Mountains in Kingman, Arizona?

(pictures are out of order, didn't have time to fix it... takes too long to do so)

I didn't know much about Arizona except that it's hot. But after staying here for almost a week, the weather was nice.  One day it was pretty cold during the day and we had to bundled up.  Usually Arizona gets cold overnights and warm during the days.  

I've noticed as we travel all the way to Kingman that there aren't much grass anywhere. Pretty much what you'll see in these photos is how it looks everywhere in Arizona.  Well.. basically almost everywhere.  It's pretty neat to see some area like a small section (public park with playgrounds, soccer field) have green grass! It looks like they embedded those there. There are several higher class homes with grass too and others places here and there but then all around them (outside their yard) it's not the same.  Hopefully I'll get a snapshot of something like that just to show you.

It's pretty neat to wake up in the morning and see the mountains outside.  Who would have thought Arizona have mountains?  There are some big cool rocks we've found and decided to take pictures there. It was cold and windy that day!

my baby up the RV steps

Joanna says what she hears

It is cute to hear my own baby girl says words we'll say.  Yesterday, Matt said that as he was reading her a story, he'll point at a picture of a baby and she'll try to mimic the word and says "ba ba" (for baby).  I didn't get to "hear" her say that.  I was getting ready for bed.  I'll have to emphasis this over and over but it's true...Joanna loves book!  She loves it when we read to her. She'll laugh whenever we try and mimicked animal sounds.  For instance, I'll say, "And the lion says...", she'll look at me knowing what will happen... I'll ROAR.  Most of the time she'll laugh but when she's tired she'll smile.  What's neat is that I'll catch her picking up a book and reading to herself but this time she'll ROAR herself (as I watch her from a distance) as she looks at the animal pictures.  I am not sure which animal she's doing that with but the point is she's coping!  Ain't that something?

Although, Matt caught her say "tak bah" as I was getting her bath ready... I was saying,"you ready to take a bath? and I'll look at her and said "take a bath". That's when she copy me but in her own brief words.  I was able to read her lips saying that again. It's so neat to see her language skills developing!

There are other words she'll say and that's "HI" and "BYE" but she'll wave at the same time saying those words.  I've noticed that every time Matt walks out the door she'll look at him and she'll wave at the same time saying "BYE BYYYYEEE".

Allergic reaction or heat rash?

Yesterday Joanna finally felt better. She has slept a lot. Her fever left. Praise the Lord! The only other concern was that she had little red bumps all over her.  It happened after lunch time.  I don't know if she's allergic to something. It could be anything.  She has rash on her face, neck, arm, and torso.  Poor little baby.  We think it's the food she ate but then what if it's something from the nursery or someone's perfume?  We don't know.  I am beginning to wonder if it's heat rash?  Those rash are still there on her as I look at her this morning. Anyway, we'll be paying attention for signs that may cause those rash.  We're thankful it isn't anything serious.

Kingman, Arizona

We made it to Kingman, Arizona yesterday afternoon. It's been a long drive from Cassville, Missouri to Kingman, Arizona!  We've had some problems along the way but God has been good to us!  Matt's truck broke down exactly when we arrived at the church!  How crazy is that?  We're hoping it isn't anything major. Matt thinks it is the batteries.  Hopefully, sometimes today he'll get a chance to buy some new ones to replace.  Our microwave stopped working but thankfully it has a 7 years warranty.  We'll get that taken care of.  Some wires were loose as we were traveling and it rubbed onto the tires and got damaged. It caused us to not have lights in some parts of our home but a good thing Matt knows how to fix it and he did!  Yeah!  Joanna was getting tired after the 13 hours being on the road.  We did stop at an RV place overnight and then continued on.  Joanna got sick.  She ended up having fever.  It's just been a crazy trip!  Please continue to pray for us as we are on the road.

We miss all the church families (what I meant is the church we've been to) in Missouri. They've been such a blessing to us and we pray that God continues to bless them.  I'm happy that we got to be a part in the ministry to help.

Right now as I am typing this, I'm just taking advantage of the opportunity to keep you up-to-date as always including our destination.  I'm actually trying to get settled in (happens every time we ended up some other place) and of course to take care of my sick baby.  As I open up my blinds,  I am looking outside the Arizona's mountains from my windows.  I can only see partial of them.  I'll be sure to post some pictures at a different location if I get a chance to take some.

VIDEO- Joanna learning to walk

Well my blog readers... my baby girl has finally learned how to take a few steps on her own!  At 1 year and 3 weeks, you'll see what she has already discovered and of course... that's walking.  Yep, that's about right!  Go ahead and check out the video.

If you ever asked me where she learned to walk, I'll have to say when we were in Cassville, Missouri!

Roaring River Spring in Cassville, Missouri

*NOTE* At the very bottom of this page, I've posted a video of Joanna swinging at the State Park playground.

We took our time to check out the Roaring River Spring in Cassville, Missouri. It is a State Park in Cassville. We were about 1.8 miles away from where we were staying and it's free!  So we've figured, why not take advantage of the free attraction?  We only there stayed at the park for about 2-3 hours. It's a place where people can camp, hike and fish.

Matt and Joanna looking at fishes.

To the left, Matt was look at the hiking trails

Looking at all the fishes.

Matt is pointing at where we are standing!  Isn't that crazy?!

I'm standing where Matt is pointing on the picture above.

Taking Joanna to the State Park playground.

Getting her out of her stroller...

Putting her in the swing.

Okay daddy... what's with that face?

Ain't that a precious smile?  It looks to me that she enjoys swinging.

This is the craziest thing I have ever done so far while being about 7 1/2 months pregnant. That's for climbing up these rocks also known as hiking! They didn't have any handles to hold on to. After those few steps, it has gotten worse! Those stairs no longer were there... I had to climb over rocks.  It has drizzle this day causing the leaves and rock to be a bit slippery! I even wore my sandals! Ugh. What was I thinking? I wanted Matt to enjoy hiking and not have to limit doing things because of me. So I was being nice and told him that we should go ahead and hike. He assured me many times and I insisted. Well... I prayed before we actually went. He didn't know that my heart was beating like crazy. I was really scared for my both of my babies sake! After we got to the top, we sat down. Then we continued on. I wasn't so sure about going downhill either BUT God knew! We found stairways heading downward... meaning it is a way out! I thanked God! He knew I was worried and took care of us.  Never again, will I do this while being pregnant. I could have slipped, fallen or much worse.

Here I am taking picture of when we first went up to hike.

Made it to the top. Sitting down before continuing...

Can't you tell I'm fake smiling?

It is hard to see how far we've hiked.

 You've guessed it. Stairways that lead us back down!

Thanking my God for His guidance.

He has provided steps for me to go downhill!

 Overlooking the Fish Hatchery.

 Yay! We're almost to the bottom!

 Watching a worker transfer fishes to another tank.

 Check out those fishes coming out of this hose!

 They are transfering them from way over there.