4th of july

The days leading up to the 4th of July were insane. I had two buyers in from out of town and was rushing around like crazy with them. I met one on Friday at 9 and was with her till 3, then on Saturday I met her again at 8am and was with her till about 2, then I had to swing by a clients house in Gilbert and then from there I headed up to Scottsdale to pick up another buyer who I was with till just about 8pm. On the morning of the 4th I even met up with one of them again till about 12:30. But, it was totally worth it, both were so cool to drive around with and both of them made offers on homes, one is in escrow, the other we will hopefully know by Monday.


By 1:30 I was with the boys at the pool enjoying the warm weather and taking it easy. Chan and his lady came by for a while and kept us company till about 4. I was exhausted so we napped for ever and didn't leave the house to see fireworks till 8:30, they started at 9!

Traffic down Scottsdale road towards the 202 was blocked off so we took the detour west bound on Curry, definitely the right choice. The streets were lined with cars and we thought for sure we'd miss the show. I even downloaded a Fireworks app for my phone for Espen, ha!!

We headed south on Priest and right around Rio Salado we saw a ton of cars pulling into a dirt lot turned rogue parking lot. We parked our car and hoofed it for 15 minutes till we reached another barrier nearing the Tempe Town Lake. But seriously, right as we got there the fireworks started, directly in front of us. Perfect! We left during the finale and made it back to the lot right as the last car was pulling out so we had next to no traffic to deal with. It could not have worked out better. Although, I think the best part of the night was when we hit up Super Burrito so we could stuff our faces with enchiladas, tacos and quesadillas! hah!

Happy belated 4th of July!



{sun bathing self portrait}


{jeremy making a splash}


{jeremy, chan, espen & the 'dorka' whale}


{chicken fighters}


{starting to get tired}


{fireworks}


{super burrito, super tired}

camping-part one

When Jeremy asked if I wanted to go camping this weekend I think I yelled "YES!" before he even got the '...end' out.

Something about my busy 4th of July weekend made we want to escape for a bit. So on Friday morning we packed up big fancy and headed off to Camp Geronimo north-east of Payson. With a couple of pit stops on the way out we were on the road by 9am, which was an amazingly early start for us.

What better way to start off a road trip than a trip to McDonald's & Starbucks...but seriously, how many drinks did we need?
One of the many reasons why I love this man, he can camp, and I mean camp. If it weren't for me and Espen he'd be out there with just his MRE's, his tent and his guns. But, since we were with him he cooked us yummy breakfasts and dinners, made me tons of coffee and did most if not all of the heavy duty camping 'work'. By the way, note his 'smile'...looks a bit like someone else I know.
While Jeremy got the site set up for us Espen and I went out on one of what ended up to be our MANY trips to the creek. The camp site backs right up to it so a quick little hop down a hill you go and voila, running water, craw dads, bugs, bugs and more bugs. It was a bit warm during the afternoon up there so if ever I felt a bit warm I'd run down to the creek and dip my little towell in the water then use it around my neck, on my arms and legs...but kept it away from my mouth. Who the heck knows what kind of organisms live in that river. Oh wait, I think Jeremy knows. I suggested to him on one of our walks along the creek that he should dip his shirt in the water, it had been a day and a half of me dunking my towel in and I was fine. So, Jeremy takes his shirt off and does one quick swipe with it in the water, pulls it out and then says something like 'oh shit' or something to that effect. All over his white t-shirt were teeny tiny little worm type things, no bigger than little pieces of dirt, except the only difference was, these little specks were moving, crawling all over his shirt. It was SO disgusting. What the heck were they! One would stand up and kind of crawl backwards, like an inchworm and we couldn't help but think what would it do in your stomach if you drank that water. We headed up creek to where we usually start our walks, which is also where I dunk my towel so that Jeremy could rinse those little buggers off. Needless to say, that white shirt hung on a tree for the next day and night, far away from Jeremy's skin.



How awesome is our Eureka, all seasons Assault! tent. It has a front and back door, it's super ventilated and really roomy. Jeremy took his time setting it up and properly covering it with the rain fly, all the while I was telling him 'Really? You think it's going to rain? Seriously?'

A view down the creek, we had tons of fun hopping from rock to rock, trying to keep our feet dry (which Espen wasn't very good at, which was pretty entertaining). The terrain is pretty crazy, rocks, logs, pebbles...you name it, we hopped across it.

The creek is loaded with Craw Dads. We're thinking about catching some next time to eat, although neither one of us wants to be the one to actually prepare them, haha. But they are all over the place, big ones, little ones, dead one that have been half eaten by other animals.

While on a walk, Jeremy presented me with 'Paysonvise', who lived with us all weekend in our tent, pretty little flower.

{happy campers}

Ah, my wet shammy towel. How you made my days so nice and cool. I will always remember how clean you kept me and how helpful you were when it came time for Espen to enter the tent, you were right there to dust him off. Thank you shammy towel for not getting little tiny worms on you. I can't thank you enough.



{on his way to 'fish'}

{fishing time}

Reason No. 538 why I love my car. Big Fancy, you really are a great camping buddy.


Can we just talk about the forest and bugs for a minute. I know the bugs are there. I know they love to come out at night, but this time, it was something else. There were bugs all over the place. It must have had something to do with the rain. Oh ya, did I mention it rained on us. All night long, while we were in our tent, you know, the tent that Jeremy put the rain fly on while I was making fun of him, ya, that one. Well yes, it rained and with the rain came this creepy guy among others.  The photo above is what Espen saw from inside the tent. I should have put my finger next to it so you could see how big it was, it was about the size of my pinky...not to big, but big enough for a creepy crawly with even bigger antennae.

I shoved the camera outside the tent where Jeremy was so he could snap a pick of the bug and then give the camera back to Espen and I so we could see what was on the other side of the shadow that we saw from inside.  So gross. And that was just one of the strange bugs we saw this weekend. Egh, shivers.
There is more camping fun to come...

summer time!

It's been a while since my last post. I have been SO busy I can't even catch my breath sometimes, but it's been an incredible month and a half since I left the cubicle. The twins have kept me moving in the right direction and I can't thank them enough! Life right now is so sweet. I'm loving it.


Another thing I love, Summer in Arizona. I love summer time. I love the heat, I love the sun and I especially love it when I can bake in it...swim in it...and share this time with Jeremy & Espen. (and allison, of course)

We've been a bit busy this summer so we've only made it to the pool a handful of times but there is still plenty of time to use it, we live in AZ after all.


{looks like i'm giving birth, angry face and all. hahaha}


{looks like his avoiding the sun}


{he looks so handsome}