The House

Hey everyone!

Alright, so due to request I wanted to share some pictures of the house. It is definitely still a work in progress, but I am pleased to say that the majority of boxes have been unpacked and recycled. So, welcome and here we go!

Here is the living room looking from the backdoor.  You can see the front door and the office (which is dark because it is still a bit atrocious).

(plans - finish the gallery wall and replace the small bookshelf with something else for the entertainment stand)

Here is a better view of the gallery wall.  Clearly we don't sit here too much because all of the crooked things would drive Ben crazy. Turns out, not all frames have the hooks centered on the back.

(definitely a work in progress)

 Here is the other side of the living room, from the front door and looking at the back yard.

Onto the guest bedroom. This is currently the storage location for everything that I don't know what to do with and don't want to look at daily. It has to be straightened up soon though because we have a visitor on the books!

(the blinds are up a little because sometimes Jackson likes to sit there and look at people/dogs/cars in the neighborhood)

Here is the kitchen (with Tour Guide Jackson).  Down the hall is the door to the guest bedroom and the box with all of the holiday decorations.

And here is the master bedroom (again with Tour Guide Jackson).

(plans - hang up curtains over the window, currently it gets bright and HOT in that room even with the blinds down)

On to the backyard. Here we have our little piggy friend with a broken leg. I first thought he was a pot that was supposed to be overturned in the gravel, but upon further investigation I discovered he was a forgotten pig. Now he sits proudly, upright, next to some rocks.

 This back patio area was a big reason we decided to go with this house. Due to one of the big storms here, they had to cut down part of it, but it's growing back strong! Apparently it's some type of a rose.

 (Tour Guide Jackson loves his backyard even though he won't get near the cactuses/cacti)

So, there you go! That's generally it. Now you should all book your tickets and come see it in person!

Over and out!

Mt. Lemmon..and a little more..

Hey everyone!

Well, what a weekend it was!  There were adventures and then the planning of some future adventures!

Here we go..

Saturday - Mt. Lemmon

On Saturday, the Pattison clan packed into the car and headed up to Mt. Lemmon which is (maybe) the tallest peak around Tucson standing at 9,159 feet of elevation.  We went to the very end of the highway which ends in a lovely tiny mountain town, Summerhaven, and then did a quick four mile hike.  The hike was amazing because the temperature was a good 20 degrees cooler than in the valley and we were able to see PINE TREES AND GRASS AND WATER!  Of course Jackson pup went along and you would think the lad had never been in nature before.  For most of the hike he would bolt around the trail with pure bliss on his face.  We decided that, after playing fetch, hiking is his favorite thing in the world.

     

 (lots of beautiful mountain flowers)

 

 (there's Tucson down there!)

(we also ran into this grumpy guy)

(Jackson decided to go ahead and start working on his modeling career)

(they are truly the very best of friends. I'm just honored I was allowed to go along on the hike as photographer)

(a moment of bolting around the trail. Ben and I just stood there as he ran back and forth)

(personally I just wanted to set up a tent here and live. We've decided to come back to this general area when everything is changing for fall)

(at one point I had fallen behind, due to taking all of the pictures, so Ben said "where's mommy??" and this came barreling around the corner at me)

 After hiking around Mt. Lemmon, we decided to check out the closest lake to where we live so Jackson could swim and play fetch.  At first we thought that surely he would not have enough energy to play for long, but alas, he is part lab and he could have done this for days.

Once the sun began to set, we packed up and headed back down the mountain to Tucson and were stopped by this beautiful view.

Sunday - Lunar Eclipse

Thanks to living near the mountains (and monsoon season being over so there is a general lack of clouds) we were able to have an amazing view of the lunar eclipse.

 (after this it began to get really dark and the photos weren't turning out so great so we just watched it)

(and then the Milky Way showed up!)

Also, we got me a new backpack! HUZZAH!

Sorry for the longest post ever, but it was a great weekend and we want to share it with y'all! 

Over and out!

Sweet Baby Brown

Welcome back to Jacksonland!  Here are some updates on the pup from this week.

When we first got Jackson we were both sure that he was a total mama's boy.  Now, as I apply for jobs, Jackson must get tired of me because he has made a 180 and is a total daddy's boy.  He gets heartbroken every morning when Ben leaves for work and then it's his favorite part of the day when Ben gets back.

