Sand Blasted

For Memorial Day weekend we went down to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes just outside of Delta. We got blasted with wind, rain and lots of sand. Despite a few hours of difficult weather each day we enjoyed our time on the sand and saw plenty of sun. One of Brett's friends (Scott and Brianna Rounds) invited us along for a much needed vacation. Scott was the leader of the pack and encouraged all of us to be brave and become one with the dunes. Teaching us the technique of riding a sand bowl and going up and down the vertical hills. Sand Mountain was crazy (see top picture - and that was the less steep side) with people flying up it and flying down it.

Grant, Renee and Brianna chillin' on the machines.

Brett and Dy on top of a dune...getting sand all in the camera.

Brett (top) and Dy (bottom) riding in a bowl.

We would like to thank all those who made this weekend possible by borrowing some of their stuff...Mom and Papa Martin, Chad, Kristi, Cody, and especially Scott & fam!

Martin's (and Valdez') Invade Arizona

Well, this was supposed to be included on the last post about the weddings as a pre-trip entry, but it was never published and now we have something to include in a second post, and even some pictures.

Dy left on Thursday with the rest of the Martin clan and Brett flew down Friday night with Andrew's Sister, Rachael. A weekend reaching 90 degree weather is quite nice after a cool and rainy few days in Utah.



After breakfast prepared by the newlyweds Saturday morning and some setting up for the open house, the kids went shopping and swimming. Be careful shopping with Brett, he finds more good buys than the girls. The swimming pool was pretty fun. It was outdoor in a neighborhood community center restricted to residents and guests (thanks to Andrew's grandfather we qualified as guests) and had a sanded beach entrance to it. Some of the white Utah skins were blinding to the experienced tans of the locals. Bad news, now Dy has caught a little poolside fever and the pool days in Utah can't come soon enough.








The yard was perfect for the open house and looked beautiful. The amazing weather didn't hurt, either, a perfect 80 degrees at night without the sun. Throw on top of that some good cheesecake with a myriad of toppings and you have yourself quite an enjoyable evening. Despite evidence with the last photo, the punch wasn't spiked. That is what you get when you put a few Martin's together and try to take a picture.


P.S. Happy birthday to Cody and congrats to you and Denise on selling your house! Also happy birthday to beautiful Dy on the 16th!

A weekend of weddings!

Well, this past weekend was full of good ole weddings, and we will keep celebrating through this next week with a trip to Gilbert, Arizona.

Dy's sister was married on Friday, May 2, in the Jordan River Temple. After Michelle graduated with her Master's on Thursday, she decided to celebrate by getting married. Not a bad celebration. Since Dy's brother flew in and needed to do some shopping for the close that didn't quite make the flight, we ended up giving them a ride to Orem and spent the night there. Michelle was determined to have the reception in her parents back yard, regardless of temperature. It was a little cool but the sun came out (Brett's head can attest to that) and it really turned out great. By the time the reception was done we were exhausted and didn't even bother driving back to our home, even if that meant spending night #2 sleeping in the bunk beds.
That wasn't the end of our weekend of weddings. On Saturday we traveled up to Logan with Nettie and Aubrey for A. Lawlor's wedding (Dy's old roomate). We had some time to kill between the ceremony and the luncheon so we decided to visit Gosner's Foods. After we each ate a pound of the sample cheeses, we sat at a bench and enjoyed some ice cream, cheese curds, and root beer milk (and yes, it actually is milk).

We enjoyed attending two temple wedding ceremonies on back to back days, the first since we were married. It was great to reflect on those special promises and covenants we made just over five months ago. It was a busy, but great, weekend.

Our intentions were to get some pictures from Andrew and Michelle's wedding day, but we haven't been able to track any down. For those reading this with some pics you promised to send us, we are still waiting...and waiting.