Halloween

For Halloween my son decided to be stubborn and refused to wear any of the costumes my sister had ready.  He cried and cried so I took them all off.  Then he saw my niece's hairbow and decided to wear that instead.  He wore it forever and wouldn't take it off.  Too cute.  Oh yeah, and here's a recent picture of me.  I went as a mom who does her hair and makeup every morning, because that is definitely not me.  Apparently I need to learn how to do my makeup better.  Yikes.

Snowflake Trip

I have a whole bunch a places I want to visit in AZ before Stephen graduates in May.  There aren't any job openings here and so chances are we'll be living somewhere else once he gets a job.  So I wanted to explore Arizona while we still have the chance.  Still left on my list are Tombstone/Bisbee...we did a quick trip there already and I'm dying to go back, also Prescott/Jerome.  I've been to Prescott, but never Jerome.  

It's also one of my goals to see as many temples as I can.  Already this year my mom and sister went with me out to the Gila Temple in Safford, I was married in the Mesa Temple, and I've been to both the supposed Phoenix Temple site and the Gilbert Temple site.  All that was left in Arizona was to see the Snowflake Temple.  So up we went.  

While on the drive I had to change my son's diaper.  I've always struggled doing this in the car but this time I got smart and changed him in the trunk where there's tons of room!   I was pretty proud of this genius move.

Here we are at the front waterfall of the Temple.

I was testing out my ISO and I LOVE this shot of my cutie.

I would love to have huge pictures of the Temples in our home, but I'm not about to pay ridiculous prices for them, so I'm taking my own shots to later edit and frame.  I like the way these turned out.

On the way back we stopped in Show Low because my mom had never been before.  While eating lunch this older gentleman came in and was telling the craziest, loudest story I've ever heard before.  We quickly made our escape and found his beaten-up truck.  It seriously looks like Mater from Cars.  My mom stealthily took these pictures from the inside of our car.  

We're talking same color(s) and it was crazy to see the aging on this vehicle.

The tires were sooo bald.  The tread was literally worn off.  

As we were pulling away I saw that the back of the truck was held together with rope.  We had already put away the camera so I didn't get a picture, but this will live on in my memory as the Mater truck.  What it lacked in safety it certainly made up for in personality.

My Son - The Artist

My son LOVES to color.  On the floor, on the table, on our doors.  So finally I bought a Color Wonder set and Stephen likes it.  I had to capture these pictures because he looks so stinkin' big!  He isn't my baby anymore!  

See his coloring?  He's quite the artist.

Too Cute!

Asian Market

Right around the corner from our apartment is this huge Asian Market.  It's really like a shopping mall.  There's all these fun stores on the outside and then in the middle is their grocery store.  We decided to take a look and got all touristy taking pictures of the weird/interesting items we saw.  First up, Squid and Octopus.  Yum.

Next we've got cooked blood, and heart of animals and other unusual body parts I would rather never ingest.  

Here's a fruit (or is it a vegetable?) that we can't even identify.  These were quite large.

The melon named after my niece...surely.  When I told her about the Winter Melon she HAD to see it and was super excited.   

Banana Blossoms.  I don't even know how you would attempt to eat this.

Mint.  I've seen various recipes call for mint but I can never seem to find any sort of a variety in the local groceries.  Here there's more than I could ever need.  

I can't wait to go back and buy some of the interesting things to try...like the fruits and vegetables, not the cooked blood.  I'm a little closed-minded like that.

P.S.  some of my pictures are portrait and blogger wouldn't upload them correctly, so you missed the pictures of the pigs ears, and chicken feet...boneless and bone-in.  There was also a picture of dragon fruit and korean melon.  But you'll just have to take my word for it.

My Crazy Bathroom

Be kind to me as I'm about to show you the awkwardness that is our 1 3/4 bathroom.  I took the pictures before I had organized it better.

I am standing in our son's bathtub to take this picture.  His bathroom has two doors, a sink and bathtub/shower and mirrors.  The bathroom through the door has two doors, a sink, a bathtub/shower, a tri-fold mirror and the toilet.  It's just awkward.

Here's a nice shot of the three bathroom doors.  IV will come and knock on one of the doors and then run to the other one and knock on that too.  It's pretty cute.