Lake Trip

How can you not love Arizona when you can decide to take a quick trip to the lake in JANUARY?! We did just that yesterday! After I got home from work, we headed out for a spin.

It was a perfect sunny winter day. The water was crystal clear. I wanted to dive right in.

And then I realized we somehow took a wrong turn and ended up in the Florida Everglade Swamps! As we slowed down to troll through the debris, I swear I saw an alligator waiting in the midst. Do you think we've had a lot of rain and run off? I think an entire forest of trees ended up in this lake. Seriously, I've NEVER seen it SO gross! The entire lake looked like that!

We eventually stopped to go exploring on one of the shores. We found all sorts of rocks, sticks, camping litter, dead animal bones and an entire intact animal spine/skeleton. You know, all the usuals.

After we left the lake, all Anden wanted to do was go to "Red Bird" (aka Red Robin). So there we went to get our free balloons (while always sharing at least 2 of those with the ceiling) and to see Red Robin. Anden loves him. Taylee despises him. After annoying our waitress by repeatedly asking for his arrival time and then being reassured "only 5 more mins", we left before he ever showed. I didn't have the heart to tell the kids that Red Robin must have finally looked in the mirror and realized that HE was wearing bright yellow nylons....resulting in cancelling his scheduled appearance.

Caught Brown Handed

HUH?! ME?! I swear I didn't eat the bowl of brownie mix.

But *IF* I did I bet it was delicious!

Real Piggies

It's recently dawned on me that Taylee's hair is plenty long enough to actually "style" rather than throw a headband on and run out the door. Admittedly, the headbands are SO much quicker/easier and still adorable. So when Jer's in charge, she'll definitely be sporting the "rambo band" (he never can figure out exactly where to place it so it usually looks like she's going to war!) However when I do her hair...she looks more like this. Why are little piggies SO stinking cute?!

(Jan-10 Pics, 15 mos old)

Working It

How can you possibly tell this girl "no"?!

And she knows it...

Weekend Getaway Cont.

Location: Flagstaff, Arizona

After I had finally fallen asleep for the night, I awoke to Anden poking me in the cheek "Moooom it's morning time. Wake up!" He was right! We had in fact survived the Rodeway Inn to see another day!! We couldn't pack up fast enough to get out of that place and back into the snow!

Here's some pictures of the drive up to the sledding hill. Yes, every house looked like that!

We went to a snow play area called West Wing. You pay $10/car at the booth and then you're free to roam. We dressed the kids and got geared up for 15 mins in the parking lot. Then we trudged our way to the hill dragging sleds with excited kids halfway atop of them. Then we trudged and panted while hauling the sleds and children up to the top of the hill. Then we sat and caught our breath for 5 mins. Finally the excitement was killing Anden so he flew down the hill before I could tell him to wait for me. WHOOSH! I grabbed Taylee with me and we flew down after him. Jer brought up the rear. So much fun! Taylee just kept laughing the whole time! Anden valiantly grabbed his own sled and marched back up for Round 2! We followed. He was much faster than us! He got to the top and then noticed big kids marching up further to the "big hill" (it really was a HUGE hill). You know Anden, he immediately followed them with me yelling at him from behind to stop. Nope, he was at the top ready to go while I was still scrambling to get up that dang hill. He jumped on his sled and started down the hill while I literally dove for the back of his sled to catch him! I, admittedly, was a bit nervous about this big hill. How could he not be scared too?! So we watched a few kids FLY down the hill while most crashed and tumbled 5 times at the end. That didn't deter Anden one bit. He was determined to go! So I had him lay down feet first in the "safer" of the sleds (one with sides instead of a flat board) and prayed he would live. Jer was at the bottom ready to perform CPR upon his arrival. I slowly pryed my fingers away and off he went! He was like a bobsled rocket!! He went further out than anyone else that we had watched. Jer had to backtrack, while holding Taylee, and run to catch up with him. Crap, now it was my turn to go down. I pushed off and in 1.6 seconds was at the bottom too! Wow, now that's a rush!!

Luckily he was content to find another hill to go down after that. We hiked another 100 yds to find a smaller hill on the other side of the park. For whatever reason, that's the one Anden wanted. Halfway through the hike I realized that sledding is NOT what it's cracked up to be. The return on investment for the energy spent vs fun earned is not a favorable ratio! This is exactly why we used to sled with snowmobiles at the bottom to bring us back up! :-) By the time we got to the new hill, I was sweating with cramping legs. I ripped off my jacket and gloves and fell to the ground. I was content to sit right there on the top of the hill the rest of the day! lol Jer and I were laughing at how out of shape we were!

Making it to the bottom of the medium hill

Taylee's ready to go by herself!

Before Jer shoved her off by herself (w/o me knowing!!)

She survived & loved it so we sent her again

Anden always eating the snow

Taylee found lying face down was the easiest position to eat the snow

Anden exploring out of bounds

Jer hurrying to rescue Anden and got stuck and fell!

Where's Waldo? Stuck thigh deep in snow!

Exhausted kids!

No he's not dead, although he looks like it! lol

Post Sledding Snack Time!!

Jeremy convinced me Taylee loved sledding by herself. I was a tad nervous! He told me to video her. I'll apologize now for the scared running motion as she bypassed me and I couldn't figure out whether to drop the camera and catch her or chase after her! lol

After a fun filled EXHAUSTING day of sledding, we loaded up and slowly made our way back home! What a great weekend!!

