A visit from my parents...

My parents came out for a visit the end of March and it gave us an excuse to get out and see some sights. Chad's scheduled hasn't allowed for too much of that yet. We had a great time visiting some new places, and of course just being together!

One of our visits was to a State Park called Valley of Fire. Generally when I hear the words State or National Park, I immediately think of forests, waterfalls, etc. Even though we there wasn't a forest or tons of water, I was pleasantly surprised. The desert holds some beautiful secrets!

One place we visited was called Mouse's Tank. This is where we found all the petro-glyphs. Very cool. The Indians that lived here so long ago, left many markings.

The first hike we went on, had some very cool canyons and beautiful rock. That's Hallie and her cousin Brayden making their way through.

These rock, which are really just layers and layers of sand, have the most beautiful layers of colors.

My dad and Hallie. They loved climbing all over the rocks.

We also visited a chocolate factory. You can go on a free tour and get a sample at the end, which was soooooo good! Their chocolate doesn't have any artifical colors, sweetners, tec., just pure goodness. So expensive though!

I barely got her pulled away from the counter!

Right outside the chocolate factory, is a small, but beautiful catcus garden! The garden had a lot more color than I expected. I'm discovering all the beautiful desert flowers there are. More and more I get excited to do some "desert landscaping" when we get our own home.

Here are my parents with Matthew, Hallie, and Brayden.

My little desert flower. So cute, but sure can put on an attitude!

Hallie actually took this picture of her grandpa. I love the background with all the diversity in plant life.

I have such amazing parents! They do an awesome job of visiting all their kids and having a great relationship with each of us!

My nephew Matthew and I have birthdays kinda close together, so we celebrated one more time with my parents being in town. Matthew is such a good kid!

Another one for the camera.

My mom is such a talented lady. She can sew anything and it looks great! I needed a new apron and she made me this one. It's got the cutest ruffle at the bottom. I love wearing it!

We also spent some time at the park. Of course Hallie loves to help her brother and she actually does a pretty good job!

Thanks for coming Mom and Dad! We loved it!