Christmas(es)!

This year we went to McCall, Idaho to spend Christmas with Autumn's brother Wade and his family. We did the same thing last year and had a great time! Wade's in-laws have a huge shindig every year together and it is a blast to just hang out for a few days. It was pretty cold while we were there, but it was warm by the fire! Here are a few pictures:

The best way to meet people is from a friendly lap. Ah, my aunt Amy's will do! I get a great view and get to meet all the interesting people that come by. Oh my, this lady had to kill a black and white tiger to get pants!

First real stocking for Trinity, where she once again proved that one-year-olds are more interested in the wrapping than what's inside.

Trinity's first snowshoeing trip. Okay, she was in the backpack, but out into the white stuff we went. It was fun and she talked my ear off the whole time. Just like her mother, and I mean that in the best way!

While she seemed to enjoy the ride, she also found it altogether too relaxing. Note the open mouth and slack jaw...on Trinity, not me.

Just a cute picture of my girls.

After McCall we went to my dad's, where Trinity had another stocking to unpack and more gifts to unwrap. Here's her new smock. No self-respecting young lady is found without her smock!

So she got a rocking horse that has the sounds effects...all she wanted to do was eat the stirrups. That's my girl! Here she is showing mom her grip strength.

I usually try and show the best shot of a series. In this digital age, we snap a dozen shots and pick the one where no one is blinking or looking away. I think that this is a great shot because it is more realistic. Trinity is always moving or looking around. The great part about this shot is that we have the grandparents trained to stay looking at the camera. Thanks dad and Sue!

Back at home we had a mini Christmas to open some gifts from my family. Trinity sure loved the gifts, but her true love is the paper! I guess that's the advantage of being one: simple things entertain.

Santa Claus is coming to town

In a previous post, I mentioned that we had Trinity's picture taken with Santa. They took 1 shot. In the digital age where memory cards are a dime a dozen, they took 1 shot. Don't get me started on THAT. But I digress (as I usually do). Trinity was intrigued by the man with a mountain goat hide attached to his face. Why would a grown man do that? I guess I wouldn't smile either. I would be sitting on his lap, staring at the camera with my mouth wide open. Oh, look, my daughter is doing the same thing!

See, she's astounded that a man would sit for hours voluntarily wearing animal hair on his face. She confided later that, even though she was calm, the whole episode unnerved her a little. We talked about it later and she is starting to understand the whole "Santa" thing, but still insists that the best part of opening presents is eating the wrapping paper.

My wife works at the local hospital and they bring Santa every year for employees and their families. We decided to give the picture thing another try. This time it was polaroid or bust, so there's that. But it was a fun chance to get Trinity out meeting people, which seems to be her element.

Not too long previous to these pictures,a good friend of ours bought Trinity a new Christmas dress. Her daughter bought one to match. As you can see here, they are quite the cute matched pair! Thanks Kailey!

Showin' off the new dress...pretty cute!

Why do I keep having to visit strange men dressed in red? And why do they insist on wearing mountain goats on their face? Ooh, I like glasses!

Here they are again, this time without the polaroid-ness.

Here are three out of the four Pointer ladies, showing Trinity a little love. They have been such great friends and so loving to Trinity, she just loves them!

Hangin' with grandma, showing off the new duds...

Here's me and my granddad, boy he's tall!

More on the kid...

I get bored pretty easy. I get tired of the same old thing. But I discovered something. I don't get tired of my wife or daughter. Do they get on my nerves sometimes? Sure, but I never get tired of them. We went to Boise last week (or was it the week before?) for follow-up appointments for Trinity. We were there for two days because Trinity was scheduled for a follow-up MRI and they won't see her at the neurologist's office the same day as the MRI. I can see why; she has to be put to sleep for the MRI because it takes over 45 minutes and she has to stay still. Trinity can't stay still for 45 seconds, much less 45 minutes! Here are some photos from the trip:

Here's Miss Smiley-Bug waiting for her turn in the MRI machine. She was having fun crawling around and trying to pull on as many dangling cords as possible. She's so much fun to be around. She barely even cried when they put the IV in her arm. She did fight a little, just because she doesn't like being held still. Who can blame her?

The doctors said that everything went well, but we still had to help lil' T come off the drugs again. I hate that part, it's so tough to watch her fight her way out of the haze. Come to think of it, it like me in the morning. Now I know what Autumn feels like.

