Arizona Adventure - Part 2

Well, it's true. Our morning flight out of Milwaukee had been canceled, with the next flight to Phoenix leaving at 3PM Saturday afternoon. (Turns out all the runways were still covered in five inches of water, and planes can't take off when they're in water.) We called the airport and we called the airlines, finally ended up with tickets out of the Madison airport at 11AM that morning, and hurriedly drove back to Madison to catch our flight.

  We drove right into another storm. Our flight was delayed about 20 minutes in Madison, and then when we were re-routed to Detroit (whoohoo... just where I've always wanted to go). Our plane had to circle the airport for about half an hour before we could land. Why? Well, because the thunder storms followed us to Detroit, of course! It's pretty hilarious, really, because the storms in Detroit were so bad they actually shut down the DETROIT airport too!!

Luckily, we had a long layover and by the time it was our turn to fly, the storms were over and the airport was back in business. Whew. We were glad to be in the air, leaving all that nasty weather behind us. Imagine our dismay when we were flying into Phoenix and the pilot announced, "It looks like Phoenix is getting some pretty bad thunderstorms, we're going to have to circle for a little bit." What?! When we finally landed, got our luggage and found our rental car, it was 6:30PM (8:30PM Central time). And it was pouring. 

 

  We drove two hours to the camp in a downpour. When we finally FINALLY arrived at the camp (24 hours late), the senior pastor greeted us and exclaimed "I'm sorry you had to drive out in this storm. I don't know what's going on! We NEVER get this much rain!"

 Timmy spoke Saturday morning on "Finding Your Calling", and he did an amazing job. It's so cool to be able to watch him fill teens up with God's word, speaking into their lives and encouraging them. He is the perfect kind of speaker – dramatic and passionate and completely hilarious. He makes listening interesting, and he's so darn cute to look at, too. (And he becomes an instant role model. All the teen dudes clamored to get his attention, and he was pretty excited to talk guy talk and punch shoulders and do all that weird guy stuff.) 

During the day on Saturday we went sightseeing. It was so gorgeous, and we had such a grand time exploring and hiking, I almost didn't notice the hot sunshine…
 

  

And  it wasn't until I was racing up a steep trail running along the inside of a canyon that I realized it. Dry heat is no better than humid heat. In some ways, it is worse. Dry heat is, well DRY. Just being in the direct sunlight made me feel like I was on fire. The air seemed to crack and sizzle, begging for a drop of moisture to quench the sharpness. Dry heat made my lungs ache and my throat burn. Humidity, how I missed you.

Ironically, I got my wish for water, as it ended up raining again Saturday afternoon. A huge Arizona type impressive thunderstorm. (I thought AZ was supposed to be a desert...) We drove up to the top of the mountains and everything looked misty and magical from the tippy top. (Plus, it was 20 degrees cooler up there!)
 

Saturday ended happily with us snuggled in our cabin, nestled in an Arizona pine forest. Sunday morning Timmy spoke on "Fighting for Your Calling" and then we had to immediately leave to catch our flight out of Phoenix. 

 With no time to spare, we sped back down the scenic highways. I took lots of pictures, 
 

  and even convinced Timmy to "just give me FIVE minutes" to stop and take pictures of the cactus forests.

Timmy tried to find a scorpion.

And then we were back at the airport. Ten hours later, we landed in Milwaukee. But our car was in Madison. Oh dear.

 Lucky for us, we have a darling little sister who was willing to drive to the airport and pick us up. And so our adventure ended at 12:30 AM Monday morning, when we finally arrived home, ate peanut butter sandwiches, and fell into bed.

And that is when I re-realized I have the perfect husband. And we really do pretty much rock at adventures.

 The End

My daisyDaisy notebooks have been featured in an Etsy treasury! Check it out:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c4e47d44bb58eef3386f8c4/500-days-of-summerin-a-treasury

Arizona Adventure - Part One

Our trip to Arizona was pure magic. We did not see the Grand Canyon. But we definitely had an adventure. (I wish I could tell it to you like Timmy tells it, complete with sound effects and dramatic vocal inflections, because it is a little hard to truly convey how adventurous our weekend was.)

I learned several things this weekend. First, I would not make a good photojournalist. Second, dry heat is not any better than humid heat, end of story. Thirdly, Timmy is the perfect husband. (Ok, so I already knew that one. But I like re-learning things.)

