Mmmm....melon...

Our feet in the sand....

xoxo

Torn

It is well known that my family is the most important thing in my life.  Hands down, game over.

Toasting with tortillas

That's Alex down on the floor....

The unfortunate thing is that my loves live all over the country and in no places that offer the sunshine and beauty that make me happiest as a person....

The beach

 The back yard at 935 W Micheltorena St, our home this week

 As unbelievable as this sounds, this is how *all* of Santa Barbara looks.  It's incredible!

And so I'm torn.  For now, I'll keep traveling until I learn the answer!

xoxo

And again....

I know I say this all the time on the blog, and forgive me (or stop reading) for saying it again: I love my family. All of us, in every way. I don't know how I got so blessed, but I did and I'm trying to treasure it.  It has been a dramatic 2 days thus far, but we're looking forward to a great rehearsal day.

"The ladies who lunch" at the Biltmore Hotel, Montecito

xoxo

Getting to know you

We're a big family.  We know it.  So when it comes to meeting new people, we find that taking us in smaller doses in beautiful places with great food sometimes helps.  To that end, Mom and Dad hosted dinner at their big house last night and invited Christian's parents to come meet us.  It was delicious!  And so much fun to have everyone together.

 Relaxing in the evening

Cool girl

Not my best panoramic photo, but past the tree line is Santa Barbara and past that is the ocean.  Really, really beautiful!

Today will be a girls' day: so exciting!

xoxo

Happiness is...

"I miss you Mom!!"

Just enjoying the people I love

xoxo

Simon and Garfunkle tribute

 I got to see Ashley and Mark, Kristen, and the kids.  It was so fun, and great to be loved by forever friends.

He has no idea what's coming...

"Naomi Bell" necklace.  It will be official as of September 17!

Thank goodness for kitty Ativan!  We only had one mishap and met some very nice, helpful people 

Pootz is feeling much better and settling into his big house and Arizona weather.

Now to pack for a wonderful wedding and fun week!

xoxo

Monsoon Season

It builds and builds and then....

I was going to go on a little hike yesterday, but not in lightening! Arizona is pretty cool :-D

xoxo

Travel...

Kitty ativan is a godsend. So far, so good!

Big Boy

Resting up before our trip!

I didn't know it could get this good

Making friends

Score:

Sky Harbor: 1. Naomi: 0. There was no sleep to be had on this chair.

My fun life

My fourth of July this year was very different than last year, but pretty awesome!

Company....

on my morning walk

yup, that's a tarantula.  According to the online bug forums, tarantulas somehow sense rain and seek higher ground to avoid being drowned.  He was big, so I didn't put anything down for scale.  Yikes!

xoxo

traffic

My evening commute

xoxo

Wide open spaces

It is so interesting here: when it rains, you can actually see it coming off of the clouds because it is so open here.  I took these on our way home from Flagstaff.  We could smell and see the rain, but none of it reached the ground!

xoxo

Humphreys....ha

Yep, got laughed at by a mountain this weekend.  We set out late to Humphreys and (unsurprisingly) took an unintended detour getting there and didn't begin our hike until 10.  Around 12:30, after some sprinkles and ominous clouds, we saw lightening on the peak and decided that, with an hour and a half (at least) to go to get to the top, we should cut our losses.  We stopped to have lunch with a girl who had hit her head (her hiking partner went on without her!) and then headed back.  The mountain will be there next year....

 No, I don't think so....

That peak is the "saddle": half an hour's hike away, with at least an hour to go to the actual top.

I'm not brave enough to hike *into* lightening

Lunch!

 The storm started to blow over as we headed down....

Thankfully, it isn't hard to enjoy a beautiful place with a good friend!

Humphreys, laughing

xoxo