Weekend Update: 1 Wedding and a BBQ

Friday night we went to our first LDS wedding. Toni is a very close friend of our friend Tori, so we've known her for many years. The ceremony took place at their ward in Gilbert, so we were allowed to attend and enjoy the festivities! Here is a photo of Brian (groom), Toni, Tori and Toni's son Seth: 

Serena, Tori, Isabel and Noah drove from San Diego. It was soooo nice to see them!
Me and the Matron of Honor:
I had planned to get a good one of Jay and I but he succeeded in avoiding the camera. Maybe next time!

Saturday after a long dance lesson, we headed over to a housewarming/birthday bbq at a friend of Jay's house. It was so hot outside and there wasn't a pool! We ended up going back and forth between the air conditioning inside and the misters outside to keep comfortable. The food was delicious and it was really nice company. 

Sunday Jay went to the bar with the boys while I got some shopping and sewing done. We also rented "Gran Torino" and I bawled! I loved it if you haven't seen it yet. 

We hope you had a fantastic weekend as well and a great week ahead! 

Weekend Update: Home at Last!

We have really enjoyed the traveling we've been doing these past 4 weekends, but it was so nice to be home, sleep in, and *gasp* dare I say do laundry and clean?! Saturday we only left the house to get some groceries and rent a movie. Other than that, we were home relaxing. It was so nice!

Sunday we celebrated Jeff's birthday by the pool with his friends and family. It was H-O-T outside....
...but not hot enough to do this.
Well, let me rephrase that. It turned out the patio is treated with something that reflects light (along with the light color) so we didn't have a chance. Next time we decided to try it out on the road and closer to noon when the sun is strongest. We'll let you know how it goes - there are plenty of hot days left!


As I write this, another monsoon dust storm is rolling in. The wind chimes are playing a pretty song. Jay is working - holding somewhere outside of the city waiting to get clearance to land. Probably getting bumped around a little bit. Hopefully he's home soon. BLTs for dinner - yum yum!

Weekend Update: Flagstaff Part Two

Sunday morning, we got up and headed into town for breakfast. Kelley recommended a place with good eggs benedict (my favorite breakfast splurge), so we checked it out. Very good! Afterwards, we walked around the farmer's market in City Hall Park. Everything looked so good but we only walked away with a bunch of carrots. I have this thing for fresh carrots with the tops still on. They remind me of picking them from my grandfather's garden when I was little. I don't know if it's the dirt that's still on them or what, but they are like nothing you get at the grocery store.
Carrots in tow, we headed to Red Mountain for our hike. It was earlier in the day, so the storm clouds didn't have time to develop yet. It was a beautiful morning! Red Mountain ahead:
Red Mountain is a cinder cone estimated to be over 1 million years old. Read the sign below for more information:
Beautiful wildflowers lined the trails:

Jay leading the way:

Inside were amazing rock formations! All different colors and shapes, molded by the volcano that used to be here.

The first sign of "wildlife" we saw - this little lizard. Jay saw a really big one but I didn't get over to him in time to get a photo.

You can see all the layers of rock from thousands (a million!) years ago:

Spooky looking rock formation:

On our way back to the car, Jay and I heard a really really loud sound. It didn't sound like the cows I'm used to hearing (in Vermont) so I thought it might have been an elk or something. Regardless of what it was, it was super close and I went on high alert. As we turned the corner, there was a big brown cow looking at us head on. He's way closer than he looks in this picture.

Soon after he spotted us, Brown Cow walked away.

One last view of Red Mountain before we headed back to town:

We stopped at this little Chapel of the Holy Dove. It was really tiny & cute. Just big enough inside to fit maybe 20 people.

Back in the car, Jay and I were talking about how we have never seen elk while in Flagstaff. There are signs everywhere to caution for them - but in all our trips up there, not one sighting! I was determined to find my husband his elk and minutes after announcing that "Flagstaff elk are B.S.", I spotted these out my window:

So we now believe that there are in fact elk in Flagstaff and have photos to prove it. It's about time.

Around 6pm, we started the drive home. It was nice leaving later in the day because we avoided a lot of traffic that we usually hit. And we got to see the beautiful desert sunset as we arrived in Phoenix:

I am so grateful to have had this weekend with Jay. We almost didn't go because of all our previous travels, but it proved to be well worth it. It was the perfect weekend to decompress and just enjoy each other in the peace and quiet. No laundry, no parties, no sweltering heat. Just us.

Weekend Update: Flagstaff Part One

I feel like we returned from our Flagstaff trip a long time ago. Usually I try to be good about blog updates but this week has been crazy! So in return for your patience (and dire anticipation for a new post, I'm sure), I'll return the favor with a 2-post photo-filled update on our Flagstaff weekend getaway.

