More Aruba!

Below are some fun/random pictures that I thought would be fun to post of our trip. Below is me enjoying the beautiful white sand of Aruba.

We ate at this amazing restaurant that was right on the beach. Our toes were in the sand. we were able to watch one of the colorful sunsets that we loved seeing every day.
This is what the beach looked like right outside our Hotel. White sand and aqua blue water.

Jen took this fun shot of us walking down the beach.

We started having so much fun watching people. We started posing, pretending to take pictures, but in reality we were trying to get a shot of a funny person. This is my dream guy behind me.
This is the gang with our dive masters. We dove on two separate days and were able to see several wrecks and some beautiful reefs. This was one of the highlights of the week for me. I really love to dive. I always get a little nervous, but once I am in the water. It is Heaven! It's so peaceful and amazing.

Reed coming in from the dive.

Jen and I at the beach!

One of the things that there were signs for, was the donkey sanctuary. We happened upon it while we were buzzing around on our quads. I loved this shot of Jen feeding the donkey and the donkey was smiling.

Jen and I out to eat with the husbands.

A cute little church that we looked at along the way.

Now I am back to my real life. What can I say, it was so fun to escape to paradise for a week.

The Grand Canyon!

My sister Patti and some of her extended family planned a trip to The Grand Canyon to hike a 17 mile hike. Reed didn't want to do it because he is doing his iron man in two weeks. I enlisted my running buddy Charisse. We made a road trip out of it. We drove on Friday, hiked on Saturday and drove home on Sunday. It was a quick and exhausting trip, but so amazing and wonderful.

This is a shot of the whole group.

We ended up starting our hike around 6:00a.m.. I put this shot in because there is still snow on the ground and it was pretty chilly when we began hiking.

It was so fun to spend a day with Patti. I've decided we don't see each other enough.

A cool shot I took the night before, from the South Rim.

We hiked down the South Kiabab Trail all the way to the bottom by the river, and then we went up the bright Angel trail.
Me on the way down. Patti was gracious to let me use one of her walking sticks. Even though I said I didn't need walking sticks. I kept slipping and even fell once. The stick really helped me to feel more stable.

King of the hill, Dave

Patti and I soaking in the river at the bottom. The water was supper icy, but really helped us to feel better.
Charisse and I at about mile 13. We stopped at a place called Indian Gardens. It was this lush Oasis in the middle of the hike. We loved all the pretty dogwood trees and all the amazing blossoms.

My friend enjoying the beauty and the stretch on flat ground.

Patti and Dave at the end. What a great day, spent with fun company and seeing some of Heavenly Fathers amazing art work. My heart was full of joy at being able to accomplish such a rigorous hike and to be able to witness such magnificence.