Wild Wild West

End of summer brought us on another great road trip with Nana & Grandpa Phil - this time to Nevada, Utah & Arizona.  Who knew you could get between those three states so many times in just 5 days!?! 
We started in Las Vegas and went to the Hoover Dam & drove around beautiful Lake Mead. 

Day 2:  Zion National Park and a great drive through Utah's rugged terrain.  Richard & I would love to go back to Zion and do some real hiking, but for this trip we just did the scenic drive.  The drive took us through a great tunnel that was the longest in the US at the time it was built in the early 1920s (i think).

    

  Day 3:  Grand Canyon - the North Rim (much less visited than the South Rim).  This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon and it was even more spectacular than I expected.  We walked a few of the rim trails and enjoyed the amazing views from the Grand Canyon Lodge, built in 1927. 

 Day 4:  Richard was only able to join us for the long weekend and we toured the South Rim out of Flagstaff, Arizona on Saturday on our way to Lake Powell.

 Day 5:  Lake Powell, Page, Arizona.  We rented a ski boat on Lake Powell and had an awesome day!  Lake Powell is like nowhere else I have ever seen - it's desert but beautiful and the boys were even able to waterski. 

Brooks, the superstar traveler, even took a 2 hour nap while we were speeding around the lake. 

The Rainbow Bridge - the largest natural bridge in the world.  Richard & Phil took the hike up close, but it was a little far for Brooks! 

We had such a fun time exploring this new part of the country.  Thanks Nana & Grandpa Phil for a great adventure and all of Brooks's new patches for his bag.  

"First" first day of school

Yesterday, Brooks went to his first day of Parents Day Out!  what a big boy!

He really seemed to have a good time and didn't cry when we got there.  After an open house involving lots of tears and clinging to mommy's leg, I wasn't sure what to expect.  The teachers prepare us that sometimes week two can be harder than week one so i'll hold back any confidence just yet!

Brooks was most excited about taking his snack with him to school and started eating it before we left the house!

Crooked Creek

This past weekend it was so much fun to take Brooks (and Richard) to Young Life camp for the first time.  We had a leadership weekend with about 400 other volunteers and staff from Colorado at Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, CO.  Richard couldn't come for the whole time but was able to join us on Saturday for a beautiful day in the mountains. 

Brooks wanted to drive the Ridge Runners right out of the place.

Of course, we found the basketball court quite a few times.

And also the sand volleyball - so much fun at camp!

It's a ...

GIRL!!!

We could hardly believe it last night when we opened our "famous" envelope to find out the gender of baby fuq #2.  we were both picturing a little boy for some reason but are thrilled to know it's going to be a little girl.  i am finally not going to be so outnumbered by the boys!

the envelope please

we were both pretty surprised when it was pink!  daddy is a little nervous about a little girl but as mimi said..."he will be putty in her hands."

does this mean i get to start shopping?

what a day!  january here we come!