Flagstaff and Grand Falls

Lance had the entire weekend off last week, so we decided to head up to Flagstaff. Some of our friends from Iowa, the Metcalfs, were driving through Flagstaff on their way to Utah, so it was perfect timing to see them for a few hours! It was very lucky for us when we moved to Iowa for a year, that we had such good friends that lived four doors down from us and they were also applying to Oral Surgery programs. It was awesome to get together again after almost a year!

Flagstaff: such pretty scenery! And so different from the more desert-y parts of the state.

The kids: Madeline, Ellie, Addi, Evelyn, Blake

Taysia and Me

After they had to leave, we decided to go to Grand Falls which is known as the "Niagara Falls of the West." We knew it was out in the middle of nowhere, but just kept following the instructions we had found online...including driving on "unmarked Indian Road 6910." It was quite the adventure.

Driving on the Navajo Reservation, looking for the unmarked road...

 Found it and stayed on it for 10 miles. It did NOT look like there were going to be any amazing waterfalls around here, so we were semi-worried.

We finally arrived!

 And...we had a flat tire. Not one of those drive-it-back-and-fill-it-with-air kind either. This thing was FLAT.

 The falls were beautiful. Sometimes they are known as the "chocolate falls" because of all the mud that gets washed down the river

The waterfalls don't look that big from the pictures, but they were huge. The biggest falls start near the bottom of these ones and fall into the river. I couldn't get a picture of them unless I wanted to stand on the edge of the cliff and take a picture straight down...and there was no way I was about to do that.

 Lance was thrilled to be changing our tire in such ideal conditions, but we made it all the way back to Phoenix on our little spare. Thank goodness we had one, or this may have turned into quite the trip!

 This is the same river that carves through the Grand Canyon, which was not too far from here. From the upper part (pictured directly below) it looks like a slow-flowing river with minimal water, but after going off the falls, you can see just how big the river really is. It was amazing!

Meeting Up With Friends

We were able to meet up with our dental school friends the Spillers this week! We haven't seen them for about two years since we left San Francisco, so I was surprised to see Cadence (who was a newborn when we left) walking around and talking! Crazy! They just moved to Tucson, so we met them about halfway at the Ostrich Farm. We love this place, and hopefully there will be many more playdates to come now that we live close! It was so good to see Stevie, and it made me so excited for someday when we can do an SF girls reunion!

Love From Arizona

Spring

Spring has arrived here in Arizona, and we are LOVING it! We have spent most of our time outside, either at the park or in our backyard playing. And even when we're inside, it just puts me in a cheerful mood to have the windows open with sunshine and fresh air pouring in. We are soaking it all in before summertime catches up with us!

Addi and Blake requested that we make cupcakes this week, to "surprise Evelyn" when she got home. So we made them, got Ev, and ate them on our way to the park. They both stared at the cupcakes the entire time they were baking and gave updates: "They're getting bigger!" "Ok, now they are REALLY getting bigger!"

Washington Part 2

One of our days in Washington we rode the ferry over to Port Townsend, ate breakfast, and went to the Olympic Game Farm. You haven't lived a full life until you've had a buffalo head in your car. I don't have pictures of buffalo since I was taking video during most of the experience, but there was plenty of laughing and screaming by all...and lots of screaming by Emma and Addi until they figured out they could hide in the space by our feet. I don't blame them.  Luckily, the suburban escaped with only minor scratches from horns, and we went back to feeding the "nice" animals again.

The Saturday before we left, we ventured up to Mount Baker to go skiing. It was only my second time skiing ever, but this time by the time we left, I had gone down several blue square runs, which is an amazing accomplishment for me (though I realize it sounds pretty weak to most people reading this). We meant to get a picture before we all started skiing, but forgot, and settled for one afterward when we all looked like a million bucks. It was the perfect way to round out the vacation, and also for Lance and I to see some beautiful snow before we went back to the sunshine of AZ. We loved our time in Washington, and can't wait for the chance to go back sometime next year!