Category Archives: Amazeballs

Happy 2nd Birthday Simplywe!

I’m supposed to be doing my homework, so naturally I am using this time to check my email, fb and simplywe.  And though I wish I was still doing my homework and didn’t have the attention span of a gnat, I’m glad I checked because I almost missed Simplywe’s birthday!  SW came to be 2 years ago today!

I have been so busy with everything else in my life, I didn’t plan anything.  This should be where I put a montage of some of my favorite photos, but if I get lost in looking at old photos now, I’ll never do my homework.  I must fight the procrastination…clearly I am not as successful as I would like.

So instead I will share hiking photos, and a few from my solo trip to Prescott.

I took all of these with my iPhone, as I sent my Canon to Keegan in Germany.  I think he will get more use out of it than I will, since I haven’t used it in months.  The iPhone is so much more convenient.

These 1st 3 are from my trip to Prescott.

It rained and rained and rained the whole time I was there, mostly misty rain.  It was beautiful.  The fog was intense.  This fog was at 4 in the afternoon.

This one is from the hike we took at orientation.  How many colleges go on a hike as part of orientation?  I think I have chosen wisely.

The other weekend Der and I took a 5.2 mile hike in Tucson Mountain Park.

These are from our new favorite part of the park.

I don’t know why this one is so grainy, but I sure do love that guy!

The small upcropping of buildings, in the far off distance, is downtown Tucson.

Der and I make a good hiking team.

The rest of these are from various hiking trips.

Bug loves her hikes.

I’ve painted several batches of rocks and left them in random places on the trail.

I like to imagine the finders curious smile when they wonder who did that.

Happy Birthday Simplywe!

I heart Tucson!

 

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Filed under Adventures, Amazeballs, Celebrate, Everything else, Making Memories, Natural Happenings, Petz on Parade, With Gratitude

All Souls Procession 2012

I’ve wanted to participate in Tucson’s All Souls Procession for several years, but could never follow through, until this year.

If you don’t know what the All Souls Precession is click here for the history.  It was actually created by one of my drawing teachers in college, over 20 years ago.  It has grown with each passing year and is now HUGE, like-miles-long-HUGE!

It’s a wonderful way to honor those you love, who have gone on before you.

There is walking art EVERYWHERE!  Every float is human powered.  It was hard to get a lot of photos during the procession, but here are a few.

As I said this was our first year, and though I knew it would be amazing, I was a little intimidated and unsure of what to expect.

I found out one of  the great things about the procession is that you can move freely through it, if you want to step out and take a break you can, and then you jump right back in whenever you’re ready.  Because Ami’s legs get tired quickly these days (all that supersonic growing) we mostly watched.

I painted all of our faces.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I just kind of winged it.  Ami and Conrad were the hardest, because they’re twitchy and squiggly and move all over no matter how hard they try to hold still.

I like how they turned out, and judging by all of the people taking our photos at the procession, so did everyone else.

Driving in the car to the procession.  I pulled down the visor to check my makeup and a yellow butterfly fluttered out.

Derek and I both got teary eyed and I said “Hello Benny”.  It was such a beautiful moment and I will treasure it forever!  Thank you for staying with us always, Benny.  You are thought about and loved every single day!

We can’t wait to honor Benny next year with pink flying piggies.

The All Souls Procession was such an uplifting experience!  I am glad we finally made it there and we will be back every year from now on!!!  If you ever get the chance to go, don’t hesitate, just do it!  You’ll be glad you did.

 

 

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Filed under Amazeballs, Everything else, Family, Feeling Fartsy, Making Memories

Sunflowers, Cornbread, and Apple Pie…Oh My

Sunflowers!

Sunflowers and cornbread!!

Derek made his first apple pie from scratch!  YUM!!!  Just one of the MANY reasons we’ve been married for so long…he bakes!  I don’t bake, I cook.  We make the perfect pair.

Seriously delicious!

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Filed under Amazeballs, Get In My Belly, Natural Happenings, With Gratitude

I Dub Thee, Gigantor!

Gigantor! with and exclamation point because he was easily the largest grasshopper I’ve ever seen.

He was seriously huge.  And super handsome.  The undersides of his wings were vibrant pink!

Der, Conrad, and I took turns holding him, I don’t think he cared for it.

I love Conrad’s expression, when the grasshopper leapt off of his shoulder.

He was super excited and also a little freaked out.

