It has almost been a year so I guess it's time I updated :) Dave and I flew in the Cessna to Grand Canyon Caverns in Arizona to meet some friends of ours from our California ward who also flew there but from Orange County CA. Following you will see some riveting scenes from our trip.

We landed and taxied to the Cavern's Inn where we spent the night.

These are the rooms. We stayed in #16 which was the only one that had been newly remodeled. Actually when we saw the Fleming's room it looked exactly the same.

I'm glad they included the framed picture of native rocks.

This was the "auditorium" where we heard a lecture on "How do you become a cowboy?" given by a woman rancher from nearby, while we were playing a card game on one of the tables.

The next morning after breakfast we took a 45 minute tour of the Grand Canyon Caverns. This is us inside the cavern. It really was interesting and beautiful even though our tour guide drove me crazy with a weird cadence to her dialog.

We walked a mile to get to the restaurant and every so often along the trail was a bench. We decided to take the time to make a kodak moment at this one.

These are our friends, Tom and Anita Fleming.

This picture was taken in front of the restaurant where we ate dinner and breakfast. It was expensive and pretty bland but we were glad there was food within walking distance.

We parked the plane in front of the Inn.

Here are some of the views we saw on the way there and back. We could see a lot of the west part of the Grand Canyon and then Lake Mead and the Colorado River.

14 words

Speedtest

Umpteen Weekends

Ugh! I hate trying to keep up with the blog. I keep thinking I need to update it, or maybe just ask one of my kids to do it (I actually have asked them to just update it), but for some reason time keeps on slipping by without it getting done. Whenever I find myself with some extra time and think about updating, the thought only lasts for a moment because I start thinking it would be more fun to pick up a book. Then when I pick up a book, I realize I am right--it is more fun. Even if the book isn't very good, it's still more fun than trying to come up with something interesting to put here.

But, even though I have discovered that there is no limit to how much a person can procrastinate, I figure nine months is long enough, so I am going to give a brief recap of some of what has happened in the last nine months. My apologies in advance if this just sounds like a Christmas letter.

I had two graduations in the family this spring. Zach finished law school and Michael finished High School. Zach is now working a small civil litigation firm here in town, and Michael is gearing up to start at UNLV in the fall. The nice thing is, he'll have a scholarship. (Zach had a scholarship when he started at BYU, but he had too much fun his first year and lost it--we're going to try and limit how much fun Michael has his first year.) Michael also now has a car (technically it belongs to Dave and me) that we bought from the auction, so he is very happy to be able to not have to keep borrowing cars from his siblings or from us.

Eliza just got promoted to paralegal at her firm. She pretty much has already been doing all the same duties she does now--but now she has the title and will be getting bigger bonuses! She has also somehow become known for her collection of Edward (of Twilight) pictures, which adorn her desk at work.

Audrey is just about to start managing her very own Jimmy John's sandwich shop out in Utah County somewhere. She had to go out to Champaign, IL and then to Alabama for an almost-two-month training regiment. I went out to join her when she was done and we got to drive all over the South. I got to see Jessica in Georgia, then Audrey and I drove through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and other states that don't sound as exotic to those of us from the west.

Jacob got engaged! He's marrying a sweet girl named Laura (pronounced like Kal-El's mother's name). They're getting married on October 10. From what I can tell, she'll be good for him. Hopefully it won't wear on her too much to whip him into shape. You can read more about his engagement and see pictures on his blog.

Jessica has her hands full trying to balance being Relief Society President, wife to a busy and successful pseudo-spy (pretty soon Adam will be officially at the NSA--up until now he's been working for them through the military--I hope I am allowed to say this--if I am in a fatal car crash in the next little bit, you'll know why), and of course her two energetic boys. Her blog is always up to date. You can read her funny perspective about our time together on her blog. (Why do I even update if everything is already on someone else's blog?--oh yeah, I don't update.)

Cadence just dyed her hair pink. She's been wanting to do it ever since she saw Brooke Reeves' hair. Zach and Amber finally gave in and dyed it--but it is temporary and will only last a week or so, which should mean her hair should still have a pink tint to it when she turns four next week.

Dave and I just spent the weekend in Idaho where we had an adult reunion. It sounds more pornographic than it was. We used to be able to say adult-only, but then our kids grew up. It's Dave's parents, his siblings, and his siblings' spouses. Much of the weekend was spent serving his parents, which turned out to be a great time.

This weekend Dave and I head up to Utah for a family reunion on my side, which will be about the umpteenth weekend I am out of town. I love to travel during the summers, but it sure wears on me. (I know, boohoo, I get a whole summer off of work and I'm complaining.) Don't ever let a teacher tell you getting summers off isn't a big deal--it's awesome!

Before I end, Michael wanted me to tell you that he is better at guitar hero than any of you and defies any of you to prove otherwise. I know, we aspire high in the Parry family.

See you in nine months!

Perks of working for the school district....

I knew it would come to this. I knew I would get so far behind in my blog that I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time catching up on everything. So I guess I will try to do some short ones. A few weeks ago Dave and I went to mesquite for the weekend because Clark County School district employees are given two free nights at the Oasis Resort just for being employees. Since it is only an hour and a half away we decided to take advantage. We left on Friday after work and checked in and had some dinner.


Here we are just being happy we are away from the hustle and bustle of our lives.
On Saturday morning we both had appointments at the spa for massages. I just got one for my neck and shoulders because I had lots of knots in them. I still have lots of knots but I got to experience deep tissue pain for a half hour while listening to soothing music. Dave's masseuse spent most of his hour working on his calves (because he said they needed it) so he was a little disappointed too. Anyway, then we went to St. George to see if we could find some fun stuff to do. We ate at Cafe Rio and then went shopping. Of course we had to stop at Deseret Industries, which Dave loves and I hate. Here are some pictures I took while sitting on one of their couches.

Dave looking for a tie.




Some furniture I though Eliza should buy for her new place down by the river.






My view of the furniture department.







When we got back to Mesquite (by a bunch of back roads) it looked like a tornado had hit and the electricity was out all over town. We found out a huge storm had come through and we had missed it all. The next morning we went to a sacrament meeting there and headed home. It was nice to get away and enjoy the beauty of Mesquite, Nevada.