Welcome March!

My good friend Smitty shared this video with me yesterday and it just makes me smile



and also makes me wish I were Irish or planning a trip to Ireland sometime soon.

The arrival of March makes me smile too.

It's such a beautiful month in my little part of the world.

Today was filled with family

and  flowers

and some basketball

All things I love, that sometimes don't go together very well.

These are the basketball casualties from my garden,

but today,

they even make me smile.

Hello March!

May I spend you singing out loud in God's choir.

Today I am thankful for

family time - to work and talk and play and eat and enjoy some basketball - together.

boys to dig up my weeds.

a phone call from the oldest daughter and Shad.

Springtime at my House

When I think of spring flowers I always picture colorful tulips or bright yellow daffodils poking their heads up through the damp, frigid soil, often sporting a soft coating of snow on their welcome green leaves. Ah, spring flowers bring with them a promise of new birth after a cold, dark winter. Just looking at them reminds me of Easter and the Resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

However, I haven't had much luck getting bulbs to blossom at my house and so I am usually lacking tulips and daffodils at this time of the year. I do love it when I can find affordable bouquets of these flowers to bring home and add a little springtime cheer to my home.

A couple of days ago I bought some beautiful tulips and put them in a vase on my piano next to my statue of Christ in the Garden and in front of my Living Christ frame. It felt like spring!

And they sat there for about 1 minute before Sparrow, the curious one, had to come and check them out. He thought they smelled pretty good

And head-butted even better.


And he had to make sure that he could still take his short cut across the piano to the table.

I could envision what was going to happen next, so the tulips got moved to the dresser in the entryway, where they still make me think of spring.

Springtime flowers in Arizona are a little more showy than these standard blooms. Our flowers go all out to blossom and grow and truly welcome spring with a grand hurrah. This is perfect flower growing weather for us and the place they grow the best, in my opinion, is at the Mesa Arizona temple.

They are so beautiful and they smell so wonderful.

A truly impressive sight.

I am learning to think of these as springtime flowers as well. While tulips and daffodils offer the quiet promise of new life, our flowers shout it from the gardens with uncontained joy.

Christ Has Risen! He Lives Again!

And I sat and enjoyed them for a few minutes today


because next week they will probably disappear.

It's time to plant the less showy, but equally beautiful, Arizona summer flowers.

Didn't spring just arrive?

Today I am thankful

that I didn't wait and go to the 2:00 session at the temple - it closed early today because of the Easter Pageant and I would have been sad.
for beautiful flowers.
for this Easter season and all that it represents.

Historic Haboob

Last night we were hit by a massive dust storm. The meteorologists and my hubby like to refer to this type of storm as a haboob. It was pretty amazing even though I didn't venture outside until it was over. Even then the air was thick with dust.

Here are some photos of what the storm left behind at the oldest daughter's apartment.

She might want to get her car washed when she gets back in town and her backyard needs a little clean up as well.

Weekend Getaway

Thursday night as we were falling asleep my hubby asked me what we should do this weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We discussed going to dinner and perhaps to a movie, but decided to sleep on it. When I woke up this morning I had a plan in my head. I wanted to go somewhere cooler, so my plan was that we could go to Snowflake, Arizona and spend the night and go a session at the Snowflake temple. Luckily I have an agreeable husband who thought that sounded like a good idea. Well, the idea kind of evolved and we ended up spending 2 nights in Payson, Arizona. We stayed at the Best Western Payson Inn and I thought it was a really good choice. Our motel room was on the second floor and had a small balcony that we enjoyed sitting on to watch the sunsets and the squirrels playing in the trees while a cool breeze swirled around us. It was wonderful!

This is the view from our balcony of the other group of motel rooms across the way.

The cool hubby.

The sunset.

The squirrel trying to hide on the branch.

The squirrel again.

