Toilet Adventure: Day... oh who am I kidding...

It must be at least day 20... but who's counting? :) The toilet is not fixed but as I type this blog Brian has headed up to Lowe's to purchase some tool he needs to hopefully complete the task tonight!! As always... I'll keep you posted!

I went on a two hour hike today around 2pm. My co-worker, Mike, goes hiking up Push Pike about 4 times a week and I asked him if I could tag along to see the trail before I ever would decide to venture off on my own... (FYI: I will never do this trail alone. It isn't the easiest hike and I would hate to be alone, slip, fall or get eating by a coyote or desert bunny :). ) It was an awesome hike was fabulous views of the NW part of Tucson. I didn't bring my camera but I will make an effort to bring it along next time. There were four storms that had already developed over parts of the land that we could see (I don't know if those areas were still Tucson or not so I am not going to say they were) and then it started to sprinkle on us as soon as we got to the peak of where we were headed. The Lord blessed us with cloud cover the entire hike until right when we got to the top, then it became sunny but started to sprikle which kept us cool... it was 104 degrees when I left the office at 1 pm.... so the rain was a BLESSING!! :)

I will try my hardest to always have a camera on me so you can all get to visualize what I get to live every day!!

On a side note, please continue to pray for Brian. He is running into some major headaches with this land-split. We have been praying so much about this opportunity and feel like now is not the time to just give up, pack up and leave. We just really hoped :) it would be easier... doesn't everyone! :) He is working like crazy during his normal work day, then has to come over and try to fix a toilet, and then deal with neighbors who feel like threatening him will get him to stop what we are trying to do.

Either way, please pray that the Lord continue to make clear which steps to follow and there will be clarity in ALL of our decisions!!

Love you guys!!!

a wildlife adventure

Last night Brian had come over to my house after work to try to fix my toilet... this toilet has not been working since I moved in a couple weeks ago and has become a big pain! That is neither here nor there in this story... so, around 7 pm I walked him out front to his car. We were chatting and saying good night when Brian stopped talking and gasped... we looked over toward the shed (maybe 50 feet away) and there were two adult coyotes just walking by. My roommate Megan had mentioned last week that she has seen coyotes on our property some mornings as she is getting ready for work but I had not seen them yet. Then a third coyote followed not too far behind. They stopped and looked at us for just a moment... then went on their way. However, it was fun because all the bunnies came leaping in our direction. So, I got to enjoy more cute cotton-tail sightings!!

SO COOL!

nothing new

So... there really isn't anything new to share but I wanted to share these two pictures from right outside my front window. Isn't it gorgeous!!

Here you are looking at the Catalinas...

notice the full moon on the right hand side... it is so vibrant from my view...

Enjoy!

My beautiful smile...

...as most of you remember it...

...is no longer beautiful. :(

((PS: This is the closest thing to a sad face I could find in all of my pictures... it just turns out I am just too happy too much of the time!))


Anyway, today I went to the dentist to get two teeth filled. That is right my friends... two cavities; ie: no longer a beautiful mouth.
I have prided myself on 25 years of strong healthy teeth. And just like with everything else, I move to AZ and things just start to fall apart! :)

Apparently, it has nothing to do with the fluride in the water as I tried to blame it on. The dental hygenist said that if I have been going through a lot of stress lately that could have something to do with. Ironic... I think not. Same findings with my doctors visit last week. I had felt sickly for a while and couldn't figure out what was really wrong. I thought allergies might have something to do with it. It turns out the cause... stress.

So, now I am really focusing on the positives of everything I can. I am trying to find the joy in Tucson, the joy in work, the joy in a new roommate, the joy in a swamp cooler (be thankful for air conditioning, those of you who have it... that's all I can say about that), a new home and the fabulous most wonderful boyfriend in the whole stinkin' entire world!!!

I still have to go in on September 7th to have a wisdom tooth extracted but I am figuring that won't be completely awful. How in the world is that, you wonder... because I am trying to look at the positives of everything, silly!! Don't you remember the last paragraph! :)

Love... even with no-longer-perfect-teeth
The cath

An yet another update...

PRAISE THE LORD!!! I am finally completely 100% moved out (and moved on) of the place I have called home for the last year. This past weekend I was able to move the last of my belongings from the apartment to Megan and my house!! (**Actually this is Brian's house that he is graciously allowing us to live in... as long as we keep it clean... I don't think he has anything to worry about!**) Megan and I have pretty much made the house a home. We have cable/Internet up and running. The swamp cooler is pumping cool air as much as it can (not much) and we have every single fan up and running 24/7. It is over 100 degrees out side and inside it has to at least be 85... there isn't much we can do without AC... another thing to be thankful for. Over the last year I have become SO appreciative of running water, cold water, clean water, air conditioning in cars, and now AC in homes. :)

It has been monsoon-ing a lot lately which means more humidity in the air which means swamp coolers don't work as well. However, with the monsoons abounding at this time of year this means fabulous weather to watch. Here are a couple of pretty pictures... and please allow me to preface... these pictures do not do justice to visual seeing the storms rolling in. You look out your windows to gorgeous mountains... five minutes later they are complete covered with the fluffiest clouds you have ever seen... 10 minutes later everything is gray and it becomes very windy outside.

Here is a sunset view from my front yard.

another pretty view with the cactus (also in the front yard)

A storm beginning to come in.



On to another topic.
I live in the desert. I think everyone is aware of this fact. Desert life means lots of desert wildlife. I don't mind admiring most of these animals/reptiles from a far however I have absolutely no desire AT ALL to see any up close or touch a single one of them.
Another reminder... Brian's house sits on 2 1/2 acres which means we have a lot of desert plant life and dirt surrounding every inch of our home.

Saturday afternoon my friend Shannon and I were going to run some errands and grab lunch. We were walking from the carport to her car. This is what that looks like.

Just a bunch of gravel... nothing to exciting.
Then Shannon stops.... looks down at the gravel and notices this...

This is a baby rattle snake... can you see it.
Here is a closer view.



There is a hole right by the car port that I cover up with dirt ever evening and every morning it is there again. I figured that it was a snake hole but this proves I ain't too crazy!

God bless the desert... as long as I don't find one of the suckers in the house or by a door I think I'll be okay.

Later! :)

Vegas fun

Brian and I had a wonderful time in Las Vegas visiting with some of his wonderful college friends Pete and Nina. Nina and I did a lot of shopping and a WHOLE lot of walking! Brian and Pete gambled a little and enjoyed each others company so much. Here are some pictures... though I did not get near as many as I would have liked... alas.

The best boyfriend in the whole wide world!!

and another...

Nina and Pete doing the Chicken Dance at the Hoffbrau(?) House



And in a recent blog I was talking about the weather. These pictures do not do it justice but this is just a little look of the clouds coming in while driving...

...you can see the cloud coverage coming over my apartment (middle to top right) and the crystal clear blue sky that is being covered (middle left)

same thing here... the weather was beautiful outside my door at my apartment but you can see the dark clouds moving in from a distance over the mountains!

God bless the monsoons!