Birthday dog!

This past week we had a lot to celebrate. John and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out last night. To celebrate Winston's 2nd birthday, we invited our friends and their dogs to come play at the dog park. I made tasty "pup-cakes" for the dogs, and provided party hats for the dogs and plenty of tennis balls. It was a great time seeing all of the dogs play, even if Winston had no clue it was for his birthday. Here are some pictures:

The birthday dog!


Charlie with a party hat and a smile.

Buster was clueless about the hat.

Winston thanking me for a fun day.

Ripley, Winston, and Cooper sitting for Somer (or the cupcake in her hand).

Here are all of the pictures from the day:

Anniversary

Tomorrow marks the One Year Anniversary of our arrival into Tucson. While missing home and family a ton, we've carved out a nice little life for the Campbell Clan here. We've had our ups (kick-ass Europe trip, Winston's growing CV, my growing CV) and a few downs (ugh). Not much else to say, except that we are thankful to have friends and family back home that are wonderful enough to trigger such homesickness (so bittersweet), and thankful to have such wonderful friends, and each other, here to ease the homesickness. Paging Dr. Phil!

New photo found!

Brian looked at the pictures I posted yesterday, and realized one of them looked like a very old war photo he recently saw. Look carefully....

Summer of family!

Throughout this summer, we've had the fortune of having our parents all visit us in shifts. It was fun showing everyone around Tucson and spending some QT with everyone.

Johnnie and Colon stayed around after watching the house and Winston while we were in Europe. We celebrated Colon's birthday with a selection of tasty deserts (I liked the mini-tart you see me trying to inhale).

When Dad and Carol came, we went to the Air and Space Museum and the Desert Museum. Dad can never resist taking an opportunity to ham it up for the camera.


When Vann came out, we took him to Pheonix to watch the Diamondbacks play. It was cool watching Randy Johnson pitch for 6 innings.

Something in the air....

Last night was a very bizarre night, and it still has me scratching my head. The Sonoran Desert where we are experiences a "monsoon season" starting around mid-July for several weeks...these monsoons are pretty much a storm with crazy rainfall, lightning, thunder, etc for a few minutes. Last night there was what looked like an early monsoon rolling through Tucson...you can see them for miles, just sheets of dark clouds and rain, and try to brace yourself. The agility class that Winston is enrolled in at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona takes place every Wednesday night. We all got to the agility field ready to go last night, and were just going to chance it that the storm would blow by west of us, which it mostly did. Still, we could see tons of lightning on the other side of town, and feel a lot of wind blowing. I don't know what this kind of atmosphere does to the dogs, but it was very noticeable. Winston isn't perfect, I can admit that, but last night he was baaaaad. He couldn't focus on us...we would try to start a run on a few pieces of equipment laid out on a small course and he would just take off and do laps around the entire field of equipment, people, and dogs. Once we had him more under control, I took a breath and looked around. All of the dogs were going nuts. None of the dogs, including Winston, were scared or mean....just nutty, like they all sat down for some coffee right before class. So, I don't know what was in the air from the storm, but the instructor said that this happens every time there is a monsoon nearby. Very bizarre. Then I looked around and saw John doing laps and going nutty too (well, not really, but that would be funny).

Tim Russert

Tim Russert has always been one of my favorite journalists and interviewers. I know, join the club...this guy was loved by many. I'm sure a lot of you have seen this clip from Daily Show, but just in case you haven't, enjoy. (Thanks to Kara for sharing.)

Happy Belated Father's Day!

I know this is late, but I wanted to post some pictures of the wonderful fathers that are in our lives. I would have done this on Sunday, but I was celebrating Father's Day by asking Dad for money...just $20 to see a movie and get a sundae at Friendly's. John wanted some baseball cards.

My handsome Dad. Notice the keys in his hand...couldn't wait for the party to start!

John's Dad on his 35th (ha!) birthday last year, full of Vann's punny jokes.

John's stepdad Colon, a world traveler and best friend to Winston.