Let me start off by saying that my generous boss offered Jay and I his home in Flagstaff while he was vacationing with his family in LaJolla. They usually go up to Flagstaff every weekend in the summer and now I see why! Let me take you on a little photo tour of the house nestled on one of the top golf courses in Arizona:

Beautiful kitchen:
Amazing outdoor fireplace:

Jay chilling in the living room (that couch was sooo comfortable!):

The toys:

Aaaaahhhhh...after our little tour, I decided to enjoy a little reading on the cozy couch:

Friday night after settling in, we headed into downtown Flagstaff to meet up with one of Jay's old roommates from Montana. We had a nice dinner and walk around town before heading back to get some much-needed zzzzzzzz's.

Saturday morning we slept in to 8:30! It was fabulous! We had leftover dinner for breakfast (yum) and enjoyed having no timeline planned out for the day. Eventually we decided to head into town to get some food for that night and maybe go on the hike/picnic that I had planned. Unfortunately the skies started rumbling so we put off the hike until Sunday. Instead, we took a bike ride to a nearby pond where my girlfriend (who's parents also have a house in the same club) was fishing with her boyfriend's kids.

Jay getting ready to cast another line:

Dinner was so good! Grilled steaks, corn and tomatoes! Check out Jay's grill lines - impressive, aren't they?

Check out the ambiance for this special dinner:

After dinner, Jay went outside and started a fire. It was such a nice night - crisp cool air with the heat from the fire warming us just enough.

Of course, we made s'mores:

Jay getting his nice and brown:

Me waiting for mine to catch on fire (I like them charred!):

To end the night, we laid a blanket on the deck and looked up at the stars. It's easy to forget the beauty of nature when living down here in Phoenix where all the city lights block out the beautiful sight above! In Flagstaff, the sky was what was brightest! We counted shooting stars and eventually fell asleep out there. Our snoring woke us up enough to head inside for the night's sleep. :) What a peaceful way to end the day. I could do that every night.

Weekend Update: Viva Las Vegas!

Jay and I celebrated our July 4th weekend in Las Vegas. Shawn, Jay's best friend from college, and his girlfriend Juvy were celebrating Shawn's birthday and we were happy to join the festivities! 

Jay wanted to get there early, so we were out the door at 4am and on the road. I tried to get back to sleep a bit before the sun came up with no luck, but did enjoy the beautiful sunrise over the desert!

We arrived at the Palms Las Vegas a little after 9. Juvy's old high school friend Thomas has VIP status at the resort, so we started the weekend off right with reserved chairs by the pool for Ditch Friday. If you have ever seen the MTV show "Rehab" it's pretty much the same thing - a big pool party for adults. Chairs/seating is in high demand for this, so we were thrilled to have our own piece of real estate with front-row seating (prime for some serious people-watching!).

Jay cooling off. 

The pool was packed! 

DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) was the DJ for Ditch Fridays. For those of you who aren't familiar with him - he was the one that survived the plane crash last summer. He was rockin'!

Me and the birthday boy Shawn.

After a full day at the pool (nearly 9 hours!), we headed back to the hotel for a nap. We ended up sleeping for 5 hours and woke up at 11pm! We showered and headed back to the Palms for a night at Moon. Again, Thomas' VIP status was awesome! I swear he knew everyone that worked at the resort! We walked right to the front of the lines, got escorted by a special concierge in the VIP elevator, and had a reserved table all night. Just like at Ditch Fridays, tables (i.e. real estate) are precious and hard to get! I didn't bring my camera on Friday night, so sorry, no pictures.

Saturday morning, we got up around 10 and headed back to the Palms pool. This time we had a cabana and can I tell you that I am so glad we did! Somehow I managed to get a sunburn on Friday (even with SPF 50), so I stayed "inside" most of the day while everyone else continued to work on their tans. 

View (up) from the cabana

Our home for the day - refrigerator, flat-panel tv, misters and a fan...we were in style for sure!

Me & my man

After the day at the pool we headed to Hooters for some wings. Jay had mentioned getting wings on Friday night and we all were still craving them by Saturday! After that, a quick nap, then back to the Palms! Thomas had a little tour planned for us, so we started at N9NE Steakhouse for a cocktail before heading up to GhostBar. 

Juvy & Shawn at N9NE

Jay and I

Thomas and Juvy 

View from GhostBar

On the patio at GhostBar (it's open air and on the 55th floor overlooking the strip)

Then, we headed to Rain and Moon. 

Rain

Thomas talking with our VIP concierge while Juvy, Shawn, Jay and I wait for the elevator to Moon. 

Our table at Moon

The 4 of us at Moon

Wow! I'm exhausted just reliving this weekend while writing this post. It was a lot of sun, a lot of late late late night partying, and a lot of junk food eating! Such a great time had by all. And once again, we are back in Phoenix and back to work planning another weekend away. This time we're thinking somewhere a bit cooler...stay tuned for the continuation of Davis Travels 2009!