land of the cacti

 We just got home from an awesome visit to AZ to visit Liz, Scott's little sister. We had a BLAST! I didn't intentionally post the most unflattering picture of me ever, as the first one...... It just happened! Above, us in front of the Mesa temple. It was all lit up..... not quite like Temple Square, but it was still fun to see the temple, it is really pretty. Oh, did I mention i was FREEZING? Yes, I was. I thought AZ would be hot, so I didn't really go prepared for some chilly temps. Thanks for the blanket Liz!

 In front of the temple and reflection pool

 We did so many fun things while we were there. It was so odd to see palm trees lit up and Christmas decorations everywhere because it did not feel like December with all the sunshine and "warmish" days. We went to a really cool Luminaria display at the botanical gardens. It was awesome. It was so fun to see all the cactus and everything all lit up. We heard some really fun bands play and we laughed alot. Okay, we laughed hysterically pretty much the whole trip......

 I love the palm trees!!

 We got to see our good friends from MN, the Jenkins. It was SO fun to see them, and have a nice long lunch with them. ;) Their kids are adorable and getting so big! Shalee looked gorgeous as usual and I looked like I had just been hiking... which I had..... :) We ate at really yummy places while in AZ, my favorite was America's Taco Shop. It was so good, I was craving more of it the whole trip!

 We went on such a fun hike. It was pretty much straight up the side of the mountain, but it was great. It had a really cool view and the weather was perfect. It was a little windy and chilly on top of the mountain, but the sunshine was amazing! Of course Louie, Liz's cute dog came with us. He was a chap and did awesome at hiking.

 We loved all the different kinds of cactus. They are so unique and such strange plants. Scott even got attacked by a jumping cactus..... we counted 24 holes left over from the spines we pulled out. OUCH!

 This is the "jumping" cactus (above) and it literally jumped off when Scott got close to it (or when Liz kicked it) and stuck on Scott's hand! At the time it wasn't funny, but now it's a little funny remembering the whole event. :) Sorry Scott.

We had such a fun time. We ate awesome food, laughed A LOT, went shopping, sat in the hot tub, watched You Tube videos and laughed our guts out, and just had a blast. Scott and I enjoyed sleeping in and the little break from parenting (although we missed our boys terribly). Thanks to Glenn and Martha for everything and for watching our boys and spoiling them rotten while we were gone! Good times had by all....

And a special thanks to Liz (and Devin) for hosting us and being such a great sister and friend!! It was so fun to see you and spend time with you!! Love you!