Vacation in Arizona

We vacationed in Arizona for a week with my mom and dad, and Brandon, Joan, Jimmie, and Max. I've never seen my brother's house and Bryan's been bugging me forever about visiting family in different areas of the country (especially Brandon because we haven't been able to hang out as much with his family). Bryan's mom got us a condo in Flagstaff AZ for the week, so we ventured up to northern Arizona after we hung out in Phoenix for a day and a half. Here is a list of all the fun stuff we did:

Bryan and I did a sealing session at the Mesa Arizona Temple

Played miniture golf and laughed a lot with poor Max's frustration for the game of golf. Climbed 1.5 miles underground in the Lava River Cave with flashlights. Hiked and spent the night at the Havasupai Indian Reservation.
Toured Sedona. Wish we could have seen a vortex!
Slid down the icy water at Slide Rock.

Contemplated going down the glacier melt off.Hit golf balls at the driving range. I didn't realize Brandon, Joan, Bryan, and mom were so educated in the sport of golfing.
We loved hanging out with family. It was such a fun trip. We will have to hit up some other area of the country next:)

Havasupai

Since I "planned" on being deployed this summer, I planned this BIG trip with some of my family members to hike the Havasu Falls before I left for Iraq. Bryan and I have wanted to hike here so badly when we heard out about it being a heaven on earth. It also happened to be one of the goals I wanted to accomplish during my life time. My mom, dad, brother Brandon, Bryan, and I hiked down early Wednesday morning. The hike to the Supai Village was 8 miles. After that, you hike another 3-4 miles to see all the waterfalls. At the top of the Grand Canyon.
The Havasupai Indians receive everything by mule train or helicopter. It is the only place in the United States where you receive mail by mule train. So feel lucky if you ever receive mail from there. While we were hiking down the canyon, mules and horses were packing loads of water, sodas, fruit, mail, ect.
You feel like you're in a different part of the world because the village is so cut off from the outside. They do have electricity and Internet. No cars. Only ATVs. We did wonder how they got couches and furniture down to the village though. We ate at a cafe in the village before we ventured the other 3-4 miles. My mom and dad did awesome packing in the 12+ miles!
Our LDS church exists down in this little village. It would be so neat to be a missionary here. The first set of waterfalls is the Navajo Falls.
Then you come to Havasu Falls. The pictures don't do justice. You can see where the water has shifted over the years. Havasu means "people of the blue-green water" -the water really is that clear and blue. After we put our hiking gear down at our camp site, we headed to the Havasu Fall to cool off.
The current was so strong, you couldn't even get close to the falling water. Bryan swears he touched it. Sure babe ;)
While we were playing in the water, Bryan's pack got attacked by a squirrel who smelled pre-cracked nuts and m&m's. He didn't destroy the pack too badly. Bryan wanted to hunt that stupid squirrel down the whole time we were there though.
Moody Falls. This is probably a good 100 foot drop. My mom was pretty nervous with this waterfall- Brandon, Bryan, and I hiked down to the bottom through a cave with chains because it's pretty slick and and steep.
So pretty.

Bryan and I at Moody Falls.

The cave down to the bottom.

Brandon pretending to jump off the edge of Moody Falls. The sign says "descend at your own risk." Ha ha. What a goofball.

Awesome picture of me throwing up Havasu Falls.

Mom and Dad kissing at the finish line.

We hiked back up Thursday afternoon. I think we totaled about 24 miles round trip. My whole family did awesome. It was so worth it- seeing paradise on earth in a remote area, sleeping under the stars, swimming in the blue-green water, hiking until our calves were sore or broken. I'd definitely do it again someday.

San Jacinto Battle Reenactment

I have always wanted to be in the audience of a war reenactment. It has been on my check list of life long goal (this list happens to be a pretty long list). When I found out Bryan's old bishop participated in the San Jacinto Battle Reenactment in April, I was so excited. Weird, I know. But I love crossing off goal accomplishments, even if they are small. For those who may not know, this battle ended the Texan Revolution led by General Sam Houston against Santa Anna's Mexican forces. The battle lasted 6-18 minutes long. About 700 Mexican soldiers were killed and only 9 Texans. Crazy! This is where you get the sayings "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad"- it helped rally up the Texans before the battle.

Bishop McClain is the one carrying the flag. He had an awesome role. Maybe I should make a new goal to be the flag bearer? The San Jacinto Monument is the world's tallest war monument- it stands 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument with a Texas Lonestar up top.

You can follow the story of the battle along the base of the monument.

We didn't go up top because it was pretty crowded from all the festivities, maybe next time.

Deployment

For those who have been waiting forever for the answer to my previous post.... the army has decided to not deploy me this summer. This is a good thing, but it also ruins a lot of plans. Oh well.