So lets start at the beginning. I left work early on Thursday so that we would have plenty of time to catch our flight out of Milwaukee at 7PM. It wasn't until we were at the terminal, happily settling into our seats, that we noticed the dark, dark skies. It started pouring. And then it began, the severe thunderstom that successfully shut down the entire Milwaukee airport. And when I say severe, I mean insanely terrifying. I have never-not-once ever seen a storm to match this one. Our flight was cancelled. We rebooked for early Friday morning and left the airport in search of a hotel.

The first hotel we found was completely full, and it was as we were sitting in the parking lot, debating our next plan of action, that the storm began to increase in its fury. Sheets of rain began to circle our car, and huge cracks of lightning combined with fantastic booms of thunder. After one especially fabulous boom, a sizzle of lightning lit up the sky, and then every single light around us went out. It was so dark. I panicked, "WE ARE GOING TO DIE!". Tim commented that he expected a Tyrannosaurus Rex to appear at any moment. (Thank you, Jurassic Park.) Suddenly finding a hotel seemed much more urgent. Our GPS found another one, only five minutes away.

But, as we started driving, we quickly realized that the roads were flooding. The rain was not relenting, and it streaked over our windshield as  quickly as our wipers cleared it off. And then we found, with increasing despair, that we seemed to be on an "island", and every single street that offered an opportunity to escape the madness was flooded in deep swirling water. There were people standing waist deep in the streets, shouting at us to turn around. Huge chunks of concrete floated by our car, and sewers were spouting up water like fountains. Police cars were everywhere, creating road blocks with their sirens blaring. It was if the streets of Milwaukee had turned into rivers, we were starring in a horror film, and there was no escape...

I hid my face in my arms and begged Timmy to please save us.

Tim did save us, and he ended up flooring it through a flooded street. (He later admitted that he enjoyed that part a good deal. I did not.)

Two hours later, yes two hours later, we finally made it to a hotel. This hotel was, seriously, less than a mile from the airport. It was dirty and smelly, but it was dry and safe. (Well, I wasn't sure how SAFE it was, so I blocked the door with our suitcases just in case.)

Outside, the storm raged on.

And it wasn't until the next morning that I realized it. As I was sadly standing at the elevator I noticed a pile of Wisconsin State Fair brochures and noted that I should have been waking up to Arizona, not a bunch of brochures with cows on them. I turned on my camera to take a picture...

And that is when I realized that I would not make a good photojournalist. At the first sign of danger, I scream and hide, forgetting all about my camera. And so, I have absolutely no pictures to document our night of terror...

Shortly after, we received an automated call, letting us know that our morning flight had been canceled, too. The next flight leaving Milwaukee was at 3PM Saturday night…

*to be continued*

and there you have it.

I've never been to Arizona, and I hear that Arizona in July is hot hot hot. The temperatures last week ranged from 107-111 degrees. But it's dry heat, Timmy tells me. It will be cozy, he says.

Of course, when I heard we were going to Arizona, I immediately insisted we plan on visiting the Grand Canyon. I think it is natural to assume that anywhere in Arizona is readily accessible to the Grand Canyon. I mean, that's why people go to Arizona, right? Nope, wrong. We're going to fly into Phoenix, which is inconveniently located four hours south of the Grand Canyon. Sedona is our final destination, which is a little bit north and a lot sideways from Phoenix, so we're still four hours away. I'm told Sedona has a very respectable canyon of it's own, but I'm afraid any canyon is a bit of a letdown compared to the Grand Canyon. *sigh* The question is this. Do we want to drive eight hours to see the Grand Canyon for two hours? Timmy says yes, I say I'm not sure...

Really, the entire reason for visiting Arizona is pretty fabulous. Timmy is speaking at a youth conference along with the pastor of our church. How's that for awesome?! Tim has been a guest speaker at several youth groups, but this is his first far-away-from-home conference. God has just blessed him over and over with an amazing ability to speak powerfully into the lives of fellow Christians. It's really exciting to be his wife and support him in his gifts and callings from the Lord!

Plus, the conference is at a Christian camp on the top of a mountain. I'm pretty excited to revisit my younger days of going to summer camp! Although I am a little nervous about maybe finding scorpions (eek!), I have done some research in preparation and know exactly what to do if I am stung. (You know, just in case those AZ natives have no idea what to do...)

Scorpion worries aside, the outlook is perfectly bright. My pink suitcase is finally packed. I'm leaving work early (yay!) to fly away on an adventure with Timmy. We pretty much rock at adventures, so who knows?! Maybe we will end up at the Grand Canyon after all...

engagement photos

Despite the unexpected events on Saturday, Caleb and Rynn's engagement shoot was a success!

