Mount Lemmon Take 2

Friday night, Erinstacy (friend from Boston that now lives in Phoenix), drove down to have a girl's night/ sleepover since Ryan was in LA recording! We made a great dinner and sat on the back patio for hours chit-chatting away.
Saturday morning we packed a picnic and drove up Mount Lemmon to go for a picnic and a hike. Our hike turned into more of a rock climbing adventure because we wanted to get what we were sure had to be the best view on the mountain...and I actually think it very well may be the best view...getting to and from the 'best view' though, is a wee bit challenging... :)

Destination...


View...


The climb down...



Survivors...

Block Party!

About a month ago I listened to a podcast sermon from the Vineyard (our church in Boston). The topic was on being a host, and even moreso, being a host to those you might not even know. During the sermon, they interviewed a woman from the church who had a party for her entire street (Clarendon Street) in Boston! That is a big feat because there are many apartment buildings with many people living in each building...she had over a hundred people attend, most of which she had never met before! And, it went so well that they have since had other get togethers since then.
(If you'd like to listen to the sermon, http://vcfcaudio.bostonvineyard.org/podcast/vcfgb-podcast.html it's the sermon from March 18th by Christopher Greco.)

This sermon really inspired me to want to get to know our neighbors more. Last night, we invited the neighbor kids over for pizza and to watch "Night at the Museum". Then, today we had a block party/brunch for everyone on our street...it was soo great! There were about 20 people who came, and most stayed to the end, or even past the stated "ending time". One of the woman on our street who has lived here for 30 years, said it was the first block party that the street has had in 28 years!

It was super easy to do, and a lot of fun. So, if you have neighbors that you haven't met...I'm encouraging you to throw a block party! :)
The neighbors who came are already scheming a street garage sale for later this summer, and a BBQ for the fall!

Our invitations...


The spread...


Some of the people...

Cinco de Mayo!

Last week I dog-sat for Lily and Stanley.


They are quite possibly two of the most spoiled dogs I've ever met. They only drink filtered or bottled water, they eat homemade organic casseroles (or, if they won't eat that, they go to Arby's for a roast beef sandwich), they have doggy car seats (which I'm actually an advocate of b/c it keeps the dogs from jumping around while you're driving), they go for a walk every morning and to the dog park every afternoon, Stanley has a stroller that he gets pushed in on walks b/c he has bad joints, they have more toys and play houses than most children I know...but, wouldn't you know, I've fallen for them and love dog-sitting!

Stanley at the dog park...


Lily in her car seat...


This past weekend, Melissa graduated!!! Her family came into town from San Francisco to celebrate with her at the commencement ceremony and her graduation party!


And, of course there was a full mariachi band present for the ceremony/cinco de mayo celebration! :)


On Sunday, I ran in a 'seis' de mayo 10k! I don't get it...all the places I run around my house are as flat as can be, but every single race I've done since moving out here is filled with hills! :) It was a beautiful run out near the western mountain range of Tucson.