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Filed under Amazeballs, Natural Happenings

Trail Riding In Pinetop

Trail riding together as a family was so much fun.

Der taught the boys to skip rocks at a little watering hole.  We saw bear tracks right at the waters edge.

Conrad and I missed the memo telling us that is was green T-shirt day.

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Filed under Adventures, Amazeballs, Family, Making Memories, Natural Happenings, On The Cheap, Rodents aka kids

On the way to our Pinetop adventure

We rented a cabin/house in Pinetop/Lakeside last week.  Here are some photos from the drive there…sorry if you’ve already seen some of them on FB.

Is this some sort of rose?  They look like baby apples with green crowns.

 

The shot below is a closeup of the flowers in the above shot.

Ahhhhh….nature, how I love thee!  Oh and Instagram, I love thee too!

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Filed under Adventures, Amazeballs, Family, Making Memories, Natural Happenings

Natures Gifts

Derek and I have taken to collecting beautiful bits of nature.  We call them gifts.  Gifts that have been put in our path for us to find and adore.  I like to think of them as little cherished messages from Benny.

Der has a knack for finding dead butterflies intact.  Recently, he brought me the most beautiful one of all.

The poor thing had been stuck to a grill on one of the rental cars at Der’s work.

Isn’t it beautiful!?!

Other gifts.

At first glance I thought it was a piece of poo, but no, it’s a GIANT empty cocoon.  Now that I know it’s not poo, I think it looks like something out of a scifi movie.

We found these feathers at the zoo, but I have no idea what birds they are from.

Polka dots are just cool!

Every time I see a butterfly I say “hi” to Benny.  Before he passed I told him he could send us messages with butterflies and rainbows, and so he does…and hearts too.

This is a piece of bark.  I found on the ground just waiting for me to see it.

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Filed under Amazeballs, Natural Happenings, Rodents aka kids

Rockets!

Jeremia scored a rocket set at Goodwill.  He got $50 worth of rocket gear for a whopping $3!

We went to the park and had some scientific fun with a little physical education thrown in.

He wore lab glasses to make the whole experience feel more authentically geeky.

Countdown…5…4…3…2…1…

liftoff!!!

So fantastically fun and cool and educational!  I highly recommend it.

The science part is launching the rocket.  The P.E. part is running to catch it all the way across the park as it parachutes down.

While they were chasing the last rocket I snapped this shot of the gorgeous sky.

 

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Filed under Amazeballs, Rodents aka kids, Thrifting

Quack Attack!

My wonderful, thoughtful, amazing, sweet, and fun aunt Sandy surprised us with ducklings.

We named them Sandy and Donny, after her and my uncle.

I have to tell you black ducklings are difficult to photograph.  Their tiny black eyes get lost in all the black fluff.

This is Donny.

This is Sandy.

They are adorable

and fun.

Ducks make great pets and give you yummy eggs.

We have no idea if Sandy and Donny are boys, girls or one of each.

I hope we have one of each.

I can’t wait to watch them grow.

Thanks Sandy!

 

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Filed under Amazeballs, Natural Happenings, Petz on Parade, With Gratitude

How To Keep Your Kids Happy And Quiet For A Few Hours

With a house full of kids, in the middle of summer vacation, contented quiet is in short supply.  If you are a mom you know what I’m talking about, and I’m happy to offer a break for your overstimulated ears and joy for your stir crazy kids. Use the quiet time to return phone calls, pay bills, or peruse Pinterest, which coincidentally is where I found this idea.

You need:

Paper to cover your table

Vinegar

Food Coloring

Baking Soda

Pyrex dishes or cake pans

Droppers-if you’re like me and don’t have droppers just use…

Straws!  I cut 5 straws in half so their were two straws per color.  Every kid who has ever used a straw, knows how to pick fluid up with them.

I gave the boys a super quick demonstration.  It’s pretty straight forward.  Pick colored vinegar up with straw, drop it on dish of baking soda, then ooh and aah at the coolness.

It’s so pretty.

They had a blast.  The house hasn’t  been that quiet since school got out.

They played happily for almost 2 hours and would have played longer, but we had errands to run.

Clean up was a cinch.  The dishes rinsed right out.  The paper protected my table, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have 2 or 3 layers of paper down though.  And I wouldn’t do it the day of anything important, because their hands were stained for the day.

Enjoy the silence!

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Filed under Amazeballs, Entertain Me, Family, Making Memories, On The Cheap, Rodents aka kids