Believe it

Who knew there were still places like this deep in the desert? CASSIDY FREAKIN JONES does. 

red rocks

wowza. a weekend spent in the wild with friends. can you think of anything nicer?

(and a photo of myself. JUST FOR YOU MA!) :)

M&M

There's a certain magic and mystery to these photos that I love. 

Yellowstone National Park

YNP: Old foggie paradise

I'm slowly coming to the realization that, wait, that's a lie. I already know that I am geriatric at heart. It explains why I went to Yellowstone in the fall with all the other retirees within a 500 mile radius. Moderate temperatures, smaller crowds, wheelchair accessible hikes and soft serve ice cream are all my little heart desires! Throw in some beautiful sunsets and bison and gee, what more could a 25 going on 75 year old girl ask for? Maybe only an afternoon nap. 

#winnieweekends #winnieinthewild #kylieneedsalife

My dearly beloved friend Ronnie just told me that my romance with Winnie the Subaru was getting a bit out of control. My immediate response was disbelief. No way!! That's pathetic! But because Ronnie was right and quick on his feet he proved me wrong. The hashtags. The road trips. The pet names. THE PHOTOS. Well Ronnie, these are the nails in the coffin. You're right. I've got an embarrassing puppy love romance with my car. 

Side Effects

My friend's mom in Farmington told me a while ago that she understood why I was so good at my job.  She explained that it MUST be because I fit in so well with 13 year olds. It was right after I told a questionable poop joke at the dinner table. (In my defense, it was at least after dinner.) Most people would have re-examined their life choices after a comment like that, but I took a different route. For the first time in my life, I took being called immature as a compliment and ran with it. Literally. I ran away for a while with my 15 person van from work and staged a photo shoot. This very van was a big part of my life at the Boys & Girls Club. I drove it every friday all over town with my kids in back, and almost everyday in the summer. One time a high school Club member even asked if it was my own personal car because she saw me driving it so much. Also, one of my favorite videos of all time involved our "grape van." (see below)

                           

Getting ready:

And by getting ready I mean cliff jumping and road tripping. Not packing. Or organizing. Or getting ready at all. Whoops. 

Getting so close:

The bittersweet feeling of leaving is something I just can't shake. I feel it all the time lately, and can't stop thinking, "Will this be the last time I see this?" "Will that be the last time I go there?"  I run my life on timelines, and a major one is getting oh so close to coming to an end. On August 7, I will have been a desert dweller for two years. I sit and think and it feels like a forever full of desert drives, hard days, and hours with my kids. A full 730 days worth. It only lasts for a bit and then my thoughts move onto roadtrips, adventures, family and the future and I realize it's meant to be.

proof:

 it gets really old taking photos of yourself. but when you road trip solo, it's entertaining to maneuver tripods, set self timers, and generally embarrass yourself. when i went to valles caldera a couple of weeks ago, i was wonderfully content taking weirdo selfies (exhibit a) until i was caught in the act of posing for a self-timed photo series  (my camera has a 30 second delay and takes 9 photos spaced 5 seconds apart. imagine me standing in a field changing and holding a new pose every 5 seconds. weeeeeirdo status.) by an adorable elderly couple who stopped for a bit to watch me. i tried to play it off, but it was obvious. that girl must be by herself because she's too weird for other people to handle. but like the tough girl i am, i acted like i was cool shit and looking really intently at the cow pies. i then proceeded to creepily follow that couple for the rest of the hike. from a distance of course (exhibit b). the rest are just photos that i liked. also, valles caldera is a13.7 mile wide supervolcano caldera!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

bicycle diaries: santa fe

it's decided. exploring cities in cars is awesome. but bikes are even better.

Let the sentimental boobing begin:

Santa Fe is one of my favorite cities in the whole glorious state of New Mexico. When I first moved here I would drive the three hours just to get some sourdough bread and aimlessly drive the back neighborhoods and fall in love with the adobe walls and turquoise doors and roads that could barely fit one car. I went again for the last time before I leave and remember thinking that it was too pretty to be true. 

]

Teenagers part two:

Today this happened:
-At the pool I was swimming next to one of my girls and she gave me a blank look and asked:
Guess what?
I answered, Tell me
she nonchalantly said:
I just peed.
and then promptly proceeded to take a big gulp of swimming pool water and yelled:
I JUST DRANK MY OWN PEE!

-While herding my kids to various activities, locations or events I often yell: LETS MOVE KIDDIES!(which gets plenty of annoyed and angsty teenager looks. Kylie! We are NOT kids!)
So I decided to start calling them kitties. Today I yelled LETS GO KITTIES and my herd of teenagers started meowing and trying to lick me.

-and then there's this video: