HOUSTON

Since we got to visit where Mike served his mission last year, he was willing to visit where I served my mission this year - Houston. Although I was very excited to be back in Houston and visit all the places I served and see most of the people I worked with, I was also hoping that this trip would get him excited or at least interested in applying for jobs in Houston. I kept reminding him that Houston is one of the largest cities in the U.S. and is even larger than Phoenix where we currently live. With large cities comes many more employment opportunities. It was a great trip and the following is a summary of all that we did: went to Six Flags, went to the temple, ate some awesome Mexican food, visited some of my friends, drove past multimillion dollar houses, went downtown, went to the pulga, got our car towed, ate Salvadorean food, visited more friends, went to church, ate more awesome Mexican food, went downtown, went to the NASA Johnson Space Center, saw the San Jacinto Memorial, explored a battleship, had a Family Home Evening with some friends, ate more amazing Mexican food. I think the best part of the trip was at the end when Mike said, "I could live here." I think I won him over by taking him to some awesome taquerias with amazing Mexican food. Since pictures are worth a thousand words I'll stop writing so you can get on with looking at the pictures.

CAMPING

We took the advantage to go camping with my sister Sharon and her family, my sister Kammi, and some friends of Sharon, the Thompsons. Even though we weren't there for very long, it was nice to get away. The whole time we were there it threatened to rain, and luckily it didn't start raining until we were driving home. My brother-in-law, Spencer, made a rope swing for the kids. Mike and I sneaked over and used it even though we ended up "bottoming out" since the branch bent lower for us than the kids.

JULY 4th

This year on the 4th of July most of my family was meeting in Utah (I say most because with a family this big it is a miracle if we can get everyone in the same place at the same time), so Mike and I decided to make the long drive to get in on the fun. It was great to see family and spend time with them. We also visited Mike's grandma, aunt, and uncle. Being so close to Idaho (well, closer than from Arizona), I was tempted to take Mike up to Idaho Falls and show him the old stomping ground. I gave in and we went. Thanks to my long time friend Kristine who let us stay at their house for a couple of days.

On the 4th, we took yet another road trip to Swan Valley and Driggs to do some hiking in the Grand Tetons. I wanted to show Mike just how beautiful Idaho could be. Ironically we saw a moose cross the road on the drive. I have been on that drive dozens of times and have NEVER seen a moose there. Later on our hike, our trial was interrupted by an avalanche washout. Trees were broken like twigs and there was still a good 3-5 feet of snow. We took the opportunity to play in the snow, in JULY. We hiked up the avalanche and slid back down. We didn't get much farther on our hike when the trail was flooded and the snow melt prevented us from hiking any further. On our hike back out we saw another moose! I have never seen so many moose in one day. It was a young moose so we stopped and kept our distance in case the mother decided to come and take a look around.

After hiking we stopped by West Piney, the lodge that we went to for girl's camp every year. It is known for it's massive slide down the mountain side. We each got one good slide before we were kicked out. Oh well, we just made our way to the square ice cream and stopped of at the dam store. Too bad the dam store was closed, but we still got a picture of the sign to prove to people that it really exists.

We headed back to Idaho Falls after that and got ready to go to the firework show at the falls. Idaho Falls has a firework show that is synced with a radio station. It is one of the best firework shows on the west side of the Mississippi (but I personally think it is the best). I apologized to Mike that he may not be satisfied with another firework show after seeing the one in Idaho Falls. After the show, he agreed with me.

The next day we traveled back to Utah just in time to be able to do more hiking. This time up to the Mt. Timpanogos cave. Neither Mike nor I had ever been before. It was really neat to see just how big the cave was and how well they had preserved it.

The following day we made the last long drive back down to Arizona. The following are some pictures of our adventurous trip.

This was at the beginning of our hike.

We thought it was cool to see snow in July...
wait until we see the avalanche slide.

From the top of the avalanche slide

This is as far as the trail would let us go

The Idaho Falls Temple and falls





























In the cave they made us wear our backpacks on the front to prevent damage to the walls