Heffalumps and woozles!

I couldn't think of a better title for this. Deal with it.

We have been busy busy lately! The weather has been beautiful, so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Although, I think my blood is already starting to thin. When we go outside in the mornings and it's below 50 degrees, I'm wearing a sweatshirt, and my jacket and I'm still shivering. I'm turning into a wuss.

Lots of pictures to see, so let's get started!

We went to visit the Lost Dutchman State Park out east of Phoenix. It was a beautiful day! Sadly, Little J fell down and scraped his head right before I put him in the backpack, so we only hiked for about 2.35 minutes. So basically, I paid $9 to comfort a sad toddler. Oh well. It was worth it. The views were amazing, and James had a good time playing in the car.

This is the last cookie we had from our friend's the Saids.
It's a butter cookie from France. It was a struggle to
not eat it myself.

Apparently there's a lost gold mine up there somewhere. I just think it looks pretty.

The ground was covered in little green plants! The whole desert was carpeted
in grass, and it was quite pretty.

Another thing we spend a lot of time doing is playing at the park. Little J is old enough to appreciate the playground now, and he has a pretty good time. He's just recently started going down the slide by himself and thinks it's the most fun he's ever had.

He also likes to climb on things he's just slightly too small to master and give
me heart palpitations.

The poor guy just needs about 1.7 more inches.

Look at those happy Js!

Yesterday, Little J and I went on an off-roading desert adventure to the south and west of Phoenix in the Sierra Estrella mountains. It was a total blast.

Yeah, we're probably going to leave it like that for a while so people think
we're really cool.

We found a beautiful mission church.

Little J had the time of his life playing in the sand.

Some little birds had a dance party here.

The desert is actually quite beautiful. Especially this time of year. We've
gotten more rain than usual, so everything is lush (for a desert) and green!

Little J made sure to sniff some of the rocks he picked up.
I almost peed my pants laughing at him.

You can almost see them in this picture, but Little J is getting tiny
little freckles across the bridge of his nose. It makes him even cuter,
if that's physically possible.

And now, here's Little J being a goober.

Everything is "uh-oh", "oh-no" and "ow" these days.