Birch's Birthday

Birch turned 26 this weekend (26 on the 26th--is there a name for that? Your "Golden Birthday?") and we celebrated with a barbecue at our house. Trevor was a little nervous to see the brownies on fire!

We invited Birch's LDS friends from school and their wives. We're all in different wards so it's fun whenever we can all get together.

Trevor was happy to see Nash, Matt and Allie's son. The maracas were the favorite toy of the night, even being thrown across the room by the excited babies.

Running with Pepper Spray

For those who haven't been to our house before, we don't exactly live in a prime location. Our neighborhood is safe, but a few streets over in any direction get a little sketchy.

Usually when I go running I stick to main roads, especially when I have Trevor with me in the jogger. But every once in a while I get antsy and decide to explore.

This was the case on Saturday. Trevor was down for a nap with Birch watching him so I took off on a new run. Everything was fine until I ran into a pack of stray dogs roaming the streets. Usually when I see dogs I immediately take off my sunglasses and start walking very slowly. Something about a person running by in sunglasses and a hat always seems to make them chase!

I tried this strategy but one dog decided that I was still a threat. He started circling me, growling and barking. I was REALLY nervous and looked for anyone outside to help me. My only hope was a group of young boys having a wrestling match on their trampoline in the front yard. I yelled for help and one of them started yelling at the dog in Spanish. It distracted him long enough for me to scoot away and promise myself to never go "exploring" again.

Maybe I should get that pepper spray out of my closet...

A Walk in Two Languages

My friend Amber invited me to walk the Rillito River path this Friday with our babies. When I arrived I found that she had brought her neighbor and her 5-month-old baby girl. I saw that this woman was deaf and immediately felt anxious. I'm comfortable around people with hearing loss but I wondered how well we could converse while walking outside with strollers.

Amber soon put me at ease. I had forgotten that she is a sign language interpreter and enjoyed watching her speak and sign simultaneously. It was amazing to see again the value of knowing another language, especially as it helped me to meet someone new.

Sabino Canyon

We were all anxious for Christmas break when Birch would be out of school and we could relax and have more time as a family. Our house got a little face lift with new crown molding and a painted wall around the house. We also got to go to Flagstaff for a week to spend time with family over Christmas.

On one of the last days of vacation we took a short hike through Sabino Canyon. It was Trevor's best hike ever--he was happy in the backpack the whole time and didn't even fall asleep!