Always one to do things a little different, Trinity catches a ride to the exit. I think Autumn has always wanted to be pushed around in a wheel chair. Cross that one off the list!

While we were at Trinity's appointments, we were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Boise. What a great service it is. It was close to the hospital, there is a kitchen, and people even come and cook meals! It truly is home away from home. They even say, "Welcome home!" when you come in the front door. While we were there, we had visitors! Our friends Kathie and Kate were in Boise doing some shopping, so they stopped by for a visit!

It's funny trying to take pictures with children. We keep telling people to just look at the camera and let us get Trinity to smile. It's amazing how long it takes to train grand parents! But Trinity sure loves her Oma and Opa!

Okay, so this is not Boise or Trinity. This is my nephew Mark, who has had a great football season this year. Here he is in Corvallis after the state 4A football championship. As a senior he was the starting left tackle for our Baker Bulldogs, who were second in the state this year! We are so proud of Mark, who as worked so hard for years. It is great to see him do so well at the time his team needed him. Good job Mark!

Okay, this is the part that gets a little hard to write...

Okay, this takes some explaining. Trinity's brain swelled because it lost oxygen. Now that swelling left scars. The doctors say that the scarring is what they expected, which means that it followed the pattern of swelling, nothing new that they hadn't seen before. This is an image from the MRI, from the bottom of her head, so the left side of the image is actually the right side of her brain. If you look between 6 o'clock and about 7 o'clock, you'll see a dark spot. That is the scarring. That's the part that was damaged, the part that will never grow back. To me, it looks like a big area. It hurts to think that my daughter has been injured like this.

Here's another slice that shows even more scarring. To Autumn and I this was a little shocking and to be honest it really bummed us out. The fact of the matter is that Trinity is doing AWESOME. But seeing the scars hurt both of us. This is our baby.

But the reality is that Trinity already had these scars before we saw them. She is recovering and laughing and playing even though she has these wounds. This doesn't change anything, except now I can see what your prayers and support have helped to overcome. This is the miracle that you are a part of. This image, as painful as it is to look at, is a reminder that God chose to give us our baby back, even after she went through an injury that left her with these scars. I am nothing but thankful to see these images. I am nothing but thankful for every single one of you, and I am most grateful to a God for all the moments that I have with my daughter.

And another thing...

Autumn has been having a heart flutter lately, so she went to the doctor to see what was the matter. The results gave me a heart flutter: another baby on the way! It's likely only a few weeks into the pregnancy at this point, so we would appreciate your prayers, since about 1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage before the 12th week. Our first inclination is to wait until 12 weeks to tell anyone about it, in case something goes wrong. But after all the support and prayers we received during Trinity's illness, we decided that openness is the best policy. We welcome you on this new journey with us!

A Season to Celebrate

'Tis the season to be jolly, although there is a song that someone wrote that says something about a time to cry. It was almost that time, except that I am waaaaay too manly to cry, except at weddings. And that part in the movie "Top Gun" where Goose dies. That gets me every time. But alas, I digress again. Back to the business at hand: celebrations! I know that there hasn't been a ton of writing lately, and I apologize for that. But here are some pictures to let you know what has been happening lately:

Here is a celebration (sad) moment: the last bag of breast milk. Congratulations Autumn, we had enough in the freezer to last three months after you stopped breast feeding...wow!

Here is Trinity enjoying her last "home-cooked" bottle. It's also a darn cute picture. The kid just kills me with that smile.

If Trinity were a wild animal (and she may very well be), then this would be her intimidation move, sort of like a cobra when they puff out their hood. This will also work well against a mountain lion right? They say to make yourself as big as possible. Notice how she is holding her toy in her mouth. She is very efficient; she can carry three things now instead of two.

More celebration: first picture with Santa Claus. I guess the boy before her screamed his head off. We were never really worried about that. She was mostly just curious. We'll see how the official shot turns out. As a side note, I hope that you can appreciate the cute knit dress with the fur-lined hood and patent leather shoes. She was all dressed up for her close up!

While we were getting pictures taken, we ran into many friends. Here Richard and I are, trying to wrangle a couple of toddlers into posing for a picture. Yeah right, it's easier catching a greased pig with chopsticks. Mostly Trinity just wanted to grab Quinn. She has already grabbed her friend Alex and kissed him and made him cry. Keep in mind that her kisses involve teeth and ear grabbing. Poor kid. In all fairness to Trinity, I did tell her that she can hang out with all the boys that she wants, as long as they leave crying.

I think her mom taught her this one. You might think that she is trying to climb, but she's not. She's high stepping. Or she is trying to mark her territory. Hard to say really.

As you may or may not know, our Baker High School Bulldog football team is going to the state championship this weekend. Here is Trinity telling them what to do when they get there: Touchdown!

That's about it and it's about time. I am tired and it's too late to be up. We go to Boise for more tests on Wednesday, so I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, find someone who you care about and give them a big hug. Everyone likes hugs.

Turkey and things related (and not)

Okay, so it's been about a year since I updated this blog. I would apologize, but I don't imagine anyone is reading anymore. My bad. But on we go with some pictures because it is already too late to be doing this. By the way, the date that the blog says I posted is wrong. I started this two days ago and it's been sitting here waiting patiently for me to get off my tush. As I was saying...

Trinity likes to go through things. She wasn't too hot on the little tunnel that the Early Intervention lady brought, but the bench in this picture and our sofa table sure are her playground these days.

These are a couple of pictures of Trinity in one of her new holiday dresses. Pretty cute huh?

Just try and deny the cuteness!

Here we are at the Bulldog football game, where Baker beat last year's 4A State champs! They had no idea what they were getting themselves into! Go Bulldogs! Trinity is in her fan attire, smiling 'cause her cousin is helping his team kick some butt!

Here's a couple shots from Thanksgiving, my dad and Sue came over from Meridian to celebrate with us. That's my dad with Trinity. That's Sue's shoe by Trinity's hand.

This is Butkus the bulldog. He first gave Trinity a couple of kisses, then flipped around and promptly say on her belly. She thought that was the funniest thing! So did we!

Waiting (sort of) patiently for turkey and stuffing and gravy and sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and minced meat pie and peanut butter ice cream pie and juice and...well, you get the idea!

Here's the bunch of us gathered round the table. Great food and great company!

Too much turkey...leave me alone...

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for? Yeah, I know Turkey Day is over, but this is the first post since the big day, so let's talk about gratitude. When was the last time you were thankful that your house was warm? That you have a car? That you have the time and electricity to watch television? Then it's time to be thankful! Give your family an extra hug and be thankful that you can! I'll bet you can think of five things that you are thankful for without even breaking a sweat. Try it twice a day, that's my prescription for you this holiday season!

Birthday Bash!

To start this post, we have an odd photo. It's a beet. A really big beet. It's almost as big as Trinity's head. I've never seen that before. I pulled it from the garden Saturday. Draw your own conclusions.

So today was Trinity's birthday. That's right, it's been one whole year since this little baby came into the world. I always thought that 18 years is a long time to take care of a child (yes I know it often goes longer than that). But in light of the fact that today is my daughter's first birthday, I have to say that 18 years is going to FLY by. This last year has gone by so fast, it makes my head spin to think about it. Autumn spent a TON of time putting together a montage of photos of Trin's first year in a video presentation. There were a few technical difficulties that prevented us from showing it at the birthday party, but I sat with Autumn and watched it this evening. A few things came to me as I watched the last year in photos. The first thing that struck me was how much Trinity has changed. First she was this little infant and then she went through this monkey phase. Autumn didn't like when I referred to our little baby as a monkey, but she sorta looked like one. Kinda. Okay, maybe the dark hair threw me.

Another thing that I noticed was how much she has grown. Okay, that's sort of like the first thing, but this is sheer size that we are talking about now. She was six pounds when she was born and now she is almost 20! That's a pretty big change. The final thing that really hit me was how lucky Autumn and I are to still have our baby with us. There were some pictures from the hospital and it all came back to me in a flood. I cried a little and thought that I never want to be in that place again. But I do wonder why we still have Trinity. The doctors never really found anything out. She just got better. I know that it was because of the prayers and support of hundreds of people that prayed for her. But why? There were at least several times throughout the process where she could have easily died. There must be something important for her to do.

In the mean time, enjoy some pictures of the first cupcake ever for Trinity. Happy Birthday, by beautiful miracle baby:

For all you first time parents out there: yeah, a cake is tradition. But think about it, doesn't a cupcake make more sense for everyone!

