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?

I Do Not Feel Prepared

Two days ago I turned off our air conditioner.  I can just hear the racking of our electric bill slowing by leaps and bounds.  I opened the windows, enjoyed the fresh air and reminded myself to keep the yelling to a minimum with all the windows opened.

I did not, however, realize it was time to prepare for cooler weather.  I figured I'd have a few more weeks before I had to worry about putting away shorts.  And maybe I do.  I think we're having a cold spell for a few days.  And by "cold spell" I mean our high will be in the low 70s.

Today I realized that I needed to be prepared.



This morning it was raining.  The first morning we've woken to rain in a very, very long time.  And with the cooler temps, I needed to find the kids' jackets.  So now my garage is home to an empty box and loose lying coats in a pile as I searched and searched for jackets for the kids to wear to school today. 

I've obviously been taking advantage of the beautiful weather of Arizona since I had to unearth the jackets.  But I desperately searched for them this morning mostly so the kids won't freeze their tails off in school today.  If they freeze in their classrooms when it's 110* outside, how cold will it be on an anomaly day like today?  I may even need to stop at the store and pick up some hot chocolate as an after school snack. 

And some info on the video: It's a clip from the movie Hoodwinked.  It's about all the different points of view surrounding the suspicious circumstances of Red Riding Hood discovering her Granny tied up in the closet, the Wolf in Granny's bed, and the crazy Woodcutter bearing an axe.  If you haven't seen it, you really really need to.  I don't know if you can rent it.  If you can't, just buy it.  It's so great everyone will love it. 

Anniversary Adventure

Last night we took the kids to see the view from South Mountain.  South Mountain sits south of Phoenix and from the summit you can see most of the Valley of the Sun.  It's quite phenomenal.

Behind the kids is the east side of the city of Phoenix.  I didn't appreciate it when we lived here so many years ago, but there is a certain beauty to the desert.  It's different than the mountains I love, but it has its own sense of enchantment.

The progression of the sun setting over the west end of Phoenix:

We wound our way to another lookout site and found the East Valley, where we live.  From what we can tell, the line of lights on the left is US Hwy 60.  Somewhere along the horizon on the right is where we live. 

Do you see us?



I think I'm starting to get used to this place.  Brown still is not my favorite color, but it's tolerable.  I even unpacked the four big boxes of junk in our bedroom yesterday.  I think that's my mind's way of acknowledging our year mark in Arizona.  That's right.  Our Year Mark. 

One year ago today I packed up my four children, all of our possessions, and along with my dad, began the journey to bring us from Montana to Arizona. 

A year!  I'm still wrapping my head around that.

Going to a Ghost Town

Josh and I have been wanting to explore a bit of the new world around us. My BIL Jabon told us about a ghost town he heard about that's only about half an hour from our house. So we loaded everyone up and went to check it out.



We went up to Superior, AZ, to the remains of Pinal City, AZ. Pinal City was a silver mining town from 1871 to 1894. Even though the town shut down 116 years ago, you'd think there'd be more left of it, but all we could find were some ruins of a few foundations.



This is what the town looked like around 1880.





The kids had fun posing for pictures near the geocache site.

Josh wanted some peace and quiet and took off on his own little hike. The yellow behind him is Matt and the rest of the kids coming to be by him. Peace and quiet? Come on, Dad. Really?

There were also some really cool mule train wagon tracks.

If you look in the picture below, you can see some round dents between the wagon ruts. Those are the imprints from the mules set into the sandstone.

The kids are showing how deep the ruts really go. Ducks in a row.

The wagons full of the silver ore made a round trip everyday from the mine to the mill. The wagons would be bound together and led by about 20 mules.

One story goes that the mule skinners that ran the trains didn't get paid much. As the mules stubbornly trekked down the trail they would throw bits of ore at them. Then, friends of the skinners would gather up the ore and cash it in and share the profits with the skinners. That's one way to beat the system.

