Vacation Review part 3- Zion Canyon

After having two wonderful days at the Grand Canyon we headed North to Zion Canyon. We left the Grand Canyon Village, and headed north along the scenic highway. Right before we were leaving the park, I said to Tim. "You know we haven't seen any large animals, just squirrels and rabbits!". Well out of the blue walk these two huge elk. I'm not sure if you've ever seen Elk before, but they were huge. I'm kind of sad, because we didn't have any time to grab our camera's to take some shots. We stopped at a few smaller overlooks before exiting the south rim. One was an old Watch tower and the just another overlook to check out the canyon.

We drove for about 4 hours, through the Indian Reservation until we came to Lake Powell. I thought for sure, we had gone back into time, because it was dry, hot and there was nothing there. Here are some pictures that we took on the road. The first shot is of the road and the emptiness and the second shot is us driving into the mountain (well it looks like it).


We finally arrived at Zion Canyon around 4 p.m. and I was just taken away by the beautiful of this national park. We had to drive through the park, which took us awhile, because we got stuck behind a tour bus and it was driving quite slow. We finally arrived at our hotel the Driftwood Lodge. The second day we decided to take the shuttle into the park, where we stopped at almost every stop before heading in for the night. The best stops of the second day was the Middle and Upper Emerald pools, the weeping rock and Angels Landing, which we didn't attempt, because I was pregnant. Here are a few shots of the Emerald pools and the weeping Rock.

The first set of pictures are from the Emerald pools. Now you must understand there was three trails you could take to all three pools. Tim decided to take the trail to the middle pool and once we left there, he wanted to go to the upper pool. It had to be the hottest day on record at the park, because I roasted and drink almost a one liter of water just that day. Obviously very good for the baby and me, but I did complain a ton and I'm just graceful that Tim didn't kill me.





The second half of the day we spent check out the weeping rock and some other parts of the park. Here is the weeping rock, in these pictures you can't really see the water seeping from the rocks, but it's there. It was a nice relief from the hot weather to just walk under the water.



The last day at the park we decided to take the trail to the Narrows. Again if was so overcast and I wasn't pregnant, we would of different hiked the Narrows. The trail starts off on a paved walk way and ends up walking in the River. The morning we went out there, the water temperature was 45 degrees, just a tad chilly and the forecast was calling for a chance of rain. There was no way we could hike the narrows with the chance of flash flooding. But I did take some pictures of Tim braving the cold water, crossing the narrows and walk almost until I couldn't see him again. I wasn't sure if he decided to go without me or what. The first picture is us walking on the paved trail to the river. Check out the nice rock hanging over. The second picture is of Tim in the river and then third picture is of me in the river.



The last picture is of a deer we spotted on the way back to the shuttle bus. As we were exiting the park heading toward Bryce Canyon, we decided to take one last shot of Zion. We had a great time in Zion and definitely can't wait to return with our children one day.

Vacation Review part 2- The Grand Canyon

Wow, I'm sorry I've been consumed with this pregnancy, daycare searches and reading. Anyway, I've finally decided that I just need to write the review for the second part of our trip.

Before leaving Vegas, we had to return to Rental Car place to pick up a new car because the first one we received was awful. It would not start up on the first try, so obviously there was no way, we wanted to drive that thing into the desert.

We left Vegas around 10:30 a.m. and headed toward the Hoover Dam. About 4.5 years ago Tim and I visited the Hoover Dam with Heather and Milt. It was my first time then and they had just started construction on a new bridge. Well 4.5 years later the bridge has almost been completed. It was pretty awesome to check out. Here are a few pictures!



After leaving the Hoover Dam we traveled about four and half hours until we reached the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We decided to check out one of the overlooks before heading to our room. Here is the first picture of the Grand Canyon that I saw. Breath taking is really an understatement.




We decided to go check into our room, which was a one room cabin at the Maswik Lodge. The cabin supplied us with two beds, a tv, a bathroom and a desk. We were happy to find that this place only cost us $90.00 a night plus taxes. We decided to head to Hermits Road for a few hours of sightseeing. We hiked about mile and half before catching the shuttle for the remaining of the stops. Here are a few pictures of us pictures of on Hermits Road.



The second day of our stay at the Grand Canyon we decided to hike down into the Grand Canyon. We hiked about 45 minutes down into the Canyon and it took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get back. You have to understand I was about 13 weeks pregnant at the time, so I did struggle getting back up. I had to take breaks ever 10 minutes. Along the way we ran into two donkey tours that were heading to the bottom. Check out this picture to see how close we were to the donkey's.


To be continued...

Furniture Check!

Tim and I have finally picked out the baby's furniture. We ordered the crib, dresser/changer, conversion rails and mattress from JcPenny's last Friday morning. This afternoon Tim got a call from the Freight company that the Furniture is ready for delivery. It's all working out perfectly, because it's being delivered July 3rd, and both of us have off. Here's a few pictures of the crib and dresser/changer!

Note: Bedding is not what we are using. We haven't decided on bedding yet, waiting to find out the sex.

FYI-Jcpenny's is awesome about price matching. I bought the items last week, via telephone because the day before the prices were current with the catalog I had, but the day I ordered it, they were back to the original price. Well yesterday, while looking for the link, I noticed that the prices were even cheaper, so I called and they will be crediting my card.

We have a date!

Yesterday I had my 16 week appointment with my OB. I can't believe that I'm almost at the half way point of this pregnancy. It just seems like yesterday that we found out that we were having a baby. I loved the appointment yesterday, it was easy, just some gel on the belly and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which was 140 bpm. At our 12 week appointment the heartbeat was 150 bpm. I decided to ask the doctor about the lower heart rate and she said, there is nothing to worry about the baby is doing well and your doing all the right things. I only gained one pound since my last appointment and my urine test came back negative, which I was praised for, because it sounded like I was the only person all day with clean urine. Haha! I know the little things that make us happy. I was given paperwork to have more blood drawn. I hate it, but you gotta do it. We also finally got our referral to have the big ultrasound done to found out the sex of the baby. This will be the first picture of baby S that we've seen. Tim and I are both excited to finally find out. I know he is hoping boy and I'm hoping girl. We have names picked out too. Our U/S is scheduled for Monday, June 29th at 4:00. Wish me luck, I'll have to consumer 24 oz of water at least one hour before my appointment and I can't empty my bladder. This will be a challenge, because most of the time I have to go within 30 minutes. Check back on June 30th to found out the results.