Here comes the mayhem!

The carnage continues...this was her first cupcake ever...whaddya expect?

The random cuteness of the day is also the picture of a baby who is very satisfied at having DESTROYED her first cupcake. You go girl!

Decorating Idea...

So there we were, just minding our own business. Then Trinity starts to stand! Okay, so that's not huge news, but she's getting tall! Her last checkup had her at 19lbs 4oz and 28 inches long! She can now stand and reach things that she couldn't a week ago. So it go me thinking about how you go about decorating a house when you have a toddler on the loose. I have a great idea that I'll give away for free: Nerf!

It would be awesome to have flower arrangements and decorative bowls that were soft, yet attractive. I'll try and submit prototypes soon for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, enjoy Trinity climbing on the furniture:

Here we see the object of desire. Yes it's the lens cap, and yes, this whole scene was staged just for you. See what we go through for you? By the way, no animals were harmed in the shooting of these photos.

Yeah, we're also amazed that she is now officially a monkey baby; climbing on EVERYTHING!

I think she even amazes herself!

Now THAT's a prize worth working for!

As today's random cuteness (yeah, as if you needed more...) we have a video of Trinity throwing down a high step smack down:

Here's something even funnier than that...Mom showing us where Trinity got her moves:

Firsts

Life brings lots of firsts. There are first kisses, first cars, first jobs, etc. There are all of these and many more. And there are your first pair of Chuck Taylors. We've all had them. Can you believe they used to play basketball in these things? I mean, I like them and all but they wear more like slippers than shoes. Nothin' but a style thing now. Not one to be left out, Trinity just HAD to have a pair of Chuck Taylors for school. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't work out so well. Enjoy!

Yeah, she likes the camera...maybe TOO much. I can't get far enough away to get a decent shot...

Here's what you get, just the shoes.

Also, we've given Trinity her first real boundary. We've controlled things before, but now we teach her how to control herself. She is not allowed in the kitchen for obvious reasons like sharp knives and bacteria. To reinforce this idea, we put down blue tape to show her the boundary. She pouts something fierce, but knows where the line is! It's also your random cuteness for Thursday night:

I said she knows where the line is, not that she stops at it every time!

Here she is actually stopped at the line...mostly

Pizza & Portland...

Okay, so "every couple of days" has become "weekly", when it comes to blog updates. I find that the further we get from "the Trinity Incident", the further apart my blog posts become. But the truth is that every single day is fun and new when you have a baby! For instance, one day Autumn and I made home-made pizza for dinner. It's one of our favorite meals to make at home and we get to choose EXACTLY how it is made. Yum! We made a special piece for Trinity with just cheese and sauce (light on the sauce). Here she is waiting anxiously for dinner to arrive. Of course, she is always anxious for dinner to arrive, so this expression isn't really unique to pizza!

Waiting for the pie!

Reaching for pizza! Autumn had cut it up into small pieces. It seemed a little bit like extra work when all she did was shovel it into her mouth by the handful!

We went to Portland for a doctor appointment this last weekend. We left Saturday just to make a whole weekend of it. We stayed with Autumn's aunt and uncle and managed to see my cousin as well. It was a great weekend to see family and take care of some business too!

Aunt Lorraine was Trinity's favorite!

There was a good rain and wind while we were there. I wouldn't want to have to deal with these leaves, but the colors sure are beautiful...just like my girls!

The appointment was at OHSU in Portland. Trinity saw a neuro-ophthalmologist at the Casey Eye Institute. He was happy that she was doing so well. There had been so many improvements since we made the appointment and since the doctor had seen the paperwork on Trinity that he was thrilled to see how well she is doing. Only a little slowness on the left side of her vision to work on as far as we can tell. Of course, more will likely manifest as Trinity gets older, but so far so good! Above is Trinity's first ride on a gondola. Fun!

Chilling with dad while we wait for the eye test. You know, munchin' some cereal...

The test wasn't necessary, but it might have confirmed what the doctors already seem to know; that Trinity's optic nerves are intact. I guess there were other benefits, but I don't remember them all. It's way to late to remember those kind of details. Like the face painting?

After much squirming and yelling, Trinity had a new hat for the occasion. All that remained was to put the eye patch on and go for it. But...not to happen. Trinity HATED the eye patch and threw a fit. Not really like her, so she must have been MAD! We decided to ditch the test, since she was doing so well. There was no need to stress everyone out for unnecessary things.

Finally, out of the hospital, back onto the gondola and on the road! What a view!

The best view of all: Trinity and mom at home, all ready for story time! There's your random cuteness for the day!

My Girls

I talk quite a bit about my girls. It's no secret that they have always rocked my world. That is even more true since Trinity went into the hospital. To see both of their character shine through has been nothing short of amazing. My daughter has been through a lot, but I think that my wife has been through more. It's like in Proverbs 31, wherein lies the description of a noble woman:

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

I feel exactly that way about Autumn. She has been my rock and she has brought more good into my life than she or I will ever know. Here is one of my favorite photos of late:

Trinity doesn't like hats on her head much anymore, but she left this one on for a while. She and Autumn are so dang cute!

Okay, so she didn't leave the hat on for too long, but it was great while it lasted!

Last Friday we traveled to Ontario (Oregon) to watch my nephew Mark play football. It was a clash of the undefeated teams in our league. It was a cold evening, so we bundled Trinity up and rode with Autumn's folks to the game. It was a great time, even though the boys lost to Ontario. Trinity thought it was great too...great to sleep!

Bundled and braving the Northeast Oregon cold the only way a baby should: sleeping!

For those of you who want to know how our little monster is developing, well, here's her standing with only an arm for support. This is pretty normal these days, she even will stand unassisted for a few seconds. Boy are we in trouble!

Just file this one under random cuteness.

Here is Trinity the ladybug Trick or Treating at Lisa's house. Great picture, what a cute little bug!

Aunt Amy had a balloon for Trinity's treat, along with some other goodies. It's great having family around, I don't have to spoil my daughter at all; everyone else take care of that for me!

Mama and ladybug, making one last stop before the night was through. More candy, more, more!

Wanna see what she's doing?

So it's been a while since I blogged, since before Halloween. Was it that long? Well, as soon as I can find the camera, you'll see the cutest little ladybug this side of everywhere! In the mean time, let me fill you in on a few details of her amazing recovery.

First of all, she is turning into a little monster! I say that with all the affection I can summon, because I am so happy to have her progressing like a normal little baby. Although...she's not so little any more. If you count the clothes and FULL diaper, she was over 20 lbs last week when we visited the doctor! That's a pretty big baby if you ask me! She is now starting to eat things...wait, she was already doing that. But now, she is starting to leave teeth marks and tear things apart with those little choppers! Also, she is learning about the word "no". She is also learning to express how she feels about that word. Fun. Yeah. Really fun.

But seriously, she is so much fun right now. She is learning to express herself, even if it is in negative ways. I find that her crying doesn't bother me, since I know that she is just telling me that she doesn't like how things are going. So, here she is showing how well she is getting around. And boy, is she ever!

That also happens to be your random cuteness for the day!

Pumpkins

Here is my little pumpkin:

The last few days have been mostly uneventful. Trinity received her flu shot finally. I know there are quite a few differing opinions on vaccinations for babies, but with Autumn and me in the healthcare industry, it's the responsible thing to do. By the way, the vaccination you receive from the injected version is dead. You can't get the flu from it. Okay, 'nuff about that.

Trinity is doing great! She continues to develop and her eyesight seems to be mostly back. It's hard to tell, since she is a baby and can't tell us what she sees, but it is back enough to see things near and far, and enough to see us from across the room and know it is us. That's pretty good! She is still lagging a little bit in some cognitive areas; she was babbling before but hasn't really started again, and some of the games she used to play haven't returned. Please pray for that, since that is still a concern.

We went to Boise yesterday so that Autumn could get an enhancement at the Lasik clinic there and so that we could follow up at the neurologist. I was able to watch Autumn's eyeball get cut open and melted by a laser. I wish I had a video of it to show you. Wait, this is the digital age. Here is a video of the surgery, although this is NOT from Autumn's eye. This is just a video I found on Youtube:



We did that and then went to the neurologist for a follow up. Not a ton to report there, we mostly just told them that she is doing much better. They examined her and told us that she is doing much better. Okay.