We also checked out the town of Superior while we were out there. Abby and Matt found this tree and decided to ride it like a pony. Unfortunately for them, we didn't stay out for too much longer. It was in the high 90s at 9am and we didn't want to get stuck out there when the real heat struck us.

Tombstone or Bust!

Yesterday Josh and I took the kids out for an adventure. We called it:

ADVENTURE!!!!

I know. Such a creative name. Really, anyone else may look at our adventure and think that it was just a bunch of unpreparedness. Well, so what if it was? We had fun, so that's all that matters.

I told the kids that we were going to go on a field trip. The girls got all excited and asked where we were going. I told them Tombstone. They started screaming and clapping and jumping up and down. Finally, after a good 60 seconds of celebration, they calmed down and asked me what Tombstone is. They're so weird.

I explained it's an Old West town and had some museums in it. They were excited (again) to go.

First, we left very late in the day. I don't know if my children have told you lately, but I'm pretty mean and made them do all their chores before we could leave.

Then, we grabbed the atlas and took off. We couldn't remember how far away Tombstone is since the last time we went there we had no children. But we knew it would be a couple hours.

Three hours later, we arrived in town. We went over to the O.K. Corral to check it out.

Unfortunately, we got there 15 minutes after it closed. And 15 minutes after most of the shops in town closed.

But there were a couple of shops open. We had promised the kids they could buy whatever they wanted as long as they didn't go over their $10 max. So we now have a few new horses and cap guns laying around our house.

Josh and I thought it was kind of funny that the movie stills we saw were mostly from the Kurt Russell Tombstone instead of the Kevin Costner Wyatt Earp. Even the town of Tombstone thinks Kevin Costner sucks. Ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

We saw a buggy driving down the streets of Tombstone, but we missed the shoot out in the streets.

We completed our adventure by taking the backroads home. It shaved about thirty minutes off our drive, even in the dark. It was a bit after midnight when we got home, but it was fun.

ADVENTURE!!!!

We now have a much better idea of how to do a good visit to Tombstone. The only thing really worth seeing in town is the O.K. Corral and it's accompanying museum. So, next time we'll plan it a little better. We will drive the backway to Tombstone and visit some really cool caverns in one of the towns nearby. Then we'll go to Tombstone for lunch, visit the O.K. Corral and watch the 2pm shoot out in the streets.

So, some may consider our six hours in the car for an hour look around Tombstone a waste of time, but we had lots of fun together. And that's never a waste.

I do think we need to go get the BlueRay copy of Tombstone. Who doesn't love Kurt Russell, especially as someone as cool as Wyatt Earp? He's awesome. Sam Elliot and Bill Paxton are wonderful as the other two Earp brothers, although Sam Elliot is my favorite of the two. And, of course, my loyalty to Joshua has numbed my affinity for Val Kilmer, but I still think he's great. Plus, he's got some of the best lines.

I'm your Huckleberry.

A Lesson From Ferdinand

Today Matt learned about Spain. What I love about these lessons are the stories and games associated with them. So, as we learned that Madrid is a city in Spain which is on the continent of Europe (Matt calls it Syrup), we got to read The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and drawings by Robert Lawson.

The story takes place in Spain with a young bull named Ferdinand. Ferdinand is different from the other bulls. The other bulls love to run and butt heads and dream of going to Madrid to fight in the bull fights. "But not Ferdinand. He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers." He grows into a large bull and when the men from Madrid come to check out the bulls for the bull fights, Ferdinand goes to his favorite cork tree to smell the flowers. However, he sits on a bee and freaks out, appearing to be the meanest, fiercest, and craziest bull of all. The men take him to Madrid and when the fight begins, Ferdinand comes to the middle of the arena to sit and smell the flowers in the hair of all the beautiful women in the crowd. The Banderilleros, with their sharp pins to stick into Ferdy, can't make him angry and attack the Matador. The Picadores, with their long spears, can't make him angry and attack the Matador. The Matador, who wants to use his sword against the bull, does everything he can to anger Ferdinand, but the bull continues to just sit and smell the flowers. Finally, with no fight looming, Ferdinand is taken home and his life is spared.

