Deliciously Happy

Jeff and I had the wonderful opportunity to take a long weekend away to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Both sets of grandparents took turns with Samuel and Wesley for the time we were away and off we went. We flew into Flagstaff, AZ on Thursday afternoon and drove straight to the Grand Canyon. My first time seeing it and I was not disappointed. Who could be disappointed with this?!

We stayed one luxurious night at the beautiful, old El Tovar Hotel right on the rim of the Grand Canyon. After a decadent 10 hours of sleep (unHEARD of in our house), and being greeted by a small snow flurry outside our window (gorgeous!), we walked down to the restaurant in the hotel, asked for a table next to the window and enjoyed a scrumptious and oh-so-indulgent southwestern style breakfast and this...

Well, at least I ate it. Jeff is watching his waistline lately but I decided that something as momentous as our 5th wedding anniversary surely affords me the excuse to partake of something so decadent! And I DID eat it ALL by myself!!!

After a short shopping trip (we really only got stuff for Sam and Wes), we took the scenic route to Sedona. Ahhhhhh...so indescribably beautiful! Of course it took us three times as long as it should have because we needed to stop and take thousands of pictures. (If you know Jeff, you know that's not an exaggeration.) Honestly, I had difficulty choosing pictures to post because, as wonderful of a photographer as my dear husband is, nothing seemed to do this place justice!

So on to our special anniversary dinner. We had decided, based on a few quickly read recommendations, to eat at a little French restaurant by the Oak Creek River called L'Auberge. It sounded quiet and cozy and beautiful so we took a chance. Mmmm...we took our time (and were encouraged to do so) and had an amazing dinner. Here is the view from our table:

Here's a view of the table:

baby golden beet salad...WOW!

Oh, were we fat and happy after that meal!!! Another night of 10 hours of sleep (notice I didn't mention the night of only 5 hours sleep so Jeff could be up to take pictures of the sunrise?) and we were headed home to this:

Ahhhhh...there's just no place like home!

Bad Habits

Eh hem! We're developing some baaaaaad habits here.

My Favorite Time of Day

This is my definition of Heaven...snuggling up with my three boys in the early morning hours. Every morning the boys wake us up a little too early, somewhere between "Good grief ! What time is it?!" and "Can't I sleep just a few more minutes?". So we bring them into bed with us when they first wake up and sometimes, when we're very lucky, they fall back to sleep and we get a few more minutes or, on rare occasions, hours of sleep.

So every morning, our bed becomes a family bed and it is truly the sweetest time of every day. Makes it doubly hard to leave for work on the days I do work, though! (That's Wesley sleeping on top of Sammy, by the way.)