Weekend Getaway

Thanks to the lovely El Nino storm that hit AZ this week, our north country received several feet of fresh powder!! So on Saturday we decided to head up to Kohl's Ranch for a weekend getaway with Kathy/Larry/Taylor/Trentyn. We had already booked rooms and were SO excited to play in the snow together! After monitoring the road reports for 2 days, the highways finally re-opened and we headed out. We drove 45 mins over to the B-Line Highway (SR 87), which is the only artery from the Valley up to the northeast side of Northern AZ. The road hotline said it would re-open at noon (due to a large landslide 3 days earlier). We were right on time, it was 11:45!! As we approached the Saguaro Lake turnoff (about 5 mins up the highway), there were barricades diverting you off the road and up to the overpass. There were more barricades blocking both sides of the highway with a home quality ink printed sign taped to a barricade saying "closed indefinite" (ya they obviously were in a hurry and forget the "ly" on indefiniteLY). Sorry no pictures, I wasn't quite in the mood!

There were cars lining the overpass and confused patrons roaming about. Nobody knew what was going on. And worse, not a single bit of info had been broadcast on the local news about this so called landslide. All the news cared about was Flagstaff and the I-17 freeway. We could see several cop cars further up the highway creating another blockade. Finally we asked a big rig - thinking his travel wisdom might know. Nope, nada. So with pathetic cell service we attempted to call 511 (AZ road report) again. We finally got through and now the message stated the 87 wouldn't be open until Jan 30th!! WHAT?!? I could be wrong but a landslide across a major highway that closes down both sides of traffic for over a WEEK might be a newsworthy story!! We sadly relayed this info to our new found wandering friends on the overpass. Then we all had no choice but to put our tail behind our legs and head home. Well, I'm stubborn (in a good way of course!) and since we already went through torture to load the suitcases, sleds, food, car, kids then we might as well just journey on to Flagstaff so they can at least sled once down the dang snow hill. The rest of the family didn't see the rewards of this plan and went home instead. So off we retraced our steps. Well lets just say that by the time we returned back to where we had started, it had already been 2.5 hrs. So we waved to our exit and continued up the freeway to Flagstaff (which is only 1.5 hrs from us normally!!!)

Our decision paid off. After 4.5 hrs of driving, we found the Arizona Winter Wonderland! And no that's not an oxymoron!!

This is just after the Sedona exit. Yes, that's correct!

And here's Flagstaff!

We stopped at a local gas station and asked where the best sledding spots were. They supplied us with a map and sent us on our way. We headed up towards Snowbowl (ski resort) exit and continued past. It was snowing most of the day! WE LOVED IT!! However, the roads were only plowed wide enough for the 2 lanes. So it took awhile to figure out where exactly we could park. The sledding areas were snowed in. So we backtracked and finally found a spot to pull over and just play in the forest.

After our feet were frozen, we decided to find lodging. The little cabins we wanted to rent were all booked. So we decided to head back into town and get a cheap hotel for the night. Lets just say you get what you pay for!! We stayed at the ultra fancy and plush Rodeway Inn. Um have you ever seen a room that has 3 queen beds all in a row??! Ya, neither had we! Have you ever seen beds that have an centimeter thick of material covering the springs?!! Neither had we! Have you ever sat on a bed that screeches as the metal broken springs rub against each other and then only to find that it literally has concave portions in the mattress?! Neither had we!! The beds were beyond awful! I was appalled that any hotel, of any price range, could allow such horrible broken mattresses! We just laughed and then proceeded to let the kids bounce from bed to bed to bed for the next 3 hours. It's not like they could have caused anymore damage! lol They had a blast! I, on the other hand, chose to wander the room inspecting for drug paraphernalia, weapons or corpses. I was certain all 3 had occupied the room prior to our arrival.

To say it was a LONG night is an understatement. Although there were 3 beds and a pack n play. The four of us occupied 2 beds. Jer/Taylee in one. Me/Anden in the other. We all had to go to bed at 8pm because that's the only way Taylee would stop running around. Anden's not as wiggly as her, which is why I volunteered to keep him. Luckily we had packed lots of blankets because I had stripped down those disgusting beds and used our blankets to make them somewhat inhabitable. The whole night was spent listening to a LOUD train honk and screech past our hotel once every hour (who didn't tell me Flagstaff as an overactive train system?!!!) while alternating between the abnormally loud squeaking of Jer's bed every time he moved or breathed!! I am not exaggerating in the least. I hissed at Jer "STOP moving!!" every time for fear it would wake up the kids or even the neighbors across the street. He hissed back "I can't!" I realized I was flopping back and forth in discomfort just as much as he, except I must have had one more working rusty spring than he did. I kept staring at the nasty curtains praying for it to be daylight. But it never was. CHUG A CHUG A CHOO CHOO SCREECH SQUEAK.

Crazy Storm

So this past week we had some CRAZY storms hit Arizona. In 3 days, we received 5.8 inches of rain in Anthem alone! Flagstaff and other mountain towns got up to 5 ft of snow! On Thursday, I awoke to a flooded back yard and a river in my front street. So yes, I wore these to work.

And yes, I was gawked at all day. What?! You've never seen zebra/hot pink rain boots cruising around in your professional workplace?

The rain literally didn't stop for 2 days. This is the view from our front porch on Thursday night (and yes my softball game was cancelled!)

And here's the backyard on Friday...

This is the wash behind our house. The boys had a great time playing in it on Friday. When they came back, Jer took Anden's boots off and poured out a gallon of water from each. Well so much for even wearing boots!!

The weather was obviously worse the further north you went. Our church building is up in New River (yes, even 20 mins further north of us!). It's a remote country desert hillside "town". Well our church building is located directly across from a nudist colony. No, I'm not kidding. It's called Shangri La Ranch. My family thinks this is hilarious every time they attend with us. And no, you can't see "anything". It's gated. Well Friday night we were watching the news and people around town had sent in their photos of the storm. Jeremy busted up laughing and yelled for me to look. We paused the TV to take a picture.

Thank you Mr. Naked Man for sharing your pictures of the flood. But thank you even more for taking the picture waist up.