Recent Adventures - Heffelfinger Style

The past two weekends we have been blessed with some decent weather. (Finally). So Sam and Kona and I took advantage of it and had ourselves some good ol' outdoor adventure time.

First off, we packed up the bikes and headed out towards Sycamore Canyon for some easy dirt road riding. Nothing too technical, just the wind in your face and a little dust in your hair.

Our next adventure involved a little more planning, sustenance, and water :) Sam mapped out a 20 mile backpacking trip for us in the canyon just over from where we had been riding in the photos above. It was my first time relying solely on the items in my pack for an overnighter - I was a little afraid of forgetting something vital...like water or food...kidding. But Sam was very prepared and had lists of items and food packed and ready two nights before we left.

We also packed Kona's backpack so she carried her own water and food - she's such a trooper! This is the pack that we have for her - thanks to a our wedding registery :) she loves it and it's worked really well for us, if you're looking to get one for your pooch.

As you can see, Sam was the photographer on this trip - since there is maybe 3 photos of him total...ooops.

 

Thankfully we made it through the night (no bears..lions, or tigers...whew!) after a hearty meal of Parmesan pasta and sausage. Oh, and some smores...can't camp with out those!

And the next morning we hiked about 2.5 miles to a trailhead for Secret Mountain, then switched to the Loy Trail.

Well I guess you can't really read the sign... but it took 3 takes to get that picture!

And that, my friends, was the last photo taken on this trip. We were suffering from blisters, and it was hot, and lots of thorny things to watch out for, (gosh darn desert!) so the camera stayed put away. But the good news is we made it back to the truck in time for some Dairy Queen, and a quick stop off at Oak Creek in Sedona to swim and play some fetch. 

It was a great weekend, a lovely way to spend some quality time with the hubs and my favorite furry friend. 

Have you been on any great adventures lately? Let me know in the comments!

Monday-Tuesdays + Rambling

Today is one of those days affectionately known as a Monday-Tuesday (mostly by my Mom and I), in other words it's a Tuesday that feels like a Monday.

I've always been a fan of Monday-Tuesdays, obviously because that meant that I had a 3 day weekend to enjoy, but now that I'm a workin' woman, it means only a 4 day work week! That's pretty exciting.

It was a glorious Labor Day weekend here, Sam and I spent Friday night at home watching Super 8. I was skeptical about this movie at first, I'm really not a sci-fi fan, neither is Sam, but we both really enjoyed it, and I would recommend it for a good family movie. 

Saturday we drove up to a spot near a little city called Valle, it's on the road to the Grand Canyon. We spent the morning and afternoon with our good friends cutting firewood, getting ready for the quickly approaching fall and winter...ugh. I've already had to break into my sweaters for my early morning commute to work.

It was a hard day's work filling up our trailer with firewood, but we're hoping to keep our heating bill down by using our fireplace a lot this winter.

This has become our favorite thing ever! We've made 3 batches already, and all of them are yummy! We'll probably be using it well into the winter! I whipped up some for dessert on Saturday night, and between 5 of us, we finished the whole thing! Can you tell what it is???

And Sunday we took a drive out in the woods and discovered this beautiful place, and yes, that's a cliff, about 200 feet of vertical drop beneath us, don't worry, we made it without falling off :)

The rest of the weekend was low-key, cleaning the house, rearranging our back room (we still have boxes of stuff with no home left over from moving). I even got a little sewing done :) I found these awesome pink pom poms on clearance at WalMart of all places! So I embellished my plain blue tea towel!

The Floral and Ivory shop did really well this weekend, lots of people came and looked around, I'll be trying to add some new products this weekend, so keep your eyes out, and don't forget that the %15 off runs out on Saturday! Also, about 80% of the products are can be customized to fit you, so if you see something you like, but don't LOVE, contact me and we can design something just for you!

Waiting for my hubby to come home

Many of you may know about Sam's passion for hunting. Many of you also may know that he has the hunt of his lifetime beginning October 1st. This weekend, (which also happened to be our 2 week anniversary... not that I'm counting) was his first time out scouting for the hunt, and thus our first weekend apart as a married couple.

Though Sam is my BFF (Side-note: whenever I use the term "BFF" I feel like I'm 12 years old all over again) time apart from each other is something that I believe is very healthy for a relationship. Though I miss him dearly, time apart allows me time to

1) do some girly things that I know drives him nuts 

2) remember why  I love being around him so much

So, this weekend I had some training classes to go to for the Group Exercise classes that I teach for NAU, I sewed a gorgeous pillow, met up with my female BFF, Ashley, to go hiking, and did a little shopping for some new fall clothes! 

(Another Side-note: Where did summer go? I hate to admit that I'm looking forward to fall, but I feel like the summer just flew by on a jet plane and left me in it's dust. Does it feel that way for everyone?)

Do you like my pillow? I spent all Saturday afternoon cutting, and sewing, and stuffing. It was drizzly outside, so it was the perfect way to spend some of the day. Plus, now I have one less ugly pillow on my couch, and one more pretty one!

Kona got this snazzy new backpack as a wedding gift, and WE LOVE IT! She can carry her own water and food now, and she got this crazy idea that she became SuperDog with it on!

The hike that we did was in Sedona, AZ called Devil's Bridge. Ashley, her sister, and Sierra came up from Phoenix for the morning. It was an quick 2 mile round trip hike to a natural arch which you can actually walk across.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on in this picture. 

But anyway, that was how I spent my first weekend away from my hubby! Sam will be home tonight, we didn't talk much over the weekend because he was in spots that didn't have very good cell service. I'm excited to see him! 

Ok, so here's some news that I'd like to share with everyone. I've decided on a new name for the blog! I'm really excited to share it with you, but there are some other things that are going to  be happening with the change. 

First of all, I've decided to open an Etsy store, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Etsy, it's basically an online marketplace where people, like me, can open an online store and sell virtually whatever we'd like. In my store I'll be selling my sewing creations and other items that could be used for home decor, wedding decor, party decor, whatever-place-you-want-to-decorate decor. 

Now, how does my blog and the store have anything to do with each other? 

Well, it's all about YOU, really. In order for my store to be successful, it needs customers, and to get customers, it needs people to know about its existence. My blog already has a solid following of readers and I already post about all my creations and home decor and whatnot, so this blog will soon be the gateway to my Esty store. 

Whoa, let me back up for a second. I keep saying MY, MY Etsty store, MY blog. Let's be real, this is a space about Sam and I. And it will remain that way, I promise. Sam is my Esty Store Business Partner, and obviously he is also the topic of 50% of this blog. So, it's not MINE, it's OURS. 

The plan is, the blog will be the place to show you our life, the inspiration behind the products that we sell. From our home, to our dog, to the things we spend our time doing, the products will all be items that speak from our hearts, and we hope to yours too. Blog readers will know about products and discounts and special items before they are posted on Etsy, so as a customer, you have a real advantage by being a reader! But don't worry, those types of posts will only be a small percentage of what we put on the blog. The rest of the blog will remain as is! 

Enough with the rambling! The goal is to have the blog changed to the new name, and the store opened by September 1st. But that's only 6 days away, I've got a lot of work left to do! So keep your eyes open for the changes, and when you see a new friend request on Facebook from me make sure to join! 

Ok, for real. That's it. Have a restful Sunday, and we'll be seeing you soon!