Arizona can be a VERY hot place in the Summer, but when you know you are only going to be there for a short time it is easy to embrace the heat and enjoy the beauty of the desert landscape. On our recent visit to Arizona our biggest criteria in finding a rental house was that it had a pool. Not only did we find a house with a pool, but it had two outdoor fireplaces, an outdoor television, a pool table and two outdoor seating areas. One of my favorite parts about Arizona aside from all the different varieties of cacti is the fact that people who live here actually own a whole wardrobe of bathing suits. As a Pacific Northwest native, the very idea of wearing a bathing suit more than once a year is a pretty exhilarating prospect.

The house we rented was a bit larger than we needed, but it was nice to have the extra room. From our rental house in Scottsdale, it was around a twenty minute drive to almost everything we wanted to visit during our stay.

It does not matter how many times I visit. I can never get over how parched the land is.

Waking up and being able to walk outside and go swimming was such a dream!

Cameron working hard on grilling up our pizzas. We quickly found out using a pizza oven is a little tricker than we initially thought it might be. However, it was fun being able to try it out while we were there.

When you are done, you are done. A combination of skipped naps and new surroundings made for a cranky Jasper at times. Even though it does not look like it, Jasper really enjoyed getting to know his other grandpa and playing with his uncle.

Relaxing in the pool.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is trying the local cuisine. Paletas Betty was on my list of must visit places.

Our entire trip consisted of endless days of blue skies and sunshine.

Papago Park

I have a lot of fond memories from our trip, but seeing the sweet relationship develop between Jasper and Nicole was one of my favorites.

One evening, we rented a pontoon boat and cruised around Tempe Lake. Jasper was insistent on driving the boat, which meant for a time we went around in a circle until we were all dizzy.