Remind me not to do this again any time soon

Pool Time!

Post-pool zoning in front of the TV

You may think from my lack of recent posts that I have died, or at the very least gone on an extended trip to Indonesia where in my imagination anyway, internet doesn't exist and they eat coconuts all day.  Neither has happened, although dying would have been easier and Indonesia would have been much more relaxing.  We moved.  That is what happened, and it was not the most fun I've had in my life.  We are living south of Tucson now, in a huge box (Dave's words, not mine- guess who picked the house!) with a  little backyard that has a little pool.  Although it was so so hard to leave friends and all that had grown familiar behind, I think this move will be good for our family and for Dave's career.  It moves us closer to Utah and Cali where all our extended family is which is a big plus too. Although we do miss our old friends greatly, I have been comforted by several members of our church here who have reached out to welcome us into the new ward.  It is a reminder that God puts good people in our path wherever we go -I am grateful for that blessing!

Our house has a wash- a little dry stream bed- behind our backyard, as does our neighbor's across the street.  Dave last weekend got called over by our neighbors to see the javelina that were feeding on some apples from their tree back in their wash.  Javelina look like wild pigs, but they are really ROUS-es.  Gross.  Our dog started yappping her head off just 20 minutes ago-in the middle of naptime of course- so I looked out the window.  In the wash behind our house were four wild horses and a colt looking longingly at our green grass patch through the fence.  We've heard from several people in the community that they roam around here.  I grabbed some carrots to see if they would stay close enough to eat them but when I was about 10 feet away the neighbor's dog spooked them and they ran off through the scrub.  It was neat!  Next time I will grab my camera instead of carrots.  So although we live in a beautifully manicured community with  a wickedly picky HOA we still get our little "wild west" moments.

We like living here so far.  You have to commute to get anywhere, which takes adjustment when you come from a place like Plano where everything is 3-5 minutes away, but it is nice to feel more spread-out and less a prisoner of suburbia.  Dave's allergies have cleared up which is great, and we love the fact that without humidity, the temp drops to a lovely level in the evenings when we're playing outside with the kids or BBQ-ing.  Ellie has made some friends on the street behind us, and I have been invited to join a co-op preschool for Amari for the fall which she will love.  All our boxes are unpacked and we are starting to get pictures and curtains and such up.  In other words, we are getting settled in.  Come visit!