Oh Thank Heaven, My Boy is Seven!

Today (well, technically yesterday) was Matt's birthday. 

We started out with some presents.

We went to the lake.

We had cake.

And got home and the kids went to bed about fifteen minutes before the official end of Matt's birthday.

Easiest tuck-in job.  Ever.  They were all asleep before I turned off their lights.

It was a good day.

Happy birthday, Cute Boy!!

The Extreme Comparison

Sometimes I have to wonder:

Why do I live in the Arizona desert?

It's a valid question.  At this moment, it is 108* and will most likely climb to 111* in the next few hours. 

That's hot.

But, really, we are no crazier living in Arizona than we were when we lived in Montana or Colorado.  They were just the other extreme.

Arizona Summer        Montana Winter
Highs: 110 days above 100*F      Lows: 158 days below 32*F
A/C bill raises                               Heater bill raises
Water and sunscreen necessary     Coats, gloves, hats necessary
Too hot to play outside                  Too cold to play outside
Ice is in constant demand               Hot cocoa is in constant demand

I've heard the argument that cold is better because you can always add more layers, but in the heat there are only so many layers you can remove without getting arrested.  There is definitely some merit in that train of thought.

But, I think I prefer the heat.  In Arizona summer or Montana winter, you end up being sequestered in your home with a dread to go outside.  But in Arizona I never have to worry about the added bummer of driving in the snow and ice. 

Which do you prefer?

Summertime Recipes

I definitely don't consider myself a gourmet chef, by any means.  But lately I've had some good luck with some meal ideas.  Of course, the fact that Josh is a creative genius that likes to cook helps a bit.

So here are two of the requested recipes I've used over the last couple weeks.

Camping Calzones

We used the propane stove to give us a little more control over the heat.  Plus, there are lots of fire bans this year, and a campfire isn't guaranteed, so stove cooking isn't so bad after all.

We used:

2 Pillsbury thin pizza crusts
1 jar sauce (we just used marinara since that's what we had in our pantry)
Mozzarella cheese
Provolone cheese (leftover from our sandwiches and they made them extra cheesy)
Pepperoni and other toppings

Spread out your thin crust (they are way easy to handle) and cut it into fourths.  On half of each fourth, layer your sauce, cheese, and whatever other toppings you want to use.  Try to stay away from the edges since this can make sealing the calzone tricky.  Fold the clean side of the dough on top of the sauce and cheese and pinch around the edges to seal it.  Cook in a lightly greased frying pan over the stove, covering if possible.  Play with the heat, about medium to medium high.  Our first two calzones were cooked on high and burned quickly.

Watermelon Salsa

What I used:
3 kiwis, peeled and diced
1 to 1 1/2 cups diced watermelon
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
half a jalapeno, minced
1 to 2 tsp lime juice
salt to taste

Just throw it together and get ready for some sweet deliciousness.  Keep it refrigerated in an airtight bowl for up to a day.

Happy cooking!

Abby's Update

It was Abby's birthday a few weeks ago.  Yep, I'm such a good mother that I'm that slow in posting pictures.

First of all, at the Come-see-what-we've-been-doing night at school, Abby got to dress up like the person she did a biography book report on.  Her person was Sacajawea. 

Doesn't she make a pretty little Sacajawea?

The day before Abby's birthday we headed to Ajo to visit my parents.  They had a ward talent show with a performance of their road show they did for their stake.  (It just occurred to me that there is a lot of LDS culturalism in that sentence.  So, translation for any non-Mormons reading this: the Mormons in their community had a talent show and they also performed a skit they wrote and performed for other people in their region.) 

The road show was cute and we stayed around to help clean up a bit.  It was kind of fun to be in a ward that could set up tables in one of the overflow rooms and have that be a sufficient area to hold people. 

Abby posed with the clothes she got from her Poppy (Josh's dad) for her birthday.

We stayed the night and the next morning we let her open her present in the morning.  She was happy.

We went swimming in the pool.  I have no pictures of that.  I know, major disappointment that you can't see me in my swimming suit.  I guess you'll just have to dream.

Abby wanted a Rapunzel ice cream cake.  I originally went to Baskin Robbins to order one.  It was going to cost over $50.  After I left the store laughing at the absurdity of the price, I went and bought ingredients to make it myself.  It wasn't too bad.  And it cost WAY less than $50.  Even with the Rapunzel doll I bought as the cake topper.  It definitely isn't the prettiest or most creative cake I've made, but it did taste good.

For about six weeks the girls' ages were 10 and 8.  It's kind of weird to have it sound like they are 2 years apart, since they are only 13 months apart.  But now they are 10 and 9 and the world is right yet again.

Young Would Make Me Restless

I've already posted our camping trip pictures.  They are cute.  You should check them out.  You can go Here or just scroll down.

