Heros at Home

First, an update on our summer "vacation." We left my parents' house on Wednesday after a week and a half and made the long journey across town (A whole 15 minutes!) to Birch's parents' house. I am SO glad it was the last time we will pack everything again until returning to Tucson.

Birch's parents will be here until next weekend, when they fly to South Africa for a business/pleasure trip and we become house-sitters for three more weeks.


So yesterday I was looking through old pictures with my mother-in-law (Nicole) and sister (Becca) when we heard a loud crackling noise, almost like an airplane. I kept looking at pictures but my sister stood up to look out the window and saw the neighbor's house on fire!

Nicole immediately called 911 and tried contacting the homeowners, who arrived about 30 minutes later. The fire was two houses away, but as you can see in the picture, there are enough dry plants and grass in this climate to spread the fire quickly.

Within an hour, the streets were lined with city and rural firetrucks and reporters. Hey, this is big news for Flagstaff!

The only other time I've called 911 was for a dumpster fire across the street last summer. Do any of you have any heroic stories?

Beauty Highs and Lows

For as long as I can remember I've always had dry hands, probably thanks to the Flagstaff climate. I wanted the smooth hands with beautiful nails but it never happened, no matter how much lotion I slathered on.

Then...a few weeks ago I went to a spa party at a friend's house, only to find out it was another scam to get me to pay big bucks for beauty products. (Sorry if you are a consultant for one of those companies, maybe I'm too cheap.) I ended up buying yet another bottle of lotion that was on the cheaper end of the order form.

The irony is that I LOVE it! I grease up with this lotion every night before bed and I finally have smooth skin and clean nails. The lotion is called Extreme Repair from BeautiControl.

Now I am motivated to take on another beauty dilemma: skin care. I've been thorough Mary Kay and several drug store brands but nothing has worked for me. Not being a big spender, I'd like to find something I can purchase at Target, so any suggestions? The fewer bottles required, the better.

Spinning!

Yesterday I got my first taste of spinning! My friend Brittany is an amazing cyclist and LOVES her spinning class at the Y. She brought me along as a guest and now I am a believer.

My favorite part was spinning to the music! Our instructor chose songs with different beats and has us change our speed and resistance to match the rhythm of the music. I couldn't believe how fast the time went by! When I go running I don't wear an iPod because I like the time to think but this was a nice change and a lot of fun!

Any other spinners out there? Or do you have a different kind of exercise that you love? Let me know, I'm always up for trying something new!

Seeing Green

We spent our Spring Break at home this year installing sprinklers. I'm sure you know that the term "we" is very generous to myself. I should say that Birch spent his Spring Break installing sprinklers and Trevor and I were the cheerleaders. I actually did glue my share of PVC pipe but all of the digging/heavy equipment running was done by Birch.

Now, two months later, we finally have a green backyard! Even when we first rolled out the sod Trevor started crawling around, loving a soft play area. He also gets pretty excited about the sprinklers.

If you know the rules of new grass, you know that people and large pets have to stay off for three weeks. We decided that Trevor qualified as a small pet and watched him play from the sidelines.

Now that we've passed the three week mark and Birch allows us to legally walk on the grass, it's time to start mowing! We are officially a home-owning, Saturday morning lawn-mowing family.

P.S. Sorry about the writing squeezed between the pictures. I've tried to fix it but it's not cooperating!