First View of the Grand Canyon

Before we even made it to the Grand Canyon, there was an airport where we spotted a bunch of helicopters and airplane companies that offer tours over the Grand Canyon. The one thing Byron wanted to do on the whole trip was take a helicopter ride. So we did! It was a big splurge but he had worked very hard over the last 4 months and deserved every bit of it. I'm not sure where Mackenzie and I fit into that but we got to go too.

Each helicopter can take 7 passengers and the pilot. We saw at least 6 helicopters in this fleet and they were taking off every half hour. It was incredible.

All strapped in and ready to go. Mackenzie was enthralled with the helicopter itself. I'm not sure she cared much about the views but she had fun.

Byron had the best seat in the house. He was in the front on the right side and probably had the most unobtructed view. I'm glad he wanted it...I was just as happy in the back with Kenzie. There was a family of 4 that went with us as well.

Here comes our first ever view of the Grand Canyon.

It's really hard to explain how cool this is if you have never been there. It's almost surreal. The little strip of water you see in the middle of this picture is the Colorado River. Waaaaay down there.

Feet back and the ground and feeling a little relieved!

Next, we drove into Grand Canyon National Park and did a little walking on some of the paths that follow the rim. The wild thing is, there are not a lot of guard rails and it is freaky! If you get too close and take one wrong step...well it wouldn't be pretty!!

We felt much better with Mackenzie on Daddy's shoulders!!

Road Trippin'

I've been struggling to figure out how to post all the pictures from the road trip we took a few weeks ago. There are many pictures and I just didn't know how to pick and choose the "best" ones. I'll group them into a few different posts so hopefully it won't be too overwhelming! Here is the narrative:

April 5th was the closing for the cabin the we bought, renovated, and sold. We decided that after 4 months of Byron working every day, evening and weekend, we needed a vacation! So we decided to take a raod trip with the Grand Canyon as our main destination. A snowstorm in western Colorado altered our original plans to head out through the mountains. So instead we headed south. We left Tuesday afternoon around 2:00pm and drove from home to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We stayed the night there and then drove to Flagstaff, Arizona the next day. After finding a hotel with a swimming pool for that evening we headed to the Grand Canyon the next day. It was about and hour and a halfs drive from Flagstaff. I'll let the pictures in the next few posts describe what we actually did there. :) We stayed the night on Thursday in a little place about 30 mins south of Grand Canyon National Park. It was much cheaper that way. Friday we saw more of the Grand Canyon and then headed off to the north on the way up through Moab, UT. We didn't make it to Moab that night. Instead we stayed in a little place called Blanding. Saturday we drove on to Moab and spent the day, that evening and half of Sunday checking out Arches National Park. Sunday afternoon we started the trek back through the rest of Utah and onto Glenwood Springs, CO. Monday it was back home by mid-afternoon. The weather was fantastic, the views were incredible and it was so great to not really have a schedule. We just kind of did things as they came along.

We learned that Mackenzie is a pretty good traveler, especially when you find that one $5 item from Wal-Mart that kept her extremely entertained for many hours in the car. You'll have to ask me about that one if you want to know exactly what it is. The other thing I learned is that I cannot sleep in a bed any smaller than a Queen. Yes, I'm spoiled.

Enjoy the pictures!

Easter Weekend

Last year, Gram and Pap sent Mackenzie a big white rabbit that would hop and sing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail". The batteries died and I stealthly hid it away. This year Gram and Pap sent this crazy duck that quacks the tune "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" while flapping its wings and nodding its head. I wonder how long before the batteries die on this one...;) What could possibly be left for next year? I'm afraid to find out!! :)


Making easter cookies



Getting ready for the easter egg hunt


Yay! Candy filled eggs!

Mackenzie would still not have anything to do with the easter bunny.

Getting ready to color eggs...it was pretty much a disaster after this!

This was when we gave up on the dye and went for finger paint instead!

I can NEVER get a good picture of Mackenzie in her Easter dress. I always wait until after church but that is when she is most wound up! Next year maybe we'll try for before church. *sigh*

Done!

Back in November, we purchased a small cabin is Estes Park and Byron (mostly) spent the last 4 months renovating and updating it. There are some "before" pictures in an earlier post. The plan was to get it finished then put it on the market to sell since it was too small for us to fit into! Well, we didn't even have to put it on the market. It was sold before we even had it finished! So here are the results of many long days and evenings (for all of us!).


Bathroom~new cabinets/counter tops, mirror, fixtures.

Bathroom window trim

Door on left goes through laundry room to kitchen. Door in right is closet.

Living room towards kitchen

New fireplace

Laundry

Kitchen looking into living room

Brand new kitchen

Bedroom~used to be 2 rooms but is now one with a closet. Door on right leads through to bathroom.

Bedroom

New concrete pad, back door into kitchen

South side

Beautiful new deck!

North side

From the road

Meeting Rylen!

Mackenzie and I went on a little trip in the middle of March to go and meet my new niece Rylen. Byron would like to have come but he was hard at work~more about that in the next post. So Mackenzie and I hopped a plane to Fargo, ND and then Mark (brother-in-law) and my dad came and picked us up for the 4 hour drive (blah!) to Crystal City, Manitoba. We had a fun time with Richelle, Mark, Mom and Dad.

Mackenzie was thrilled to meet her new cousin and was always in the middle of things so she could "help". She will be a great big sister when the time comes!

Helping Auntie "Shell" feed Rylen.

Making sure Uncle Mark is doing things right...

Got to make sure the "Pinkie" is in place!

Very proud cousin

And, of course, a very proud Auntie!

Grandpa and Grandma Thalgott with the grandkids. Boy, that sounds weird!! :)

Isn't she beautiful?

At the airport in Fargo for our trip back home.

Flooding

On our way back to Fargo to the airport, I had to take some pictures of the incredible amount of water that was everywhere. It was pretty crazy. They even had a lane of the highway closed because of the water on the road. They had it sandbagged to keep the road open but it was water as far as you could see.

Too funny for words.