Dancing through life

For my birthday Darren bought us dance lessons. It was super fun! We learned a couple different dances including the Cha-Cha. We weren't great but we had a great time!! Thanks babe :)

Memorial Day, 2012

To honor this special holiday, Darren and I drove to Phoenix to attend the 93rd Annual Memorial Day Program celebration at the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery. The speaker told a touching story and shared some inspirational words about courage and strength. There was a special feeling of reverence in that hallowed place.

We attended this event last year which got me thinking about my great-grandfather, whom I never met, that was supposedly buried in Phoenix. So today on our way to Phoenix, I called my grandpa to see if he could remember the name of the cemetery that his father was buried in, thinking we might be able to visit it after the program. He told me it had the words "green" and "lawn" in it. You can imagine my surprise when it happened to be the same cemetery we were planning on visiting that day. And that it was the same cemetery we had visited the year prior! Crazy! So I was pretty excited to see if we could find the grave. After roaming around for about half an hour we decided to go ask the office staff for help. When we received the coordinates it was only about 2 rows away from where we had been looking. It was great to be there in that beautiful place honoring a grandmother and grandfather who are a part of me, even if we have never met. I am grateful to have a holiday such as this to make me stop and think of those who have fought and died for our country and also to those relatives who have gone before. It is humbling to think that there is a part of them in me and a part of me in them and that together we can walk into the future.
 
Program: Presentation of Colors, National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, Wreath Presentation Ceremony, Taps, Rifle Salute and a Fly Over by the E.A.A. Squadron 20 Formation Flying Team




Solar Eclipse; May 20, 2012

We didn't have any high-tech gadgets so we had to stick with the "hole-in-a-paper" trick. It worked pretty well. Darren got a really good shot while pointing our camera at the sun. (see the little crescent at the bottom left-hand corner?) Pretty cool!! The universe surely is an amazing thing.


Cinderella

Darren surprised me with tickets to the Cinderella Ballet. I don't know if I'm anything like Cinderella but he definitely is my prince :)

Cove Fort, Utah

About two weeks ago we took a trip to southern Utah to visit Darren's parents on their mission at Cove Fort (a pioneer way station built in 1867, now a church historic site). It was great to be there and have them share their experiences with us. It is such a beautiful place! We also had the opportunity to visit Kolob Canyon and Fremont Indian State Park. 




Kolob Canyon: parts of it reminded me of Sedona

this explains so much...haha :)



Darren and I took a hike up one of the smaller peaks. What a breathtaking view!

"I think I see it over yonder..."

Giddy up cowboy!

Isn't he handsome?!?! And that's even with hiking sweat. Must be love :)


Ira  Hinckley cabin. He was asked by Brigham Young to build this fort back in 1867.
(Ira Hinckley was President Gordon B. Hinckley's grandfather)

The Historic Fort.
Darren's parents took us on a tour of the different rooms, the blacksmith shop, the barn and the garden. I absolutely loved the garden! Asparagus. YUM!

Oh yeah...we could've totally been pioneers. Easy cheese. NOT!!!


Darren won the ring race. It's hard to keep that thing rollin'. Sure was fun to try though :)


petroglyphs/pictographs outside the Freemont Indian Museum

Spring Training


Spring training game at Salt River Fields. Darren caught this ball during batting practice. Isn't he cute!?! :)

Lions, tigers and bears...oh my!!

On March 24th we had the opportunity to go to Tucson to attend our nephew's baptism. We are so proud of you Jamison :) It was great to get together with our families for the day. We even went to the zoo. How fun is that? I hadn't been to the zoo since I was about 13 or so so it was a lot of fun. :)



our beautiful nieces: Avery, Devyn, Lillian and Lindsey

Ryker was my buddy for the day

cute little Devyn and the "orange girl" haha


I love this photo!

silly Uncle Darren


Wicked!!

I love this musical. I think this was our 3rd time seeing it but it never gets old :)





A Different Pointe of View

For Valentines Day, Darren took me to a nice restaurant in Phoenix called Different Pointe of View atop North Mountain in Phoenix. It truly had a spectacular view. And the food was great too. After dinner we went outside on the terrace to sit by the fire and enjoy the view. One of the funny highlights of the night was when a server offered us marshmallows on a stick to roast on the fire. I was super full so declined but Darren got one. After sitting down and getting ready to roast it, the guy next to us says "those marshmallows are a doozy. They'll get you drunker than a 3 glasses of wine."  Huh? Unbeknownst to us the marshmallows had been soaked in Baileys. LOL!! So of course at that point Darren puts the stick down and we just watch the fire. This did open up a discussion on religion between us and our campfire mates so it ended positively. :)




Thanks babe for a great night!

33...the perfect age

At least according to Darren. I hope I have the same level of optimism when I'm that old (haha). j/k babe :)

another waxy pan....good thing I didn't put those candles on the pizookie
(man did that paper light up fast...lol. No worries...I have it under control) hee hee :)

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate because he wanted to save the money and go skiing later in the season but we did go to dinner at Red Lobster and I made him a pizookie for dessert. He also got a new alarm clock (5th time is the charm eh babe?) and a sweet love note from me :)