5 weeks in Michigan

Josh has been traveling a lot, and has more trips coming up, so o decided to head home.

I came home to enough packages I thought it might be Christmas!!!!

One of those packages was this beautiful fabric, designed by Minick and Simpson who Lives in Michigan!!! And this fabric line is based on Michigan.

I babysat my sisters kids and we went out to pizza and it was amazing... and we had a great time, see the shirt the older one is wearing, I handed that down to her, and my uncle handed it down to me... 

I got to see one of my best friends announce her second pregnancy!

I got to meet one of the members of the online quilt group I'm in :)

My parents took me out to an early birthday dinner since we won't be together for my real birthday and they gave me this book I have been wanting :)

And I got these two books, my first books of grad school.

I was able to see the beach and have a great day with my sister and 6 of my nieces.

I may have also gotten a slight sun burn because I missed a spot with the sunscreen... oops.

I ran a 10 mile race while I was home, I was so happy to run it, I have heard about it most of my life. It was a tough race,  but good. It was fun to run past places I knew. And the medal HUGE

And later that day my cousin got married and it rained the whole afternoon and it was cold.

Saw some good friends

And my parents went on vacation and left me in charge of the house.

And being a good daughter I mowed the lawn and picked the berries...

I also dyed my hair for the first time ever!!!

And I spent a lot of time working on my fresh quilt, but I didn't finish it sadly, mostly quilted though... I tried to get it done so I could give it to my parents for their anniversary... maybe next year.

I met a friend and we picked apples and ate donuts!!! I love cider donuts!! 

And tried to catch this snake for my parents to no avail, I think it's hibernating in the garage for the winter!!! Eek!!! I even set rat traps! They said they didn't catch anything when they got home :(

Which was a learning experience, I had never set a mouse or a rat trap before, so thankfully my brother had been over earlier and set up one of the rat traps, so I could use it as an example.

Met up with more friends and hung out

And finally, 

Headed home

Vegas and Zion

We spent a week in Vegas and Zion National Park, it was HOT. We live in a desert now, but a high elevation desert. I will not be moving to a desert any time soon, it was way to hot. And neither of us really liked Vegas, it was ok, but we will not be frequenting.

The strip

 

   

The bellagio fountain, and because we went around the 4th of July they played "proud to be an American"

We checked out the Hoover Dam, we took the long tour and it was well worth it. The ticket purchasing process is kind of silly.

we got there an hour before they opened and waited in line and then still got into the second tour.

 

Then we checked out the Las Vegas sign. There was a line for that too!!! awe skipped the line and didn't care there were other people in our picture, I guess we don't like lines.

 

We checked out Cirque, it was good!

 

Then we checked out Zion

We found the hidden petroglyphs, it was really neat!

We hiked 5 miles one way in water in the narrows

To see this, big springs... 5 miles one way for this.

I would suggest getting the water shoes you can rent... we wore our keens, and kind of regret it.

This was the deepest part.

Then we went on a backpack trip.

The views were amazing. 

This is our campsite on the trail, for all of the campsites being booked... we saw 1 other couple on the trail... it kind of made us upset that so many people didn't keep their reservations,  it was super nice that we had the entire place to ourselves!

We walked right past Angels landing but chose not to do it because it was packed and we just came down from a much higher elevation and had seen the view...

 

Then we hiked down Walter's wiggles, there was no way in hell we were hiking back up those.

 

The next day we saw the emerald pools and some of the other short hikes

Then back to Vegas

Where we got to see Sibin!

Then we had to head backs home.

 

 

Day 497

Now that the race is over it's time to get ready for vacation! 

Time to break in my new hiking boots! And so far I love them!

I also sewed some 9-patches for the doll quilts for my friends new daughters.

Homeward Bound

I flew home and spent 5 hours in the Atlanta airport.

I went to my oldest Niece's confirmation and afterwards we went out to lunch.

I took my MAT test, and after waiting a week I got my results, I was in the 87th percentile over all, And 78th in my intended major. I hope that means I can get in.

