Bass Fishing and Off Roading

For my birthday this year, Candace surprised me with a gift card for a guided bass fishing trip to Saguaro Lake. We took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and spent some time on the water. We met our guide at the lake at 5:30am so it was an EARLY morning.

Luckily, it was well worth it!

Arizona has such beautiful sunrises & sunsets, especially on the lake.

Gorgeous! We saw some bald eagles, too.


Candace was a lot of fun to fish with. She was casting, reeling, and catching fish like a pro!

Notice my shirt in this one. My brother Taylor recently made the BYU Lacrosse team as a freshman and I couldn't be more proud of him.

After catching a handful of fish with our guide and enjoying a relaxing Arizona sunrise, we headed up the road to do some off-roading on the back side of Saguaro Lake. Ever since my knee surgery, I've been itching to get out and get dirty in the desert.

From the top of a hill we climbed, you can see part of Saguaro Lake.


Again, Candace was a good sport. We climbed some pretty intense hills and got stuck on one. Candace had a little bit of a panic attack when, as we were stuck on a very steep hill, she saw this tow truck at the bottom pulling a vehicle that had rolled.

The fishing and off roading was a great escape from a stressful week. Its amazing how much better I feel after some time doing what I love with who I love! I'm not the only one that felt better...

Its not easy to look good after waking up at 4:30am and spending the morning on the lake and in the dirt. Candace does it well!
(And thanks to Tim and Jen for watching RooBear!)

the happy couple.

Last weekend we headed back to Utah for my mom's wedding.  Even though it was a short trip, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  I'm so grateful that my mom had the opportunity to be married and sealed to Kelly for time and eternity.  He is a great man and I feel like they are so good for each other.  I can tell both him and his family adore my mom and that means so much to me.  It was a sweet experience to be in the temple for such a special occasion.  I will never forget it.

Congratulations Mom & Kelly!  We love you!

my new fam.

My mom got hitched!  She is now, officially Denise Kimber and we couldn't be more excited for her.  Her husband, Kelly, is an amazing guy and one of the best parts of the deal is that we also inherited more siblings, in-laws, two cute nieces and a little nephew.  We had some family pictures done the day before the wedding so I thought I'd share.

Mom & Kelly.








 
My favorite part of the shoot was Justin, or the "Lone Wolf" as our photographer named him.  The best quote to get Jboy to feel the mood: "You're weightless.  There are seahorses floating all around you."  Second best: "Tender and natural."  Haha!  Hilarious.  Isn't he handsome?


The rest of us.


The cutest part of the group (no offense, Lone Wolf).

utah - part tres.

On our trip to Utah...

Roo Bear started walking!  We sent him on a flight up with Ray and Diane and after being apart from him for only a few hours (as we drove) Diane had him taking 4 steps!  We don't have photos of that but here are some with my mom the next day.


And here's video to prove it.


We took our walking boy to the park to test the grass under his toes.

We played lots of hide-and-seek.  Reed loved this little "fort" A.K.A. corner of Bubby & Sam's living room.

We spent lots of time enjoying the beautiful Utah weather.  We walked up the canyon for a few stroller rides and we hiked, hiked, hiked.  Curtis, Reed and I tested out our hiking back pack on our way up to Timpanoogas falls.  It was a bit icy (in July!) so we didn't make it to the top.  We couldn't believe there was still snow up there since it was about a billion degrees when we left Phoenix.

Next, Jboy and I took Roo on a hike up to the top of Stewart falls.  It was a gorgeous hike and I was really proud of myself for carrying our hefty little guy for a good 75% of the time.  He definitely adds to your workout!

Reed even wanted in on some mountain goat action.

A few days later we went hiking up to Stewart falls again but this time on a different, secret trail only locals know about.  It was really pretty and takes you to the bottom of the falls.  Here's the crew:  Roo and I, the happy couple (a post on their wedding coming soon!), and our family friends, The Browns, who were also in town for a visit.  I was lucky that I got to see them too!

Again Reed and I didn't make it all the way to the falls because of snow but I did carry him the whole way!  Needless to say, I was the sweatiest one at lunch.









My cute cousin Megan met up with us at Sundance for a delicious lunch.  She matched this beautiful poppy flower I found right outside the restaurant.









Utah, we miss you for now but we sure won't in a few months!

so hard to say goodbye.

If you haven't heard by now, Curtis's parents are serving as Presidente y Hermana Heyman in the Resistencia, Argentina mission.  You can check out their mission blog here.  Since Curtis and I were in Utah for a whole month, we were the last to say goodbye.  After watching just about everyone else say their goodbyes we thought we'd be pretty tough.  We were immune to the sadness at this point and just excited, right?  Wrong.  We both put on a total waterworks show.  Reed kept looking around at everyone like, "what's going on?!"  While we were sad to say goodbye to Ray and Diane for a few years we are so proud and grateful for the work they are doing.  They are amazing parents and I'm sure they are amazing mission president and mission mama to 150 or so 19-22 year olds.  Thank goodness for email and skype so we still get to "see" them all the time.

Here we are at the airport.

Ray and Diane with Diane's brother, Brad.








Diane's BFF Desiree and her husband Ron.

Here's a video from one of the nights Ray and Diane "busted out" of the MTC (just kidding, they were allowed).

happy belated birthday, roo bear.

So this post is pretty outdated but I have to document Reed's first birthday party.  We did actually celebrate despite his being sick (he looks pretty mopey in the pics).  My mom was sweet enough to come to town and make the adorable cookie monster cupcakes.  I'm so grateful for the support of family when I have crazy weeks like that one!  We had grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in attendance.  I've found it hard to throw a small, low key birthday party with such a big family so I've decided the more, the merrier.  Can't have too much birthday love, can you?

a month in utah.

Candace and I were in Utah over the past month, and boy was it a busy month. The main reason for the trip was to help my parents get into the Missionary Training Center and then off to Argentina, but we found time to do lots of other important and fun activities, like see family and FISH.

My lil bro Taylor (AKA Tayhluh-moooon) graduated high school and is now beginning his freshman year at BYU. It was fun spending time with him in Provo. In many ways he reminds me of myself at his age and my freshman year of college was possibly the most fun I've ever had. I'm excited for him as he begins his journey living on his own and preparing for a mission. Its no secret he's everyone's favorite.

Candace's mom, Denise, is engaged to a really neat guy named Kelly. They plan to get married soon in Utah and we were fortunate enough to spend time with him and his family. We bought a cool hiking backpack to stick Reed in and Cbug got to do some fun hikes with her family. More pics to come.

For now, I'll share the few pics I have on my computer and save other stories and pictures for future blog posts. One of the highlights of the trip for me was teaching Candace how to fly fish. I received a good tip from a friend to make sure the time with Candace was focused on Candace and NOT catching fish. I did my best, haha.

Here's my wife making fishing gear look sexxxxxy.

What a gorgeous afternoon together! It just so happens that my wife is a NATURAL at fly fishing. I can't wait to go again with her.

Later, I fished Payson Lakes with Candace's Uncle Brian and her brother Justin.

The scenery and tranquility of fly fishing from a floatable tube was a great escape from the busy schedule Candace and I had over the past 30 days. You can see Justin and Brian in their red tubes.

Justin casting toward the bank.

I didn't catch much, but the trusty red hat came through.

(thanks to the best fly fishing guide in Wyoming for the gear)