Our room had a king size bed that I think would have fit us and our boys just fine. We kept losing each other.
On Saturday morning we got up and went to breakfast at a very small, very popular, cafe. The food was yummy, fast and inexpensive. Then we drove around Payson for awhile and then headed to Snowflake, which was a little over an hour away. We were planning on going to the 2:00 session at the temple (which was the one you don't need to have reservations for) so we had a little time to kill when we got to Snowflake. We went to Ed's IGA because this was the one thing the roommate/adopted daughter said we shouldn't miss in Snowflake. It was definitely one of the highlights of the town. Then we drove North, South, East and West checking out the neighborhood. We went to the Senior Citizen's Thrift Store, to the LDS Bookstore, and the Maverick Gas Station. Then we went to the temple and took some pictures.

Our oldest son likes to take pictures of temples and whenever we travel anywhere, if there is a temple in the area, we make a point of locating it so that he can get some pictures. It was after he started this practice, and after he had pictures from 5 or 6 different temples, that I learned something new. I always thought that all the Angel Moroni statues on the temples were the same, made from the same mold, but that is not true. There are a lot of different Angel Moroni poses. Someday I'm going to make a collection of pictures of all the different Angel Moroni statues and perhaps I'll post it right here on my blog. This is what the Snowflake Temple Angel Moroni looks like.

We had a wonderful temple session and felt very welcomed and needed. It was a very small session (just like the very small temple), but the spirit was there in abundance. It is always interesting to visit other temples and discover what is different in the layout, the decor, and the way things get done, but so very similar in the presentations and feelings that are there. I'll say it again - I love the temple!
After the temple we drove back to Payson and took a quick trip out to visit some nearby Indian ruins and get a little exercise after all the sitting we had done. Then we opted for some fast food for dinner which we took back to the motel and ate on the balcony and then we watched some cable TV.
This morning I enjoyed sitting on the balcony while I read my scriptures. Then we checked out the continental breakfast and headed home so we could get back in time for our church.
This was a great weekend. I loved spending time with my sweetheart, as well as getting away from the heat and the routine of daily life. It was a good celebration!

Today I am grateful for

a daughter that decided what was for dinner and contributions from everyone.
Sunday dinner with my family.
the chance to get away for awhile and children who are old enough to take care of themselves.

One year ago today - The Curse of Party Food.

Too Hot to Move

When it first starts to get really hot here in Tempe it takes about a week for me to accept the fact that summer is truly here and that I better get use to it and adjust. Today was our 5th or 6th day of 100+ temperatures and I have not quite gotten to that point of acceptance yet. It is hot! Way too hot for the first half of May. I don't want to move. I don't want to cook. I especially do not want to go outside or get in my car that has been sitting in the sun. I also seem to have a hard time sleeping at night. For the past few days I have been playing "Let's make a Deal" with myself. If I clean the bathroom then I can lay on my bed, under the ceiling fan, and read my library book. If I cook dinner I can lay on my bed and read my library book. If I water the flowers, clean the living room, organize the food storage corner,do the laundry,... I can lay on my bed and read my library book. I have gotten a few jobs done and have read more than a few library books.
I discovered a new author a couple of weeks ago and I have really enjoyed reading all of the books by her that the library owns. Her name is Lorena McCourtney. She is older and apparently started out writing romance novels but then switched to writing christian fiction mysteries. Her books are very light reading with a little suspense and romance thrown in and she does a good job of keeping me guessing "who done it" right up to the end. She has a series called the Julesburg mysteries that includes Whirlpool, Riptide and Undertow. These books are about different characters who live in the same small town. Another series called the Ivy Malone Mysteries are about an older lady and how her curious nature gets her into trouble. The books in this series are called Invisible, In Plain Sight, On the Run and Stranded. If it's too hot to do anything where you live or if you just feel like reading some fluff you might want to check them out.

Today I'm thankful for

air conditioning.
my washing machine.
my dryer.
Family Home Evening with my boys.

HOT!

Today was our first 100 degree day of 2009.

Only 109 more to go!

Today I am thankful for

an e-mail from my mom.

polite drivers.

the air-conditioner in my son's truck.

Water Fight

This afternoon I was attending a bridal shower for one of my friend's daughters when I got a phone call from my youngest child. He wanted to know what had happened to the big bag of water balloons we had. I told him where they were and thought "water balloons sound like fun on a warm March day."
By the time I arrived home though they had tossed all the balloons and moved on to buckets and hoses. The sons, the daughter and the roommates all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It's hard to believe that it's still cold in a lot of the USA right now. I love Tempe, Arizona in March!!

