Aaaaaaaand... We're Back

Where to begin?

We made the big move from good ol' Utah to Arizona. (Have I mentioned I hate moving? Because, it pretty much blows.) Realizing how little we would have per month on a student budget when we got to AZ, we elected to buy a house. Huh? Yup. It is officially cheaper to buy than to rent in Phoenix (by a lot, thank you crazy housing market), so we took advantage of the economic downturn, and an old man with Alzheimer's, and signed our life away.

(As a major side note, there is nothing like stress to sap you of any desire to pick up a camera and be creative, let alone to document stuff. Sorry, Mum.)

We scored a moderate fixer... enough work that it was kind of a pain (also read "ugly"), but enough work that it feels like ours and we can continue to make it our own, and we got a good deal. There enough room for us, and a backyard. We also got into a nice quiet area with good neighbours, and a very good school district, and we are also easy biking distance from campus for Evan. Plus, we have loads of grocery stores nearby (including Whole Foods!), malls, Lowes, Home Depot, Ikea, Costco, pools, parks, Jimmy Johns, Chipotle, and practically everything we would ever need in about a 4 mile radius, which we are coming to find in Phoenix means really, really close. (The stars aligned.)

I will post later about the remodel, but for now here is a picture of the outside that we took when we first looked at the place in July. Word of warning: we did not pick the house colours. And we obviously have not done a thing to it since. One day we will repaint, but not anytime soon, that is for sure. We have to finish painting inside first, at least.

Wow, that tree looked so much greener than it is now. Hmm... we should probably do something about that before it falls on our roof.
Oh, and obviously, we will put in plants to brighten things up one day too.

I don't know if you noticed, but, yes, there is a barrel cactus planted in the middle of a stone circle, with boulders placed at the cardinal points in the front yard. I think, judging from the rest of the house, that was the old dude's attempt at decorating. But, Evan and I had a good laugh about pagan rituals, Wiccans, and sacrificial offerings when we first saw it.

Free to a good home: barrel cactus in good condition and four matching boulders.

So anyway, between closing and remodelling and packing we spent an awful lot of the last 2-3 months in our car driving between Utah, California, and Arizona. (CA was mainly so we could drop off kids with grandparents, while we did house things.)

Speaking of driving, I am sure I have griped to some of you, but we made a trip from CA to AZ and back in July in a truck with no airconditioning. You can't claim to be hardcore until you've sweated out that trip in 100+-heat-by-10-AM. We survived by getting bags of ice in Yuma, and holding on to them for dear life. On the way back we figured out that double bagging the ice in two trash bags prevented most, if not all of the ice-cold drenchings we were subjected to if we made a wrong move. I would have taken pictures to document, but you know, it was too hot to think.

We also celebrated out 5th anniversary. We went out with our kids to Pizzaria 712... we didn't want to leave them behind. My most favourite restaurant in the whole wide world. I have never had anything from there that was not astonishingly good. And, as a side note, I love that we can take our kids to that kind of restaurant and they will gladly eat whatever we are eating.

That is Ollie tucking his napkin into his shirt, which ended up being all the way in his shirt and then out the bottom.

See? They ate *our* food. (Brag, brag, brag.)

Then we took the kids to the moonlight ski-lift ride at Sundance. We have been wanting to do that ever since we first got to Utah, and just never found the time. But I am glad we made time for it. It was a great way to go out. And to prove that we were there we had this taken afterwards.

And then, of course, before we knew it, the summer was almost over, and our moving truck was picked up, and we had barely packed (even though I spent weeks carefully packing beforehand). Not to mention, it was time for us to go before we got to put even a scratch in our Utah Bucket List. (That is for another time, but most of it is some form of hiking or some form of eating. Probably best in that order, too.) Did I mention I hate packing? Did I also mention I hate packing a truck when we are supposed to be on a tight schedule, and we have to wait for 6 hours for the piano movers to get the bloody piano in the truck before we can do anything? We finally finished out about 12 hours after we had planned (although we had kind of planned that we would not run on schedule, so I guess it was planned), and I was so ready to get on the road and get the heck out that I didn't even take a picture of the truck. Sad day (*fake tear*). It was a thing of beauty, too: Evan masterfully packed it to the brim like Tetris. And we didn't even have any casualties on the other end.

I also hit a new milestone, which was travelling in the car with the kids by myself for a very long road trip. In fact, doing a whole road trip by myself was a first, too. Here are pictures of the kids, with Alena looking deceptively happy, on our way down that mesa right after Lake Powell, after the world's-worst-two-hour-nap... I'm actually not kidding.

Here Oliver is actually telling you what will happen to your body if you fall over the side of the railing... "...you will go down, down, and squish like this..."

Oh, and one of Evan, who got to drive the rental truck with the dog, whilst caravaning behind me. Lucky, lucky.

