Fall Festival at Valley Creek Mall

We did our first round of trick or treating at Valley Creek Mall in Woodbury. The mall puts on a great fall festival for families! Each store was handing out candy or a cute Halloween toy, there were some crafts, face painting (or hand painting which is what L preferred) a scarecrow, and a balloon artist. It was so much fun and a great way to have the cousins (well most of them) see each other in their costumes. We also were able to zip over to GG's and visit her so she could see her great grandchildren in costume. She also had some treats for the kids. We dropped GG off in the dining room so she could have lunch and we headed over to my parents house for a Jack-O-Lantern Pizza!

Yummy!

Here is our Tinkerbell all ready to go!

Most kids were afraid of him but she walked right up with her arms out to give a hug and then plopped on his lap for some pictures.

she chose a ghost for her hand!

Baby bunny Kaylan!

art!

Spiderman Ian, Skeleton Pirate Dylan and Tink.

Tink loves riding on her GG!

Pool, Catalina State Park, MoneyBall

Chris and I had breakfast with the Clemens Monday morning before they left for Phoenix to catch their flight and then said our goodbyes and had a Chris and Amy day. One that did not involve Urgent Care :) Instead it involved the pool and then one more hike. We went to Catalina State Park and ended up finishing 2 hours later once again. We really planned to just go for about an hour and then go to a movie and dinner and get back to the hotel early. Well it was just too beautiful and we were having too much fun to just be there only an hour. We ended up hunting for 2 letterboxes finding one and seeing a few lizards along the way as well. There were some horseback riders who we ran into who informed us there was a mojave rattlesnake around the corner...thanks. We (well, I) was then nervous for the next 30 minutes of the hike. We thankfully never did see one :) After the hike we went out to dinner at the Thunder Canyon Brewery where we tried some of Tucson's locally brewed beer. yummy! We then went to see Moneyball and loved it. We were completely exhausted and ready for bed and to head home in the morning. Thank you for the fun Arizona! We hope to return in the next couple years! Pictures to come...

Wedding Bells!

I have to say Barbara and Aidan's wedding was one of the most beautiful and touching weddings I have ever been too. They are definitely made for each other and we wish them the best in this exciting new chapter of their lives. They were married at Maynard's Market in downtown Tucson which had never hosted a wedding before but they did an amazing job. It was small and intimate and so sweet. A train even went by during the ceremony and quite a few during the dinner which was served family style and was lots of fun. All the speeches were super heartfelt and fun to listen to. Then came the desserts....yummy!!! It was the best dessert bar ever and took up the whole cafe that was in the market. The dance was also fun and there was a little "photo booth" where we could put on funny hats and costumes and say cheese!

The head table! cute!

Appetizers!

The guys.

The girls.

We sat at table 3!

The first dance. They danced to Brandi Carlile, "The Story". I have never heard that song used but it was very fitting for this couple. So sweet.

Us.

The Desserts!!!

The night ended singing karaoke at The Hotel Congress which is an awesome vintage hotel in downtown Tucson across the street from the wedding site. The Meyers and Clemens sang Buddy Holly by Weezer dedicated to Aidan, his brothers and Barb who all love Weezer. Chris and I sang Summer Lovin from Grease. Chuck may have said Weezer, Olivia Newton-John and Travolta all cried a little thanks to our singing but I don't care it was a blast! Our camera battery died before karaoke so no pics.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Anderson!

Girls Hike and the Vikes!

Sunday morning all us friends took advantage of the free breakfast together and then kind of did our own things. Chuck and DeAnna wanted to check out the Bio-Sphere, Carl and Chris wanted to relax and gear up for the wedding and definitely not miss the Vikings game. Lori and I were itching to hike again so off we went to a high rated hike called Finger Rock Canyon.

It turned into another 2 hour hike and we got a lil lost at the end but we made it to the car and back in time to watch the Vikings until wedding time.

Here we are at the top!

What a view of Tucson!

7K Race, Sabino Canyon and La Fuente

Saturday morning began for the Wallins and me with a 7k race/run with the bride and groom to be. The run was very fun with desert all around! Chris slept in and went to breakfast and Target with Chuck and DeAnna. When we returned to the hotel we had more free breakfast and then got ready to swim in the hotel's Olympic sized pool! It was great to relax with friends and enjoy the sunshine.