It's a wonderful story about how avoiding contention can be your saving grace. My children really need to learn that one.

Of course, my messed up mind saw it in a bit of a different light. We are about to re-embark on our quest for a new home. This time around, our options are opened a little more. There are several things we want in a home and we are being a bit more willing to expand our possibilities. So Sunday we went driving around a bit to check out some other areas of the Valley of the Sun to see what's out there. There are some nice areas with incredible schools (I know, What? I don't want to home school for the next 17 years? Crazy!). I'm nervous, though, that our short introductions to the areas may not give us the actual reality of what the areas are like. I don't want to be like the men who come to get Ferdinand: I don't want to think I'm getting one thing and then find out I'm getting something else. It's scary. We plan to spend the next several years in whatever house we find. For a woman who has never lived in one house for more than three years at a time, that's a scary idea. I don't want us to mess this up. I am absolutely prepared to rely on my God given blessing of personal/family revelation. It's about the only way to do this. Sometimes, our eyes will deceive us, but our hearts will always guide us safely.

Just for fun, after Matt's lesson I Googled Ferdinand and found the Disney cartoon. It's about 8 minutes long, but grab the kids and watch it. So worth it!

And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street

Except for the couple of times I drove the streets of Texas, I've never seen so many side-road vendors as I have here in Arizona. And it's not just vendors. Businesses hire people to hold their signs on the corners. Never seen that more than I do here. Signs for pizza and other restaurants, jewelers, new homes, Girl Scout cookies. It's just people standing there, bouncing their four foot signs around to catch your attention as you drive by. But I digress.

Today, as I was driving around doing my errands I saw several roadside vendors selling all sorts of things. Here's a little rundown of things I've seen sold on the side of the road just up the street from my house:

tamales

oranges

mattresses

Dish Network

Bonsai Trees -- Today's sign read: Big trees, Stupid Prices!

Tortoises. I didn't actually see this one, but Emma convinced Josh to stop and check them out. A tortoise just larger than this was only $100, if you can believe it!

BTW, today's title is courtesy of the first book Dr Seuss wrote. His birthday is March 2. Happy Birthday, Theo!

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I hope your Christmas was a great as ours!

Polar Express

We started our Christmas Eve off with a challenge for the kids. We began watching The Polar Express and were talking about how cool it would be for the Polar Express to show up in our yard. But the problem was that we didn't have any snow at our house. So, we realized we needed snow. Also, the train seemed to go through a canyon of some sort. We put the two clues together and figured out that we could go to the Grand Canyon to look for the Polar Express.

The kids were worried about missing Santa, so I told them that we could for sure be back in time for Santa. To sweeten the deal, I told them they could each bring one present to open. The catch to that was that they had to chose the present labeled "Don't open until Dec 24."

We drove to Flagstaff and then headed west toward the Grand Canyon. In the book, the boy's sister discovers the bell from Santa, so family is also very important to the story. Because of that, we decided to stop in a town called Williams (my maiden name). We had the choice to go either right (toward the Grand Canyon) or left (toward Williams). Abby needed the restroom, so we decided to stop in Williams and take the Historic Route 66 like in the movie Cars.

We got in to town and low-and-behold there was a train station with a giant train labeled Polar Express!!! We saw that the people there were all wearing their pajamas and we wondered if we'd be allowed on the train. We all got really nervous. While the rest of us went to the potty, Josh went to see if the train was expecting us, like they did for the kids in the story.

We found Josh and discovered that we couldn't enter the train without jammies. Then the train left. It left without us! We couldn't believe it! I thought we needed something to help us feel better, so the kids opened their presents. They were shocked to discover that each of them just opened a gift of PAJAMAS!!!

