Arizona: Day Seven - Rainbows

Day seven, we saw THREE rainbows.  One in the morning, afternoon, and a double rainbow in the evening.

Let me remind you,

we were in the DESERT!

Rainbows were created to deliver a powerful message.

First, a promise from God that he wouldn't flood the Earth again.

I believe rainbows still hold that powerful message but also that God continues to use them to tell us things.

A double rainbow lit the darkened cloudy sky. God said, “Trust me through the storm, I have you. Don’t lean on your own understanding but lean into me, as the showers refresh. Embrace my wind, it blows the mosquitos away. Know my rainbow is a double one of covenant. They witness to my faithfulness. Trust me. I bring you through the storm. I am here for you.”

via puregloy.net

Arizona: Day Six - Part 2

After climbing our hill we headed on down to Apache Trail.  I do have to say that the Apache Trail had the most amazing views and these pictures don't even come close to showing how beautiful it is there. 

 Let me give you a little information about the trail:

The Apache Indians used this trail to move through the Superstition Mountains

About 20 miles of it is gravel, the area between the Roosevelt Dam and Tortilla Flat (We drove this part)

I love how it is quoted to have "steep cliff drops and little in the way of safety barriers"

The trail later became a stagecoach trail through the mountains

Yes, this is the road!!!  It became terrifying when we were doing hairpin turns on the top of the mountains.

We were racing the sunset.

It was so beautiful!

I think I would love to go back and spend a weekend camping and having more time to stop more often.

See more of our Arizona trip here.

xo 

Erin

Happy Valentine's Day

It took me a while to open my gift.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!

xo 

Erin

We've Officially Dug Out: Storm Nemo

To get through the hardest journey

We need only take one step at a time

But we must keep on stepping

I just went back to work today after storm Nemo and we are supposed to get a few more inches tonight.  Is it too much to hope for another snow day tomorrow?!

xo

Erin

Arizona: Day Six - Part 1

Day six was our last day in Winslow so we absolutely had to see the famous corner there.

Then we headed south to warmer weather.

We hadn't seen any saguaros since the day we flew in because we were in higher altitudes.  We were excited  to see them again so we parked on a side road to climb a random hill to get a closer look.  There was no trail but there was evidence that cattle also roamed the hill.

Native birds such as Gila woodpeckers, purple martins, house finches, and gilded flickers live inside holes in saguaros. Flickers excavate larger holes higher on the stem. The nest cavity is deep, the parents and young entirely hidden from view.

via

Harming a saguaro in any manner, including cactus plugging, is illegal by state law in Arizona, and when houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected.

via

The views were amazing, but little did we know that later in the the day I would see the best views I may have ever seen in my life.

See more of our AZ trip here.

xo 

Erin

Gal-entine's Day and a Mug DIY

I love a good DIY project and what better holiday to do one for than Valentine's Day.

I got together with these gals:

Amanda Louise

and

Tumbleweeds & Tantrums

for our 2nd annual Gal-entine's Day.

After eating an allergy-free, vegan dinner, we made all things Valentine's.   I even broke out the wax stamp for sealing our envelopes.  We also all made our fellows mugs.

We bought simple white mugs and used sharpies to draw our designs.  I used a metallic shade but there seems to be a sharpie in most every color.

When done drawing we baked them at 350 degrees for 1 hour in order to make the drawings permanent so that it won't come off when washed.

To finish it off, I attached a wooden tag.

See more of our Gal-entine's Day and other mugs created here.

See my bleach heart DIY here.

See another mug DIY here.

Does anyone else do Gal-entine's Day?

xo

Erin

Arizona: Day Five - Part 2

When we made it to Sedona we took a Jeep tour in Red Canyon at sunset.

We stopped to explore a long abandoned cabin.

This was our very eccentric guide, George.
 Along the way he identified plants and what ailment they could prevent or cure.

Amazing views!

I loved it there and I'm dreaming of going back as I'm looking at these pictures.

See more of AZ here.

xo

Erin