earth day at the desert botanical gardens

shawni and i took my niece elle out of her last couple of classes at the end of the school day on tuesday to go to the desert botanical gardens in phoenix together. it was so so so hot, but also outrageously beautiful, and we had the best time. there was a special exhibit of chihuly glass sculptures places around all the cacti and desert wildflowers and palo verde trees. all three of us were snapping pictures like crazy. it is so fun for me to be around people that have the same nature/art/beauty-appreciation genes as me. we were going wild about how gorgeous everything was.

here's about one tenth of the pictures we took:


we remembered it was earth day about half way through our wanderings - and what a spectacular way to celebrate! did you notice how i am on my tippy-toes in every picture where i'm standing next to elle? i love that tall girl so much - i just think she's the coolest fifteen year old there is. we had to rush back to gilbert to get her to a tennis match. it was such a wonderful afternoon melting in the heat and because of the beauty all around with two of my favourite women in the world.