Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands

The first weekend in June some people in our ward invited us to go with them to Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands.  We wanted to go there sometime and we figured that was as good of time as any, and it was nice to go with people who knew what they were doing and the good stuff to see.

The first night we got there we went to the bat show at the caves.  It was a little disappointing because not too many bats flew out, but we still saw some.  Riley got a little bored, so we had to move, he played with rocks and tried to eat them.

We camped that night.  We are not the most campy people in the world, but with our big air mattress it wasn't too bad.  It was Riley's first night camping and it wasn't too bad.  In the morning we went to the caverns.  They were really pretty.

Then we drove to a waterfall and the kids played in the water.  It was cold but Riley didn't care.  He loves swimming.

That night we got to white sands.  The sand is so white and fine, it was like playing in sugar.  Riley tried to eat it.  It was especially nice because it wasn't too hot and there weren't very many people.  We camped again that night.

In the morning we went on a little hike and played in some more water.  Then we went back to white sands.  It was really hot, but we still played for a while.  Then we got frozen custard and went home.  It was a fun trip and we did a lot of things and made some good friends in our ward.

Spring Break 2012

It's weird to think we just finished our last spring break as students.  Soon we will be able to choose our own breaks when flights are cheaper and the weather is good.  We went to Utah for our break, mostly so people could meet Riley.

Riley was a champ on the plane ride to Utah.  Our first flight was to Phoenix, 6 whole hours.  Riley slept on the take off and landing and hardly cried at all.  The only bad thing was that we sat by a very large man, very nice, but very large, who took up a lot of my seat.  It's hard to feed a baby when you don't have all of your seat.  But we managed. The second flight was about an hour and a half, it felt so short.  Riley slept on the take off, he was awake during the landing, but did really well.

My mom and Carly picked us up.  It was so good to see them.  Riley immediately loved Carly.  We spent the first five nights at my parents house and the last six and Andrew's parent's house.  Friday we ate at Cafe Rio.   Oh how I've missed that place.  We also went to two wedding receptions, one from a friend of mine from high school and Andrew's cousin's reception.  

Sunday Andrew blessed Riley.  It was nice to be able to have so much family there.  Riley had both his grandpas, all four great grandfathers, two great uncles, and uncle Bryce held the microphone.  It was a really sweet blessing.  Andrew's grandma Briscoe made his blessing outfit.  I love it.

Most of the rest of the week we hung out with friends and family. We played games, played basketball, went to the temple (it was so nice to be so close and have a baby sitter), and visited with a lot of people.  We had fun. 

Riley was the first baby Bryce had ever held, they were a little scared of each other at first...

But eventually they got things figured out.

Riley had kind of a hard time not being at home.  I think it was over stimulating, so many new people, places and sounds were hard for him.  He didn't sleep well the whole time we were there and he cried a lot more than we were used to.  He gained over a pound while we were there and learned a lot of new things.  He is stronger than he was, he is getting closer to being able to sit,  he likes toys now (which is one of Andrew's favorite things), and he is bringing things to his mouth and gnawing on them (especially my fingers).  We were in Utah more than a tenth of his life so it makes sense that he's changed so much.

We saw a lot of the people that we wanted to.  It was hard to say bye to our friends and family, but it is good to be home. There was snow when we left Utah Monday morning and this week it hit 80 degrees multiple times.  Riley's had kind of a hard time adjusting to the sudden heat, but we put the air conditioner in and that has helped significantly! 

 

Niagara Falls

Last week we decided to go on a little trip.  I think Andrew was getting a little tired of being around the house.  We decided to go to Niagara Falls.  The hotels were really cheap, because believe it or not, not a lot of people want to go to Canada in January.  Weird huh?

We left Wednesday afternoon and drove about four hours.  We got to the border and they kind of asked a lot of questions, like why we lived in Pittsburgh but our car had Utah license plates and what Andrew was doing in Chile.  But they did let us across, we needed our passports and Riley's birth certificate though.  Luckily if we are traveling by land or sea we don't need to get Riley a passport until he is 16.

We checked in to our hotel and ate dinner, then we bundled ourselves up and went to look at the falls.

They light them up in the winter at night.

It was cold, but not as cold as you would think, until we got to where there was mist.  I got a brain freeze from the outside--trust me it's not fun.

Riley didn't sleep too good at the hotel, but we all survived.

In the morning we went back to the Falls and took some daytime pictures.

We had a fun time.  It was nice to be able to do something fun together before Andrew started school.

Also here is Riley, don't worry he's not in Niagara Falls, he's in the bath at home.  But good news he doesn't hate baths anymore.