We are family!

My mom and sister came for a weeks visit!  We had a GREAT time!

We started off the week with a hike up Camelback.

(everyone uses camelbacks on Camelback, even the dogs!)

This hike is not for the faint of heart, but both my mom and Rachel are super strong and were able to conquer the camel!

The views were awesome!

At some points  you are literally siting right on the camel's back.

We made it to the top and took lots of pictures.

And then we headed back down.  I love how Rocco is looking back at everyone to make sure we make making it down the difficult parts ok!

The rest of the week was filled with shopping (lots of shopping!).

Eating!

And relaxing by the pool/hot tub.  

We hiked around the red rocks and enjoyed the desert landscape.  

All in all it was a fantastic visit, I did not want them to go!

A moose walks into a bar. . .

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love nature and all its wonders.  In particular, I have a huge affection for moose and the wilderness they inhabit.  Ever since I lived in Massachusetts, I became obsessed with the idea of seeing a moose.  Stories of moose sightings would creep down the mountain from the hill towns, but despite numerous bike rides and hikes, I never saw one.  Of course the more northern states like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine all claimed to have plenty of moose- bragging on road signs and tee shirts, but despite my frequent adventures in the north country, I was never privy to a sighting.  I had traveled all over, to Utah, Colorado, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, all the while hoping to snap a few pictures of these giants.  After 8 years of yearning I only ended up seeing one moose, and that one came to see me (or at least that is what I have convinced myself).  That moose showed up on the campus of the University of Massachusetts.  Although I almost got arrested while snapping pictures of this guy (a story for another day), it truly quieted my inner yearning for a moose sighting and made me gloriously happy.

(he is that tiny brown spec in this picture)

Many years later, I moved to Arizona and I had almost completely stopped thinking about moose.  I stomped down all of my moose-loving feelings but really I became more obsessed with NOT seeing various aspects of nature (i.e. scorpions, black widows, snakes).  Thennnnnnnn, Chris and I decided to go to Montana for a long weekend.  Now I know that my husband loves me very much and knows me well, but to this point, I had never exposed to my love of moose nor has he ever even heard me talk about my need to see a moose, and quite frankly I did not want to scare him.  Once our tickets were booked, I started to get excited about the possibility of a moose sighting on our trip but I held my tongue.  About a week before our trip, all hell broke loose and all I could talk about was the hope that we would see a moose.  All animals love Chris, this is a fact we both know, so when he started to realize how much I wanted to see a moose he turned to me and said "Carrie, have you met me? There is a good chance that a moose will pick us up from the airport".  I felt instantly better.

So, we go to Montana, we talk to the locals about where to see moose, we start hunting for them on our first morning and BAM we find two, a cow and bull laying in the reeds.  I proceed watch them for hours, take 300ish pictures and jump up and down out of sheer joy when we get back to the hotel.  We went back 3 different times to see if they were there, and they were!

I could not be happier!

We also saw Elk.

And big horn sheep!

Big Sky was amazingly beautiful.  I look like I am super imposed in these shots, but I promise, this was the real backdrop!

On our last day, we hung around Bozeman.  This town is the perfect combination of hippie and red neck.  The Co-Op there would rival any Whole-Foods I have ever been in and all the restaurants serve local organic meats.  I absolutely loved the vibe and the scenery there and was sad to leave.  Luckily we had our animals to come home to!  We loved Montana and we will be back to enjoy all it has to offer!

Walking in a winter's wonderland

     This New Years we took out 3rd annual holiday trip up north to snow country!  There was no snow in Arizona until 3 days before New Years, just in time for us to travel to the mountains!  Instead of staying in Flagstaff AZ this year, we decided to stay in Williams, a cute little town 30 minutes south of the Grand Canyon.  Williams is 6,500 feet above sea level, has a small ski hill in the hills above the town and tons of National forest to explore.  We purchased snowshoes (which felt very odd because, need I remind you, we live in the desert!) but it turned out to be a great investment!
     Our trip up north should have only taken 3 hours, but due to the snow storm that was going on, took 7!  7 hours with all 4 animals; we were all ready to get out of the truck when we arrived!  To add insult to injury,  neither the walkway or the driveway were shoveled when we arrived!  Chris grabbed the shovel and got to work.  We travel to the mountains because we miss winter, and thankfully, we had got to participate in all aspects of winter during out little getaway ;)
     4 days of snow shoeing, skiing, sitting by the fire, and playing left us very happy and looking forward to 2011!  We has no internet or TV which was also a bit of a treat!

The cats enjoyed having new windows to look out and new beds to hide under.  They seemed to feel very at home.

We had so much fun last weekend, we decided to day trip back to Williams on Saturday for a little more snowshoeing!

Happy 2011!

A year in review

2010 was a fantastic year!  Let's take a trip down memory lane.

We rang in the New Year with a wintery vacation in Flagstaff with the family.

Unfortunately, that was our last and only taste of winter.

Moving on, with springtime came a visit from my parents and Rachel,

a proposal (shocker),

a trip to the Gand Canyon (my third since living in Arizona)

a private wedding, (use your imagination)

and wonderful visit from Chris's parents (also no pictures, bummer).

In May, we rescued Dodge, our precious little kitty who was dodging 4 lanes of traffic when I found her. She has turned out to be an amazing little girl and a wonderful member of the family.

We also took a trip east to visit my family and to attend our long-time family-friend Jen's wedding.  We had a blast!

Next we headed to San Diego for a 4 day weekend get-away from the heat of the PHX.  

Shortly thereafter, we went to Michigan for a family wedding!  We had such fun at Brenda and Steve's wedding, hanging out with family and meeting my new extended family members.  

After our Michigan trip, we suffered through the rest of the summer avoiding the heat and patiently waiting for the fall weather to arrive (3 months later. . . )

I had a birthday, 

cooked some delicious foods

and Chris made some amazing beer.  

We added another ginger to the family, welcome Oliver!  He followed me home and had me at hello.  

 Holidays were celebrated

and we all made out like bandits!

We are about the to ring in the New Year and we are very excited.  I look forward to sharing our updates with you and seeing more friends and family in 2011.  Love to all!