EMBRACING ARIZONA {1}

I HAVE NEVER thought of Arizona as a place I would stay in long after I left my mothers home. I imagined leaving after college; moving to some new and vibrant state chalk full of majestic mountains, green grassy hills, and wind that blows through my hair without causing sweat to drip down my face bringing with it bits of dirt. While Arizona is full of wide open spaces, it still for some reason felt confining and tight; knowing every patch of green in the state and who comes along with that corner. After the very recent descent from my denial, I have realized that I am going to be here for awhile, which leads me to my gradual embrace of this legendary state and the locking away of those moments that help me realize this love.

SISTER

THE CLOSEST THING I have to it! I have just been so grateful these days for all of my amazing close friends and family. People who have had so much love and understanding lately. One person in particular has unsurprisingly been there all along. A little history - Alanna's mom Karen and my mom have been friends since before we were even imagined. We all lived together in Pinedale at one point and Michael and I would both say she is our sister! Alanna lives in Flagstaff now which kills us. But traveling together and a few insane methods for cracking each other up on an almost daily basis has sufficed.

HERE'S TO YA SISTER!



OVER THE YEARS...






THIS IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PERSON

...... ...... ......

FRIDAY

FRIDAY MORNING I drove up to Snowflake early, dropped off Shelby with my mom to spend the day with Amy (Bryant) Perkins. Amy and I met on the first day of Kindergarten at our two room school house in Pinedale, our beloved home town. Amy and I remained best friends until just before Freshman year when I moved to Snowflake. I CAN NOT believe how fast time flies by. We spent the day riding and talking in amazement at the fact that we now have grown up lives and beautiful children of our own.


Our lives have always seemed to intertwine from a distance; my wedding anniversary, on her birthday (May 21st), her twins and Shelby born on the same day (April 18th) only her baby's are two years older and soooo many other similarities paralleling our lives.


Thanks for the day Aim! your friendship means as much to me now as it did then when you were my only friend in the world. Cant wait for our plans this fall and...the plans for our THIRTIETH, holy crap!

SATURDAY

GRANDPA'S 91st BIRTHDAY in pictures. We had a great weekend in Snowflake at my moms! Shelby and I had so much fun hanging out with family and old friends.

DIRT ROAD FUN! Shelby's very first down home, back road, buckle free car ride (just in my mom and Lilly's very long driveways)!

SHELBY HELPING ME bake Grandpa's birthday cakes.


THE ONES I trust the most {saved by the undershirt}!

PULLING AROUND RIAH and Shelby; these two hit it off big time. They had so much fun together all day all night.

INSTINCT!

GETTING LATE, BUT the party was just beginning!

FOR THOSE OF you who were at the "other" party. You might remember me making this list on the back of a Jiffy Lube Ad at 2 in the morning. Here is the finished product...

* Hoola Hoop
* "Theres a treasure chest in my pants", (sorry for the sexual innuendo, I had a lot of stuff in my pockets and was being made fun of so that's all I could come back with)!
* "Its really treasureful"!
* I got a cramp in my side...George (Rush) St. Pierre.
* Eczema
* ...all Dong, I mean Dawn!(again, sorry)
* Bodhi Lightning Thunder Storm
* That's why everybody doesn't remember.
* Fall down halfway through the show!
* I got the golden ticket!
* Retard, retard, retard!
* Toilette paper roll...Alanna!
* Bassinet
* Sippin on Juicy Juice
* The never ending hallway!
* I missed!

LEE'S FERRY, ARIZONA

SHORTER THAN OUR average, Alanna and I took a 24 hour camping/fishing(ha) trip to Lee's Ferry, just outside of Page. This was my first Grand Canyon experience! You would think as a native I would have made it there by now, or at the very least have run into it, kind of hard to miss. I guess gravitating towards mountains led me out of its way. A 'few' pictures in chronological order-

"THE ALIENS HAVE landed."



ON OUR OWN private sandbar.



"THE WICKED WEED", a bad place to stop and pee ladies!

OUR "TOYOTA COMMERCIAL"


ACTUALLY FISHING



A COUPLE FAVORITES



NOT APPROPRIATE FOR small children and please...try this at home, not in a campground. Alanna and I picked out a nice little spot to set up camp when all of a sudden we see a 'neighbor' sit up and take notice. Chester (the name we gifted him) went over to his picnic table and proceed to creep us out. Chester sat and stared in our general direction for a good 10 minutes before he busted out his binoculars! YES! And I thought it couldn't get any worse. After we noticed and he noticed that we noticed, he sat down (not far enough)behind his truck, started to pick at his feet and continued to grab his crotch. UMMmmmm, we moved to a different spot.
YES I POINTED my camera at him, we tried to creep him out too. Lucky you, here's a shot of the crotch grab-


BEFORE..


AND AFTER...


TOTALLY MADE FUN of her for this "head gear", then later had to put my foot in my mouth!


HAVE TO GIVE a shout out to our new friend Matt, the hot river guide from Lake Tahoe who saved us from Chester and helped us put up our tent. We also played the best and most interesting game of Go-Fish I have ever played. Thanks for hanging out Matt, such a nice surprise.

FOR ALANNA:

*SCHVITZLANNA
*"ALWAYS BRINGS ME BACK DOWN TO EARTH"
*YARD SALE
*HOTEL DE ALANNA AND SARAH
*AHHH, THE MESH?!!
*THAT EVIL HORSE WITH THE HIPS
*OOOOHHHH JACKSON, THANKS, ITS BEEN AWHILE!
*GAS STATION?...AH WHO NEEDS EM!
*STYROFOAM FREAKIN CUP
*THIS PICTURE-