-good bye virtual friends.

we're moving.

duh.

everyone in my everyday life is so sick of hearing about it.

we've been working hard on our exit for about 9 months and now in less than a week- we'll be gone.

forever.

we moved to arizona 10 years ago from nyc. brandon worked as a loan officer back then and gave me the opportunity to explore every job/degree/hobby/social circle that this place had to offer. i think i did just about everything maricopa county.

we've loved our life here.

my top 5 favorite things about living here:

1-running south mountain before the sun is up

2-raising my babies with a weekly visit to the small and perfect phoenix zoo

3-irreplaceable friends and neighbors

4-taking pictures of trusting people from the desert to a small pasture. and all of my favorite little towns off the 17.

5-my collection of beautiful and delicious restaurants throughout the valley.

i don't know if that's the ultimate top 5 but it's a handful of things that immediately came to mind when i thought about what i would really miss.
brandon's job is taking us back to the east coast but this time we're headed to the south.

it'll be the first time i've lived by the beach. i can hardly wait.

i've decided that along with my residency in this great state- this blog will end as i cross the state line in our big move.

i'm keeping my name "arizona lewis" for photography purposes and will continue to update my photo blog HERE.

but the details of our personal lives are going somewhere else.

we're ready for a fresh start with a more directed purpose, some fine tuned priorities and an abundance of adventures that will bring us closer as a family.

thanks for all of the comments and support on this blog.

i'll miss "y'all" but it's time to go live happily ever after- with a life full of love and days in the sand.

-tres

now that ade is 3- he goes by captain jack sparrow.

reason 1- because he went on pirates of the Caribbean twice this summer and wasn't even scared.

reason 2- because it's high time all of the other scallywags he's been living with show him the proper respect.

reason 3- because my life is just sometimes that awesome.

happy birthday ader gator. you are the funniest person on this 4 man boat. love you.

-quick post with not enough detail.

brandon went out of town.

so i drove the boys to disneyland.

i'm spontaneous like that.

and my mom took care of the hotel.

and she was going to be there with carl's family anyways.

and because i've decided that i LOVE disneyland.

it was such a fun trip.

we didn't get to share a suite with my family but we did get to have a place by ourselves!

we loved it! pizza in bed, heading to the free public breakfast in our jammies and photo shoots directed by THIS 4 year old:


these are my favorite- (he told ade to "be dead")

and disneyland really is the best with your sweet little utah cousin!!!
i didn't get one stinking picture of my mom AKA sugar momma carol AKA nostalgic nancy.

but here's the rest of us in our bug's life glasses- my favorite part of DCA.
and you really can't spend the day together without matching shirts. that would be unrighteous.

on our last day we stayed until 11. brooks was the biggest boy and did back to back rides on splash mountain with me, grandma and uncle carl. we were SO proud of himself. thanks devin for taking the little nuggets on the winnie the pooh ride 6 times while we gave brooks the amazing feeling of having your stomach rise up into your throat. it was top 5 moments in my life.

and then ade fell asleep eating a churro.

and i made him pee into a bottle at the bus stop the day before.

and the kids loved the haunted mansion and pirates.

and ade fell on some lady's head while watching the beauty and the beast play.

and i ate gluten free all over the place. (Dland had pizza AND burgers for me!)

and my mom's the best. she makes disneyland even more magical.

and lots more.

-live like arizona lewis

our tempe, az home is for rent.

4 bedroom, 3 bath.

click HERE to see pictures.

please email me if you're interested: arizona.lewis@yahoo.com

-ARCHER VIDEO by jenfolio

do you know jenny?

she's pretty fun.

last week she came over and helped us capture our new little family member.

this is such a chaotic stage of life- why not add a furry fellow to the brood?

thanks jenfolio for making magic in the crunched time we had.
being around you makes us all feel happier and makes me feel loved. xox

ps- family videos are way cooler than family pictures. she'll be in utah for the next couple of weeks and then off to NYC.
book her if she has an opening. you'll LOVE her!

-my life on a bed

the boys were watching tv.

the dogs were playing in the back yard.

the little brother was eating in the kitchen.

i finally had time to put clean sheets on the bed and make it the way i like it.

i went to get dressed in my closet and when i came out 4 minutes later, i found this crew messy things up.............

really? everyone at once? right after i made it?

love them all. add the husband and there's a 6:1 male/female ratio.

awesome.

ps- we got a dog to match my brother's gf's dog. his name is archer. he likes to chew and take naps.

-a video montage all about home

another summer trip home to Ktown under our belts.
super boring, not much happened and a lot of days spent laying around.
it was perfect.

my parents and Mariah did talk us into doing some things.
because they feared we were all turning into a family of Jabba the Huts.
which really wouldn't be the worse thing.
as long as we were ALL giant slugs.
and had a spazzy muppet on hand to feed us.
and carrie fisher in a metal bikini on a leash (pre jenny craig).



music by dale earnhardt jr. jr.

-muchas gracias

cousin hayden and ade at laguna beach

thanks mom and dad for the awesome week in so cal.

our room was great, the boys have never played harder and my smile lines are deeper than ever.

we loved hanging with carl's family at disneyland and the beach and even in slow moving traffic.

i'll blog more about our trip later but i wanted to put something up quickly to show gratitude.

life is good as a mccain kid.

xox