(six-thirty in the morning is a rough time for the pup)

(but six-thirty at night is his favorite time)

Sometimes though (one time), Ben forgets something for work at the house and Jackson and I get to made an early morning run to take said item to him.

(we're not the biggest fans of morning time)

 Jackson is doing nightly training in the living room these days.  We're working on heel and sometimes Jackson needs a reminder about what "here," "sit," and "down" mean.  Jackson ran out of the house this week, into the road, and right in front of a car so we review the "here" skill often.

 Also, the glass/screen door has been quite the struggle for Jackson with many times of running head first into the door.  He's getting used to the door though and generally knows that although it looks as though he could run right outside he has to wait.  This week there was a flower right outside of the door so Jackson barked at it for a bit, then once outside he stalked it and then pounced.  Jackson-1 Flower-0. (He also had his first standoff with the vacuum cleaner and managed to trip over the cord and thus "killed the beast").

(sometimes the glass door isn't too comfortable to sit against and he needs a bit of cushion)

 Jackson has also decided that he is a guest in the home and therefore needs to sleep on the guest bed. The other day I couldn't find Jackson anywhere and then he came lurking out of the guest bedroom.  I went in there later to put something away and saw little Jackson fur all over the brand new perfectly white duvet so I became determined to catch him in the act.  It happened maybe an hour later..

 (here he is trying to push everything off of "his bed")

As always, he sends his love and hopes that everyone will come visit him soon!  He's a big 50 pound kid now so he's a bit more difficult to pick up and snuggle but he still loves to sit in your lap!

Over and out!

Honeymoon

Hey y'all!

Black widow update: Ben located it again this morning and promptly took care of the situation.  I only hope her last words were that no spiders should visit the Pattison house ever again.

Now for the honeymoon.  It was absolutely amazing and was very relaxing, which was exactly what we wanted.  We went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and let me tell you, that place is stunning.

(on our flight, there is a striking resemblance between sleeping Ben and grumpy cat)

We had heard absolutely amazing things about Punta Cana and were amped for a week of paradise.  Once we landed, we were not aware that there was a tourist charge so that was exciting.  But all was handled well, we found our shuttle to the resort and immediately began practicing all of the Spanish that we knew. 

Once we got to the resort we were given a tour and found this little guy!  Our first time really seeing "Mr. & Mrs. Pattison" referring to us!

We were then escorted to our room.  We opted for the "private garden" room but were surprised and thrilled to find out that we had been given a private garden ocean front room.

(hot diggity for putting "it's our honeymoon" on the reservation)

Now, what we learned during this trip is that we are not exactly the best at "all inclusive".  Each night at dinner we sat awkwardly after finishing our food and agreed that it felt as though we were robbing the restaurant and that we felt as though we needed to pay for something.  But alas, all inclusive is what it means and so we gorged ourselves. 

 (this was my favorite of all meals. I could have actually eaten it for every meal and been perfectly happy.)

Ingredients: avocado, smoked salmon, fried plantains, cream cheese, and some sweet sauce. NOM

 (super hunky husband who is not quite used to the ring yet, but MAN does it look good)

(on our way to dinner one night)

Also part of the all inclusive deal is that certain watersports were already included and we just had to make a reservation and show up.  So, we went snorkeling one day and were able to see some beautiful, bold fish who thought the gropro was food.  And we went sailing on a catamaran, with Ben in charge of sailing.  He had never actually sailed a catamaran before, but turns out if you can sail a sailboat you can figure out a catamaran.

We also, of course, enjoyed lots of time beside the pool.  There were cabana-style beds all around the pool so the Pattisons claimed one that overlooked the pool which provided some good people watching opportunities (including the one time a child got into the adults only pool and no one knew what to do).

 (the view from our cabana bed)

(random me with my sheep friends. it took a bit of convincing to get Ben to take the photo)

All in all we had a wonderful time!  It was really nice to relax after the wedding and (good for the introverted soul) to be in a place where no one appeared interested in talking with us for extended periods of time.

 (bittersweet goodbye to paradise and onto the adventure of the wild west)

(have no fear, they sent us with two beers each "por el autobus" which we decided to be American about and not actually drink while riding to the airport #opencontainerlaws)

So that was the honeymoon!  The staff were extremely kind, our Spanish teachers would be upset with the actual lack of speaking abilities, but should be impressed by the number of people who we fooled into thinking we were fluent, and honeymoons are the best.