Jen Caputo

Where I disappeared to

We had Martin Luther King Jr day off so we decided a mini-vacation was in order.  As my Aunt & Uncle just built a house out there we decided to go visit Arizona (I'd never been).

I have to tell you, I didn't really expect too much from Arizona, it just didn't seem that interesting to me.  Boy was I wrong. We had a blast! Everything was so beautiful and there was so much to do!!!

So, the rest of this is just a lot of pictures!

This is my uncle and I overlooking their golf course and their mountain (Superstition Mountain).  Uncle Bill insisted the golf course be in the background :) heheh

Uncle Bill & Aunt Lucy's adorable dog, Charlie

One of the days we were there, my aunt and uncle took us on a scenic drive around Apache Trail which was on the other side of that mountain you see from their yard.

Look - there are lakes there!

a one lane bridge heading to Tortilla Flats

And I thought this was crazy. Apparently it rained the week and the rain is still coming down the mountain and flooded the road.

Adam and I made Margaritas to go out and watch the sunset one night

And our view of the sun setting over Silly Mountain

After 2 days we left Aunt Lucy and Uncle Bill's and went to stay at the Hyatt - Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale.  (no pictures of that yet but it was incredible!)

From there, we drove up to Sedona - incredible! We started by checking out some of many wineries in Page Springs.

This is the backyard of one of them

Once we got up to Sedona we took the Broken Arrow Pink Jeep tour - so awesome, highly recommended!  The red rocks of Sedona were breathtaking!

 

If you want to see more of my pictures from Arizona (like I didn't share enough here)

click here:

 

Highly Recommended Arizona places:

• Pink Jeep Tours of Sedona - we did the Broken Arrow tour. It's a 2 hour off roading adventure with some of the most stunning views ever
• Filly's of Apache Junction -  I consider myself quite the aficionado of ranch dressing and theirs was killer.  Plus their broasted chicken was like nothing I'd had before.  Mouth watering awesome.
• Papago Brewing Company - Best beer bar in Arizona, hands down. A really cool place with a great atmosphere and a heap of games to play while you enjoy your brews (not just theirs, but about 25 other taps and a giant coolers full of bottles)
• The Hyatt at Gainey Ranch - as long as you can get the rooms for much less than the $450/night going rate.  Try priceline, we got an insane deal.

Ringing in 2009 and wrapping up the Florida trip

Can you believe we are already 5 days into 2009? I sure can't. With a new year comes lots of resolutions in my house. Eat healthier, exercise more, floss daily, etc. Lots of boring things. I figured I needed a fun resolution to go along with the boring ones though so this year, I am participating in Project 365! For those who are unfamiliar, Project 365 is basically just a challenge to take a photo every single day for the whole year! To help me display all of my photos, I created a new template set so I can scrap all of my pictures.

This set includes 12 double page templates so you can scrap all 365 pictures you take this year! Heck, even if you don't want to take a picture a day it would still be an awesome way to do a month in review layout. These templates are Shutterfly ready and I plan on ordering my book at the end of the project.

You can pick up the templates right here. The normal price is $12 but I currently have them marked down to $8 so grab 'em fast!

I wanted to share a few more pics from Florida. On our last full day there my dad took Adam and I out to try and catch Spanish Mackerel. We failed miserably so instead we went to the beach and on the way back home we came across this pod of dolphins.  It was crazy, they were everywhere!  Totally awesome.

This picture kinda sucks but you can see a ton of fins.

ditto

They were swimming all around the boats

and I love this one of the 2 dolphins together, I imagine they are out on some sort of date :)

I'm ready to go back :)

Meet Diesel

Look at that adorable little face!  This is my brothers new puppy, Diesel. He's 4 months old, a pit bull/bull  mastiff mix.  He's going to be a big boy.  He's the absolute sweetest best dog ever! 

I took a bunch of pictures of him while we were down in Florida (we flew back to Detroit yesterday and will drive home to Chicago tonight or tomorrow).  Here are some of my faves.

He was not supposed to be on the furniture.  oops.

 

He's quite the poser huh? 

We took him out for his first boat ride ever and he did great!

hehehe

but on the way back the water was a little rough and he got a tad bit scared

I love this dog. I miss him already.

I leave you with a picture of the whole family on Christmas

Betsy (Jimmy's fiance), my mom, my brother Jimmy, my dad, Adam, and me

In Too Deep

My brother doesn't get a lot of days of work so when he does, all he wants to do is go Deep Sea Fishing. Every day we've been down here (Hutchinson Island) so far he has been asking my dad to take us out but the waves have not been agreeing.  Today was the first day that the ocean was even an option so, out we went!

I was a bit scared at first but it wasn't as bad as I'd expected (even though my dad said it was his absolute limit of the roughness he would go out in).

I straightened the horizon on this one so you could see the angle the boat was rocking on. That's my mom, my brother, my dad, and Adam.

While my dad and Jimmy got the lines up, Adam got to drive and I stood by and watched.

 

Going out in the rough water proved worth it though when one of the lines hit!

Jimmy worked up a sweat fighting it like crazy for about 15 minutes before passing it off to Adam and then my dad.

About 20 minutes in, we realized what we had - a Sailfish!

We actually got it all the way to the boat where my dad could remove the hook before we let it go.  They were so excited, it was the first Sailfish they'd ever been able to release.

Here's Jimmy posing with it just before we let it go.

Insane huh?

Check out this video of it's final moments with us:

Unfortunately, the sailfish was our only hit all day but it was still a super exciting outing.  We might go back out tomorrow to try for some Spanish Mackerel. (We were hoping for Mahi Mahi today)

Man I wish I lived down here.... how many more years before I can retire?