Busy days . . .

Wow, it's crazy how a final in Macroeconomics and a bunch 11 hour work days can lead to fewer blog posts. The lack of posts is definitely not due to a lack of things happening in our lives. It's the exact opposite . . .

This last weekend was packed with family get-togethers. It all started Friday when we headed off to Manti to see the pageant with the Reid side of the family. We were a little surprised at the traffic on the way down . . .

It was fun to be back in Manti and to sit outside the temple where we were married. The pageant hasn't changed much over the years, but it was fun to sit outside with a great view of the temple as the sun is setting and the stars come out.

We all had a fun time watching the show together and taking turns trying to keep Ainslie within eyesight.

She seemed to enjoy the pageant as well, but mostly because of the opportunity that it gave her to stay up late and run around in the dark. She was especially intrigued by the flaming volcano dance, and she was generous with applause whenever the music died down.

Josh had fun taking pictures of the temple as the night progressed.And he got a shot of the drinking fountains as well.That night we stayed there in Manti (Thanks Mom and Dave!), and we enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast at one of the local churches.After that it was off to Logan for a little picnic with Adam and Angie. They took us to the Logan's first dam park. Once again, Ainslie loved running around looking at the ducks and wading out into the water. Adam and Angie provided some delicious hamburgers, and a little bit of whipcream-jello salad.It's amazing how Ainslie can run all afternoon and won't lose interest or even slow down until we get her into the car.Her new hat was a total hit on such a sunny day. It was a good thing we had several people to take turns adventuring with Ainslie (did we mention how she doesn't slow down?).We wrapped up the afternoon with a little bit of pinecone hot potato and juggling lessons . . .

A family picture, and then we called it a day. By Sunday, we were simply exhausted. Following in the chocolate success that was Mothers day in our ward, the bishopric decided to give chocolate covered oreos to all of the guys in the ward. Earlier in the week we got together with the Washburns (Fred is the other counselor in the bishopric), and we dipped a little over 200 oreos. From what we can tell, they were a total hit (the ones we "sampled" were delicious). And, believe it or not, it's the weekend again. This weekend promises to be a little bit slower, and hopefully more relaxing. Here's to catching up, and recharging before another week of working the summer away!

Mesa Verde . . .

This last week we really wanted to take a little trip somewhere since it was pretty much the only time off Josh will have this summer. After realizing that Belize, Hawaii, and other exotic locations were slightly out of reach, the three of us headed off to Mesa Verde National Park. It was a different kind of trip for us, but we had lots of fun. The drive down went great. Ainslie slept for a good part of the drive, and we enjoyed seeing some of what Southeastern Utah has to offer.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much on the drive. We ended up leaving Provo later than we had hoped, and things were getting pretty dark as we passed through Green River. To make things worse, we made a wrong turn in Cortez, CO (it was too dark to see that the mesa was directly behind us), so we didn't pull in to our hotel until 2 am. Our room was in a great location, but the view wasn't much when we pulled in . . .
After all that sleeping in the car, Ainslie decided it must be morning when we got to the room. The poor little girl was still tired, but she just couldn't go back to sleep. After about 2 hours of intense negotiations we were finally able to convince her that it really was night time, and all of us fell asleep for what was portion of the night was still salvageable. The next morning we enjoyed some delicious breakfast and headed out to see what the park had to offer. We hiked to one of the better preserved cliff dwellings, and were amazed at how the buildings have survived.

We talked to one of the park rangers, and he told us that 50-60 people would have lived in this community. We figure that's probably about how many people live in our apartment building, but we're happy to have indoor plumbing and doors that lock (even if you can hear the neighbor's dance party upstairs at all hours of the night).
There really is a lot to see. Janae got to explore one of the many Kivas.
And, afterwards we went on a little 2.5 mile hike to see some petroglyphs.

The trail took us through some pretty fun little obstacles in the rock . . .
And we got to take a few pictures of the plant life along the way. When we got to the end, we thought the petroglyphs were very impressive. Definitely worth the hike.This family seemed kind of familiar. Judging by the way these parents are waving their arms around, they were probably up until 4 in the morning with their baby. We can sympathize.After the hike, we drove around the park and saw several more cliff dwellings. And we also got to meet some of the local wildlife.
Ainslie was always glad for a chance to get out and stretch her legs a bit. She's become quite the little stair climber these days.
In the evening, we headed into town for some dinner, and we found a great park where Ainslie was able to run around and get really worn out. We were prepared for another rough evening, but when we got back to our room she went to sleep in the crib without crying at all. It was wonderful.While Ainslie was drifting off to dreamland, we slipped out onto the porch and enjoyed the fresh mountain air while we watched a little bit of the Office on Josh's iPod.
Saturday we headed home, prepared for a long daytime drive with Ainslie. With the help of a few new toys (baby's first laptop) and a park or two along the way, we were able to make it home without any major trauma. And, Ainslie even went to bed at a reasonable time that night.

While we were in Colorado we decided it was a very good thing that we decided not to try to take Ainslie to Hawaii (that would have been a VERY LONG plane ride), and we also saw that some pretty nasty storms had caused flooding in Belize. Good thing we ended up picking Colorado . . .

Summer Work . . .

For the last four weeks, Josh has been working as an intern at the Utah Supreme Court. Last Friday he finished up the project he was working on, and now he has a week to sleep in and play with Ainslie while Janae studies for a midterm.
Josh really enjoyed the work at the court, and he learned a lot while being there. The courthouse is pretty cool.

At lunch time, he had some time to get out, walk around downtown, and take some pictures . . .
It really was a great experience at the court, but next Monday it's back to work for the rest of the summer. This time at Durham Jones & Pinegar (the firm where he worked last summer). He's looking forward to going back.

It's a Zoo in There . . .

This is a little late, but we wanted to post a few pictures from our recent trip to the zoo. With the rainy weather on Memorial Day we almost decided not to go, but by lunch time we were all getting pretty stir-crazy and off we went. The weather cooperated most of the time, and we were able to hang out inside when the rain was really coming down. Even with the bad weather, we all had a great time. Here's a few of the highlights . . .

The zoo has really been promoting the albino aligator they have. We thought it was pretty cool. They weren't the most exotic animals in the place, but we spent some time hanging out with these crazy looking turkeys.
Janae had fun playing with these rattlesnakes. Josh wouldn't even get close (had to take this picture with the zoom).
The Asian Highlands exhibit is very cool. We loved the big cats, especially this amazing snow leopard.

We probably had the most fun watching the different primates (who were mostly located in enclosed buildings that provided a nice shelter from the rain). These guys were pretty fun to watch.
And this guy really freaked us out (yup, that is Janae's startled exclamation you can hear in the video). No one knew there was anything in this enclosure, and without warning he jumped out of his box and came running at the glass like a ghost. Scared us all . . .

We also got to see the rhinos, elephants, giraffes, and several other fun animals, but when the rain threatened to pick up one more time, we decided to call it a day. Even with the rain, it was a great way to spend our day off.