Sneak Peeks

It's that time again...Julie is once again a photography genius! Check out my baby boy!!
We heart you, Julie!
http://photojewelsphotography.blogspot.com/

They don't call it the Little Canyon

Soooooo....we made it! Here's a little recap of our hike.

Husband flew in to Phoenix on Wednesday to check in with work (his company headquarters is in Scottsdale, AZ) and test ride a mountain bike he's had his eye on for a few months. Little man had to have tubes in his ears on Thursday morning (BTW, this was the fastest procedure EVER) so we spent Thursday recovering. Tiny and I slept at my parent's house on Thursday night so I wouldn't have to get up any earlier than I already was to drop him off and I got to the airport early Friday morning and into Phoenix around 10. Husband picked me up and we got a few other necessities for the trip, met up with the rest of the party and off we went to the Grand Canyon. Tish (Bill the trainer's wife) made everyone eat a ton on Friday (this was very strange for someone who has always had to watch what she eats) which subsequently made my shorts fit a little snug the next day. The whole group decided to be touristy and watch the IMAX movie...I DO NOT RECOMMEND. We should have known it was terrible when all the IMAX movies were dusty and didn't look like one had been purchased...EVER. After the horrible movie, we had a big dinner of pasta and water and headed off to bed.

On Saturday, we all woke up around 6:00 and got dressed for the day. The original plan was to hike from the North Rim to the South Rim but there is about 10 feet of snow still on the North Rim and cars weren't allowed yet so we had to modify the hike slightly. We started on the South Kaibab trail and went all the way down to the Colorado River to Phantom Ranch where we stopped for about 30 minutes to refill our bladders (ie. water pouch in a CamelBak) and eat. Then we started back up South Kaibab (about 4 miles) to the point where the Tovar Trail intersected. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this...at one point, I was seriously considering calling for a donkey to haul my ass out of there. After telling myself to quit being such a puss, we finally made it to the Tovar Trail (which was a much more flat trail and very scenic) and I got my second wind. This was almost a surreal atmosphere. You could look up and know that you were still very far down inside the canyon and look back and realize that you were very far up from the river but the actual trail and surrounding area was almost flat. It definitely makes you realize just how large the Grand Canyon truly is! We made it to Indian Garden which was also very cool. Hidden between all the orange and red rocks were these massive trees which had vibrant green leaves and purple flowers...not what I expected to find in the middle of a desert but we definitely went at the right time. We stopped and rested here for about 30 minutes and were off again on the last leg of the hike up Bright Angel trail. This trail is the most commonly hiked trail and isn't as steep so it's a longer trail than South Kaibab. About half way up this trail, my body realized that it needed to expel some of the crap I had been shoving in all day long (Gu gels are not exactly a normal lunch for me) so I damn near ran uphill to the 3 mile stop. For anyone who knows me well, you know that I absolutely hate using public bathrooms and will always put down a lot of paper to prevent any part of my ass from hitting the seat...I had to go so badly, I did a check for tarantulas (we saw in the IMAX movie that they live here so I was a little paranoid) and plopped down. I emerged a few minutes later feeling like a new woman (and my shorts fit a little better as well). It's funny, when we were hiking up the entire trail, I wasn't at all focused on the end or how much further we had to go so knowing that we only had 3 more miles was almost a bad thing. Around the 1.5 mile marker, my body started telling me I was TIRED (mostly my feet and butt) but then I started seeing people hiking down past me in cowboy boots and jeans. This made me realize that we really were almost to the top (and that these people who were happily hiking down past me had NO idea what they were in for when they started the trek back up). One rather large lady informed me that we only had 20 more minutes until the top...I would have paid to have seen her get back up there in 20 minutes. When we finally made it to the top of the trail, I celebrated with a Rocky moment and we headed straight for the bar. The hike was a total of 22 miles which we did in 9 hours and 17 minutes. If I remember correctly, we went from an elevation around 7000 to 2400 and back up. There were several signs along the way cautioning hikers NOT to hike from the rim to the river and back up...Husband and I have a picture by one of these signs.

We were all walking like penguins for a few days after but it was completely worth it...next trip will be from the North Rim to the South Rim :)

Holy Crap...Where Have I Been

Sorry for the MIA posting in the last few weeks....what have I been up to? Well, mostly chasing after the little guy since HE STARTED CRAWLING a week or two ago which means we need to do some serious baby-proofing in the casa. He first started doing the army crawl which I was fine with because that meant he wasn't moving too far or fast but today I put a "barrier" of a chair on it's side to keep him in "his" area which he just crawled through. Wonderful. I promise to post videos in the very near future. In the mean time...I have a few shout outs that I need to make:
My niece Katelyn whose birthday was March 22nd
My dad whose birthday was March 27th
My Papa who is turning 93 on Easter Sunday
My friend Allison who just had another healthy baby boy
My friend Paige who finally posted pics of her cute baby bump
My friend Julia who is currently going to IVF and has to deal with bullshit on a daily basis but will prevail in the end
Husband and I who will hike the Grand Canyon next weekend

Good Luck to all....Love Me

Big News....