I conveniently did not get any pictures of myself.

And then after we finally (finally!) arrived (13 hours late) at our new home, and unpacked the truck in record time (an hour) so that the (2 hours early) piano movers could get to my dear musical instrument strapped at the absolute back of the vehicle, we spent a couple of days doing this:

And "this", of course, is sleeping, but more specifically, sleeping on mattresses on the floor with only the  most essential of mismatched bedsheets, while our bedframes lay propped against walls because it was too much darn work to put them together.

That's it for now. And if you made it this far you win the prize of me being the most impressed by your perseverance.

P.S. Evan started his Marriage Break-up Association a few weeks ago, and is doing well so far. And thanks to our ridiculous school + two jobs + me in school too schedule over the last year, I am coping with him being away from home for at least 12 hours a day much better than most other partners. Yay.

Week 19-22/52

Week 19/52

Theme: Window Light

Well, to start things off I need to break my own rule per the last post on "jaunty angles". What can I say? Rules are made to be broken. However, I will add that I personally don't feel like I have to keel over sideways to view this pictures properly. But maybe that it just me being defensive.

Anyway. Window Light. I knew for this theme that I would have to find a different way to use window light. We live on the third floor and the windows are very nicely shielded from rain and snow by an overhanging roof. But unfortunately it blocks a significant amount of light too. We also have massive trees blocking the bedroom windows, and they are covered in very pretty, but light obscuring, leaves right now. So, not much indoor window light to speak of. Apart from a dinky kitchen window that gets the brunt of afternoon sun. I did actually take some pictures of an interesting flower using that window light, but everyone submitted flowers. So I went with this. This is an office building near our place of residence that has floor to ceiling window sections. I liked the modern, urban vibe. And the dirty windows, because dirty windows are much more fun to photograph than clean ones.

Week 20/52

Theme: Spring Fever

I am jealous of places that actually experience spring in all of it's glory over an extended period of time. Here in the desert spring is 2-3 weeks of whacked out weather, during which blossoms appear haphazardly and then disappear after a week from snow, high winds, or fluctuating temperatures. And then, *boom*, it's summer. Blah. I miss spring. But, there is nothing quite like grass growing, and hay fever, to remind you that summer is on the way pretty soon.

(BTW, have I mentioned that I love Lensbabies? Because... I do.)

Week 21/52

Theme: Need for Speed

I confess: I didn't actually take this picture in the week 21 time frame that was appointed by the Project 52 people. But Evan and I were busy in Arizona looking for dwellings. And it was close enough, so it counts. Right?

You may need to click on the picture to see that it is, in fact, an ant. My challenge to myself was to narrowly focus and to see if I was quick enough to catch these little creatures. Most of the time I wasn't. They are fast little buggers. (Ha!) I have lots of rear-end ant shots. And see that sliver of focused space? It is about the length of an ant, which is practically nothing. But I did it. Once. Yay me.

Week 22/52

Theme: Reflection

Oh boy. Did I mention that we were in Arizona last week? Yeah. We drove from Utah to San Diego to drop off our children with the grandparents. Then we drove out to Phoenix, and were stunned at how absolutely boring the drive through the desert is. Even more boring than driving on I-15 to California, if that is even possible. Then we looked at houses in 100F heat. Houses that had no airconditioning turned on since they are vacant. Then we drove back to CA. Evan then drove back to Utah by himself (with the dog), and I stayed in San Diego with the kids and drove back to Utah with my MIL a few days later. We pulled off the road in Barstow for a kids toilet break and when we came back the front tire was destroyed. Completely flat. Like, should-have-exploded-on-the-freeway flat. We were driving on the rim. 30 minutes, one car repair shop, and one spare tire later we were back on the road backtracking to Victorville to the nearest Costco to get another spare tire just in case. Then we had to head to St. George. Arrived in St. George at about 1:30am and checked into the hotel only to find that they hadn't given us a wheelchair accessible room. Moved to another hotel where we checked into a room that was accessible, but then we found out it it only had one bed, for MIL, me and two toddlers. Not going to happen. (By now it was about 2:30) Back down to the front desk where we demanded that they find us yet another room that was handicap accesible but that had two beds as we requested. The only room was a two bedroom suite. Oh well--their problem. In the mean time, Lena came up with Marriott's new ad campaign slogan... Rooms that are beautiful and beautiful, with beds that are so creamy, and fluffy.

And toddlers are bed-hogs.

