Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Mount Lemmon Memoriaversary

Over Memorial Day weekend, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We went hiking at Mount Lemmon to celebrate. For those of you who live in colder climates, retreating to the 50 degree weather at the peak might not sound great, but it was a welcome relief to us. Here are some assorted photos of our hike as well as some cute footage of Paul.







We were the only hikers at the summit who didn't seem to think it was cold up there. We wrapped up Paul, he's an Arizonian after all, but we were fine in our shorts.

Now, here are the random cute things I promised:



Sunday, May 11, 2014

Mother's Day and More!

I feel like I got two weeks worth of Mother's Day this year! Last weekend we got a visit from my mother. Paul was asleep when we picked Grandma Jamie up from the airport Friday night, but he was very excited to see her Saturday morning. We got to visit some new places around town and celebrate Cinco de Mayo in advance with some Mexican food.

First we visited the San Xavier Mission, a beautiful cathedral in the middle of nowhere. It was built around 200 years ago, and through some impressive restoration the interior artwork is vibrant and stunning.

San Xavier Mission Church

Lee and Mum inside the Cathedral.

We also visited Old Tucson Studios, a mining town turned movie set/theme park. There was fascinating film history (you John Wayne fans especially would appreciate it) and history of the early settlers of Arizona. If you aren't into history, there is a carousel, a train ride, and a "haunted" mine tour. There are also several shows performed throughout the day, we particularly enjoyed the stunt show.

Granny and little cowboy Paul

The Phillips clan at the gallows...

I told him once or twice to stop playin' cards and cheatin' dice, Lee's in the jailhouse now.

Paul loved the train, was confused by the carousel, and bored by the stunts. (They were impressive stunts, he just didn't care.)

Paul's favorite: the train ride!

My favorite: the carousel!

Sunday night, Lee babysat so Mom and I could go hear Renee Fleming in concert. The music was simply amazing. At the end of the evening we got CDs autographed, and I got to talk to one of my heroes. Best Mother's Day gift ever.

That's my name. Right there. Can you see it. Yeah, that's me.


Paul has learned that laptops are a very important toy that grown ups play with, good thing Auntie Lisa had a baby laptop to hand down! Paul loves it!

Like father, like son.

Lee made Paul giggle like mad, here is a video: