Keep It Simple

As of August, we have been official Arizonians for 3 years! Seems kind of crazy that it's been that long. We have all learned a lot about the west. So, in celebration of our 3 year Arizonniversary here are a few things Arizona has taught us... about survival.  1. Get up early. From about May-September if we want to run, hike, ride the horses, swim at the pool, really anything outdoors we are up the the flipping crack of dawn because any other time of the day is miserable. When it isn't the heat of the summer, the evenings are pretty decent. And when people say, "oh it's a dry heat out there though, so that's probably not so bad", I literally laugh out loud. Before we moved here people had told us the dry heat isn't so bad {you know who you are}. So we stupidly went out to the barn to clean stalls in 120 degrees. I thought the hot breeze was going to melt my eye balls. And then we were both sick with chills the rest of the day. Now, under 105 degrees,

"We make loving people a lot more complicated than Jesus did".  A quote from the new book from Bob Goff called "Everybody, Always". Jesus loved everyone and continues to love everyone. He tells us to love our enemies. He tells us if we do not have love, then we have NOTHING. I've always thought, 'well, it's a good thing I don't have any enemies. I'll just skip over that message'. But maybe He didn't just mean enemies {like Harry Potter and Voldemort or Darth Vader and Luke}, maybe he also meant people who are difficult, people we just really do not like, people that have different opinions than us. I'm just going to be honest, it's hard for me to love people. I mean, I truly love my group of friends, my family, and people who are pleasant to be around- but what about the people I try to avoid, people who are just plain rude, or negative, or have thoughts and opinions that I can never understand? I have to love them too

We decided we needed to get out of the valley for a few days {with summer quickly approaching and tempts reaching the 90's}, so we packed up and went to Payson for the weekend. I highly recommend going to see the Natural Bridge, pictures do not do it justice.  And I'm pretty dang impressed with Andy for hiking all day with this baby pack. It is seriously not as easy as it looks. I've got to start training...  Raja clearly had the time of her life. {per usual} We are so excited that little man is big enough to ride in the baby pack! And I'm excited Andy is able to haul the baby pack.  Raja is just excited about dirt and water {mud}.  Happy Monday, everyone. Thanks for reading :) 

Yes, we are still here, alive and well in Arizona- with an all new blog page! Life is going pretty great. Andy is almost in the clinic and I am finishing up my last few weeks of work! May is going to be a big life changer for us and we are so excited for it. We're getting into the routine of the parent life, I'd say pretty well. The last 2 weeks we have gotten at least 7 hours of sleep a night! So kind of feeling like a boss right now; compliments to the baby boy- thanks for that. I've been debating a lot lately on where to go with this blog... I originally started it to keep up with our adventures in Arizona. I must say, I do enjoy going back and reading old posts and remembering all the fun times {and difficult times} we have had. However, I have decided I do not want my baby's entire life posted on blogger world for all of man kind to see- so I am going to keep the blog for memories, adventures, and thoughts but I am keeping the baby pictures to a min