I cut Kaden's hair the day before, as he's been working on submitting his mission paperwork and one of the last steps in the online missionary prep system is uploading a picture of yourself in missionary dress and groomed to missionary standards, with a plain background. So here is Kaden with fresh new clean-cut hair.
And here are Josh and the boys all dressed up for church on Sunday.
Josh and the boys stayed at Great Wolf Lodge in Scottsdale, Arizona with Ariel, Joe, McKenzie, Dani, Jake, Heather, Wyatt & Jarrett. Josh said it wasn't that great and all the pools are outdoors, but they still managed to have fun together. They played mini-golf, climbed across a ropes course, explored a maze of mirrors, bowled and enjoyed the pools and hot tub.
November 10, 2021:
Josh took the boys to explore Jerome, Arizona. The information placard below says that the mines shut down in the 1950s and the population of Jerome dropped below 100. It was because of this that Jerome became known as a "Ghost Town".
Josh said there are a lot of abandoned buildings you can explore.
After visiting Jerome, Josh and the boys made there way to Mom and Dad's house in Saint George.
They had a great time visiting and spending time relaxing in the hot tub.
Paxton hugging Grandpa!
Grandpa reading a book.
November 12:
On the way home through Utah, Josh and the boys stayed the night at Ivan's house.
It turned out the whole Smith family was gathered there to celebrate a niece's wedding, so they also got to see Spencer, Nicole and their kids.
Picture above is a charcuterie board that had been prepared for the reception.
Julie & I had another overnight stay in Vegas, since my return flight home was booked for the next day.
We decided to book tickets to see a show while we were there.
Julie really wanted to see "O", but they don't have shows on Tuesdays, so we came across "Wow!" at the Rio. It's set in a smaller theater, so even the farthest seats from the stage aren't too far from the action. We had booth seating, which was nice because the booths are on a raised level, above the individual seating, so you have an unobstructed line of site directly to the stage.
Wow! is a variety show, featuring aerial acts, hand balancing, dancing and juggling.
After the show, Julie said, "Well now I know why they call it Wow. Every time some one's on stage, it's so amazing that you say "Wow!" We laughed!
The Rialcris Brothers from America's Got Talent are part of the show and I'm really in awe of the strength and talent it takes to balance the way they do. On top of that, they are performing with no safety mats, so if the stunt goes wrong, they have no protection. They did have a near miss on one of their stunts during the show and one of the brothers almost fell, but amazingly they reset and tried the same stunt again, with success!
It's funny to note that, after we arrived in Las Vegas, we thought to ourselves, "Why on earth did we book a 7pm show when we're coming from a time zone that's 4 hours later than Vegas time?!"
Puerto Rico does not participate in day light savings, so for part of the year they are the same time zone as New York and after day light savings in the fall, they become one hour later than New York.
So Julie and I worried that we might be so tired we fall asleep during the show, but luckily it was so entertaining that we stayed awake the whole time.
Wow! is definitely a fun show to see and there's something spectacular about seeing the action so close!
On our last day in Puerto Rico, we enjoyed breakfast one last time at Bistro Cafe.
I think it's fun that every room in this cafe had a different theme and flooring design.
We booked a Rainforest Tour through Airbnb with Reggie.
He picked us up from our place and there were only two other girls on our tour.
Then he stopped at the grocery store so we could get drinks and snacks.
He bought us each a rose, which was sweet.
Then we were on our way to Puerto Rico's rainforest, El Yunque.
This is a natural pond called Spiritu Santis.
We climbed down and relaxed in the water here for a bit.
This waterfall cascaded under the road and down the mountain.
It was a site that's best witnessed in person!
This waterfall was not visible from the road.
We had to hike back over the rocks to see it and it was definitely beautiful!
Next, we drove to an area in the rainforest and hiked down the hill to a natural rock waterslide.
I couldn't risk the waterslide, as I didn't want the chance of causing further damage to my neck or back, but Julie tried it once and said it was fun!
The video is of our tour guide Reggie going down and then a local who stood up while going down.
I was sitting on the rocks across from the end of the slide and you can see from the video the water splashing up. I got soaked, both times!
We hiked down these rocks to a pool. It was really fun to walk right next to the waterfall along the way.
Reggie helped us climb into the rushing water and we hiked against the current into this waterfall.
Such a gorgeous view.
Just before you reach the pool at the end, there is another small natural water slide and the incline is so small that Reggie assured us that it was safe for me to try.
It was fun!
After sliding into the water, we swam across the pool and climbed up across the huge rocks..
The view we encountered there was just phenomenal!
One of my absolute favorite views of the day!
After we hiked back out of the rainforest, Reggie took us to a local spot to look for souvenirs and try some authentic Puerto Rican food. Most everything was fried, he said they love fried food. It was delicious! We finished our tour at La Pared Beach near Luquillo, Puerto Rico.
Such a gorgeous, peaceful beach with grass, rocks, sand and the rolling tide.
We had such a good day touring the rainforest and local gems.
It was the perfect way to spend our last day on the island!
