Summa-Random, Summa-Greatness

Summer is full of long nights, days spent being lazy (not hardly actually), lots of playing and so much more. In a word: Randomness.

So I share with you, some randomness over the last few months. Part 1, anyway.

Have you found a Girl Scouts Coffee Creamer? You need to!

Decided it was time, and chopped my  hair off. New change

I donated my hair to help children in need of hair for wigs.

The sunrises + clouds are so beautiful this time of year.

Even without clouds, still a pretty way to start the day.

Playtime is serious business over here! So is his cuteness :)

Drool. S'mores bars.

Chobani Champions yogurt for breakfast

Pool time playing outside.

{Fall into Autumn: Northern Arizona}

Some things I love about Autumn are the the cool, crisp air, the leaves falling off the trees and the changing of the color of the leaves. Living in the desert with plants that don't lose their leaves, and cactus that don't exactly have leaves to lose, makes it difficult to see such things. Not to mention we just left our triple digit friends for the lower 90s a few days ago. Luckily for me, and many others that enjoy this, northern Arizona is not too far away! 

A little climb in elevation, drop in temperature about 20 degrees and a completely different climate exists. We drove up to Flagstaff last weekend and got to see some changing Aspen trees. Explored the hilly-mountainous area around Flagstaff and Jackson got his first hike in.
[Warning: Photo overload!] All from October 7.

Pinecones aren't that tasty.

Look Mom, I found dirt to play in!

Family trip success! Next on the agenda: Snow.   

Hello Arizona, The clouds are coming

The Monsoon has arrived in Arizona. Even though it may not seem like it quite yet, we're on the look out for storms. Dust storms have made us pretty newsworthy over the past year (read haboob) and some of the most amazing video, timelapse and photography have come out of it.

Here's to another active summer. But maybe a little less dust?!

These pictures are from Wednesday June 27th. Looking to the southeast.

Chicadee China, The Chinese...Cabbage?!

Officially in the 3rd trimester already...WOW! Can't believe it. Only 12 weeks to go? 3 short months? Time has been flying by ever since the nausea stopped, which I'm thankful for! 83 short days left...holy moly!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 28 Weeks on Saturday
Size of baby: size of a Chinese Cabbage?! (and weighs 2lbs 6oz and is 14.8 inches long)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Since last Dr. appt: 16 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants and shirts. Regular T-shirts are starting to fit weird are just about too tight to wear!
Gender: Baby Dewey is either a Girl or a Boy :)
Movement: I've been kicked and can feel hiccups! Now I can start feeling when Baby is changing positions. And the kicking downward is uncomfortable!!

Sleep: Have been very tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really...my regular clothes?!
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now.
Symptoms: None, have some heartburn/indigestion, hiccups for both baby and me. Can now tolerate dairy?!
Labor Symptoms: Might be starting to have Braxton-Hicks ?!
Milestone: Doctor appointment on June 15th marked my last "every-two-week-appts".
Best Moment this week: Baby kicked Josh in the head when Josh was talking to my belly :)

What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing (more) and feeling MORE and constant movement!

Looking back at this post about the progression of my belly pictures, I got a lot of responses. Thanks everyone! I had fun with it and am loving taking pictures of my belly. Though, I have forgotten a few times, and am trying to get better, it happens that most of my pictures are on my phone and taken in the bathroom. I guess next time I'll have to have a designated place and someone else to take my photos :) I'm trying to stay in the same position so each time I can see the progression. I love seeing it grow! 

In the last 2 weeks I have noticed how much heavier my belly has gotten and have, sadly, had my hands and feet swell a little bit (and...shhh...a few stretch marks!). Which now requires me to wear my wedding ring around my neck on a necklace. Takes some getting used to by not wearing it every day but I still have it with me. The swelling and shh..stretch marks...will all be worth it though!


In other news, staying cool (or trying to!) in Phoenix as we're well into the double digits in the 100's. Yes, daily highs above 110. Joy. Our overnight low temperatures have been in the 80's, and upper 80's at that. That is right, we "cool" down to around 84 degrees overnight. Lovely. Welcome to the desert!

The Monsoon - Weather for Arizona!

