Big Daddy

I was watering my garden the other day and came upon this giant.

I'm thinkin', "How in the world did I miss this one?"

My garden isn't very big, and I water it everyday. Guess he was hiding under some leaves.

I decided to put him to good use and made healthy, whole wheat zucchini muffins and zucchini pancakes. Delicious.

Since planting my first garden, I have been amazed at how just one plant can produce so much fruit. It's crazy!

And Liquid Gold Fell From the Sky

Well, actually it was just water. But you would have thought it was pure gold by the way my family was acting this evening! Folks, we haven't seen rain in a long time, so we celebrated with much glee!The dark clouds rolled in and the heavens opened. Ragamuffin was beside himself!!!
The boys had a blast playing in the rain. Boy, did they get soaked. It was quite a heavy shower with whirling winds.

Uh oh. The wind yanked one of our stakes out of the ground, so this poor, young tree was touching its toes! It was amazing how fast the streets flooded. It was like the boys were wading in a creek or something. Watching them play in the rain brought back memories of when I was a little Arizonian about Mullin's age. Seriously, playing in the rain here is a rare treat!

Shouts of joy and jubilee could be heard from all the excited neighborhood children. The storm left as quickly as it came. All is calm again. And thankfully our electricity wasn't out for very long.

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Poor Shiloh didn't get to join her "bubbies", for she has spent the first few days of being three sick. :(

Monday night after a full day of fun--seeing Kung Fu Panda, no napping, eating dinner at Chili's, and helping to make home made ice-cream with Paw, she threw up all over the couch, rug and tile floor. At first we just thought it was from too much junk and too much fun, but she continued to throw up during the night and once the next day. A low grade fever set in, and she just looked so pitiful. Today at 10:30 am, she just went upstairs, tucked herself in bed, and slept for 3 hours. You know a toddler is sick when they voluntarily take a nap!!

She seems to be on the mend, and I am really hoping this won't get passed around to the entire family!! I don't think I can do another "get only 2 hours of sleep night"!

My Very First Harvest

I can't even begin to express how delighted I was to pick my very first yellow squash! I know it sounds silly, but there is just something so amazing about watching food grow. This is my very first garden, and I am absolutely loving it! Thanks to hubs for building it for me. :)
These are my squash and zucchini plants. I have a few carrots and 2 pumpkin plants, too. My cilantro and onion seeds just wouldn't sprout even after planting them twice. Oh well, not too bad for a beginner.


I have been so tickled over the excitement the kids have shown. They helped plant the seeds--even Shiloh helped. Everyday they would watch for sprouts and boy, you can imaging the shouting when the first one emerged!!



Here they are, my first two squash. (Should that be squashes?) Lincoln was so excited about them, and he doesn't even like squash. That is until Sunday when we cooked them.



He helped me saute` them in butter, onion, spices, and cheese. And......he like it!!! But, he says he will only eat squash from the garden not the store. Silly boy.

Relief!

It's been overcast and rainy for the past 2 days. Even got some hail yesterday. Nothing serious or anything. Oh, but how it has lowered the temps! It is actually chilly outside right now. The weather will be perfect for this holiday weekend!

Last weekend we hit triple digits!! It is supposed to be hot here, but not that hot...yet We desperately needed the rain, but I am ready for sunny skies again. How, I wonder, did I ever live in TN?! I remember sinking into the depths of despair when we would be stuck inside our TN home just waiting for the rain to end. Then our yard would just be a big, muddy swampland. By the time it would dry out, it would rain again.




So here's what we did during the major, heatwave: Dad and kids washed our VERY dirty SUV! They were so thrilled over putting their suits on and getting soaked.

Grandparents, this is the best I could do at capturing Mullin on film. He refused to look at the camera!! Honestly, I love him as much as the other 2, but he hates being center stage. You all will just have to come see him in person!

Lincoln is doing a fine job washing all the splattered bugs off the car!!!

Oh goodness, Sweet Sue just thought she was the biggest helper ever.



This was taken on Sunday morning last week around 8:3o or so, and we were only out for about 5 minutes. Sweat was pouring down my face by the time we went in. That was a triple digit day!!! Mirages really are common in the desert, you know. I kept thinking that I saw a nice, refreshing, salt water pool in my backyard as I was snapping shots of my cutie pie!

Maybe, hopefully someday it will no longer be a mirage!!!

Anna and Dorsett

These are the names of our new trees. Apple trees!!! I am so excited about having fruit bearing trees right in our own backyard. Anna and Dorsett are both yellow apples--the red varieties don't do so well here. Too bad I can't plant a Gala apple tree, but it needs 600-700 hours of freeze time in winter. Hopefully next June we will be enjoying our very own apples!



Lincoln offered to "help" Daddy plant the trees. Great memories!

Oh, and I am tickled pink about all the baby oranges on our orange tree! I hope they all survive the desert winds this spring. If so, we will pick our very first orange from our very own tree in December.

We are contemplating planting a lime or lemon tree out front--the kind that produces all year round. And as soon as I get some compost to mix in with my dirt, my garden box, built by my hubby, will be ready for me to plant seeds. So far I have cucumber, onion and pumpkin (the pie making kind, not the carving kind). Still deciding what else to plant. Need to hurry before it is too late!!!!

In Full Swing

Baseball season is upon us once again!

For just 3 short months our schedule is jam packed with practices and games for our 2 growing boys. This means lots more laundry and picnic dinners!! Night games are very pleasant, weatherly speaking, but it is already pretty toasty during the middle of the day here. We need to buy one of those gigantic umbrellas to shade us from the scorching summer sun!

