Camping+20 degrees=Mark's Birthday

Well we've been camping for Mark's birthday for a few years now. Make's for some interesting stories since his birthday is in JANUARY. But to uphold a tradition, we chose to go camping in Sedona this year. April and Destin came along for the freezing fun. We set up camp about 11:00 p.m. Friday night. The boys did an excellent job of setting up the tent while April and I did ... well I'm not sure what we did. OH, we blew up the air mattress. Yeah, that's important. So the boys pretty much froze to death, but April and I were quite fine in our 20 degree sleeping bags. Sorry boys. Bailey was a little freezing so she snuggled with Destin and our little pups slept through the night just fine. They woke us up with a little "YIP!" at 9:00 a.m. the next morning. (Not like we hadn't been waking up every hour or so to rotate or talk about how we couldn't sleep because it was so cold, but whatever.) When we woke up we realized that we had set up pretty close to a river and there was a huge mountain behind us with SNOW on it. It was beautiful. We decided that staying another night wouldn't be that great of an idea so we packed it up and dreamed of warm beds back in Scottsdale. Here's a little pictage...

Loading everything up at Kierland.

Way to much stuff, but we're excited.

*sidenote: Bailey went missing in the parking garage for about 15 minutes. Where was she the whole time? Underneath the car.

1 tent, 2 couples, 3 dogs, 4 sleeping bags.

Sedona, bring it on.

Our campsite in the background (notice the fire). *Please no making fun of Amy's outfit.
I was warm.














Happy 26th birthday, Boo ")

Jeep Rides Sedona Style...

So we decided that after the camping, we should reward ourselves with offroading in a Jeep! We rented a 2007 Jeep Rubicon for 4 hours and drove all over Sedona! We went on 3 trails, the last was our favorite (Broken Arrow). We just happened upon it on surprise ... should have saved more time to explore it. Never the less we had a great time and none of us had done that before so it was a new experience for all.

Then I decided to take a drive. I was afraid to do it at first but I went on the "elevation climb" trail. Then I found this mound of dirt and ramped up it like I had been a crazy driver the whole time. Do not let this picture or April and Destin's face fool you. I did however, get mud on the windshield. I will claim that. Kudos to Mark for the idea and the picture.

Fun times had by all. I'm really glad we had the "gorilla pod" with us so we could take all these great pictures in the mud! (*Again, I am driving but there is nothing crazy going on.*)

More of the puppies...

Little man taking a snooze on his doggie.

Cali and Amy talking on the phone with Aunt April in Scottsdale. Cali is considering going up the stairs to do bad things next to mom and dad's bed...

My sweet little kids eating their breakfast.
*This video is for my dear friends Parker and Peyton Darley*

Mark and Rachel run the Carlsbad Half Marathon ... well, half of a half...

Rachel and Mark got up really early on Sunday to run the Carlsbad half marathon. Then they realized that the course ran right by our house so they just ran right on inside! They completed 7.2 miles. Way to go!!!

Family came to visit!

Mom, Dad, Rachel and Andrew came to SoCal to visit Mark and I for MLK weekend. We had tons of fun. The boys and Rachel went golfing, Mom and I went shopping and we had a grand time. Sad times, but Rachel's car got smashed in the parking lot of her apartment while she was out here. There's some good drama!





Of course the puppies had to go to the beach and then get a bath...

My precious darlings! Cali and Cooper. Mark got Cali for me for Christmas and then we missed our flight back to San Diego so we decided to drive and get her brother, Cooper...so we did! They are just adorable. If having kids is anything like having a dog, we're in trouble! Mark is a great "puppy parent". I missed them so much when we travel or even when we just go to work ... it's really sad. More pictures and video to come...