We eventually headed out for another hike, this time at Sabino Canyon. I was very relieved to not see any wildlife besides cute lizards and rabbits and another tortoise. No more centipedes. I went hiking there like 15 years ago with family and friends and remember loving it and I still do!

Best friends we could ask for :)

15 years ago we found a great restaurant called La Fuente and I loved it. We found it again this year and I also still loved it. There are hanging plants everywhere, super colorful walls and mariachi singers! Oh and they make fresh guacamole at your table and delicious margaritas and pretty authentic Mexican food in my eyes :)

We had a great time and the Clemens and Meyers ended the night relaxing in the hot tub.

Urgent Care, Pima Canyon, B-Line and Happy Hour

As luck would have it, my cough I talked about in the previous post continued to get worse through the night so we thought it would be smart to go to urgent care. Yes urgent care on our vacation. Our first extended vacation just the two of us in a LONG time. And we picked the slowest urgent care ever, but 3 hours later we were really glad we went. My chest was super tight so I got to use an albuterol breathing tube/machine to loosen everything up and also got some strong meds which luckily had no awful side effects to ruin the trip! Everything helped! By the time we got my meds we received a call from Carl and Lori that their plane had landed! We were still by the airport since we had rented our car from there before hitting urgent care. So we went to pick them up, ran to Target and grabbed lunch at Wendy's. Great fuel for our 2 hour hike we proceeded to go on. I know its weird to go to urgent care get diagnosed with a bad cough and still hike but I have been looking forward to this for a long time so I didnt want to miss out on anything :) Plus I think the air helped! Anyways...we found an awesome hike in The Pima Canyon and even found a letterbox along the way.

Letterbox.

Carl and Lori!

Beautiful view of Tucson.

Lori and Amy!

We also found something I absolutely hate. The largest, fattest, redish and blackish centipede I have ever seen in my life. I was leading the way and saw it creep under a rock and I bolted. I am not making it up either because the rest of the crew saw it briefly too and it was disgusting. It was an out and back hike and I thank God we didn't see it on the return trip! But we did see a wild tortoise. Very welcoming after that centipede! However it did startle us and we were very glad we didn't step on it thinking it was a rock!

Desert sunsets. One of life's most beautiful things.

After our 2 hours of fun was done we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. We chose to go to the B-Line which had wonderful burritos and a very fun atmosphere!

We had just enough energy left after that to go see Aidan and Barb and "the brothers" (Aidan has 5 bros) and some friends for a drink before heading back to the hotel for bed. Again, the 2 hours behind in AZ takes some getting used to. What a fun day (minus Urgent Care).

Sunny Skies of AZ!

Chris and I headed to AZ without our sweet lil Linnea who got to stay with her grandparents for 6 days! My parents and Chris's shared her and everyone had a great time! Our main reason for heading to Tucson, AZ was for our friends Aidan and Barbara's wedding but we made it a couple's vacation as well and added a few days before and after the wedding. Our friends Carl and Lori were also able to come without their kiddoes and Chuck and Deanna were able to get away from work and their dogs and join the fun as well. It was so nice to have some time with just our friends and just each other and not worry about naps and bedtimes. We definitely missed Linnea everyday but knew she was in good hands so it was pretty easy to have some fun. The picture above is us on the plane ready to head out on Thursday morning!

Thursday Chris and I were on our own so we checked into our hotel and took their shuttle to 4th Street ( a strip in downtown Tucson with lots of shops and restaurants) and found Lindy's, a hole in the wall beer and burger joint. Apparently Man Vs. Food had been there since they offer a burger challenge :0) We did not try that...Chris had the Hawaiin Five O which was a teriyaki burger with a pineapple...yummy! I went out on a limb and tried a burger with a fried egg on it...not so good but once the egg was off the burger was great!

After dinner we had some time to kill while waiting for the shuttle and found this super cute cafe called the Chocolate Iguana! Look at all the candy above and the cute set up and paint below. If I lived in Tucson I would be a regular here. Their iced pumpkin latte was delicious as was their iguana blend!

We called it a night after that which was fairly early, AZ is 2 hours behind us so it felt like 11 or so when we went to bed. Plus, I was coming down with a terrible cough and Chris wasnt feeling one hundred percent either.