Our Family Project

 Today we went outside to play for a while.  It probably wasn't the best time of day ... for us.  For all of our friends and family who are still in winter, it would have been the perfect time for you to go outside: right after lunch when the sun is high, and everything is nice and warm.  Here, in Arizona, it is not the worst  time of the day to go outside (especially not yet), but let's just say that even though it is only the beginning of April, it still isn't the best  time of day to outside. Regardless of how hot it quickly became, we had fun running around, throwing the ball at the cinderblock wall, spinning the tires on Andrew's bike as fast as we could, and just playing pretend.  After twenty minutes, we were definitely feeling the sun on our backs, warming us up just a little bit too much for comfort. Thank goodness popsicles are perfect in Arizona during the entire year!  There's nothing quite like a popsicle to cool you down on a ...

This may not be a "real" pineapple, but I drive by this tree everyday I take the children to school.  I just can't help but smile and think, "Check out that HUGE pineapple!"

We were able to spend time with Jon's brother and sister and their families this last weekend.  It was so much fun to watch our children play with their cousins and remember what it was like to play with my cousins. Ever since I can remember, my family was invited to my grandparent's house (on my mom's side) just about every month to celebrate all the birthdays that would occur in that month.  This is one of the things that I've always cherished about my childhood: the fact that we lived near our extended family.  This is also one of the things that I hated about living so far away for those seven years we were in Minnesota. Now that we are around more family, it has been so delightful to get together with them and watch our children's relationships with their cousins blossom.  One of the benefits we have is that our children are pretty much younger than Jon's sister's children ... her youngest is Kate's age.  So, Jon was able to say, "Watch...

I know it seems silly, but I love that I can put my bread and roll dough out on the patio to rise.  The Arizona temperature in the summer is the perfect climate for yeast breads.  My dough doubled in size in almost half the time it usually takes indoors.  And, usually, I let my dough rise atop a heated oven, just to make sure it is in a warm environment.  But, with it being so warm outside, I didn't have to heat up the inside of the apartment for this to happen well.  I know this is a really silly reason to like the heat here, but I'm looking for the good things about the heat .. makes me not miss the cold so much.

Yes, it's true ... it is hot here!  And, I've been told that June was unseasonably hot.  But, I think that has helped us to acclimate a little bit faster than normal.  At any rate, we are definitely feeling the heat.  The thing I love about the heat is that it is dry.  Which means that when we are outside, going into the shade makes a difference.  In Minnesota, we could go into the shade and there would be very little difference/respite because of the humidity. The children have enjoyed the heat as well because it means they get to go swimming much more often than they are used to.  The last couple of weeks they have been taking red cross swimming lessons.  It has been so wonderful to take them somewhere everyday and get us all out of the apartment.  While it is actually a pretty good sized apartment, putting six of us in here all day, everyday, has made us all a little bit more short and frustrated with each other.  So, going to the po...