Today I am thankful for

children that enjoy doing things together.

happy occasions to celebrate with my friends.

opportunities to sleep in.

BYU Idaho

My youngest daughter has been accepted to attend college at BYU Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho this Fall. She is very excited and we are excited for her. BYU Idaho has specific tracks that determine the months when you attend. I think they are based on your major, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the daughter found out today which track she is on. I don't remember the name of it but she will attend school from September to December, then be off from January to April and then return the end of April through August. I think this is definitely the best of both worlds for an almost Arizona Native (we moved here when she was 8 months old). She gets to miss most of the cold Idaho winter and the hot Arizona summer. I wonder if I can apply to BYU Idaho too? I could really enjoy cooler summers.

Roadrunner Folklore

A couple of months ago the oldest daughter and the son-in-law were hiking on South Mountain and they saw a roadrunner.

During Second Grade O'odham (Pima)culture class the next week the teacher told the children that in the O'odham culture it is believed that if you see a roadrunner it means that you are going to receive a great blessing or good fortune. The daughter was curious to see what blessing might be coming to them. Tonight they told us what their blessing was.
When they shared their news my hubby said, "I should have known. I saw a baby roadrunner the other day when I was driving back to work."

I was wondering if I should feel bad that I hadn't seen any roadrunners. Maybe I need to get out more. But then again, I don't need to see a roadrunner to know that a new baby is a blessing. Plus, at this point in my life I'd rather be the Grandma than the one expecting so, just to be on the safe side, I'm glad I didn't see the roadrunners. The daughter and her hubby can have the blessing and I'll just enjoy it, spoil it, and send it home.

Today I'm thankful that

I get to be a grandma.
they make dry socket paste. It smells so bad that the girls won't want to come close to the boy for a while.
I got to go to breakfast with my girls who are on Spring Break this week.

HOT

Tonight we were all sitting in the living room,
along with the oldest daughter and her hubby,
when the youngest son declared
"I am so Hot!"
Now, we all know that this child
sometimes has a fairly high opinion of himself
but we were a little taken back
by his announcement.
Then he asked
if he could open the window
and we all realized he was talking
about the room temperature
and not his looks.
Whoops.
Our bad.
We were suppose to have
a record breaking high temperature
of 90 degrees today,
but it only got to 88.

Later on I took this picture of the son
because I thought
he was actually doing homework
and I wanted to document the moment.

However when I looked closer
I realized he was
just checking his face book page
and not doing homework at all.

My bad again.

His fashion consultant sister
bought him this
new amazing purple shirt
that he wore to school today.
He had about 39 people
tell him he looked nice
and got at least 4 or 5 hugs.
Who knows?
Maybe he is hot
or maybe it's just
the long sleeved shirt.

Orange Blossoms

My husband, 3 of our children and I moved to Arizona 20 years ago this month. This really wasn't a move I was excited about since I was leaving behind a lot of my extended family and many friends. However, this was where my hubby had a job, so I knew I needed to adjust and learn to be happy. It took a while for this to feel like home, but I did quickly find some things that I appreciated about my new residence. The very first thing I fell in love with following our arrival were the orange blossoms. I can still remember the evening when I walked down the street to the church to attend an enrichment meeting and was almost overwhelmed with the sweet, wonderful scent of all the orange trees in bloom. I had never smelled anything like it before. I still love to breath in that marvelous fragrance every year as Spring arrives.


Today my companion and I finished up our visiting teaching for the month. After we were done talking with our sister she suggested that we go out in her backyard and pick ourselves a bag full of oranges. She wanted the oranges off the trees before the new buds actually turned into blossoms and we were happy to be of help after all visiting teaching is all about service isn't it? I enjoyed the fragrant aroma as I stuffed my bag with large, beautiful fruit. After we left her home and were driving down the road those wonderful blossoms hit us in full force though. My companion and I took turns sniffling and sneezing all the way to my house and could both hardly breath by the time we arrived. Those orange blossoms may smell fabulous, but they sure set off my allergies. I still think it's worth it though.