We still needed tickets. Josh asked the kids what the conductor told the boy to do in the movie. The conductor said to check his pocket. Josh looked in his pocket--nothing. Then we remembered the conductor told the boy to look in his other pocket. And there were the tickets! So we had tickets for the next train, pajamas, and a picnic dinner which we ate out in the freezing cold.

Matt was a bit miserable.

Abby remembered how to bundle up.

Emma happily gobbled her homemade sugar cookie as we waited.

Josh and Millie were so cute!!

This picture almost didn't make it on here. Who's that fattie with Emma? Gross. ('Fess Up Friday resumes next week!)

We entered the train, rode to the North Pole, listened to a reading of the Polar Express, got to the North Pole, saw Santa and his elves, got a gift from Santa and a few gifts from the Polar Express people, sang carols, and had a magical time. It was a great trip, but I think our anticipation was the most exciting part of the whole thing. I'll happily go again. But probably not on Christmas Eve. We'll do our exploring earlier in the season next year, I think.

In case you didn't get a good idea of what Josh's jammies looked like, here's a better shot. Isn't he the cutest thing in the whole world? Just ask the people of Black Canyon, AZ. Sorry, inside joke.

Christmas Morning

To avoid the huge montage of pictures we took this morning, here is one of each kid. This year's homemade gift was a pottery piece I painted with my sister, Tara. Tara made piggy banks for her boys and I made collectibles for each of my kids.

Emma has been asking for a turtle, so I got her one.

Abby loves horses, princesses and pink. So she got a pink unicorn.

Matt likes frogs.

I didn't know what Millie would grow up to like, so I chose this really cute lady bug for her. And it was really cool that we found a really cute new onesie with a lady bug on it too. It was on sale.

We had a wonderful time together. Josh shocked me with getting me Rockband Beatles. How the heck he pulled it off is a mystery. He's tricky. I can't wait to rock out with him.

With Love, From Me to You

Dear Rockband Beatles,
You are really cool. You are the best video game I have ever played. Usually I can't play video games. Whether it's because I lack the hand/eye coordination or because I lack the ability to care about the game, I just don't play video games well. But you, RBB, are awesome. I love you. In fact, I want you for Christmas. I love you so much that I used a Beatles song as my title tonight. RBB, you rock my world.

Dear Shaun T.,
As the creator of the Insanity workout by Beachbody, I'm sure you realize how much of a butt-whooping your program is. But, did you realize that it is also an ab-whooping? And a rib-whooping? And a calf-whooping? And a thigh-whooping? It also whoops every other part of my body. Places I didn't even know could be whooped. This is my first week of your program and already I know it's going to be a great thing if I can keep up with you and your INSANITY!!! I get why you called it that, Shaun T. You're killing me, Smalls.

Dear Huggy-Bear (our white car),
I miss you. You've been away from the house much more than you've been home. I know you're doing your duty by taking Josh to work, not only for his regularly-scheduled shifts, but also all of the much-needed overtime he's been given. But I also missed you when you were stuck in the parking lot at the hospital with a dead battery. And I missed you this morning while you were stuck on the side of the road devoid of gas. It's nice to have you home tonight. But now I miss the van.

Dear Christmas Decorations,
I can't wait to see you! When I do it will be because we've moved in to our house and you've been salvaged from the storage unit. I can't wait to hang you, display you, and plug you in. Then maybe it will feel a little more like Christmas. Today was a cold day. It was in the 50s. I know, CD, you're totally laughing about it like I was, aren't you? I wore a short sleeved shirt while others around me wore sweatshirts and even parkas. This is fall weather, not Christmas weather. I look forward to you helping me feel the spirit of the season a little better. It will be a good day and then maybe I'll believe that Christmas is only 20 days away. Maybe.

Family Pictures

Josh and I have rarely taken family pictures. One reason is because I keep wanting to lose weight before I record my body image for all to see. But, it's time to face facts. I'm exercising and trying to eat right, but we don't need to put this off for another several years. So, here are a few of the pictures we took today.

