Oh, Tucson we will miss you!

We are moving to Utah!

Before this chapter of our lives closes (and it's closing quickly!) I thought I'd write about our time in Arizona. I remember the flight down to Tucson almost 7 years ago---we were moving here so Joey could work for Raytheon and I was looking out the airplane window as the plane started to fly over Tucson. It wasn't my first time to Tucson but it was my first time looking at it as my new home. From high above I saw brown dirt and scrubby trees and plants and sparsely placed buildings and I wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into. We moved right at the beginning of summer. Those first few blazing hot months Tucson did not make a good impression on me. But over the years I feel in love with Tucson. It is only now, 7 years later and as this chapter in our lives comes to an end, that I realize how much I love Tucson. I can honestly say I consider it one of the best places to live. The monsoons are awesome. Our ward is top notch. Our neighbors are the best. The elementary school nearby is great. Raytheon has been a blessing to work for. And the desert really is beautiful.

We LOVE Tucson. I would recommend it to anybody!

Leaving our house is bitter-sweet. It's bitter because we have SO MANY wonderful memories--it was the first house we purchased. All three of the kids learned to walk in this house, we brought two newborns home to this place, we celebrated holidays and birthdays here. We've had friends, ward members, neighbors, missionaries, and family spend lots of time with us in our home. Joey put in our first backyard with help with our home teacher. We started a garden and planted trees. Our kids spent afternoons rolling their hot wheels down our driveway. We went on bike rides and walks. We did a lot of learning and growing here--all of us, not just the kids. It was a wonderful home and I will always cherish our memories of it. It's also bitter to leave so many great friends. The people  in this community, not just from our ward, but from our neighborhood and the school too--have inspired and taught me and I consider them life-long friends. Much of Joey's family lives relatively close by, his sister lives only about 5 or 10 minutes away. Joey's parents are 20 minutes away and my parents are just 1.5 hours up the road too. That's been really nice.

It's sweet to leave too--because after prayer and talking and fasting we have faith that this will be a blessing for us. I saw a quote on a friend's blog that I thought was great. She and her husband moved to North Carolina recently and as she prepared to move what she told her husband was "home is where you are", as long as she was with her husband she felt anywhere could be home. That's how I feel. Our home here feels special because of the time and effort we have tried to put into our marriage and family over the years--and our home in Utah can become special too if we fill it up with love, work, happy attitudes, forgiveness, and fun activities.

We were out on the trampoline the other night and as I watched the sunset, jumped with my kids, and felt the beauty around me I thought how that evening was perfect. If we look for those perfect moments in life they are there. Here's one of my perfect moments...when I think of Tucson, when I think of Marana, one thing I will always think of is my babies jumping on the trampoline in our backyard.

A Monsoon Story

While we were at church one July afternoon a monsoon hit hard. There was hail and lightening, and it was pouring rain. It knocked the power out for a while too.  Apparently the wind over in Gladden Farms was crazy because trampolines went flying! One of the trampolines was ours--and it flew all the way across our yard over the backyard wall and into our neighbors...WINDOW! Of course the window was smashed! And of course we felt responsible and offered to pay it. In the end, luckily, Allstate paid for the window.

We are still using our *slightly* bent out of shape trampoline... I wonder if the neighbors have had dreams nightmares about flying trampolines like I have since then....

Good-bye tree

Tucson has grown on me. Aside from the blazing and intense heat filled summers it's a great place. And I actually do look forward to one thing about summers here, the monsoons! We love the monsoons! Just like the heat, the monsoons can be extreme and intense. But, they are fun to watch!

Yesterday, the monsoons did a little landscaping for us. A huge storm hit and we all watched from our front window as it uprooted our mesquite tree! The storm also left our neighborhood without power for a few hours.

The kids thought it was so cool to use our battery powered lantern around the house. They called it a "camp fire" and they took baths, changed into jammies, and read stories by their "camp fire." I didn't mind being without power. I think it's kind of fun...for a few hours :).

After the storm Joey worked quickly to remove the tree from our yard. Our neighbors, Kurt and Cathy, came home and Kurt ran in, changed his clothes, and came out with work gloves and tree loppers to help us. Amazingly we had sawed the trunk, uprooted most of the roots and had the entire tree cut into pieces by about 8pm. We could not have removed that tree so quickly with out their help!! I am SO grateful to have so many awesome neighbors close by.