Ok...I think I am finally ready to tell everyone the big news. Husband and I are......



drumroll.......




.....hiking the Grand Canyon in April. Bet I fooled some of you into thinking I was preggo, didn't I??? :) Love my little chunk but I need some time before thinking about another one.
Where did this idea come from, you ask? Well...Husband originally started working out with a personal trainer (friscofitnessguy.com) to build his endurance for adventure races and Bill (trainer) mentioned that he and his wife were going to hike the GC this year. They have done this several times in the past but have 1.5 and 5 month old kids so they haven't been able to do it the past few years. Husband kept talking about this hike but Bill wouldn't let him go without me so I started working out with Bill and now I'm hooked. The hike will go from rim to rim in one day (probably around 8 hours and around 25ish miles) and is a little less than a month away. My parent's are watching our little man while we head out for this crazy short trip. :) I've been told it's an experience you'll never forget so pictures will definitely be posted after we get back. Wish me luck!

Pics!!

I don't know what life would have been like if Ebes hadn't posted pics of her little P-man and I hadn't called Julie to sign up for the baby package. I cannot talk enough about how much we absolutely love her and the pictures that she is able to capture! Here is a link to some sneak peeks of Little man's 6 month photoshoot.

http://photojewelsphotography.blogspot.com/

Pictures

Here are some well-needed picture updates.

At Christina's for Dinner with Little man's bff!

Just walking around the house.

Snowchick...this was all Husband's doing.

It was a cold day!

Doing laundry

Happy boy

Life as a Gangsta can be fun...

Naked boy found a new toy!

Diabetic-friendly mimosas...high class all the way

I'm still here...

Yikes...I knew I hadn't blogged in a while but I didn't realize it was so long ago. P, please accept my apologies for the tardiness of this blog...never want to piss off a pregnant lady! :)

Chunk:
Little man (finally) got better from the RSV attack and we happily gave the breathing machine back to the doc at our 6 month stat visit. Really, 6 months? Where did my little guy go? He's in the 80th percentile for pretty much everything. He also has 2 teeth coming in on the bottom which hurt like hell when he bites down on your fingers. He's eating A LOT (even our daycare lady says this) but he's still trying to figure out how to eat solid foods like the yogurt melts without gagging and throwing up. I have learned that I need to give him the solid foods before the baby food that way if he throws up, I can catch it in my hands (gross, I know) rather than wasting the entire jar of baby food. He loves all foods so far and gets perturbed if he doesn't get it shoveled in fast enough. He is also rapidly outgrowing his helmet so I think we'll be lucky to get 3 more weeks out of it. He has his 6 months pics this weekend so I'll be sure to get lots of pics uploaded.

Husband:
Late last year, Husband decided that he wanted to start training to do an adventure race. He has been working out diligently and he and J (a college buddy) completed their first race in January in Bastrop, TX (they finished 5th overall which is GREAT for the first race). We dropped the kiddo off at my parents and drove up Friday evening. The first leg was trekking a few miles in the forest (ok, so I think they were basically jogging on a trail to a specific point), then they had to canoe a few miles, then had to ride their bikes a few more miles. The race started at 8:30 and I can proudly report that my friend J (J's wife) and I got through 2 bottles of champagne and one bottle of vodka by the time the guys finished. I promptly fell asleep on the way to Austin, woke up for a brief trip to Whataburger, and slept until we got to Austin. Once we got checked into the hotel, the guys took a quick catnap while J and I went swimming and then all got dressed for dinner and went to the Iron Cactus (or maybe it was the Glass Cactus). By this time, I have a HUGE champagne headache that was not stopping so I ended up back at the hotel by 9:30. J (wife) made it back around 12:30 and the guys got back around 3:00. The next morning we all went to Juan in a Million (highly recommend) and got back on the road. Apparently the guys enjoyed this b/c they're doing another race in Bryan at the end of February. We'll have the little man this time so there probably won't be as much champagne at this race!

Me:
For Valentine's Day, Husband decided to treat me to the ultimate in romance. We tagged along with some friends from college who indulge every year in the most romantic dinner you can think of...Chinese Buffet. Nothing says love like all-you-can-eat. As I'm still burping up sweet and sour cat, I'm thinking we might try a pizza buffet next year.

Other than the crazy weather we had last week (yes, Husband and I built a snowman on Friday morning that we spray painted a bikini on), everything is pretty much the same. We're going to Hawaii in June for our "babymoon" so I'm trying to get things together for that trip and we'll probably be moving my grandparent's from Baton Rouge, LA to Dallas in the near future.

Baby Will recently graced the world with his presence (he was smaller at 2 weeks than Little Man was at birth) so C & S are adapting to life with a newborn and doing a great job! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for J & A as they start the process of IVF and can't wait to see the new babies that will be born in 2010.

Pictures to follow.