We used the Mesa Temple as our backdrop. It was a beautiful day, despite the fact that it was still hot enough we all got sweaty in the heat. Our photographer was my fabulous BIL Jabon. He even brought my three nephews and they all were patient and we made quite the sight as three adults and seven kids took over one area of temple ground after another.

Awww, we're so cute!

Happy Birthday to the Man of my Dreams!!

(Yes, Josh, I'm talking to you.)

Yesterday was Josh's birthday. It was a good day. The kids had a short day at school, so by the time they got home we were ready to start our fun day.

We started out having lunch with the kids (our nephew Brett came along too) at Rally's. Can we say, "Holy crap, give me more of them french fries"? Yeah, 'Fess Up Friday this is not. We took our food over to the Mesa Cemetery for a picnic. That might sound weird, but we went visiting Josh's grandparents.

This is not a picture of where we picnicked, but it is a shot of the Mesa Cemetery. It was the best Google could do for me. We sat by Grandma and Grandpa Stratton's headstone, under an olive tree, and ate our lunch. When we were done, we took an old toothbrush and some cloths and scrubbed their grave marker to make it beautiful.

Afterward, we headed to the Mesa Temple and walked around the Visitors' Center. Isn't it so incredible?

We got to look around the temple grounds and in the Visitors' Center we saw all their different displays about families being together forever. It made me teary eyed. Okay, really it made me cry a little. A lot. Fine, I totally bawled my eyes out. I just get so overwhelmed by the thought of our little band (as crazy as my children drive me) will be together forever. Well after this mortal existance we will still be a family, bound by the eternal bonds of marriage. You can absolutely feel the Spirit of God just inside the Visitors' Center. It's amazing and it was the recharge we've all needed. We got to stop and spend time at the Christus as well. Beautiful.

Later, Josh and I went on a kid-free date. I know, I just talked about how excited I am to be with my entire family for eternity, but sometimes it's necessary to get out just the two of us. We went to Red Lobster for their endless shrimp special. I had the chicken. Although, I did branch out and try the shrimp. I've had this aversion to shrimp ever since I was about 9 and my dad went shrimping. He brought home coolers full of shrimp and then my sister and I had to stick in our thumbs and pop off their heads. Talk about being scarred for life. Gross. Anyway, my Cajun Chicken Linguini Fettucini was delicious.

After dinner Josh and I decided to stay out just a bit longer. We took advantage of the amazing Arizona October night air and went mini golfing.

Josh actually worked here in high school. He was a Revenue Manager. He told me (halfway through our game) that he used to come out and golf a round after each shift. I think that may have something to do with the fact that he beat me by about 72 strokes. Maybe not that many, but I didn't let him add them up. It was pretty obvious who won. If it hadn't been that the place was decked out for Halloween, I would've forgotten that it was October. The night was so peaceful and wonderful.

After such a great day, I'd have to say that I could easily get used to being here in Arizona. I'm glad you had a great day too, Baby!!

Arizona Top Ten List

Arizona Top Ten List...

Things I need to get used to:

10. The heat (a given)

9. Sand. Everywhere.

8. Driving time: it actually takes time to drive places.

7. The water is dis-gus-ting!

6. If you're not speeding then you're impeding traffic.

5. Southwestern architecture. Everywhere. (It's hard to tell residential and commercial buildings apart.)

4. A high LDS population. It's been nine years since we've lived somewhere where a single neighborhood might house as many as three wards.

3. Seven kids in one house. Ever thought of having five kids ages 11 to 4 and then a set <1-yr-old twins? It hasn't been too bad, but I'm very, very glad that most of them go to school during the day.

2. Cookie-cutter houses in cookie-cutter neighborhoods. I'm too much a traditionalist. Remember when buying a house meant you had to look at the actual house you were interested in and not the model home? (The house hasn't sold yet, so we're just looking, but still...)

And the number one thing to get used to in Arizona...

Realizing that someday I'll have no point of reference that Millie will understand when I tell her it was below zero on the day she was born in Montana.