Mendoza was of course amazing. I was so happy to be able to be there with Tanner. We rented a car, which was interesting... only because they drive like crazy people, and Tanner hasn't driven a stick in 7 years. He was great though, and we didn't have any accidents!
Here is at a park with the Cuidad de Mendoza crest behind us:

We started off by hanging out in the city, and going to all the park they have. It was so beautiful and so full of trees. That was my favorite part of Mendoza - all the tree lined streets. The city was full of vineyards, and we finally got to eat lots and lots of Italian food. I was starting to get sick of all the meat!

We went out to San Rafael the next day to try and find the Choquevilca family, and also to see Tanner's cousin who is serving there right now. This is the view on the way there. These are the great Andes mountains: We got to Argentina in the beginning of Spring, so you can imagine how green it gets later on in the year.
We met up with Blake, Tanner's cousin, and took the missionaries out to ice cream. It was actually kind of weird to talk to people other than Tanner in English.


After about an hour of driving and stopping at random houses asking for directions, we finally found the Choquevilca family! Tanner was so excited because this was one of his favorite families. Tanner hadn't had any contact with them for 7 years, so when he knocked on the door, and the mom answered, she started to cry and was so happy to see him.
We got to spend about an hour with them, and got to catch up on everything. They got sealed in the temple in 2004, and just three years later the dad died of a severe form of Lupus. It was so sad to hear their story, but it was so wonderful to hear that they got sealed in the temple and that they would be together again. Tanner would talk about the dad saying what a wonderful man he was, so it was sad to hear he had past away. When Tanner baptized them, there were only the three kids, and at the time they were so little! It was cool to see them all grown up, and to meet the littler ones.
Tanner set up their email accounts so we can keep in touch, I wanted to do so much more for this wonderful family.
We then headed back to the city to the church building where Tanner had gone to when he was a missionary. It was still just a little house where everyone meets.

The president of the branch threw us a big dinner and invited the people Tanner knew and baptized when he was a missionary. They made us empanadas, and lots and lots of meat.
Here are the two kids that Tanner baptized eight years ago. They are now 19 and 17. They both still had pictures of Tanner and his companion on their baptism day in a frame! They were so nice, and we had such a good time visiting!

We then took a trip up to the mountains... Here is just an awesome view on the side of the road:
Here is Puente del Inca. It use to be an old hotel until an avalanche destroyed it. Now it is a cool tourist sight because of the cool colors that are all around it.
We then headed up to Aconcagua. It is the tallest mountain in the Americas. It's actually kind of funny because Tanner had been to this mountain 3 times before, and every time he went it was always cloudy and could never see the top. Today, as you can see, is as clear as the sky can get. However, there was an avalanche this past winter that completely took out the route to the mountain. So even though Tanner FINALLY got to see the top of the mountain, this is as close as we could get to it!
I know I have told some of you about our awesome Mendoza zoo trip. That will come later, because there are some pretty funny pictures and this post would just be TOO long if I added them!

Next up.... Cordoba and Buenos Aires (again)

Iguazu Falls

After Ushuaia, We headed up north to the Iguazu Falls. They were amazing. It had thunderstormed the night before we got there, so we were a little worried that it would keep raining the whole time we were there. However, it cleared up every time we went into the park. How lucky was that? You can see how there is so much vapor from the falls since it had rained so hard the night before.
So the first day we got there, we got the great adventure package which included a jeep tour through the park, a boat ride under the falls (which we got SOAKED), train rides through the park, and then we finished it off with a canoe trip through the iguazu river (which was a little scary at some parts when it looked like we were heading off the falls).
Here was are on the boat ride under the falls:
and here we are one our canoe trip through the river. There was only one other couple with us. They were from the chzech republic, and very nice:


Here we are on the second day. We got all the adventures done on the first day since we knew for sure it was sunny. That night it thunderstormed and rained again ALL night. We stayed at this little hotel where we stayed in little one room cabins. It was pretty cool. No phones, no tv, and NO airconditioning.... it felt like we were camping. Our view outside was pretty cool though.. just pure rainforest.
This is at devil's throat:
just walking around the park:
The Falls were absolutely unbelievable. The first time I saw them they literally took my breath away. I know that sounds super cheesey, but never in my life have I ever seen something so beautiful and so big.

Here are the CRAZY creatures that ATTACKED me. Stupid Coatis. Tanner and I brought a sandwich with us into the park, and as soon as we sat down and opened it up, at least 20 of these coatis came and surrounded us. They hopped up on the bench and got into my purse as I was screaming and running away from them. They kept coming after us and finally they cornered me into a gate and this huge coati jumped up and snatched my bag of food and ripped it to shreds. I thought I was going to die. They then proceeded to jump on top of each other screaming as they ate our sandwich and tanner's beloved alfajore. (which he had been saving all day.)Before we left Iguazu, we took a bus downtown to where you can see Paraguay on the Left and Brazil on the right.
Onto Mendoza!!!!

