Ho, Ho... Snow!

We must have been feeling winter withdrawals after our move from Ohio to Arizona when we decided to take an impromptu trip to Utah for Christmas. We pulled the kids from their beds at 3:30 a.m. and loaded them in the car for what they believed would be a ski trip to the mountains. If you are familiar with our family, you may be wondering how our little chickadees did on the eleven hour drive and what we were daring enough to feed them on the way. To spare you the messy details, I will just say that the Hoover Dam and chocolate doughnuts do not go together. Thankfully, we stopped in St. George to visit friends and were able to give their new washer and dryer a run for its money.

With family parties and dinners, sleepovers and sledding, and a visit from Santa, there are many favorite moments from our Utah Christmas. But the highlight had to be the day we spent skiing and snowboarding at Snowbird. Since it had been over ten years since Ryan and I had skied, we decided to let the experts teach Braden and Emme while we fumbled on the slopes on our own. With a little pressure from Braden, Ryan decided to give snowboarding a go, while we girls would not succumb and were pleased to be on good old fashioned skis. By the end of the day I had not one fall to account for (which means I'm either an awesome skier or took far too few risks), while Ryan's arms would be sore for the next two days from pushing himself back up to his feet. Luckily, or unluckily, it was dumping inches of snow by the hour which provided plenty of powder for cushion. Meeting up with the kids on Chickadee at the end of the day brought back memories of skiing with my family from my childhood. Riding the lifts with the kids and making our way slowly down the slopes was definitely the highlight of the day!

Christmas was spent with family for the first time in five years, which made for tricky packing, but much more fun! Super Smash Brothers, Calico Critters, a whoopee cushion, Lava Lamp, model rocket, and the timeless Easy Bake Oven were among the spoils of the day.

Of coarse there always has to be something unexpected that happens to make a trip even more memorable. For us it was the flu that Chloe passed to Hadley, who then passed it to Grammy, who suffered from the symptoms all Christmas night. Grammy's washer and dryer also got a run for their money that week. We have heard of no other casualties within the extended family, though we're assuming some are too nice to come forward.

After a week of cold weather and constant snowfall, it was with a bit of sorrow we packed up and headed south. Somewhere before Cedar City the snow had melted from the car and the roads, and the only reminder we had of our visit were our memories...oh, and our salt laden car. Usually a car covered in salt feels dirty and unkempt, but for us it was a trophy of our first ski trip home to Utah. We soon found though, that it would be impossible to get too attached to Utah. Upon returning to Scottsdale we were awakened to a new love... December in the 70s!

There's No Place Like Home

We've moved... again. We're very good at it now, so it is with a bit of sorrow we throw away the boxes for good and settle into our home here in Scottsdale. While we don't miss the skunks and silver fish spiders of Ohio, North Scottsdale has its own wild life with which to contend. We've seen a bobcat, rattlesnake, scorpions, and the beloved garbage-dumping havalenas. Our first night in our home we woke to the cries of coyotes. If the saguaro cacti were not enough, these creatures are enough to convince us that we truly live in the desert.

There have been two things Braden was excited for upon our move. The first was a dog. He is our animal loving child (definitely not a trait acquired from his mom). He is still waiting for the dog. The second was the pool. Unfortunately we moved in the winter, though that was not what hindered him. His casted arm prolonged the plunge until December 3rd. The swim lasted only a minute, as even in Arizona it is not swimming weather in December.

The babies have acclimated about as well to the new house as Braden to the pool. Where the girls have always been wonderful sleepers, we now find them crawling out of bed seeking a better sleeping location. They'll initially climb in with each other or Emmry, but eventually insist on a nightly stroll into mom and dad's room. It only took a couple times pulling both two-year-olds into bed to realize that that was not a good solution. Our nightly visitors now have sleeping quarters on their parents' floor.

Ryan and I have acclimated quite well. The only thing we are missing here are our friends and family. If you find yourselves missing the sun, desiring a polar bear swim, or yearning to know what a havalena is, we would love to see more of you here!

The Big Reveal

Today the casts came off. Hadley has been talking about it for a week... I'm sure without a realization that it would ever actually occur. Braden also couldn't wait. The novelty for him wore off the first day when he was sent to the school office to read during recess. As the casts were coming off I feared what fun things we would find inside, but they were relatively content free. Hadley's had just a bit of sand and small rocks from the sand box visits we weren't supposed to make and Braden's held a small round plastic disk. I'm not sure about that one.

Our fame at the orthoped had not diminished in the five weeks we had been away. Our two broken arms still provided us notoriety in the office. Emmry, not wanting to feel slighted of her past fame, was compelled to tell the doctor that she and Chloe broke their arms at the same time last year. Initially I thought our move across country between our sets of broken arms benefited us, but in hindsight I think it makes Ryan and I look more guilty.

In the end, I'm not sure what the cost will be, but I like feel we got a two-for-one with Hadley. It seems that five weeks with a cast on has cured her of her arm sucking habit!