Long time no see!

June was a very busy month!!! But the flutter of activity brought visits from friends and family that I haven't seen in a while. First, we asked my mom to come sit with Riley while we embarked on our Grand Canyon adventure. With out hesitation, she was on her way up to Phoenix for the week so we got to spend some time together. She got one-on-one time with Riley once we left and she got a taste of having a baby all over again. I guess Trav and I were so enjoyable that she didn't even think twice about the task.
Then when we headed to San Diego for the Mud Run, my best friend's sister signed up for it too. Katey came out to visit for that weekend too, which I was super excited about. I saw them at the race and of course Christy barely made it there for race time (if you knew Christy, you'd expect nothing else). Although I would have loved to see them more, kids with their nap times and feedings turn into obstacles but I was thrilled to see them Sunday before we pulled chocks and headed out.
Then a few days after getting back home from San Diego, Trav (my brother) let me know he would be in Tuscon for a buddy's wedding. It was during the week so I packed up Riley and myself after John went to work and headed down for a day trip to Tuscon. It was Trav's first time meeting Riley so that was special!

The older I get, the more I realize that life isn't about the things we have or strive to get. In fact, quite the opposite. The important things in life are the relationships we form and the people we love. I am so grateful for my friends and family!

California Dreamin'

Does camping get any better than this????????? (at least for "car camping")
Oh but wait! We camped next to some very nice people who were part of the Orange County Wine club. Turns out there was a wine tasting where the judges only drank a very small portion of tons on wine which leaves too many opened, barely drank bottles of wine. So our friend who was a volunteer got to snatch up a whole bunch of bottles for his own personal enjoyment. Lucky for us he was a generous sharer. So one evening we sipped wine while enjoying the company of our new friends, all of whom were over the age of 65 so there wasn't a dull conversation with all of their life experiences and travels!


I was playing with my favorite toy- whatelse... the camera. I took a class on base a couple months ago so I have learned how to use the manual function and I enjoy practicing. Here are some shots where I was playing with the shutter speed and aperture.
I recently learned from Pioneer Woman how to get the beautiful "God fingers"... that's what I have always called them. You know- those sun shiney rays of light. It's so simple. Just keep a very small aperture (which means a larger number like 22 or so) and voila- God fingers!!!
Here are some where I kept the shutter open for a good 3 seconds or so to capture all the ambient lighting from the moon and the fire!


I just love this one.. But I kick myself because I could've gotten it even better if I would have remembered to FOCUS my subjects. Ahhhh... I'll just have to try again next time I'm on the beach at night with the gorgeous bright moon reflecting in the ocean, and willing subjects to play my game.

Straight out of Camera Shot!! Another one where I was practicing the God Finger's trick.


We had a great group come down to San Diego with us. Although there were only 4 of us running in the mud run (our whole purpose for the travels), we had 14 friends from our Life Group come with to enjoy the beach camping and sights. They ROCK! We even had custom shirts made for our big event from our friends, Emily and Tiffany!


And then, of course there is the beach bummin' we did with Riley! We introduced him to the sand and he was smitten.
Daddy tossed him around the way daddy's do.

His second meeting with the ocean! He's a water baby through and through but the Pacific is a tad cold for his liking. He was really excited at first when he saw the water, but after a dip or two he definitely wanted to keep his land legs.


Only babies can get away with such a public shower! Little mans lips were turning blue at this point so he didn't enjoy "bath time" as usual.
After our last camping with a baby experience, John and I agreed that we needed to have something to keep his head and hands warm at night. So I took some fleece pj's and sewed a drawstring hood on and mittens with some left over fuzzy fabric. It did the trick and he slept like a champ in the pack n play we set up in our tent!!! SUCCESS!!!

Mud Runnin'

So playing catch up a little, two weeks ago we headed out to sunny San Diego for the World Famous Camp Pendleton Mud Run! John had wanted to do it for a long time and when January came and I was getting emails from my old high school friend, Christy about the mud run and how we had to buy in NOW if we wanted to run it, we jumped on for the ride! The race is so popular that it sells out within 48 hours of being released! And now I know why! It was MAD FUN!! Just look at this course map!
Hill climbs, mud pits, river crossings not to mention getting hosed down by the Marines using a fire hose! It definitely wasn't a boring 10k!

At the final stretch, we reach a big mud pit that we have to crawl, we're talkin' hands and knees crawl through.

After the race when I caught up with my fellow runner's, we all got to chuckle at the switch-a-roo that plagued Karl. You see, Karl can be the cutting up type at times. During the mud pit crawl, he saw Scott (Lucky) getting ahead of him so he swiftly and forcefully dunked Scott's head to full submersion in the muddy bath. When he came up for air, both Karl and his victim wore the look of confusion since Karl had mistaken a random stranger for his buddy Scott. In the picture series, you can see the laughter exchanged between Karl, Scott and the poor bystander once out of the muddy pit of doom.
The guys approaching the finish line!

Where's Waldo?? Or maybe it's not Waldo but instead it's Cheyenne...
Clean, Fresh, Unknowing...

DIRTY!!!!!!! And Done!
What a BLAST! Next year I hope we'll do it again!

A Grand Adventure

So here's the deal.. I'm overwhelmed right now and am not motivated to post a blog. I have so much to say about our rafting trip in the Grand Canyon and I think that is the problem. So I am not going to say much and just post pictures.. Hopefully my captions will provide some understanding and entertainment.

Paddling along, enjoying the scenery

Uh oh... I've got a cling on

Wait a minute.. I was just minding my own business!
This was during our "Pirate" day. It was John's idea (surprised?) since it was a full day of leisurely floating. We made our alliances, then snuck up on an unsuspecting boat and ransacked the ship and threw everyone off! It only started on the duckies but quickly moved to the big rafts!Yet another "ducky" attack! A ducky, by the way is the inflatable kayak!
Once we found our camping spot for the evening, we'd sit in our circle and just chat about the transpired events, life, God, and the upcoming day's fun!

We got to do some bouldering (climbing without a rope- staying low so the fall wouldn't hurt) down there. In fact, this day was awesome since we bouldered over water and when we were done, we just jumped in! John's on the left, Carrisa in the middle and I'm on the right.
Showers were non-existent so I took advantage of a nice morning and "washed" my hair... The water was full of sediment so it really didn't do anything but it made me feel better.
The boys: barefoot in the kitchen!! haha

...while the girls lounged around making anklets out of grass.
We took little day hikes and found ourselves in some pretty cool places! This one was reminiscent of Arches National Park with the natural bridge.

There was a bed of limestone, which looks really slippery but surprisingly was not! I just love how it looks like its glowing in the picture.



What a view!
We were pretty high! Look at that tiny boat floating by down in the river!