My Mom set up a meeting with my Great Uncle and we worked on some Ancestry, they shared some pictures they had.

Two of my nieces turn 13 this spring/summer, and since I don't plan on going back to Michigan until Christmas I took them out for their day with a

aunt Lisa. They both wanted to go shopping, one was looking for summer clothes and the other a dress for her spring formal.

I went ice skating

And bike riding

It really is a fun day to spend with them, I let them choose everything, from what we do to where we eat.  And we talk, and it's nice to spend some one on one time with them as they are becoming teenagers.

My family got together for Easter, it turned out to be a beautiful day, so after lunch we played frisbee and tag outside. My grandma even stopped by.

I also had to squeeze in a ton of shopping. Since I needed to get everyone birthday presents before I left, and I also needed to freshen up my wardrobe :)

And while I was out one day I met up with two girls who used to work for me in India, but they have now moved to Michigan! It was really nice to see them.

One of the girls brought some Indian deserts, they were pretty good!

The day before I left I accidentally broke a bracelet I had bought in China :( but luckily I know a girl in Mexico who was headed to China and she said she would pick me a new one up.

It was also my Dad's birthday, we went to Big Boy to celebrate 

And at night I finished up a gift for Josh, for our 9th anniversary present, some Willow coasters... Now to hold on to them until September.

Tennessee Wedding and the aftermath

Josh's Mom decided she was getting married on Black Friday.

So the whole house got up and got ready in the morning, and then we all got in our cars and drove to the wedding site. My MIL went upstairs and put on her dress, and the wedding began.

After the wedding they just turned around and smiled... No walking back down the aisle or anything it was really weird. 

Then we took family pictures.

Only family attended the wedding, 

Then we ate dinner, and the happy couple took hundreds of pictures for like 2 hours, then we headed back to the cabin, went for a horse back ride and then walked around Gatlinburg. By the time we got home Josh's uncle got sick...

2am I wake up,to Josh getting sick... For the next two hours.

We had to wake up at 5 to go to the airport. 

He made it home to Mexico thankfully with out more more puking but laid on the couch for a day or two. 

 The groom and one of our nieces got sick about noon on Saturday. 

I thankfully made it to my parents house and hung out with them, until at midnight it hit me and I was sick for 8 hours straight followed by two days on the couch and only crackers and soup to eat. The bride ended up getting sick on Sunday too.

6 of us of the 20 ended up with food poisoning, the worst sickness I've ever had!

Thankfully I made it home so my parents could take care of me.

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent the day hanging out and cooking. It was nice to have everyone there.

Tennessee cont.

After hanging out at the house for he day while the boys had a "boys day out/bachelor party" fly fishing.

The girls finally got a chance to head out :)

We hot up the spa, 

My first pedicure ever, I've never had one because I've always been afraid I would kick the person, it took some serious control to not lose it to the tickling during this...

Also this little Asian man asked me where I was from and when I told him I lived in Mexico he told me my English was very good... Lol...

Keep in mind that Dave's daughter is 1/2 Mexican and Josh's Aunt that was with us is 100% Mexican... I do not look Mexican at all compared to them!

We got manicures, I tried out the gel polish, wow that stuff lasts forever, it's like 6 weeks later and I still have some of it on and can't get it off! 

We ate some lunch then stopped by the house to pick up my sister in law to go get our massages.

The massages were weird, they put three of us in a room, I went in with my mother in law... Awkward... And there were two male masseuses(sp?) thankfully I had a girl, but they did the hot rock massage part, it was pretty great.

Overall I've had better less awkward massages.

Tennessee

Josh and I went for a short hike where I tested out my new hiking boots, they sucked and hurt my feet, so those will be returned, and Josh did a bit of fly fishing and finally we checked into our Canin with the rest of the fam.

The first snow I've seen this year.

The next night we hit up the Dixie Stampede.

It's the same show every year, but you see something different every time.