Good-bye tree!

Beautiful Sunsets

Isn't this pretty? I took this picture a couple streets over from our house. 

This is the exact same place, just at a different moment of the sunset.

The kids and I have been going outside a lot lately. Miles and Hailey roll hot wheels down our steep driveway, and some nights after dinner we go out into the front yard and we wait for daddy to come home to us. Or if he's out of town we walk around the block or I let the kids dig and play in all the dirt they want in the garden. We enjoy the cool evenings, the pretty sunsets, and being outside. When Joey gets home from work and it's not too late I leave him with the kiddos and walk for one hour, doing a loop around Gladden Farms. Sometimes I get to go with a good friend, and that is always fun!

Can you see the rainbow? It was a lot brighter in person.

Right from our front yard about 1 month ago!

From the back yard just about a week ago! Arizona has the prettiest sunsets!

Waiting for daddy to come home one evening...

Love this little lady...

It's perfect weather and I love that we get to be outside more often! I love this time of year!!

Snow day!

We took the kids to Mt. Lemmon this morning to go play in the snow! Back in February after one of our rain storms Miles asked me if we could try to make a snowman out of mud. He's also been wondering when it would snow in Tucson all winter long...I felt kind of sorry for him.

Today he got the chance to make a snowman--out of snow--imagine that!

(That's not another kid with Miles and Hailey, that's me!)

(Today was the first time Hailey saw snow!)

(Sledding. Wheeee!)

This slope was great for sledding. The kids were too scared to sled down it though.

I had to include these pictures. Miles was so excited that we were going to the snow. This was when we got the kids dressed in their snowsuits in the car before we got out to play. He was just so happy!

A rainy day

On Friday we had a cool and cloudy day with rain in the afternoon.

The kids, having been born and raised in the desert so far, were really excited about the rain. We're used to hot, hot temps and blazing, burning sun in the summer...not cloudy, cool, and rainy!

Miles brought out a "brella" as he calls it and we opened it up. All he wanted to do was stand in the rain holding his umbrella.





Hailey, on the other hand, was scared of the sound the rain drops made on the umbrella when she was under it so she opted to run around in the rain without one.



Rain, rain, we're glad you came. Come again another day--soon!

Tractor Pull Races

For those of you who have been to our home, you know we live in a farming area. Is "cow town" derogatory? I always say we live in cow town, but I mean it in the nicest way :).

There are weekly rodeos down the street from our house--literally 5 minutes away. We haven't seen one yet. Tonight we heard there were tractor pull races at the rodeo arena and we went for an official "cow town" experience. For a city girl it sure was an experience!

There were cowboys in their boots, hats and big belt buckles everywhere. The tractor races were fun to watch. The local country western station was playing over the loudspeakers. There were kids Miles' age wearing cowboy boots and plaid shirts. We didn't fit in with the crowd very much.

Miles loves tractors and was in tractor heaven tonight. All in all, I'm glad we did it. It was an experience.

Fin!

It's done! Well, for now. We finished the paving, set up the planter bricks, and laid the grass. I'm glad to be able to take it easier on the weekends now, spend time with Tiff, and hang out with Miles.


My dad, me, and Rion last Saturday. Work in progress.


Tiffany packing sand into the bricks. Here I am checking the sprinklers.


Anton & Tom working on the planter. Me sanding the grass.


The finished product.

Special thanks to Rion, Grandpa, Anton, Tom, R&R Pizza, the Donut Wheel, and Eegee's.

Winter in Arizona

We had a foggy morning today! It's the first time I've seen fog here. I took Miles out for a walk in it. For the last few days we've been having some winter storms. Nothing compared to the rest of the country, but "winter storms" desert style I guess. It's been raining for about four days in a row (on and off, not constantly) and the temperatures have dipped down into the 30s at night and 40s to 50s during the day. Tomorrow we are heading to Salt Lake City until the 17th to see family. I hope we can withstand real winter weather for a few days! I plan to take lots of pictures and make a post about our trip when I have time.