Phoenician Blood Ramblings

Growing up in Spokane, I never really appreciated just how mild the weather was. Don't get offended Spokane! This is not a knock on our wonderfulness. Embrace how mild you mostly are. Yes, you can get cold in the winter and yes, there is a week in the summer where you reach into the 100s. Thats hot because if you step outside and its hot, its hot!  But for the most part you have BEAUTIFUL weather. Warm in the day, cool at night, four beautiful seasons, a winter that is cold but not brutal (although early morning seminary with no sun and 15 degrees is always the worst thing in the whole world!! Also did I mention I had to walk home from school. Up hill BOTH WAYS!!) and a summer that is so wonderful that mowing the lawn at 10:30 isn't going to send you to the hospital. So this is where I grew up. Then I moved to Utah.

Every time I described Spokane to my Utah friends I'd say "Spokane weather is just like Utah only a little less hot in the summer and a little less cold in the winter," and I still think that that is true. The summers in Utah are definitely hot, but they are so much fun. There is such a window of time that you can still get out and do. You wake up, run your errands or hike or run or whatever, come home in the afternoon and wait for the heat to pass, and then at night MOST of the time, you can enjoy the evening just fine without too much sweat or discomfort. Coming from Spokane, I remember thinking I would just MELT in a Utah summer. A whole 3 months of nearly 100!! Are you insane! That is like a death march. But such as life would have it, I learned, adjusted, and figured it out making my 7 year (on and off) stint in Utah some of the best years in my life. Four seasons, cool evenings, brisk fall air, beautiful snow fall, hot summers that will dry up water, and a spring that can knock your socks off. Utah is awesome.

We were watching a video of when we lived in Holladay. In the video, I was complaining to Ethan that it was 103 and we were totally beside ourselves. We had never seen anything so hot let a lone lived in anything so hot! "Its a 103 and we just have to find refuge," were my exact words actually. So Utah is hot, but also perfect. Bases covered hopefully. 

Bring on Arizona!! I have so many thoughts about Arizona weather that I just don't know what to say. I once visited AZ while living in UT and I got so sick of people in AZ telling me how hot it was. "why would you visit AZ in the summer?" " Bet its your first time in hot weather huh?" and so on. I remember being so offended because Utah is hot. Its not like I was visiting for the Arctic! Stop being the snobby hot police AZ. Other people can be hot too!!

 And then I moved there and I think now I can say that I FINALLY understand what they are talking about. Its not that Arizona is the only hot place in the world. That's not what they mean. Its just such a different kind of hot. For starters there are two season in Arizona, nice and hot. They have nothing else to talk about. There are no natural disasters, no snow storms, and no leaves changing colors (our tree literally stayed green all year!) . My goodness!! They hardly even get rain!! 

Moving there I thought the winters would be dreamy. They are, but they are not perfect like I was told.  December and January were disappointingly cold. They would get down to like 40 during the day and even cooler at night which to me is cold enough to stop being enjoyable (My sister from South and North Dakota will now be giving her input about living in a cold place and will quickly tell me that 40 IS in fact enjoyable) As I say this, I also do have clear memories of going to a Christmas carol party in the middle of December and eating cookies at night at a park and no one had a coat so...

Starting around the end of January, after about 8 weeks of pretty chilly weather, it starts to slowly reach that "perfect" level I was told about. Around February is hits the 70s and works is way back up towards the 100s. By June we are still having fairly enjoyable weather like 85-90, but by end of June its game over. 

I'm rambling at this point I just want to get this all down. 

We moved to AZ on June 2nd. It was 95 degrees. We went to dinner with Aunt Kay and when we stepped outside we said, "man its hot, " and she quickly said, "no its not." I was so annoyed, but now I get it. After a solid summer in Arizona, I can confidently say 95 is "hot" but it is not HOT!! People there get so used to the summer hovering at 105 that when it drops to the 90s they find outside activities to do. "Did you see the weather! We should go to the park or something." They don't say its going to be cold, because its not cold, but they find something to do outside. We have even found ourselves saying "its not going to be hot today," or "it was only 103" when the temperature stays around 100 degrees and the scary things is that we mean it! 