While Autumn was getting her eyes done, we left Trinity with my Dad and Sue for a few hours. I was remiss and did not get any photos, but I was really glad that they were able to get some good grandparent time in with Trinity! And speaking of photos, here are a few of the latest:

Mom and Trinity (sort of) reading!

Trinity's hair is starting to (sort of) come it. It is long in some places and almost nonexistent in others. The blessing is that we do not have to comb her hair much yet. That's good for dad. I don't even comb my own.

With Halloween fast approaching, we thought it would be fun to carve some pumpkins. I know Halloween is also a touchy subject for some, but I have never really worried too much about whether it is a harvest party or Halloween party. If you have candy, dress up, and have fun with your friends, does it matter what you call it? Either way, I like carving pumpkins and eating pumpkin seeds. Here are the guts of my monster pumpkin! Gooey fun!

Arizona Wrap-up

So I thought that I would wrap up the last week or so with a few fun pictures from our latest adventures. As you may or may not know, Autumn and I took a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona. Autumn had a work conference there and I worked a little from the hotel. The (dis)advantage of my job is that I can do some of it from almost anywhere. Still, we managed to squeeze in a couple of fun activities here and there. Already I have blogged about hiking and the biosphere, and now we get to wrap it all up. I'll bet you are getting a little bit bored of Autumn and I and wish that I would just go back to blogging about the baby. Well, don't worry too much; it's coming! In the meantime, here are a few pictures of Arizona and my family:

So, this picture looks to me like some sort of commercial for a sports drink or something. Autumn was also pleased that her outfit coordinated well with her mountain bike!

This is me and the Arizona desert. The singletrack was rocky but fun. I would highly recommend it!

Here's my wife kickin' some tail on the trail! Go Audi!

The day before we left, my sister Coleen and her husband Jason brought my grandma (called Oma) to the house on their way to see my Dad in Boise. Here is Oma with her great-granddaughter. It is so much fun to see them together!

I am sure that if she could talk, she would be saying something like, "oh my, who are all these relatives? If I had known they were coming, I would have combed my hair!" Or something like that.

Auntie Coleen discovering that necklaces are fair game. They're also easy to grab!

Trinity is cheering with Uncle Jason...

And he's cheering right back!

Here is me and my Oma; I sure am glad that she was able to come down and see us!

In case you didn't figure it out yet, this is your random cuteness for the day. It's not really related to the post at all. But it's cute!

Arizona Update

I know that most of you are dying to know about Trinity, but this update is an update from Scottsdale, where Autumn and I have been all this week. Autumn has been conferencing and I have been working from the hotel. We've been able to visit a couple of neat places, including Biosphere 2. It was an interesting tour of what amounts to a VERY large greenhouse. Back in the early 1990's there was a group of scientists who lived sealed in the Biosphere for 2 years. Now THAT would be an interesting experiment. The University of Arizona manages it now and they are studying the affects of water on climate change and vice versa. Very interesting if you are into that sort of thing. Here are some pics of the Biosphere 2:

It looks like something from a science fiction movie

The guided tour took us through the environment that was created for maximum oxygenation. There were 5 biomes that were all tropical in nature. There was an ocean, a rainforest, a savannah, a desert and a zone that represented where two biomes came together. I would not have thought of a desert being tropical, but I guess that is the difference between scientific terminology and the names that a layperson gives things.

This is a view of the ocean biome and the savanah is above it.

In this case even a goofy Autumn is too tall for the doorway! Underneath the whole thing were miles of pipes and hallways all setup to create and control the environment above. That way they can observe the affect that temperature and humidity have on different enviroments.

We also were able to go for a short hike one day because right in the middle of Scottsdale and Phoenix is a mountain that you can hike up called Camelback Mountain. You can read more about it here. From where we parked, it was about 2.2 miles round trip, but man it was a steep climb! It was more like a scramble than a hike. Here are some pictures:

This is not unusual for this trail: very steep and very rocky!

The view up top was AWESOME! There was 360 degree view of the entire Phoeniz area, which is HUGE! I guess Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the United States. I didn't know that, did you?

This little section was very steep, so steep that they installed a fence and a couple of hand rails to help hikers get up and down. Here's Autumn making the descent. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours, which was nice since we didn't have a lot of free time each day. It was nice to have a hike so close by!

We are done with the conference this afternoon and we fly back tomorrow. We'll have more Trinity pics after I get back and get organized. I know that's what you're waiting for!