We finished up the drive later that day. But with all of the sitting in a passenger seat I had lots of time to reflect on the desert. And to look out the window. And the side mirrors provided a slightly alternative view. The convex mirror was about as interesting as it got. But I did enjoy driving through farm country in Utah. I love the end of May and early June in Utah because it is not quite hot enough to be hellish, not cold enough to be miserable, the mountain tops still look pretty with snow, but the rest is green and vibrant and alive. This time of year makes it worth living here. And as a side note, one day I want to own a farm, in the way that wine chateaus own vineyards but leave the working of the vines to the serfs. Why? Because it is a romantic idea that would make Marx turn in his grave. The end.

Having Our Cake (and Eating It Too)

Welcome to the family, Honda Accord Hybrid, otherwise known as 'Giggles' (Bwahahahaha). Part tree-hugging friendly, part anti-vegetarian, part comfortable family-mobile, part a$$-hauling 255 hp monster (0-60mph in 6.7secs... faster by a whopping 1.1 seconds than the 2005 BMW 325i, and tied with the 2008... neener-neener-neener!) - all of which is 100% worth signing away the next 60 months of our life. (It's so we can buy a house next, people... relax.) And all in a beautiful charcoal grey.

We love it. Now to teach Oliver how to say "vroom"... he did have the sputtering sound of the Jetta down pretty good. Thbbtttttttbbbbbtttttttthhhhhh!

Trashy McFeline Update:

--to read more about how the nastiest cat in town forced itself into our lives--
--visit our friend's & neighbor's page here--

Although I truly wanted to let my imagination run wild with ways to mitigate the cat "problem"... Hannah talked me into taking it into a shelter.

Unfortunately, on the way to the animal shelter my practical side got the best of me and I had a bit of an epiphany...

Why was I going out of my way to take a rather gross not-really-a-kitten-anymore cat that I didn't want to a place full of animals that nobody else wants?

So I had a little bit of a training session with the cat and explained that it pretty much had two choices.

By choosing option one, it could go with the more conventional stop, drop & roll, where it would quickly learn about gravity. In case it preferred to postpone the effects of gravity, I gave it a crash course (pun intended), in the principles behind Bernoulli's theorem and the mechanics of flight: lots of speed, right attitude, and a tail to hold it steady.

Then I pulled into the fast lane on the freeway, carefully rolled down the passenger's side window, did the pre-flight checks, (landing gear, flaps, tail, engines,) and positioned the box it was riding in in the "eject" position.

... man that cat can JUMP! ...

At home, Hannah told me that Lena searched for the cat for all of 5 minutes...

"Kii-iii, wheah d' go?!" (Kitty, where'd you go?)

"Oh no! Wheah cat!"

"Caaa-aaaat" (the "t" is actually silent)



Then she got absorbed in a book and forgot all about our little visit from the stink fairy.


Disclaimer: No animals were harmed in the actual making of this post. Some, however, may have been harmed in the research material for it. We take no responsibility for damaged windshields, broken headlights, paint chips, spray, splatter, or plopping of animal bits or other material that you may have come in contact with as a result of your reading said post. Also, this didn't really happen. The cat was taken safely to the shelter, of sound body... we can't vouch for the mind.

Sicky Family

Well this last week has been interesting. We drove up to Utah last weekend and it was the first time that Lena had been in the car for so long. We decided to stop in Mesquite overnight, and it was just as well because about 15 minutes out from Las Vegas she decided she had been in her car seat far too long and was very vocal about it. Then, on the trip back, she got lonely. She cried for about 15 minutes before we could pull over so I could get in the backseat. After that she was much happier, and we had a lovely conversation for about 30 minutes until she fell asleep. But, those two incidents aside, she did really well and we couldn't have asked for a better baby to travel with.



It is really amazing to see how much of an individual she is. I have to remind myself sometimes that she is only a 3-month-old baby because it feels sometimes as though she has been around forever. That was one of the things that I was least expecting when she was born; how complete a person she was. Her personality was so developed that it was undeniable that she had not just begun her life 9 months previously. She was tiny, and completely helpless, but there was no doubt that her immature little body was (and is) housing a fully mature spirit.

Anyway, our trip to Utah was good. We caught up with friends and family while we were there, which was really great for us since the temporary situation here in SD has put our social lives on hold (plus we’re newly marrieds, so overall not a socially productive combination). It was especially great to see Guin, Clark, and Baby B, and to watch the cousins interact. Both babies were fascinated with each other, and since they are both at the grabbing stage (Ben obviously with slightly more control than our little girl) I guess it was only to be expected that they would hold hands eventually.



Somehow, Evan got food poisoning on the way back, so the drive was miserable for him. His tummy has been angry all week. Then yesterday I got really sick too (can you catch food poisoning?) and I have gone off rice for a while. Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Baby got sick and threw up projectile vomit style. Fortunately, though, I think she felt better after that and was a little smiley angel for the rest of the day, whilst Mummy and Daddy got better. So, today I am thankful for having good health, a husband who has a flexible work schedule, and a healthy, co-operative baby.