 

Here are some of our favorites:

You may be wondering about the many, many jumping photos. Well, I finally relearned how to adjust my shutter speed to perfectly capture awesome jumps. (The faster the shutter speed, the better.) Thus, the jumping! But, I personally LOVE this photo of them. Doesn't Rynn look like Mary Poppins? I still have yet to master looking beautiful while jumping, so I'm pretty much in awe of Rynn. And Caleb too, but only because he jumps like a little pogo stick.

And this photo kind of sums up their relationship. Darling, spunky Rynn being silly and adorable, with Caleb gazing at her adoringly and laughing. Seriously, these two are too cute.

Let's just take a breath and relax for a second.

Everything is going to be ok, you know. Yes, we had a crazy weekend, full of unexpected occurences (ones of an unpleasant nature), but we also had those happy times we were counting on. It didn't go the way we had so very much tried to plan, but sometimes it's ok to watch things fall apart.

Yes, the store was closed nearly all day on Saturday due to a medical emergency, but let's not care, ok? Because you're ok, and I'm ok, and the store is ok too. Years from now it will be hilarious, I am sure. All I wanted was to visit my family. But every minute of Saturday that we had planned was changed, until nothing was left but a chaotic, hot, sticky, stressful day. One that ended with both of us snuggled in our bed, which made everything good. Not great, but good - I had too many bug bites for great. (Bug bites that came from standing in the 95 degree sun for hours, taking hundreds of engagement photos while being surrounded by swarming – and apparently biting – bugs.)

And Sunday morning we woke up and tried again. We made the hour and a half drive out to my parents' house, the third time that weekend for me. And we enjoyed Sunday enough to make up for Crazy Saturday and then some. Because happiness happens at my parents' house, that's the simple truth. It is sweet and slow and relaxing, and full of laughter and yummy food. And we all like each other so much, we don't need to do anything but love being together. Oh, and have jumping contests between our boys. (We decided it was a tie. Can you believe how high these two can jump??)

And our Sunday ended with both of us snuggled in the same bed, pretending that we didn't have to go to work in the morning, and that made everything nearly perfect. And we talked about the busyness our coming week would bring; haircuts, anniversaries, 'real job' overload, freelance work, Apple Nutrition store orders and organizing and employee training... all before we leave for Arizona on Thursday.

After we talked about all that, we decided that being married is the best thing ever, took a deep breath, and relaxed (slept) until morning.

you-hoo

Custom order for Amy.
She and her husband just moved into a new house,
and needed thank you notes for all their housewarming gifts. 

Cute!

I love that Timmy randomly decided - on his very own - to try vegan ice cream. And I love that, even though I didn't think I liked vegan ice cream, he made me try "the best drumstick" he's ever tasted. Even better than 'real' ice cream, or so he says. (*sneaky laugh* See! I told you I would turn him vegan!)

I love that I have conversations like this with him:

Timmy: Wouldn't you say that I'm just more tired in the mornings than you?

Me: Uhm... not necessarily.

Timmy: It's true! I have a higher amount of melatonin than you do.

Me: Right... melatonin.

Timmy: Babe! Come on, it's a natural hormone.

Me: Ok. So, you're having hormonal problems? *laugh*
 

But more than anything, I love that this morning he danced into the bedroom and gleefully proclaimed, "Happy 19 Months Engaged, Sweetest!".

I love that he keeps track. 

This is why I love Timmy.

happily becki loves apple nutrition.

Happily Becki products are for sale at Apple Nutrition! (It really wasn't too hard to convince the owner that he needed a Happily Becki gift section...) Pretty cards, calendars, notebooks, and magnets are smiling brightly on shelves, just waiting for someone special to take them home!  

My mom is the other half of Happily Becki... What, you didn't know that? It's true. I'm the designer. She's the organizer, customer service rep, accountant, and everything in between. I make everything look pretty. She processes, assembles, and ships orders. (I'm pretty sure I got the better end of this deal.) This design business takes two, and we make a great team. (Plus we have a business savvy manager I like to call Husband.)

I get to do what I do best (designing, making things look pretty), and not do what I do poorly (organizing, details... math...) My mom is my best friend (note: this is a different kind of best friend than my best friend Timmy), and it's pretty fabulous to be in business with someone like her. She is undoubtedly the sweetest, most dependable person I know. Mom does everything amazingly. And she is my creative buddy. 

Which is why I am happy to announce that Happily Becki has brand new products for sale! Cute Cozies, Sweet and Snappy purses, Inside Outside Reversible Purses, and Petals and Pretties flower clips. They're not up on Etsy yet, so I guess you could call them an Apple Nutrition exclusive!

Let me just say, I love making packaging and labels for products.
Doesn't a cute tag just make everything look so much more magical?
I love it.