Shiloh becomes bored easily and doesn't understand why we can't stay at the playground the entire time. Ugh. I want to try and watch as much of their games as possible!!

And here is our star Sidewinder all geared up for some baseball battle!! This is Mullin's first year in kid-pitch league.

Next up is our T-ball playin' Muckdog! He is just a few paces away from scoring a run!!

Gelid Temps

We actually had to bundle up about a week ago when we all decided to take a walk around our block to look at Christmas lights. I just couldn't resist taking yet another picture of this cute thing before we strolled through the neighborhood--look, her passy even matches her pants!:) It was a lot of fun until we came home. Shiloh threw a horrible fit b/c she did not want to come in.

We may not be snowed in or anything, but it has been pleasantly cool here. The night temps have been freezing, and we have had to turn the heat on so Shiloh's room doesn't turn into an igloo. (Heat only comes on when it gets down to 67--I don't want to roast to death) I love being able to actually use covers at night and wear long sleeves during the day.

The leaves on the trees are finally changing colors here. It is still weird to see it happening now instead of in November. Better late than never!

Arizona Anniversary

I should have actually posted this a few weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to it...

In honor of surviving my first year of living in the Arizona desert, I present you with some very quirky Arizona laws:

*Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs *Hunting camels is prohibited

*It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water *In Maricopa County--No more than 6 girls
can live in any house.

*In Tucson-- Women may not wear pants. *In Glendale--Cars may not be driven in reverse.

Too funny!!!


Even though this has truly been a difficult adjustment for our family, God has been so good to us. When we first moved here one year ago this month, we didn't have a house, we didn't have a job, we didn't have any couches, we didn't have a second vehicle, we didn't have a church home, and we didn't have any friends here. We had left so much back home. I am sure I am probably leaving something out. We almost felt hopeless under the weight of it all, but we knew in our hearts that God had called us to uproot our family.

I am blessed to report that after one year, God has provided all of these things for our family!
Mark got a job just 3 days after we moved. We moved into our very own home at the end of January I believe. Much thanks to my mom and her husband for housing us until we found a home! My sister and her husband sold us a car for $1.00. My mom and her husband gave us their old couch set. God led us to a wonderful church home, Queen Creek Calvary Chapel, where Mark now helps to lead worship. God has also been so gracious to provide me with an amazing friend, Staci!!

You just don't realize how important your friends are until you leave them!!!

Tennessee family, we miss you guys so much and hope to be able to visit as a family sometime soon!

Arizona family, I am glad to be able to spend time with all of you!

Looking For Fall in All the Wrong Places

My heart aches to see the beautiful colors of Autumn. My search has been in vain thus far.




Nope, not here. Summer flowers are still in bloom.

Not here either. And this is the tree in our backyard that is supposed to change colors. I guess this happens much later here in the desert.

I found no sign of Fall while out in my backyard. I could have stayed out and gotten a really nice tan, though.

These 4 beautiful, orange pumpkins and rust colored mums adorning our front "porch" are the only visual clues that fall has actually arrived.

At least the temperatures have fallen a little and have given us some relief. It is nice to be able to open the doors and windows in the mornings.

Storms in AZ

Rainstorms in Arizona almost always produce the most amazing rainbows. I could just sit and gaze for minutes. This was a double rainbow--it is faint, but it is there. It was also really BIG, but my pictures didn't turn out very well.
I like how the storms pass here and don't feel the need to linger for days and days. The kids loved looking at the rainbow, too, and here they are posing for a picture. Why is it that I feel the need to take yet another photo of my kids. I have like 2 million!!!!! I wish that I had had a digital camera when Mullin was a baby.

Taste of Home

Well, the monsoon season is upon us just as everyone around here had been warning us about, and it has very much reminded me of home, my ex-home.

Have had some pretty rough storms, rain that causes street flooding, and even when it isn't storming the cloud cover remains.

For the past couple of weeks I have had to deal with some things I didn't think I would have to deal with here: trying to manage my Hermione hair, shooing mosquitoes and other little flying things away, wiping a constant stream of sweat from my brow....

Kind of nice not to have the unforgiving sun beating down on me, but I still don't miss the humidity!!!!!! I will be glad when it is dry again.

Humidity is Relative

I just thought is was so funny to hear folks chatting about how humid it was in the valley today as we were leaving church. There were a few clouds in the sky, and it did manage to spit a few raindrops upon us as we headed to our car. To us it was a bit of a relief, though I will admit I haven't really missed that good old fashioned Memphis humidity. I remember when I would return to Memphis after visiting my mom in AZ, how I would just feel completely overpowered by the humidity as soon as I stepped off of the plane!!!! Takes your lungs a few breaths to adjust to the thick air, but then again out here your lungs have to get used to filtering dirt!!

So Sere Here!

The 20 or so drops of rain we received a few days ago did nothing to quench the desert's thirst!! It is so hot and dry here that we have had to try and keep ourselves entertained indoors. Mullin has had a fun time building Pirate theme park rides. I believe this was a toy Pawpaw and Grandma gave him that he is just now growing into.
The other day we made tasty models of molecules. The one they are holding up happens to be for Fruit Sugar. I let the boys pick out different colors of Jelly Bellys to represent the atoms that make up the molecules. Of course Shiloh didn't make molecules, but I did let her pick out some pink Jelly Bellys.
Thank you Grandma Honey for the cookie craft! The boys loved being creative with blue frosting and gummies. Mullin was sad he had to pick the gummies off when it came time to taste, but he can't eat anything sticky while wearing braces.

Can't believe how fast the summer is going, and can't believe how much of my to do list is still left!! I am ready for a vacation with just me. A week at home all by myself sounds really good right now!