Sedona: Mountain Biking

Tim and I drove out to Arizona for a cousin’s wedding this past week. On our way (okay, so it was really out of our way), we made a stop in Sedona for some mountain biking. We planned to camp in the bed of our truck the night we arrived, then head out to the trails in the morning. Very unlike California, you can drive a certain distance down any forest service road and camp…but the waist-deep snow around Flagstaff wasn’t plowed on those forest service roads, so we found a nice cozy hotel and actually got to shower after our ride. : ) We focused more on riding our bikes than taking pictures, but here are some that we did stop to snap:

This was the first time I had been biking on a “real” trail…and it wasn’t exactly meant for out-of-shape beginners (that would’ve been boring anyway!). Tim was nice enough to stop for a rest here and there to enjoy the scenery and catch our breath.

There were a couple creeks to cross, and we figured that carrying or walking our bikes across was the good way to go. : )

Our self portrait with the camera sitting on the ground on a little flat rock : )

I did a good job of avoiding the cactus, but more than once, I poked my backside on these plants that look like agave (?) when I crouched down to take a picture…so Tim thought it would be appropriate to take my picture sitting with them…?

These purple cactus looked so pretty against the red dirt and green shrubs…a great display of God’s artistic handiwork. : )

I can’t wait to get back to Sedona some day and spend even more time exploring all the different places to mountain bike with my wonderful hubby!!

i heart faces: best face photo

I’ve been keeping up with the blog i heart faces for a while now, but I have yet to enter one of their photo challenges. This week’s theme is “Best Face Photo,” and I thought of this adorable picture of happy Daphne:

Christmas ’09: The Princesses

I made tutus for the little girls for Christmas this year: black and red for Daphne, yellow and teal for Lily, and two shades of purple for Leanna. I’m still waiting on pictures of Leanna since she couldn’t be with the rest of us at Christmas, but here are the other two!

Lily, Barbie, and Heather:

While scrounging for stray marshmallows on the sidelines of a marshmallow-gun fight, Lily showed me her dancing skills:

And here she is in a tickle-fight with Uncle Tim…still in her tutu and leg-warmers : )

Daphne was more interested in chewing on her shoe than posing for her auntie, but she’s still adorable in her little Christmas outfit: : )

Watch out for a tutu-how-to coming soon!

Christmas ’09: Knight in Shining Armor

For Christmas, I made Carter a Knight in Shining Armor costume, which he said makes him Prince Edmond. He just happened to have the movie Prince Caspian playing in the background while he opened it, which seemed appropriate.

The lion on the front is a copy of the Finnish national emblem, but Carter was excited that it looked just like the flags from Narnia. : )

A rare moment of sweetness between the slashings of the sword:

Carter went out in the backyard and trained on a trash can. He may only be 3 1/2, but I have never seen someone so ready for battle before.

Here’s his “pretending to die” series. He let me know that he can’t actually die, because the “chainmen” (chain-mail) protects him.

The End.

Gingerbread Fun

Tim and I bought a gingerbread house kit the year we got married…which was 3 years ago. It had been in various kitchen cabinets until we finally pulled it out this year! Two perfectionist creative people working on the same gingerbread house at the same time? It actually worked out very well… : )