Have you heard of Havasuapi? 

Its probably one of the coolest places in Arizona! Its just a 

short 10 mile hike through the Havasui Indian Reservation in the grand canyon and into a land of waterfalls, Indians and camping. At first I was pretty skeptical of the whole idea of hiking EVERYTHING 10 miles into our destination, but boy oh boy was it worth it! 

We went with some of our favorites people, Ryan and Lindsay. They were on their way back from California so we met up in Las Vegas for a few days. We went to the Lion King show which is probably the coolest Broadway show out there. It was my first Broadway show, so I'm a little biased, but I can't imagine any other show having the cool effects and costumes! Highly recommended! We also had to make a stop at the famous Pawn Shop as seen on the history channel show, Pawn Stars.

The next night we drove to where we would start hiking, Hualapai Hilltop. We started our hike at about 6 am, and it took about 3 1/2 -4 hours to get to our camp ground. 

The campgrounds there aren't near any of the waterfalls, the closest is about 1/2 mile. After setting up our camp we hiked back to rock falls for some cliff jumping. It's a 30 ft drop and Matt's last jump left him with a pretty nasty lookin bruise! 

You have to kind of make your own fun while camping, so Matt and Ryan decided to have a boat race. Ryan clearly won on looks, but Matt won on buoyancy.

Another waterfall they have there is Havasu Falls, which is one of the main falls and b-e-a-u-tiful!

The next day we decided to be even more adventurous and hike down the rough terrain to Mooney Falls. When I mean rough I mean straight down a cliff and if you slip- you die, kinda hike.  But it was so worth it! 

We found a little rope swing while exploring, which was so much fun, so we hung out there for a while! 

This is probably one of my new favorites places and I cant wait to go back! 

WARNING: picture overload

My parents were kind enough to take our family on one last big vacation together. We went to Orlando, FL for 10 days... all 23 of us! We had so much fun together and I'm dying to go back! Here's a nice LONG recap of our time at the Happiest Place on Earth...

 Thanksgiving 2010 in Disney World

Thanks Mom and Dad for making this possible!!

Its about time!

Summer is finally here! 

And if you can't find my husband, he's most likely doing this...

Playing Catch Up

Its been a while since we've updated (obviously), so rather than over doing it in one large post, we'll break it up. You're welcome.

We enjoyed a good visit to Washington in late June to see Michael,my brother, who was just returning from a mission in Bolivia. Matt had never met Michael, because we had started dating soon after he had entered the mission field. Matt was pretty excited to find a new person to practice his Spanish with. I want to learn, but unfortunately Matt is majoring in communications, not teaching and is a terrible teacher. It was good to see Matt and my brother get along so well. I guess having a strong love of college football is a good foundation for their relationship.

This is my dad and Michael seeing each other for the first time after 2 years!

When Mike first got home the one thing he wanted to do, besides walk on the grass barefoot, was jump in the pool with his suite on, which he did!

We went and played on the river for a day. It just happened to be the coldest day we were there, so we all froze. Mike especially. He used to walk around in his shorts in the winter time, but he was shivering just sitting by the dock. Bolivia DEFINITELY changed that!

I just love how my sister is wrapped in a blanket!

Matt also got to experience the 4th of July with fireworks on the river. I hope he loved it as much as me! There's nothing like going to the river to watch the fire works!

Summer also brought a big move to Springville Utah, a whopping 10 miles south of our previous apartment. I always said I hated Springville, and now I'm living here. Fortunately, I've really enjoyed our new place and our new ward, so its been great! And once (if ever) they finish the construction on I-15, I will like the commute MUCH better! Sometime this summer I passed my insurance exam, which means I'm a licensed insurance agent. Not the most exciting news but it happened, so it made it to the blog!

Matt turned the big 25 in August and we started a tradition last year to do something we've never done together on his birthday. It all started with skydiving and its hard to measure up to that, so he may be disappointed in years to come :) This year we spent the weekend in good 'ol Park City, UT and hit up the alpine slides. Happy WAY Belated Birthday Matt, I love you!

Well that caught me up a bit. Maybe I'll post for the remainder of 2010 in the next 5 months?

Halloween 2010

That's right...I'm still in 2010! I'll try my best to get current these next few days since we've done some fun things recently that are just waiting to be blogged about :)
For Halloween a bunch of us friends got together for a little party at the Cooks apartment.

Matt was set on being a cowboy, which he pulled it off quite nicely.

Me? I was an indian girl (partially because it was last minute and I had no other options). I would have looked more legit without the blonde hair.

We had a blast hanging out and playing crazy games... hopefully this turns into a tradition!

Matt showing his skills at bobbing for apples. I sucked at this game.

donut eating contest!

Zachs inventive balloon popping game. You cant tell by Stephens face, but it really is fun!

We sure love our crazy friends!

10 days til I'm headed home to Pasco. Even more exciting, 11 days until my brother is home from Bolivia!! I cant wait!!

Hopefully the next 1 1/2 weeks goes by fast!!

Need a project?

Try this...

My friend Lindsay and I have been into sewing lately, and its so fun creating stuff! We're really into bedding, so the other day we made this flannel strip rag quilt for our good friend who just had a baby, and let me tell ya, it was SO EASY! And its super cute! Interested? Here's the directions:

Choose your fabric. You'll need 5 different fabrics.

note: make sure you preshrink the fabric before cutting!!!

-Middle accent fabric: 7/8 yard
-1st light fabric (in our case, we chose the darker fabrics): 1 1/4 yard
-2nd light fabric (or dark fabric): 2/3 yard
-1st main color fabric: 3/4 yard
-2nd main fabric: 3/4 yard
total yardage: 4 1/2 yard.

Cutting your strips:

Middle accent fabric: cut 2 7" strips and 4-4" strips
1st light fabric: cut 4-6" and 4-5" strips
2nd light fabric: cut 4-6"strips
1st main color fabric: cut 4'7" strips
2nd main color fabric: cut 4-7" strips

Now its the fun part...putting it together!
1. Match up the front and the back of each same size strip
2. Sew each pair of strips together on one of the sides, using 1/2" to 5/8" seams
3. After each pairs are sewed together, sew all of the strips together in the order of your choice, and make sure you keep the seams facing the same side of the quilt. Sew the outer edge of the quilt leaving the same amount of seam allowance
4. Clip the seams allowance. The closer you clip, the more the seams will fray
5. Wash and dry to have the quilt fray (which in our picture, that has not been done yet)

Easy, Right?!