What's that you say? Arizona has weather? That's right! And we're just gearing up for an active weather season this summer. Arizona has a Monsoon Season, which is a lot like a severe thunderstorm season.  Starting June 15 through September 30 this denotes the Monsoon Season for the Southwest, namely Arizona. 

Temperatures during the summer here in Phoenix can get as high as 120 degrees with overnight low temperatures in the 90's. That's right, "cooling" down overnight to near 90 degrees. Yuck, I know. But with these extreme temperatures we also can see severe thunderstorms, just like the rest of you out in the plains and east of us.

Along with the start of the Monsoon, we also focus on how to avoid dangerous situations during hazardous weather events. There are many dangers about weather; heat, flash flooding, lightning, to name a few. 

This weather geek is pretty excited about the start of the season and is hoping for some good storms this summer!

Summa Time & New Hair

Summer has officially started. Well I guess not "officially" but here in Phoenix, it has warmed up enough to say it has. However, we've just barely hit the 100 degree mark, and our warmest day so far was June 5th with a high of 105. This time last year we were well into the 100's consistently day after day and on track to hit double digits above 100 toward the later part of June. So far, we've only had a handful of days actually at or just over 100. Take it while you can, because once it gets to 110+ it won't stop. So it has been nice, but odd. 

Satellite images of two large fires burning in Arizona; Smoke now spreading into mid-west states

 Also with our "warm" up, but not so warm start to summer has been the dryness. Yes, we know Arizona is a desert, but consistent days of 2-3% humidity? This has only aided in the growth and devastation of two of the large fires burning in Arizona. The Wallow fire, as shown in the above satellite image, is now grown to 389,000 acres and burning with no end in sight. It is just massive and very sad. So many people evacuated. The smoke plumes reached parts of Colorado, Wyoming and beyond. It has become the #1 fire priority in the nation, growing by the hour.

Smoke has been seen as far east as Iowa, Wyoming, Colorado. Forced planes to divert. Ash has fallen over New Mexico.

Not a great start to summer in that sense, but just a heads up as to how dry it is here in Arizona. 

 Since summer is fast approaching, so is our Monsoon Season here in the desert. I can't wait and hope we get some great storms this year! This week has been Monsoon Awareness week as we look for all of the weather hazards that will become evident this summer. 

Now on to the personal life a bit...

That's right, I've chopped my hair again. Thought it was getting a little long and wanted to change it up a little. Do something fun. Well it sure is a lot shorter now! A little shorter than I really wanted, but its grown on me and I like it. Plus, at this rate, it will be nice and long by Christmas.

The before hair picture

...And the after! Way short!

 Shorter, but I like it so far. Can't put it up in a pony tail but its so nice to dry and takes almost ZERO time to get ready in the morning (or whenever time of day I'm working!).

Action packed weekend with great friends

This weekend was such a blast! So much fun that I hadn't been on the computer to post, check, nothing all weekend since last Wednesday. Tried to take some pictures here and there but mostly enjoyed everyone. 

Josh and I were lucky enough to get a long weekend off and our friends came to visit. Josh's best friend Brian came from Colorado. It was great to see him. He'd never seen the desert or been to Arizona before (I believe?). John & Rebekah and their little guy Landon also came from Colorado to visit. We had a house full! It was so great having everyone here, I loved having the house full. We grilled out just about every night and hung out by the pool just about every single day. No sunburns here though, we did good! 

Landon is a hoot to be around! He's walking and moving and talking up a storm. He grabs things and then trys to give it to you only before he takes it away again. He was in love with chasing Lucy around the house. I'm sure she is enjoying the quietness of not having him around anymore. She was a good sport though.


We cooked up some pretty amazing things this weekend, and of course I didn't take pictures of the food. I plan to cook these again very soon, so I will post pics then. 

 We even got to go to a Phoenix Coyotes vs. Colorado Avalanche Hockey game while we were out there, little surprise from the Davis's to us. Such a great time! The Av's are our favorite team and we don't get to see them play much anymore. The Av's won too! I'm sure we were the only row of Av's fans, appropriately dressed too!


We loved having our friends come visit and can't wait to see them all again!