A Weekend in Tucson

This last weekend, I went down to Tucson to go hiking with Brady.

I typically spend the night at Brooke's house, but this weekend she was having family over from out-of-town, so I couldn't see her.

But, I just happened to meet some relatives of mine the week prior. Let me introduce you to the Ricks!

From left to right, in the picture of all of us at the bottom of the post, we have Brent, Shayla, Cindy, Cori, and Josh. Brent is one of great aunt Margaret and Ariel's sons, or in other words, my mom's cousin and my second cousin.

When I got to Tucson, I met up with Brady, and we went on a nice 8 mile hike to see the 7 Falls up in Bear Canyon. We weren't the most prepared hikers...we forgot to buy water for Brady (we survived on 4 bottles of water between the 2 of us), I left my cell phone in the car, and neither of us had a watch. I was bummed out when I later found out my battery was dead in my camera. I couldn't take any pictures! So sad! Now I definitely have to go back so I see this place again. One cool thing about the hike, though, was I saw A, a Hem/Onc nurse from PCH, up on the hike along with one of her fellow nurse friends. What's the odds of me seeing someone in Tucson that I know!? They were there in Tucson because of the Tour de Tucson, which was going on blocking most of the city. (Another thing I wasn't prepared for!)

It was a long hike, but when we finally made it, I was completely amazed by the view. Unbelievable....literally 7 waterfalls--one above the other! Each fall had a pool of water and we dabbled our feet in one. Nice cold water after a long hot hike. One of the pools seriously looked like it could belong in someone's backyard. The rock was cut in a way humans would design a pool. In the background, there was a small cove where the water was falling. It had the appearance of a fancy shower. It's amazing how water can smooth the edges of the roughest rock.

Not only were the rocks and water amazing, but the small creatures we saw. There were little frogs all over the place. The frogs' skin blended in so well with the rocks that many times as we were walking we didn't know a frog was there until they leaped away in front of us. We were also fascinated by some water bugs. They appeared to be swimming upside-down and backwards. So weird! But, in reality they weren't. Pretty cool.

Toward the end of the hike, I was feeling pretty sore and tired. Brady was going to play some guitar with a friend later on that Saturday evening. I ended up not going and spent time with my long lost relatives!

I dropped off Brady, and headed toward the north part of town. (Of course they couldn't live anywhere near each other! :) )

At dinner, I was instantly able to see how fun Shayla and Josh were! Stories galore! "Oh my gosh..."Josh is so animated! I learned a lot from the few minutes I sat down with them. Shayla wants to be a vet. She loves all animals, especially horses! They are both so smart! I found out later that the two of them are home-schooled. Shayla is nine and Josh is five.

Wow, Cindy, I don't know how you do it all. You have such an organized house, you teach, you cook healthy, you sing, and you're the RS Society President in your church ward. Amazing!

Brent is an incredible piano player. They have a grand and a mini grand piano in their living room. Sunday night all 4 of them entertained Brady and me with all their talents.

It was so fun getting to know the Ricks. They welcomed me in their home the moment I arrived. It was so nice to stay with their family. I have future plans to go down and see them again so we can the visit the wildlife museum and the zoo!

Not only was I able to get to know all of them so well, I also got to get some dog play time in. They have the cutest dogs! I will post some pics of them next!