A Hike out of the Heat

Did I mention it is hot here?!? Saturday Matt and I decided to try and beat the heat by heading north. We took a hike to Devil's Bridge in Sedona. I think it is the most popular hike, and we had not yet done it! I don't have much to say, enjoy all the pictures! (Matt was in charge of the camera this time!) If you would rather view the pictures in video format scroll down to the bottom.

We look so ready for our six mile hike in the 90 degree heat!

It is seriously so beautiful here!!

So much red dirt!

Almost there!

We made it to the bridge!

We headed back down into Sedona for yummy Mexican food.

And we took a look at some of the shops. I think this one is still my favorite!

And here is the video Matt put together!

What's next?! Matt and I will be on vacation for a little while. I plan to keep up to date on Instagram and maybe a little on Facebook. You can look for blog posts on our next #bfamroadtrip in a couple weeks!

Working on the Surface of the Sun

Hello friends! Hope you are enjoying you cool weather! It may not feel cool to you, but I'm sure our temperatures are hotter! ;) I have spent most of my time working since we came back from our weekend in Nebraska. Some days have gone better than others, the heat is not helping. Most of my clients age out of our program at age three. This summer I will have over 30 kids age out!! One very sweet family gave me this card on my last visit. It was filled with thank yous from each family member and five things they have learned over our therapy visits. It was precious! They also baked up some delicious chocolate chip cookies I am a little ashamed to say I ate in two days!

One of my co-workers is out for a couple months after having surgery. She does not do well with doing nothing so I have been trying to send her pictures throughout the day. Now all of you can see what I have been up to at work! Shoe tying with this girl is a major deal.

This girl enjoys taking my phone and taking pictures of me and her stuffed animals. On this day, we got one of her deer. I can't remember the name because she told me three different ones so she might not be as attached to it as it appears!

I have also had three families have a baby in the last month!

Jadyn gave me a Cheesecake Factory gift card for my birthday. Matt finally took me out on that date last week!

Our neighbors went on vacation and asked us to feed their dogs. We also took them for a few walks early in the morning. You can hardly see me in this picture because Dodger wanted to RUN! It was kind of fun hanging out with the dogs for about 15 minutes a day...no dogs in our future unless they can live at the neighbors!

We spent lots of time in the pool because as you can see, it was hot!

I'm not sure if you can read this, but my car read 124 for a (literal) hot second!

Last week I helped at vacation bible school. Our church created the entire program themselves. One pastor told the kids a story of the entire bible via a parable told in the form of a bedtime story. The set they made was incredible! We made stamped metal necklaces in crafts, sang lots of songs, and played games. We were team purple so I busted out all the purple I could find all week. Thursday night there was a dinner theater to cap off the week by retelling the entire story in a modified play form. It was a really awesome way to hear the story of the Bible. They will be working on turning this story into a children's book next!

Stay cool my friends!

Mowing and Matrimony

Matt and I made a quick weekend trip to Nebraska a couple weekends ago. Another time we were back home, we signed up to help my grandpa mow the church lawn. We used my grandpa's mower and drove it across town to get to the church.

Matt seemed to enjoy that part! :)

He thought it would be a good idea to mow 'IL' for Immanuel Lutheran into the grass.

The mower deck was down a little too far. The 'IL' might be left a little longer than planned.

We headed up to the lake for more fun in the sun. We all hopped on the jet skis and it's official, I am the most cautious driver by a long ways!

We were having so much sibling fun, we packed up and headed to grab some ice cream.

Matt and I headed to one of our friends' weddings. We were the host couple, and I guess I was too busy hosting to take any pictures...We did make a little stop at the town's claim to fame, the World's Largest Covered Porch Swing.

As we were taking off, a cute old man gave us this button. Don't you just love small town charm?!? He was full of facts to share.

Another hot topic included three antique tractor parades we saw over the weekend. I finally decided to snap a picture of the last one.

We had a wonderful trip. It's so nice to take a quick trip home especially when Phoenix was having record heat and it was in the 70s in Nebraska!

San Diego and Friends

We made our usual trip to San Diego over Memorial Day weekend. This year our friends, Joel and Jess, met us there. We ran a few errands before we picked them up at the airport. I headed to Target. Like most cities, San Diego is a little cramped for space. Even the Target was two stories. Some of my other friends had told me about a two story Target with escalators just for the carts. It was fun to see one for myself.

We hung out at the hotel, a cute little place on Coronado, for the first night. Those are always my favorite nights, catching up and sharing stories. :) The next morning we walked around Coronado. It was a little cloudy in the morning, but it was still gorgeous.

We ended our walk at the Hotel Del.

I love seeing what the Sandcastle man creates!

We set up camp and enjoyed the beach.

We played a little sand volleyball and Matt found a couple guys he could play football with.

Our friend Jordan is hanging out in California for part of the summer. He drove down to hang out with us at the beach. 

The next morning we went to Balboa Park. I love seeing the architecture!

Matt made a wish into the wishing well.

Since we saw a steeple, Matt thought it was appropriate to sing "Here's the church, here's the steeple, open it up and see all the people."

But we did get one good picture!

We took a walk and found this cool tree.

Matt and Joel decided to play chicken atop some tree stumps.

They were having an international food festival along with some performances on the square.

They were also getting ready for a concert at the largest outdoor pipe organ.

We headed up the coast to La Jolla, our all time favorite place. We enjoyed watching the sea lions.

It was slightly chilly, mostly beautiful day.

We had such a great weekend with food, fun, friends, and the beach!