ARIZONA vacation

I never realized how much I love Arizona until I moved away. Idaho is so beautiful with all of it's rivers and waterfalls, trees and grass, and gorgeous mountains. It's made me realize how beautiful some of this country is, but no matter how much we love it, Arizona will always be HOME. Because BYU-I is on a trimester system and Jason is on fast grad, we're able to fit in 3 semesters a year and still have a 7 week "summer break" at the end of July. We had planned on spending some of it just relaxing in Rexburg but at the last minute we decided we'd rather spend all the time we had enjoying our families back in Arizona.
One of things I miss alot is Arizona sunsets. We had quite a few gorgeous ones down in Pima.

Justin with Grandma & Grandpa Weech

Justin and Mommy

As Grandpa Gardner says, Justin's definitely coming into his own personality and opinions about things. He just recently decided to let us hold his hands while he walks around and he's getting really good at it now. Uncle Spencer was such a good babysitter and helped Justin get wherever he wanted.

Justin also takes after his daddy with his love for anything electronic. We found this little toy laptop and he had a blast banging away on the keyboard without Mom or Dad pulling it away. He had the happiest little grin sitting on the couch with his aunts and his very own computer. It was pretty cute.

BATH TIMEJustin kind of has a love/hate relationship with bathtime. He does NOT like it when he's tired, and sometimes doesn't even like it when he's happy. He's just barely decided that splashing is actually pretty fun (he used to cry when he'd splash himself) and he loves that he can get to all of his toys when they float around now.

All Clean!

One thing Rexburg is incredibly lacking in is ANIMALS. Seriously the only thing you see are little golden squirrels. Pretty much everyone lives in rentals, which rarely allow creatures. So Justin hasn't had much experience with animals but he just discovered cats at my mom's house. Thanks to an incredibly sweet cat that loves any kind of attention (including poundings by little fists and tail pulling) he now loves kitties.

(i promise the cats not dead, she was actually purring while he crawled on her)

The MOUNTAIN!One of our favorite parts of visiting Pima in the summer is going up to beautiful cool Columbine. We drove down past the Bible Camp and picked a TON of rasberries that my mother so kindly made us rasberry jam out of. I love jam, especially homeade. Grandma and Grandpa took turns carrying Justin in the carrier so Jason and I would have our hands free for picking. It was so much fun. Justin also got his first taste of dirt and rocks and decided he's a big fan...goody thing there aren't too many rocks around Rexburg for him to eat (:

One of our last evenings in Pima we drove over to Hancock's and took some family pictures. It's the first time we've actually tried to take "family pictures" and I'm so glad we did it. Jason is NOT the biggest fan of getting pictures taken so I had to promise him it would only take 10 minutes. Even with the limited time we still got a few cute ones and I'm excited to see the ones my dad took when his film gets developed (:

Justin playing the piano with his Daddy. He loves pulling himself up to the piano and "helping" everyone play. It's pretty cute, he loves to sing along too.

Enjoying the end of Summer! Justin spent most of the summer afraid of the pokey grass, but discovered it's not too bad now. It helps that he can walk around (holding my hands) and chase after the kitties.

It honestly feels like summer just started, I'm not sure where all the time went. When we get back to Rexburg tomorrow I'm pretty sure fall will be waiting for us. I've really enjoyed the sunshine and being able to take Justin outside to play, but I'm also excited for fall and the changes it brings. The thought of watching the trees turn, wearing soft comfy sweatshirts and drinking hot chocolate is definitely something to look forward too. It also means Christmas is coming and we'll get to see family again and finally get to see Sara & Jeremy and the kids and meet sweet little Katy. I hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer and anticipation of fall and all the fun that comes with it.
(I already put most of these pictures on facebook, but added them to my blog also so my sweet little brother in Africa could see them-LOVE you David!)