I love him!

I have been having a really hard time lately. Jamey has been in Arizona for about 3 weeks now. We recently decided that Addy and I will stay in Colorado and just go visit him. We've been apart for longer than this multiple times during our marriage, but this time is especially hard for me. I think it's because I'm aware of the dangers of his new job, so I worry about him constantly. Addy and I were able to go visit him for his birthday on the 16th, and I wasn't planning on seeing him again until the end of June.

On Wednesday, I woke up to someone coming into my bedroom. I knew that my parents were at work and Addy had hopefully not learned to climb out of her crib yet. I was totally freaked out. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Jamey standing there. I was so excited to see him. Apparently, he decided to use his 3 day weekend and come home to surprise us. He got off work at 6 on Tuesday night and drove all night to get here. Addy was so excited to see her daddy when she woke up. Here are a few pictures of their reunion.

Giving Daddy kisses.
He brought her a present and she loved it. She kept saying, "ha mama" which translates into "here mama".

Cuddling with dad.

Addy-isms

This little girl has quite a vocabulary. I decided today to write down all the things she says, and I was pretty surprised.

Here is the list of the things she says and the translations:

Mama
Dada
NiNi- Aunt Nicole
DyDy- TyTy (Uncle Tyler)
Mammaw -Grama
Papa- Grampa
Adda- Addy (she says this when she sees a picture of herself)
Aw Daw- All gone
Ba- Ball
Ba-Ba - bottle
Ny-Ny - night night
Hi
Bye
No
Yeah
Mo- more (she says this when you're eating and she wants some)
Baby
Bat- Bath (she says this as soon as she hears the water running and tries to take off her clothes)
Gi-Gi- Tickle (she says this as she's scratching "tickling" your feet or tummy
Day Doo- Thank you
Doo- Duke
Ha- Here (she says this when she hands you things)
Dy- Outside

How could I forget her all time favorite?!? And the winner is.... "mine" she screams it anytime you have something she wants. Thanks Grama for teaching her that wonderful word.

This is all that I can think of, but I'm sure the list is longer and will only continue to grow.

Road Trip

While we were in Flagstaff, we played mini-golf at the resort. It ended up being more like keep away from Addy. She thought it was so funny to try to pick up the ball after we hit them.

They also had a playground with Addy's favorite (swings)

She was so upset that we took her off the swings.

The view looking out over the desert.

Jamey all dressed up in his parky uniform. He gets to start on the good stuff doing patrols today. He's pretty psyched that he get a gun and a taser.

Addy and Jamey building a sand castle at Lake Powell. It just happened to be extremely windy on the day we went to the beach.

Monument Valley in Arizona. This was pretty much the only thing that kept me entertained as I drove across the reservation.

Addy at Four Corners Monument. *I know, it's not in the geographically correct spot, but it's still fun.

Me and Addy

Looking down into Pagosa Springs from Wolf Creek Pass. I love the drive along Wolf Creek.

Addy still happy after 7 hours in the car.

Snow shed on Wolf Creek.

We were stopped for construction.

Giving "ba" kisses.

Blanca Peak. It's my favorite mountain in Colorado.

The Spanish Peaks

Grand Canyon and Flagstaff

My parents let us use their timeshare in Flagstaff on Sunday and Monday. Addy took full advantage of the whirlpool. She absolutely loved bath time. It took about 45 minutes to fill it to her level. The tub was so huge, I could lay completely down in it and put my arms out to the sides. Addy was barely as tall as the faucet. It was like her own pool.

Today, we decided to head to the Grand Canyon. It was my first time being there, and I'm glad that I was old enough to fully appreciate it. Addy was such a trooper and did so well. She napped a bit between stops. We didn't do any hiking, but we stopped and walked around at all the overlooks. Addy even got a little tan!

This chair is in the WatchTower. It was from 1937. Addy loved sitting in it and cried when we made her leave.

She wore her hat for about2 seconds. Good thing I doused her head in sun screen!

On Sunday morning, Addy snuggled up with Jamey to drink her bottle. (I know, I know... I hate the fact that she still has a bottle, but she only gets it when she sleeps.)

Glen Canyon

Jamey has recently begun working at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We still haven't found a place to live, so I decided to take Addy and road trip to Arizona for Jamey's birthday. After 10 hours in the car, we arrived in Page on Friday right around the time that Jamey was getting off work. Addy was amazing in the car. She slept a lot and played with her toys and read her books. I was worried because the last long trip we took was when we moved from Washington. It was horrible. She didn't sleep, and I had to sit in the back seat with her the entire way. In Page, we stayed at a little bed and breakfast on Friday and Saturday night. Jamey met the owner at church and it was perfect because all the hotels were booked for the weekend.

Friday night, we went to dinner with some of Jamey's coworkers. It was a "western" restaurant that was fully equipped with a covered wagon salad bar. It was a nightmare! The place was filled with German tourists who lacked salad-bar ettiquette. Addy wasn't cooperative and was ready to get down and run around after a long day in the car.

On Saturday, I wanted to take Addison swimming, so we headed to the lake. First, we stopped at Jamey's apartment to wash some clothes. Then, we headed to the Glen Canyon Dam. It was pretty cool. We decided against the tour because I wasn't excited about holding Addy for an hour. We walked across the bridge and took lots of pictures. Then, we decided to head to the swim beach. We weren't exactly sure where it was (Jamey has only encountered the lake by boat), so we drove around until we found it. BIG MISTAKE!!! We found the beach.... and after getting stuck in the sand and pulled out.. we decided that we took the wrong car. After this adventure we decided to leave. I got out the park map and decided that we should go on a hike instead. We hiked Horseshoe Bend. The hike was pretty easy. It was 1.5 miles round trip. The terrain was sandy in spots and rocky in others, but the view was amazing and totally worth the sand in my shoes.

On Sunday, we headed to Flagstaff. My parents booked us a condo at their timeshare for Sunday and Monday night.

Addy and I are going home on Wednesday morning. Until then we have plenty more adventures planned.

A few include:
Grand Canyon (Monday)
Swimming at the resort
Mini-Golf
More hiking at Glen Canyon
A return to the swim beach (hopefully in Jamey's truck this time)
House hunting

Here are the pictures of our adventures so far. Sorry they are out of order.

Wahweap Marina (the view from Jamey's apartment)

Horseshoe Bend

South of the dam

North of the dam

Playing in the water

So happy to be out of the car!

Glen Canyon shoreline