Here's some of our post-camping adventure.

It didn't take long for us to get to our camp area but the last 20 miles were spent mostly on a dirt road.  Because we were only another 20 miles from the community of Young, we decided to drive through it on our way home and check it out.... we're always on the look out for where we may want to live after Josh finishes school. 

We drove along the dirt road and barely avoided the few oncoming vehicles as they came toward us on the narrow roads with the very soft shoulders.  I was relieved when we hit pavement, came off of the mountain and saw the little town plotted out in front of us.  The first building we saw was the Young Public School.  It was obvious that the town was small enough for a K thru 12 school. 

We came across the homes comfortably spaced apart from each other and it all revealed a very Mayberry-esque community.  There were only a few sparsely placed businesses and a small LDS chapel.  The town was surrounded by the towering pines and mountains. 

Young, AZ Post Office

It just seemed so...... lovely.

There really wasn't anywhere to stop, so we continued to drive through the town.  We followed the highway through town and headed toward Payson.  I figured that anyone in town would just jot over to Payson for any of their shopping or entertainment needs.  It's about 60 miles, but if you can go about 60 mph, it won't take too long to get there. 

We drove a few miles out of town and found a surprise.  Another dirt road.  About 15 miles of loose, windy, mountainous dirt roads. 

There is no paved road to get to Young, AZ.

I'm thinking we'll have to keep looking for that perfect town to end up in.

The Great Outdoors

We officially kicked off our summer this week.  The kids got out of school last week and Josh had the end of this week off from work, so we took advantage of the situation and hit the road.

Our family hasn't been camping in a while.  And we've never been out with just our little family.  But, our family loves ADVENTURE!!  So we took off and searched for our haven away from home.

We stayed in our brand new three room tent.  Josh and I slept in the middle room.  Josh bought an air mattress for the father/son campout last month.  And I love that he did.  For the first time, my back didn't want to kill me after a night in the woods.  Hooray!

Matt and Millie shared one of the side rooms and Emma and Abby took the other side room.  It was a great tent.  

This picture was originally centered, but I was trying to get Millie in the pictures and she was trying to run away so the camera followed her.

Josh had called ahead to the rangers' station to find out if there was a fire ban.  He was told that the fires had to stay within the rims provided for the fires, so we got the fire a-flamin'.

We also set up a few outdoor games for the kids to play.  I can't remember what this one is called.  Josh called it golf.  I called it The Game. 

We also played lots of card games.  Our current favorite is Skip-Bo.  We also played Mancala (the game with the marbles).  Even the kids got into that one. 

We decided to go hiking and found this cute little stream.

Emma

Abby

Matt

Millie

We also found a big rock, perfect for sitting.

Then we found the real waterfall.  180 feet high. 

Josh has told me before that girls baffle him.  That was kind of obvious when we got married (I love you, dear).  But until a year or so ago, I didn't realize that his befuddlement includes our own daughters.  Josh has three brothers and one sister.  She's ten years younger than him and so he never really interacted with her.  So our daughters are a bit of an enigma. 

This trip gave Josh the chance to bond a little more with Emma.  She wanted to build a fairy house for fairies living in the woods.  So, she and Josh found the materials in the trees near our campsite and built this really cool fairy house.

This fairy house is made completely from sticks, ferns, and leaves.  Everything a fairy would want her home built out of.

Millie loved being outside.  She grabbed handfuls of dirt and placed (read: threw) it anywhere she thought dirt needed to be.  She ran in circles and sang at the top of her lungs.  We had a butterfly that kept fluttering through out camp.  It was a big orange one and everyone loved it.  Millie would chase it and yell, "I ya you, bu'erf'y!"  That translates to: I love you, butterfly.  However, when Millie got tired, she hit a wall.  Hard.  I think her wailing alone kept any wild animal at least a mile away.  At one point, I was going to clean her face (the girl was a constant dirt pile) and she looked at me coming at her with the wipe and yelled NO! and tried to run into the woods.  She seriously took off to the trees.  Hello?  Not even Bambi would let her hang out with that messy face.

One-shoed-Millie playing in the dirt.

Fun candids:

One thing Josh and I loved doing was creating a new and exciting menu.  We were only gone for two nights, but we didn't want to just roast hot dogs both nights.  Although we roasted weenies the first night, we also made campfire nachos.  The second night we made calzones.  Yeah.  We went camping where there wasn't even a porta-potty and still had freshly made calzones for dinner.  Call us the coolest parents ever.

Now that we've been out once this summer, we'll happily go again.  We've got all the supplies we need.  We know a decent place to go (although we wouldn't mind checking out a few different places).  And everyone had fun. 

Not a bad way to spend a weekend.