Good morning Sunshine. . . .

The Earth says hello. . .

Chris and I make a concerted effort to get up and run the dogs (and ourselves) each and every day.  This effort is aided by the instant whine that comes from Adriane at 5:30 every morning.  Because of this, we have taken to calling her our fitness trainer.  We are considering getting her puppy sweatbands and a whistle to complete the outfit.  But, I digress.

Although we do not have a perfect track record, this summer, we have been very good about getting up and out the door before the large ball of fire (aka- the sun) comes up and starts to bore into us.  In order to get a decent run in and not endanger ourselves or our pups, we need to be running as the sun is coming up.  On these picture perfect mornings, I marvel at the desert landscape as it is touched with the first light.

We run on trails in a local park called Papago (or as we affectionally call it- Puppy-go).  It is a little oasis in our cement city that we have shared with almost all of our visitors.  Here we can enjoy the red rocks and great hiking, all about 4 miles from our doorstep.  We love it at 5:30 am because we have the place practically to ourselves.  Our puppies hunt the jackrabbits that race to and fro and on occasion, we have seen coyotes roaming the landscape.  (Incidentally, this is also where Chris proposed.)

After starting this blog, I knew I wanted to share some thoughts and photos about our morning runs.  On this particular morning, I actually remembered the camera and was able to snap some photos as we were running.

(if you look closely, you can see Rocco in the shadows making his way up the butte to join Chris and Adriane).

A morning run, time with family, and a bit of appreciation for how beautiful the world can be- all before my first cup of coffee.  How much luckier can a girl be?

Unfortunately, we have not figured out a way to bring Dodge on these morning fun runs.  I think she is sad that she does not get to go and is usually waiting in the window for our return.