Carioca: A native or inhabitant of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This is Ipanema Beach (from the song: tall and tan and young and hansome...).

It is Indian for dangerous waves.

Copacabanna beach where we stayed.

Here is a sandcastle Joe made all by himself.


The trolly.

An amazing one-man ongoing exhibit by the artist Selaron with tiles from all over the world.

The famous Christ the Redeemer Statue that overlooks the city. During Carnival, they cover his eyes so he can't see what what is going on. Ha!
So many beautiful buildings.

All the sidwalks are made of stone mosaics.

A little taste of home.

The Potato State

Finally, here is the update from our trip to the West. . . This is Luke getting his first bite of bread from grandma. At first mom said no, but grandma pleaded that just a little bit would be ok. And he loved it! Luke was also fed all manner of forbidden foods by the grandma and aunties when mom was not around, including brownies and ice cream. Naughty! Grandpa had to join in the fun and give him banana peppers. Luke did not like those as much as the ice cream...big surprise.

Luke loves his aunt Peyton! She played with him and pushed him around in the stroller and made him comfy in the bean bag chair all day long.

Here's Luke with his new buddy, Xavier. Aren't they adorable in their stripes? We had a fun lunch with Angie and the grandmas and got to see Angies' cute home. Oh, wish we lived closer so we could hang out more often!

Aunt Natalee stealing one last smootch before we go to S town.

Upstate NY

Yes, this is 4 posts in a row. A blogging binge you might say. This blog is feast or famine, folks. Here's our trip to upstate NY! Our first stop was in Palmyra, a town rich in church history. This is the Joseph Smith log cabin.
This beautiful vintage high chair caused me to immediatly covet. I really wanted to steal it. Too bad stealing is against our religion! Oh, so is coveting. The Smith Family home. I think this is the first picture on this blog without Luke. A momentus occasion!
Here is the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith prayed and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was so special to see where Joseph lived and walk where he walked. He went through so many trials to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Next, we stopped at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, the birthplace of buffalo wings. Joe has been dreaming of this place since he was last here, 15 years ago. Luke especially liked the wings. No, we did not really let him eat buffalo wings. What kind of parents do you think we are, anyways? It's just a posed picture, sheesh!

This is outside the Anchor Bar...One proud papa. Our final destination was...Niagra Falls. Thanks to our friend, Miggy, for the tip to bring our passports to go to Canada. Good thing we did bring them, because our hotel was in Canada and we didn't even realize it until we got there.

This is the view from our hotel room. Sweet, huh? Can you belive they let you get so close to the Falls? Feels like you are about to fall in, doesn't it? So amazing and beautiful.

Luke was all smiles!

Beach Baby

Here are some pictures from our trip to North Carolina last month. (yes, I am kind of late posting, I know!) Holly auntie was on spring break and went to visit, so we decided to go too. This is Luke with Grandad. Luke certainly has a round Hallmark head, doesn't he?
Luke's first trip to the beach. A little windy. Luke must have liked the salty air, because he had his tounge sticking out for most of the time.
We went to the aquarium and Luke looked at the fishies.
Luke being a little crabby.
We also went to Fort Macon, one of the best preserved forts in the US. Pretty cool. We found out that Luke's head is as big as a cannon ball.