Today I am grateful for

my son(s) that loves to sing.
free oranges.
boys that aren't afraid to watch "The Little Mermaid" for family home evening and enjoy it.

Home again, Home again

This morning I sat on my mom's front porch, one last time, enjoying the cool morning breeze while I waited for my family to get ready to head for home. I'm afraid that I'm not going to be that cool again for a long, long time. Last night the boys were all for leaving for Arizona at 3:00 AM, but today they had a hard time getting out of couch or off the floor, as the case may be. We finally got everything loaded up and were headed out about 8:30 AM Utah time, which was only 7:30 AM Arizona time, so not too bad. It's always hard for me to say good bye to my mom and this morning my sister was there too so that made it even harder. I always feel like I am going to miss out on something fun when I leave. My mom was probably waiting for the front door to close so she could start singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I'm sure it is a relief to get rid of all the company and get back to her quiet life. (However today we left just in time for my sister, brother-in-law, their 2 sons, 1 wife and 4 kids to arrive. No peace and quiet yet!) The newlyweds headed north, and then east, to Colorado to visit with the son-in-law's grandparents while we headed south toward home. It was another uneventful trip, which I was grateful for. The sons decided that maybe if they took control of the driving we would make better time so the oldest one even drove the stretch from Hurricane to Flagstaff and the hubby and I lounged in the backseat watching a movie and a couple of episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. I have to admit, the time did seem to go a lot faster. We made pretty good time and arrived home about 7:00 PM, following a stop at Cafe Rumba in Glendale for my favorite Tropical Chicken Salad. The salad was good, but not as absolutely delicious as I remember. Perhaps the fact that I had been snacking all day made the difference. I just wasn't hungry enough to fully appreciate it. The cat-feeding, house-watching, nursery-teaching daughter and her roommates/son's girlfriend and her puppy welcomed us with much enthusiasm. I think Poky was the most excited. She had to share all her toys with us that she had hidden under the chair. However, the girlfriend also seemed happy and the other 2 girls were enthusiastic about the Rumba salads we delivered to them. The daughter had bought "welcome home cake" and we celebrated together after the hubby spent 30 minutes on the phone with Qwest getting the internet fixed. They talked him through the steps and although he didn't follow all of their instructions to the letter it is now working again. Hopefully for a LONG time. I guess it is good to be home. I just which I could figure out a way to not let the extreme heat get me down. As we were driving into Maricopa county things started looking like home and I do like living here, but honestly - which would you choose??? Actually, the 61 degrees was while we were enjoying a brief rainstorm in Flagstaff. When we left Payson it was 68 degrees, so technically if I want to be cool I only have to move 2 and a half hours north and not 12 hours north, but then I wouldn't be by any family. The past week Phoenix has had below normal temperatures (low hundreds) but now we're home and they're going up! Less than 4 months more of 100+ temperatures and then I'll remember why I live in Tempe. We have beautiful winters! Tonight I am grateful for A mom - who lets my family and me invade her home so we can have a vacation. A welcoming committee - who made us feel missed and loved. An uneventful trip - Those are the very best kind to have.

Why?

Why do I live in Tempe, AZ if I love the rain?

Why do I have boys in my life if it isn't to take out the trash and carry heavy boxes?

Why does the same 15-year-old who so adamantly and not so nicely tells me over and over again all afternoon that he is perfectly capable of packing a suitcase and does not need his mother's help suddenly become helpless at 2:00 in the morning when he finally gets around to doing it?

Why do gasoline prices go up 10 cents a gallon overnight when there is a holiday when they're already higher than they should be? $3.75 a gallon - that's ridiculous!

There are so many questions I have going through my head. For some of them the answer seems obvious. I live in Tempe because that's where my husband has a job and I kind of like living with my hubby and having money. However the obvious answer is not the right one today. I live in Tempe so that when it is a beautiful, 65 degree, rainy day during the almost last week of May I can truly, truly appreciate it for the blessing and wonder that it is. If I lived in Seattle I probably wouldn't recognize today as a perfect weather day.

Oh, and the reason I have boys in my life is so one of them can drive that same helpless 15-year-old to his 3:00 AM rendezvous with the Priest's group and I don't have to.