Pre-Jackson Hole

I've decided to break up our summer into distinct time periods, for blogging purposes of course. Of course, because I keep track of time by how many months it's been since I've been in Wyoming, there would be no better way than to divide out summer as such. Pre and Post Jackson, of course when we get to Lake Powell, it cancels out the whole keeping time on Jackson thing, and we start all over again. You pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?

Our original intentions were to be in Phoenix for only a few weeks at most, but all that went down the drain and we thought, hey, Kelcie is independently contracted, Taylor's Internship/Fellowship can be done online, and what, we're just going to drive 2,400 miles back to DC and then try and figure out how to get back to Arizona for the 20 something-th annual Robinson-Daniels Lake Powell Extravaganza!?! So we stayed, for two months...that's about 7 weeks longer than intended, no biggie!  And so, pre-jackson, in photos.

The Owen's were in town and Taylor got the jeep up and running so they could take a night drive in Cari's old high school car! We love them so much and had so much fun playing with them in Phoenix!

For Gracie's birthday, Grammy got her Taylor Swift tickets to see the Red Tour! She let me tag along!

The Owen Family before Taylor came on stage

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Let me tell you, Taylor Swift is AMAZING live! No kidding, I liked her before just fine, but now...oh man, now I'm pretty sure she's my favorite. She is classy, fun, creative, and extremely talented! Plus, she had an amazing line up! 

In case I haven't told you, Coco hates cars, with a fiery passion. Her and Indy stuck to that corner for the whole two mile drive, mind you we were crawling! Oh, and this was after she jumped out! I wish I had a video of that one, pretty impressive stunt Coco, and my my, you sure are a quick one!

Speaking of puppy love! If there was ever a moment anyone wondered where Hank had gone off to, all you had to do was open the garage door! He could NOT get enough snuggles from Marco and Polo, be still my heart!

Because I'm not sure I've ever in my life seen anything more adorable, I'm going to post about every photo of this cuddle fest that I got, bear with me!

But really, can you even be mad at me?!?

I mean, the hand (paw?) holding, come. on.

Indiana Jones with his sharp new haircut. I'm diggin' your style, Doctor Jones.

Being that handsome all the time is pretty exhausting...

Arizona hikes are always my favorite! 

I went hiking with my friend Kylie, from my single days, up at Tonto Natural Bridge, it was a nice hot day, but we had lots of fun!

I get a lot of comments about Arizona and how I must be so glad to be in D.C. because the East is so beautiful, and Arizona is just a big desert. Well, let me tell you East Coasterners (??), personally, I'll take Arizona's blue skies and miles of cactus any day over the humidity and the constant overcast weather.

I also got a lot of gym time in over the summer. Because, honestly, it's 120 degrees outside, even at night time, who wants to even shower and get dressed? Just do two-a-days and stay in airy gym clothes all day long.

Of, if you aren't the gym type, just go to the lake! Duh.

Glass for days

Back to puppies for one hot minute...Coco took a liking to the underside of our bed in the guest house in Phoenix. 

And then this happened. Puppy dog tails. Lovers

Puppies>Kitties! So, I'm HIGHLY allergic to cats, but for some reason this guy doesn't make me itch like all the rest. And so, I confess that I love him. I love you Marty, you wild thing, you.

Class of 2013

My little brother Caleb graduated this past May, and I was super bummed I wouldn't be able to make it to his graduation. When we found out we would be driving to Phoenix and staying for a couple weeks, we decided it was safe to leave a week early so I could make it to Holbrook to see Caleb walk. I was SO excited, but decided to keep it a surprise! We showed up on the day of graduation and completely surprised everyone! It was so fun, I'm so glad I got to be there to support my little brother!

Huge bonus seeing this little girl! Oh man, do I love me some Oakleigh! I hadn't seen her since Christmas, I couldn't believe how big she was! Oh, babies.

She takes her food pretty seriously

This photo of us makes me look significantly shorter than my husband. That's because I am, friends, and I take pride in our height difference. (besides, I come from a short/average height gene pool, had to get some tall-blood in there somehow ;))

My baby sis (honorary) graduated this year too! Go Riah, I freaking love your guts! Thanks to this little lady for helping surprise Caleb, too! 

Handsome brother :) 

Words can't express how much I love this kid. I am so proud of you, Caleb! You're an outstanding young man, keep it up! LOVE YOU!

Road Trippin'

This summer we had the opportunity to head back to the homeland, we knew flying the dogs would be expensive, but so would boarding them, so the decision to drive back to Phoenix was sort of made for us! But we didn't mind! When we drove here from Phoenix the first time we took the southern route through Texas, this time we wanted to see middle portion of the US of A! We loaded up the puppies (drunk puppies, might I add, as Coco's fear of cars is pretty intense.) and headed back west! As you'll see from out photos, we kind of only took photos in St. Louis and Colorado, but hey...the rest of the drive was kind of all the same, I mean...Kansas (not hating! also, not the most interesting part of our drive). And now, photos!

 <<Our first (and pretty much only, to be honest) destination stop was the St. Louis Arch! Man is that monument impressive! I think of all the architectural structures Taylor or I have seen, this might be our favorite!

<<I was also inspired by the the symbolism, I do love the wild west myself, and am so grateful for that expansion stuff! Gateway to my heart, more like!

<< This cross country trip was the first time the puppies slept outside of their kennels since we first got them back in October! We were so proud, they were so well behaved, unless someone walked by our hotel room, or the air conditioning unit blew the blinds a little strongly. They're mission in life is to protect us from all wrong doers, and those with ill intentions; even those without brains to even have intentions! They slept all night cuddled together on either mine or Taylor's side of the bed, so sweet! I think they love each other more than most dogs.

<< Another favorite of both Taylor and myself was beautiful Colorado. Oh, Colorado, you did it for me, let me tell you! Taylor served his mission in Grand Junction, so we stopped there and saw all his shady apartments and got some ice cream at his favorite spot.

<<As much as the dogs DON'T love the car, I'm pretty sure they loved exploring when we let them OUT of the car! We found a gorgeous field and let the pups stretch their legs on our way south. If you can't tell, this is Doctor Jones, I dare you to figure out which part of the fluff is his little head. Don't worry, he got a very handsome haircut once we got to Phoenix.

<< Action shot! 

<< Seriously, take me back. Breathtaking