Biking in Flagstaff

We took a day trip to Flagstaff this weekend to go mountain biking. We were gone most of the day and ended up biking for about 5 hours. It was quite the adventure! In addition to enjoying the incredible views and temperatures we got a little taste of the effects that high altitude has on the body. The elevation in Phoenix is less than 1000 feet above sea level and, after driving a couple hours, we started our ride at 8000 feet and rose to over 9000 before coming back down! It was pretty cool, but we were catching our breath, getting sun burns, and feeling light-headed much sooner than we were used to.   

 We rode on a dirt road for part of the loop.
Temperatures in the high 70's. 

Part of the loop we did was on the Arizona Trail which goes 

all the way across Arizona. Maybe we'll do it one day... 

More Populus tremuloides than we have ever seen in Arizona!

Birthday Weekend

This year for Brynn's birthday, she wanted to go camping.  Because it was monsoon season (which means flash flooding), we weren't able to go overnight.  But we did go hiking in Payson for the day, which was gorgeous as usual.

On Sunday, we explored the Riparian Preserve by our house.  We had been meaning to go for a while, and the weather was sort of cool enough to be outside for longer than 15 seconds.

It was starting to get dark when we got there, so we weren't able to stay very long. We can't wait to go back for the observatory and explore some more!

New Bike

Seth got a new road bike, and it's beautiful.  He was able to buy it through Al's, the shop he used to work for in Logan.

We can't wait to start road biking more!

Oak Creek Canyon

Brynn has been dying to see Sedona, and she finally convinced Seth to take her for a day trip.  There is so much to see, but we decided to start off with the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon, the most popular.  And for good reason.

The canyon had a beautiful mix of red rock and greenery

The trail is super flat, following (and crossing) Oak Creek about a million times.

The trail ends in a gorgeous slot canyon.

We can't wait to explore Sedona more! This is just the beginning of many trips up here.

2nd Master's Recital and Graduation

Brynn was able to perform her last recital at ASU this past weekend.  She was so glad that she got to play some of her favorite pieces, as well as play with some of her favorite people.

Playing the Faure Piano Quartet (!!!)

She couldn't have done it without Seth.  He's been awesome through this whole crazy last year of school.

Brynn's parents were even able to fly from Boise to visit!

It's been an amazing program, and it's sad to leave. 

Foot Golf

In Glendale, a golf course is one of the only locations that has foot golf.  We got invited by our friends the Amundsens to play on Saturday.

The holes are perfect for soccer balls!

Seth was basically a pro.

It was a beautiful day, and we can't wait to do it again!

Happy New Year!

We're excited for all of the adventures in 2017!

Highs in the 80s!

Brynn and Seth are getting very excited about the milder weather in Phoenix! It's really starting to cool down, and they love being able to get outside more! This past Saturday they went mountain biking, and had a great time. Brynn did all the hard parts of the trail that she hadn't done before! So proud! She did so great, and can't wait to go again.

All smiles after our ride.

Champion. 

Fall!

Arizona doesn't get much of a fall.  It's more like a Utah summer with highs in the low 90's.  Luckily, we were able to get into the mountains of Payson for a day to experience cooler weather.

I know it doesn't look like much, but you'd be surprised how few fall colors there are in Ponderosa forests.

Mesa Temple Visitor's Center

Yesterday, Brynn and her friends had the opportunity to perform at the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center.  It was really fun, and it was fun to put together an eclectic program of hymns, classical, fiddling, and pop songs.   She hopes they can do it again soon!

Brynn loved playing with her friends again!

Seth's Foot

Seth joined the Tempe Rec soccer league and made it approximately 1.63 games before spraining his foot. It swelled up and turned purple. We borrowed some crutches and hope it heals fast!

Car Troubles

As Brynn was getting to the school yesterday, she noticed that the car was overheating.  She parked it in the shade and went inside to practice while the car cooled off.  When she came out 4 hours later, she noticed that there wasn't any coolant in the overflow.  She just figured that there was a leak, filled it up, and started driving home.

She didn't even make it a mile before she noticed that the car was overheating again.  She pulled into the Fry's parking lot and called Seth to come get her on his way home from work.  He picked her up, and they went home for dinner.  

They went back after the car had a chance to cool off again, and changed the radiator cap (which is a common problem with camrys).  They started driving home again, with Seth following, when it started overheating again.  This time MUCH worse that before.  Brynn freaked out and pulled over on the freeway.  Unfortunately, they were in the left lane to get on the I-10.  They parked on the left side of the road, and hopped up on the median to call AAA.

Seth and Brynn parked on the freeway.

Since we were in such a weird spot, AAA suggested that we call the nonemergency police number to help direct traffic.

