Sad week but ended amazing!

Tuesday, May 31st, Dessa and I headed out for a morning hike to one of my favorite places - Tucker Peak.

I absolutely love the view of the Eagle River valley from this hike.

We made it to the summit and as you can see, Dessa clearly has her mind on something other than taking a picture with me.  And this is where our sad news begins... on the way back down, I was adjusting my grip on my hiking pole and Dessa's leash slipped out of my hand.  Off she went - on the sent of some kind of mountain animal critters she took off running.  I watched her cruise around the other side of the valley for a good 10 minutes before she was out of sight.

With rescue dogs, you never quite know the full story.  As I have wrestled with the emotions of blaming myself that Dessa ran off, I have come to peace.  I believe something was changing in Dessa's temperament and her running off is a blessing in disguise.   We miss her greatly and still hold some hope that she'll come back to us.  The kids are handling it well and I hear them saying, silly Dessa is up in the mountains still chasing those critters.

The very next day was my first day at my new job. I'm now the office manager for the church I attend (ACF Church).  I was greeted with these amazing tulips on my desk.

Then I received a flower delivery sent from my mom and dad.  So beautiful!!

Flowers everywhere!  We finally did some landscaping and put in some flowers this spring. So excited to see our rose bush blooming and the Dalina's opening up!

We ended the week with Papa and I celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary on Friday!

A little cloudy with some rain showers during our hike - but still a beautiful day together.

We got married in the "mountains" of South Dakota, so fitting today that we would celebrate 10 years out hiking in the mountains.  I've been wanting to do this hike ever since we moved to Eagle River. It's a pretty flat trail, South Fork, that takes you back to two lakes.  Eagle Lake (picture above) is glacier fed and has an amazing turquoise color to it.  Just to the right (pictured below) is Symphony Lake, which is fed with mountain runoff.  So beautiful to see contrasting lake water with in feet of each other. 

After an emotional week with Dessa taking off on her own adventure, it was great to celebrate adventuring with this amazing man!

Even the rocks were sending us blessings of love for many more years to come!