Our Argentina Adventure

BUENOS AIRES:
This is the capital building in the background. Underneath is the pink house ( their version of the white house... but pink)
This is one of my favorite places. The recoleta cemetery. This is where they buried high profile people like the perons, and other people with lots and lots of money. And here is La Boca. Very colorful and full of restaurant owners trying to sell you anything.
We had a blast here, and had such wonderful hosts, The Reys. Thank you so much for allowing us to take over your house! We had such a fun time in your city! Thank you Tomas for being our walking tour guide! We only had a couple of days here, but we knew we would be returning at the end of our trip for some extra days!

USHUAIA:
The end of the world. This is the southern most city in the world. It was cold.
We went on a boat tour out to the beagle channel where we saw sea lions and penguins..... jk we missed the penguins by a couple weeks! But we saw a bird that looks exactly like a penguin! They took us out to a beautiful light house, and everything was just so amazingly beautiful.
We then took a hike up to Matial Glacier. We had to take a ski lift to the top, and then continue to hike up the mountain as far as we could go. The views were amazing, and it was actually the first time I had been in snow for years!
We then went to Tierra Del Fuego national park where we saw some really beautiful beaches, and coves. It was getting really cold today where as the days before it was nice and sunny. Today was overcast and FREEEZING. We met some really nice friends here from church and we had dinners and lunches almost everyday we were here.
Some of the friends that we met took us to this place on the beach where all the trees are permanently wind blown. The wind can be so strong here, that the trees grow the way the wind is blown. It was pretty cool.
Last but not least, we went to the Ushuaia prison. It hasn't been used in years, but they turned it into a prison museum. It was pretty cool going through all the cells. There were some pretty crazy people that were imprisoned here that we got to learn all about.


I am done posting for today. Coming up: Iguazu Falls, and Mendoza!

GOODBYE america, HELLO argentina

Tanner and I are heading out of town for a few weeks. Farewell to all.

We will be here:














and here:














and here:














and here:














We will be back on the 29th with real pictures of us. Although, it looks as if we have been to these places already before.... especially when we came out of the ground in the middle of the tango.

GRADUATION!!

Tanner graduated from grad school on Saturday the 8th, receiving his doctorate in Physical Therapy! I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard and it has finally paid off. Graduation was fantastic and he looked so handsome in his cap and gown. 7 years of college is finally over and now a new chapter in our lives is opening. No more school!!! I think it hasn't quite sunk in yet... but he still has his boards to pass.... so once that is over we can celebrate again.

We started the day out great with some oreo pancakes, and then headed off to the phoenix convention center. The ceremony only lasted about an hour, and we got to cheer on Tanner and all our friends the both of us have made throughout the last three years. The whole family headed off to lunch at Houston's which was the best steak Tanner had ever had. Thank you grandma and grandpa Burden! After lunch we headed back to the house for a nap and some homeade ice-cream... thank you bret and raenada! We spent the rest of the evening playing games with Brook, Kyle, Ashley and Danny. Thank you everyone for making Tanner's graduation a day to remember! Congratulations "Dr. Judd", we are ALL so proud of you, and we know you are going to be the best Physical Therapist EVER!

TANNER IS 28!

Tanner's birthday was on July 16th, which meant he turned a whopping 28! WOHOO. Tanner is such a man.... haha. Let me tell you what Tanner got for his birthday.... I finally got him all the seasons to Arrested Development so that we don't have to watch them on our little computer screen every night, He got a pancake griddle so that he can make me oreo pancakes every morning, pei wei giftcard, a wonderful steak dinner, and a trip to.... ARGENTINA! YES folks, He is a spoiled little husband and got to book tickets to Argentina. More on that later.
I love Tanner more than anything in the world and I am so glad that he married me. We have had so much fun together while he was 27, and I know we will have even more fun now that he is 28!!! Congratulations on making it another year...

SEATTLE

Tanner and I decided to spend the 4th of July weekend in the beautiful city of Seattle! We had such a blast, and stayed with the wonderful Guilespie family! They were wonderful and provided everything for us to have the best weekend.
We saw the fireworks over the water, and had a great time people watching at the little fair going on.
Is was actually really hot over the weekend! I couldn't believe it. We took advantage of the weather and spent a day at Pike Place Market, and went to the aquarium, and got lost in Seattle walking around. It suddenly felt like we were in Europe all over again becoming exhausted from the hot weather, and having no idea where we were!

On Tuesday it FINALLY rained! only for a little bit, however, I did get to wear my jacket ALL day in JULY! it was fantastic.
Washington is an amazing city, and so beautiful. We stayed in Puyallup, and from almost everywhere you could see Mt. Ranier. WOW. what an awesome sight. One of these days I want to hike it... maybe not to the top! but at least hike throughout it.

ALL time best picture: