while and really search the market thoroughly for several months, but as we searched for several days we realized a few things about the car market around the area (and my desire to have a car ASAP went way up because the whole week it's been in the 90's and the prospect of walking around in that pregnant was NOT appealing.)

First, we definitely wanted another Toyota or possibly a Honda car, because those ones have the best rep for running the longest and performing the best. We eventually narrowed it down to either a Corolla (safe choice) or Matrix. We liked the hatchback design a lot (and it was comparable in price to similar Corollas) and decided to go take a look at a few Matrixes (Matrices? hahaha) around at various dealers.

Our car search began on city buses in the 90+ degree heat, getting shuttled to various dealerships.The first one we went to had a bright yellow Matrix. The color was a bit of a turn-off for us, and as we drove it around we noticed it had a few mechanical issues like the RPM's dropping below where they should have been. We drove back to the place and put it on a "possibility" list, but we weren't sold on it.

One other dealership we went to was suggested to us by a friend and turned out to be a massive Toyota dealership with a ton of mostly new cars and just some used ones. We met up with the car salesman who our friend suggested, and he started talking with us about what we were interested in. We told him we couldn't afford a car any newer than a 2009 most likely and that we had a small budget to work with. He then proceeded to look on his computer for 20 minutes or so and kept asking us, "Do you want a new car? Are you sure you don't want a new car?" and we very strongly asserted that we did not, in fact, want a new car. After a long time he showed us a 2007 Carolla, and we got in and were driving it around the lot and were relatively impressed. It had good A.C. and seemed to be driving well, etc. 

As we drove it back up to the main lot, however, we suddenly noticed a very foul burning smell coming from the car. We rolled down the window and Becca, who was standing outside, said she could smell it as well. We asked the salesman about it and he said he didn't know what it was and that they'd get it looked into. After stepping outside of the car, the car salesman said to us, "Well, you let me know if you're interested, but you might want to act soon because this one might get sold fast!" Paul and I kind of looked at each other and laughed because the notion of that car, with its burning engine, selling really fast and decided to go back to looking at Matrixes.

We were then bussed over to another place with a grey Matrix. After driving it for a bit and decided we liked it better than the yellow one, and it was at a better price. This place also had a 4.9 rating on Facebook, meaning it was almost perfect. We were both a little dubious about that. The next day we decided to go to one more place with a different grey Matrix and see if we liked it better. Becca kindly gave us a ride and we proceeded to drive that one around. It had higher mileage, but ran a lot smoother and didn't have any of the problems the other two seemed to have. We were pretty sold on it. 

We took both the grey Matrixes in to our favorite mechanic and he told us the one we really liked seemed to be a pretty good bet. Although its miles were kind of high, there weren't any mechanical problems with it and it seemed to check out pretty well. We then took in the second Matrix from a dealership down the street, and afterwards the mechanic came and told us it was definitely a "lemon." He said he doesn't trust the dealership down the street the car came from and said they do sketchy things just to get cars to pass inspection. We took the car back to the dealership and said it was a no go, and then we discovered that dealership's owner and the mechanic seemed to have some sort of beef with each other. We definitely trusted the mechanic more, however, because we'd taken our car to him multiple times and he and his team had always given us honest assessments of what we should do, often for free. Plus, their agenda wasn't to sell us a car.

Paul enjoying the folding down seat feature in our Matrix. There have definitely been enough times we needed that option in the Corolla and didn't have it that we're quite pleased.

After some more deliberation, we decided on the first Matrix that checked out well with the mechanic. We wanted to get a car loan to try and improve our credit (looking to the future for buying a house, etc.) and the dealership recommended a place nearby to us that had good reviews. We ended up buying the car outright for $5,000, and after having it for a few weeks we're pretty pleased. we like the body of the car better than the Corolla (especially for the trunk space) and it's really nice to have a slightly newer car that doesn't feel like it's about to rattle to pieces when it goes over 50 mph. We're very grateful to have a good car!

It even has a red stripe down the side, but you can't really see it here.

Independence Day was fun for us this year, especially because we thought we had missed out since they set off fireworks on the Saturday before the 4th in Provo and apparently that's really all Provo does, but we missed them because you have to pay for a concert to really see them and I was indoors sick (been sick for over 2 weeks now with a fever initially and now very intense coughing - trust me, I'm super over it) so we thought we had missed out on fireworks this year. After a little bit more research, however, we discovered that Thanksgiving Point would be doing some. We asked Brooke (my sister) and Becca if they'd like to go with us. When we got there, we wandered around for a bit and set up our spot we'd watch the fireworks from. They had a big festival set up, and several nice gardens free to the public (if we were rich enough I'd love to have a pass to go walk around in their paid gardens more, but it's expensive so we don't) which was enjoyable.

In some pretty gardens at Thanksgiving Point. The place was obviously set up for weddings.

They had some very weird, floofy pink, cotton-candy-like flowers there on a tree.

Becca with some goats they had barely within reach at a "farm" exhibit at Thanksgiving Point.

Baby goats are so fun!

As darkness set in we decided to head back to our blanket and chair set-up to get ready to watch the fireworks. Paul and I were pretty surprised, but we ended up having a pretty impressive pre-show to the Thanksgiving Point fireworks because multiple people/venues/businesses were setting off impressive aerial fireworks as soon as dusk fell. We could even see them up on the mountainside which was entertaining while we waited. 

Watchin' fireworks.

Once the actual Thanksgiving Point show started, it lasted for about 45 minutes with some very large and impressive fireworks. They had a very large area roped off as a "fallout zone" for falling ash. As the show continued, we quickly saw why, because some of the fireworks were very large and a lot of still-glowing embers falling in the area. There were a couple of shed-like buildings in the fall-out zone, and sure enough, one caught fire and went up very quickly. That was almost as exciting as the fireworks honestly, since it was very thoroughly burnt by the time a small firetruck actually got there.

That orange glowing mass was the building up in flames. It was about a quarter mile away from us, and was actually pretty big.

Another big thing that's happened lately is the release of "Pokemon GO," a cell phone application that allows users to run around catching "Pokemon" in the real world. We've been having a lot of fun with it, running around to different places (think of geocaching - it follows kind of similar principles) and catching Pokemon. There are certain areas that have extra bonuses/you can potentially catch more Pokemon, including the downtown Provo library. We saw a ton of people all gathered there and knew that they were all catching Pokemon, so we went over and joined in. We saw a few friends there and sat with them for a while, catching Pokemon on our phones. It's been fun to look around campus and see people walking around, staring at their phones which definitely means they're playing Pokemon. It's certainly getting all the nerds to get out and go walking, which is a rare thing!

A ton of fellow nerds catching Pokemon on their phones at the downtown Provo library. We had fun there, and the crowd got even bigger after we were there for about an hour.

Becca was a good sport and walked around with us for a bit while we caught Pokemon. This is kind of what the app does - superimposes Pokemon in various locations over your phone's real-world camera. Becca's Pidgey impression is spot-on.

Other than that, at this point it feels like Lil' Paul or Pablito or Rolly has dropped into the birth canal, so it's really starting to feel close now! We're packing a hospital bag and getting ready for his arrival. Things are certainly getting real now!

As a final cute thought, here's my nephew Elliot peeking out from behind a chair.

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!