noodles and pins

well, well, well.
life is outrageous.
all of the time.
and mostly, that's excellent.

our trip home was so wonderful! we had a close call friday night when we were finally getting close to home-P's 1st Sgt called at midnight as we drove through merced with 2 hours to go to tell us that there were two missing radios and that the battalion was to report to formation at 0730 saturday morning. Needless to say, hoards of marines had already flown home for their 96. After a long night/morning of worrying that we'd have to turn around and go back, it was finally decided that anyone further than 300 miles could stay where they were. phew! it would have been so terrible to go back with less than 4 hours of rest.

on a positive note: Wilson got along so well with all of his cousin-dogs, and probably taught them a little something too:) Patrick and i had such a wonderful time with our family, and couldn't stop talking on the drive home about how much we missed being close to all of them! we are so blessed with such supportive and enjoyable people, it's always especially hard to drive away again.

i also got to spend an awesome morning with my oldest and dearest friend Anna on monday. she brought her golden retriever Henry and we walked the dogs, and took them swimming (Wilson was a champ!) We had bagels and shared coffee over lots of catch-up chat. it was lovely!

Henry & Wilson

our fourth of july was spent BBQ'ing at Roweheadquarters with all of those lovely people, fireworks and Dave's tri-tip included! we stayed at Grandma Letty's cabin in Lakemont, so the two of us wandered down to the lake on saturday night to watch the fireworks that i remember so vividly lighting myself a few years back. it was such a relaxing couple of days, and we were so bummed to be back in the hot desert!

the little mini-fireworks:)

the caterpillar Wilson and i found on our walk

Reggie's Reggie-sized bone

swimming time...

an attempt to recreate the first shot to see how much he's grown!

lion yawn

dorks.

desert rainbow!

our food tasting went wonderfully, our engagement photos were SO fun to take, and i can't wait to see the rest of them!

spending the day packing up most of that life to drive it another 9.5 hours north to hang out in the mountains for a month while P is off training in the miserably hot desert. despite the high temps lately, we had a killer thunder/lightening/rain/flash flood storm for a few hours yesterday afternoon, JUST in time for the hubby to get off early and come home to calm me and the dog down :) it was probably the most exciting thing that's happened since we've moved here, which says a lot about how little there is to do.

cloudy mountains

watching the storm come closer

our flooded yard

water water water

anyway, back to the grass and the trees and the rivers tomorrow morning, where Wilson can recommence his dog-playing practice, eat some leaves, and romp all day long! i'm looking forward to spending some time up there with family and friends during the Sierra Nevada's best time of year (in my opinion).
i'll have plenty to do between coffee dates, book reading (will be much more enjoyable when i'm not sweating all over the place), a beautiful friend's wedding, some dress shopping of my own, and plenty of trips to freezing cold water. it's going to be fantastic!
in other news, during our photographic expedition this last weekend, my friend Amber turned me on to an incredible website: pinterest. the whole site is dedicated to dog-earing/bookmarking/saving/loving/compiling photos of everything you could possibly love. it's best explained as a bulletin board, where you "pin" your favorites. i have 7 boards already :) it's hopelessly addicting, but incredible for anyone who wishes they could tear out the pages they find online like they do with the ones in their magazines. all good things.
so i'm snacking on some spaghetti, clicking away on some wonderful pieces, and preparing myself for the marathon of packing ahead.
sending love out to all of you!

on the way home from the vet...