So why does Arizona feel as though they can talk about their heat more than other places? Why do they feel like other places simply are not hot?  I have a few thoughts

1. The sun is a different sun down there. It is SO intense and SO hot that it just burns to touch your skin. Even when is cooler, the sun just is brutal. I don't know how to explain it and unless you feel it, I can't but the sun is BRUTAL! It is so so SO intense. 

2. 120 is something else. It is a take your breathe away, knock you backwards, don't touch me, sweat by existing type of heat. It is nuts. (Although, it can't fry an egg on the sidewalk ps)

3. Not only does the temperature get hot, but when it gets hot (And by hot I mean 110+) there is this wind that won't quit. Its like standing in front of your oven right when you open it over and over and over again. You can't escape. 

4. Its doesn't stop being hot. We will go to bed at 10 and it will still be in the 100's. At 6:30 when we wake up, its already 85-90. I took Kels to swim at 9 and it was 102.  It never leaves you alone! EVER! Even the rain is hot (the three times it does rain)

5. "So go swimming" people tell us. Yes true, but have you ever stepped into a puddle of water that has been sitting in the sun for a few hours? Not cool any more right? Right. The pools here can only get so much sun for so long before they quit being cold. By July, the pools are like bath water. Fine but not refreshing. Now don't get me wrong: I'd rather be wet and hot than dry and hot and by October the pools are refreshing again, but there is that two month period of just "ugh!"

6 Last thought. "summer" last from about May-Oct and even November is hot but the nights cool down. It is a solid 7 months of 95-120 degree weather with weeks of not dropping below that. WEEKS! of 105-115. People just except this as acceptable! It crazy!! 

So why am I writing my life story of weather?  Well, because Madison is napping and Kelsey is at a movie and I wanted, but mostly because  I wanted to document that its 98 in Utah (where I am) and I am finding the weather super nice! A few years ago I would have been hiding inside, but now I am loving it. No I'm not in the sun and yes, I have a small line of sweat on the back of my knee, but my hair is down and I'm fine. I open the door to come outside, bracing my self for the inferno  that awaits,  and  instead find myself saying "oh! Its really nice out here!!" There is a soft breeze that actually helps to cool you down,  and shade that actually means "cooler under here!!" I can let the girls play outside without worrying about heat stroke and I haven't used sunscreen once (mostly because its too cold to swim. Our pastiness would fry even in or rather, especially in Utah!!) 

 I used to think, 85 was hot, then I thought 95 was hot, now I think 110 is hot. Its amazing what our bodies truly get used to and learn to handle. You never get used to 110+ but you get used to it being that hot all the time so all of a sudden 95 seems "nice" Super weird but so cool! I am loving this concept of adaptation. Man I am a nerd!  I never would have thought that this would be my reality. When did I become this lizard! I keep waiting for the hot days to come, but they just don't and for that I love you Utah!
So I guess I not only have reached Phoenician blood status but I think I have finally reached the snobby heat police that all Arizonians can claim. 

Canyon Lake and Goldfield Ghost Town

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had plans to drive up north and spend the weekend in Saint George. Instead we decided to change our Saint George plans and go boating with the Harrells.
We met up with them at Culver's and drove out to Canyon Lake. We were excited because boating in general is super awesome, but we had no idea what was awaiting us!!  The drive was long and it got tiresome but then we started weaving through the Arizona country side only to emerge on the other side of the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. It was freezing but simply breathtaking.

Chelsea and Lina were so cute with the girls. They kept wanting to hold their hands, get them treats, and pretty much everything else.

It really was such a beautiful lake

It was all fun in games until the boat started. Madison hated her life jacket and Kelsey was scared of the turns (she thought the boat was going to flip) Once Madison got used to the jacket and once Kelsey started to understand that the boat wasn't going to fall, things got slightly better.

  

We spent the morning boating and tubing and by lunch time, they had to get going so we decided to stop at Goldfield Ghost Town. The girls had fallen asleep so I had to walk through by myself but it was still super cool. I didn't spend a ton of time there but it was the cutest little western town Ive ever been to. It was also the first one I have ever been to so the stakes were not very high. 

