Fun dates!!!...and then off to Navajo Nation to miss my hubby

So we decided to go see the Tulip Festival, except we didn't actually go back into the gardens at Thanksgiving Point because it was $12 per person, and it was going to rain, so we decided just to admire the flowers they had around the front (which were still amazing!) I think Mike is smelling the flowers in this picture? or maybe just looking closely? haha not sure. But the flowers were pretty cool looking. And Mike was lookin' pretty good too:)

          Mike looks so cute in this picture:)
                                Right?!?

We just had fun looking at all the different cool types of flowers and goofin' off:) I love Michael!

Pretty flowers:)

Mike doing his sexy pose...

May 11, 2013

Okay so then last Saturday,
our last Saturday together, we celebrated Mike's birthday! We went canoeing and rock climbing - it was really fun:) Neither of us had ever been canoeing before, so it was great! Mike looks a little bored in the picture on the left....haha but I guess he makes up for it with his adventurous pose in the other picture. He used his river rafting skills very well...haha telling me different commands (I can't even remember what they were...and didn't really know what they meant anyway...haha) and it was fun:) We had a nice relaxing time. Oh except when we were heading up stream and we tried to go through some rapids (okay, more like little ripples because of rocks haha - but the river was moving pretty fast there!) and we got caught in a tree that was hanging over that part of the river and our canoe almost tipped a couple times and my hair got caught in it and pulled out and it was just pretty funny. Needless to say, we did not make it past that part. Haha even after trying for a good 5 minutes (it was only like 10 feet long!)

                              

 The sun just looked cool in these pictures:) 

ROCK CLIMBING!!

So this was pretty funny. The guy didn't even show me what to do (I had never belayed anyone before)...and just trusted Mike to show me and trust his life on it. Haha I was a little nervous I was going to drop Mike. But don't worry, I figured it out:) The guy there was super laid-back and just let us play on it for an hour by ourselves. I hadn't been rock climbing in like 10 yrs and I got up the hardest one!:) Woo!! Of course Mike did it like 10 times faster than I did, but oh well:) Just proud that I could do it! We are planning on rock climbing in Moab, so it was a good little practice for me before we hit the real stuff!

 We had strawberry shortcake after at the park and Mike opened some little presents:) He's so handsome:)

And now...Off to the Navajo Nation! I am now in Chinle, Arizona living on a Navajo Reservation...without Mike. He is in Moab working and going to Mexico with Kaiizen this week, so he will have to blog about that stuff:) It is pretty interesting here. Very different culture. It almost feels like the mission when we go do home visits with the community health nurses. We drive forever to get to appointments, just to find them not at home or just not wanting to talk to us. Haha or if we do get in, we are talking to complete strangers, trying to teach them (usually about alcohol - alcohol abuse is a huge problem here - or diabetes or something). And try to get a return appointment and stuff. Haha it just has that feel. Plus, the people here are a lot like the Guatemalan people in their ways and their culture. The problem is that I always want to speak Spanish to them, and they wouldn't understand a word I was saying if I did! Navajo is a very cool language, however, and I would love to learn a little while I'm here. Right now I can say one word. Haha that's all. Just how to greet people. And I have no idea how it's spelled...something like Ya'at t'ey or something weird like that. Haha it is a very interesting language and fun to hear to elders speaking it. They are the only ones that really still use it here, as most people have adopted English as their primary language. Anyway, the group of girls that I am here with is awesome and I am enjoying it...though I would much rather be with Mike. Mike or a bunch of girls in the middle of nowhere?.......definitely Mike!!!! haha but it's fun. And this week I will make home visits and also work in the Chinle Hospital. So hopefully it's good!

 This is just a traditional dance and outfit..pretty cool! The ward was putting a little show on the night we came, so that was fun to see.

 Window Rock! 

 The Code-Talkers monument

So yes - that is me up there scaling that mountain. I didn't go all the way like one of the girls (only three of us hiked up there in the first place, but only one went all the way to the top), because I decided it probably wasn't the smartest or safest thing to do...and since I'm married now, I feel MUCH more cautious about doing crazy things. Haha but it was cool because they had these hand and foot holes carved into the rock that went all the way up the side - I don't know if you can tell in this picture. But it was pretty awesome!

It's true! At all of these outlooks, you can get right up to the edge because there are no fences or anything. It's pretty crazy and REALLY high up. It was fun though, and again, I feel a lot more cautious now and made sure not to get too close to the edge:)

   

So this is Chinle - barren and dusty and just desert. EVERYWHERE. Haha and at 3 or 4 every afternoon, there is always a huge dust storm and you can't go outside. Lovely place to be:) Haha but the                    canyon makes it worth it:)

  And this is how the water comes out.

Lovely, eh?

Haha I'm supposed to shower in that!??!! 

It was super windy up at the top!!!!

The canyon is so awesome!!!!! We did one hike where we hiked all the way down and saw some cool ruins, but other than that, we just have gone to all the overlook spots.

WOO!! That's as close to the edge as I got:) Pretty big drop off though!