After about 20 minutes, a nice policeman pulled up and offered to get a traffic stop for us to move the car across the 4 lanes of traffic to a bigger shoulder.  

We hear "Are you ready on the 60?" come from the radio.  The policeman says "Yes."  All of a sudden all of the traffic slows down on the freeway, and several police cars with lights on and sirens blaring starts weaving across the lanes of traffic to slow everybody down.  We moved across the freeway, and then the cop wished us luck and drove away.

Sorry for the terrible picture. Brynn was trying to be inconspicuous as she snapped a picture of the tow truck.

After standing on the freeway for another half hour, the tow truck shows up. We got a tow to the mechanic, and it looks like we'll need a new radiator.  At least we can say that it was an adventure.

4th of July Weekend

On Sunday, we decided to take a spontaneous camping trip up to the Mogollon Rim by Payson.  We had been wanting to go explore a little bit, and since Seth had Monday off, we decided to jump in the car right after church.

It's a good thing we didn't need very much to go camping! We were out the door in about half an hour.

 It was absolutely beautiful! It wasn't McCall, but it was still really nice to get out of the 110 degree heat for a minute.

We were starting to forget what greenery was...

The campsites were up on the rim, so there was a nice overlook.  They were also first come, first served, so we weren't even sure if we were going to be able to stay overnight.

There was even a nice little lake that was PACKED with people fishing, so we didn't stay there very long.

We got back Monday morning, and then our friends the Mittons invited us over for dinner, games, and fireworks.

Brynn was feeling patriotic, so she made a fruit pizza flag.

We ended up going to the Mesa Celebration of Freedom, which was really fun.  They had a giant water slide, fire trucks spraying water from a hose (it was 108 at 10 pm, after all). We got there in time to find a spot for the fireworks, so we weren't able to fully experience the festival.  Maybe next year, guys?

Decorating

We're finally getting around to decorating our apartment, which is nice.  Seth found a super easy art we could make to hang on the wall.

Yup.  It's what it looks like. We just put painter's tape on a canvas and painted around it.

We think it turned out pretty good, though, and we even found some couch pillows that match!

Checking More Boxes On The "Grown-Up To Do List"

Seth is well on his way to becoming a real grown-up.

After a nice interview today with the owners of SBD-Studio, John & Juan, they have decided to offer Seth a position on their team as a Landscape Architect! They will get back to him with an employment offer letter this week. We feel good about it, and will most likely accept! Also, their names really are "John" and "Juan." John Suarez is from Bolivia, and Juan Brenes is from Spain. But it's funny because they are both named John.

Seth likes their office and the other employees he met today. The owners are passionate people, who come from a well respected design background. In addition to design work, they are actively involved in the construction and maintenance side of projects. SBD-studio was formed in 2008, and is a small office. They work on a variety of project types including commercial, urban planning, hospitality and resorts, architectural, educational and corporate campuses, residential, and more. They continue to excel, and are know for their designs throughout North, Central, & South America. They even did a project in Acapulco! We're really excited about this opportunity, and can't wait to see what the future holds!

Curtains!

Our bedroom window lets in a lot of heat, so we bought some room darkening curtains yesterday and put them up this morning.

They even match our soon-to-be quilt!

We also found a book case at Walmart for $30, so we put that together last night.

Seth put it together like a champ!

We're excited that our little apartment is starting to feel like home!

The Time We Bought a Bed Frame

Brynn's siblings were so generous, and gave her and Seth a gift card to IKEA to buy a bed frame.  Since we live 5 minutes from the store, we thought it would be fun to pop over there and pick one up the day after moving to Phoenix.

After looking around for a few minutes, we decided on one. We wrote down the aisle and bin number, went down to the warehouse, and stared at the box.  Obviously, the frame came collapsed, but the headboard was still 6 feet long.

We drove our biggest car, a camry, to pick up the furniture, and Brynn didn't see any way that we were going to be able to fit it in the car.  We didn't even know anyone with a truck. So, we loaded it in the cart and took it out to the car and stared at it for a little bit longer.  We considered laying the front seat down and smashing it in from the back seat, shoving it in the back seat with it hanging out the window, strapping it to the top of the car, and hanging it out of the trunk, but nothing seemed to work.  

Finally, after about 10 minutes standing in the scorching heat, Seth discovered that the back seats lay down.  The hole into the trunk was pretty small, and the box was pretty wide, so Brynn wasn't sure it would fit that way, but Seth was able to finagle it into place.  The trunk wasn't quite able to close, but because it was such a short drive, it didn't give us any problems getting home.  Unfortunately, Seth was so fast getting it out of the car that Brynn wasn't able to take a picture, but it went together fairly quickly! We can't wait to get the rest of our apartment together!