Airforce Comemorative AirBase

Before Arizona got really hot, we tried to quickly do as many outside things as we could. One of the things on my list included the Air Force Commemorative Air Base out in Gilbert area. It was quiet a drive but totally worth it. I don't remember a lot about the Air Force. In fact the only memories I have include standing in a parking lot while I saw cars crashed together, clapping at a table (apparently in the Pentagon while my dad got something),  walking into my dad's office and seeing someone with a mustache (again in the Pentagon), seeing movers in my house in California, watching my Dad on TV for something, and going to temporary housing in Spokane and thinking it was the coolest thing ever because we ate out. Pretty sad. I know.

Regardless of the sad memories I have about the Air Force, it still means so much to mean. As I've gotten older, I think I have learned to appreciate just what it means to have a spouse or parent in the services. Maybe it was watching Carolyn go through 3 deployments with all those kids or listening to my mom tell stories about flight training. I don't know. once I had kids I think I really started to appreciate the sacrifices that were made to make this life possible. I LOVE hearing planes fly over, I LOVE seeing planes, I look forward to patriotic songs and being in crowds that truly honor those who serve, I love watching videos of soldiers coming home and the emotions that everyone feels being reunited, and I love knowing that I was born at the Academy. I take a lot of pride in the few years I was able to associate with the Air Force.

With that knowledge, I hope it is clear why I find old air plane museums super cool. We went to this museum and it was just awesome. The museum consisted of two hangers: one for repairs and one for the planes fixed up. They had some very old planes there and I was just loving it. The girls made it hard to really enjoy it, but KaMaili came with us so all the kids kind of entertained each other. It got hot near the end but it was such a fun field trip for me.

 The crazies in action! So in the middle of the all the models, there was this tiny plane that the kids could ride. Naturally that is where they wanted to be the whole time and between the two of us we had 5 kids. The workers were amazed at how well the kids behaved but let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I think the biggest problem was managing who's turn was next on the little plane!

Took this pictures specifically for Poppa! 

 We were a week late, but normally the museum has 4 bombers that you can go into. Unfortunately they were all on tour but we were still able to go into this one. Hoover vacuum company bought it so the inside now looks like a commercial plane, but it was still fun especially for the kids.

A fun memory of this place:
I thought it would be cool to buy my dad something B52 related. I saw these coookie cutters and thought that that would be a fun gift. Either for the cookies or even just to hang on the tree etc. Anyway, I went to buy one but as the 95 year old man was swiping my card I realized I had grabbed a B25 cutter and not a B52 cutter. My brain had  done one of those flippy do thingys and I had read 25 as 52. "I am so sorry to do this to you, but I am not going to purchase this cutter anymore." You would have thought I told him WWIII was starting! He tried his hardest but just could not figure it out so he went to go get Janice to hopefully help him. After 10 minutes, Janice couldn't figure it out so they got Phil. After 20 minutes of all three of them trying to return my cutter I told them that it really was okay. My bad! No biggy. They INSISTED on helping me. As a result from their kindness I ended up returning the original, buying two more, returning one, and keeping the original. :) Lets remember too, while this was happening, all 6 kids were outside with KaMaili in the 105 degree weather singing primary songs to stay happy as their hungry tummies were pushing them to misbehave.  As I was walking out the door I said, " I'm not stealing this right?" You would have thought Jim Gaffigin was in the room by the roar of laughter I got. It made me feel so good. Bless all the sweet little hearts to try to deal with new technologies just to correct my error. And bless KaMailis heart for keeping all the kids at bay while I went through this headache! Happy Father's Day Dad. I got you a B25 cookie Cutter!! Thanks for your service and for flying B52s!!!

Summer Nights

I had a friend once say that "the best nights are usually unplanned and spontaneous". She was able to put into words the feelings I always have felt, but have never been able to express.  The best memories are created on those unplanned nights. We had one of those nights. I made a salsa for dinner and out of no where decided to eat it outside. I'm not one to just up and do something: I always want planning. We grabbed the paper plates, grabbed the picnic blanket and had one of my favorite nights.The weather was perfect, the food was perfect, and the company was perfect. It was summer.

Dear Kelsey: You didn't want to be in a picture because you were having so much fun. I hope you understand :) 

 Because this is my blog I am going to put this picture up. I don't know why I love it so much but I love it so much. Its not because I look a certain way or because it was awesome hair or because my shirt rocked. Its none of those things. I think I love it because I look genuinely happy. I remember when this picture was taken and I remember at the time thinking "I just feel so blessed and happy." I feel like I can see that on my face making this one of my favorite pictures of myself.