A R I Z O N A

Yes we have moved and we are settling in. Sorry it has been a long time since I have last posted. I have much to tell you all and pictures to share.

We live in Scottsdale, just northeast of Phoenix, and we are loving every bit of it. There is so much to see and do here. Scottsdale has a wide range of activities, such as sports (golf in particular), restaurants, shops, parks, pools, play areas, indoor and outdoor activities, ...etc., just a lot more options then normal right at your finger tips. A lot of people from surrounding areas say they come here as well for all sorts of entertainment. We are exploring every day!

The only downside is we moved right at in the middle of the worst season, SUMMER! And let me tell you that it can get pretty HOT on most days (112 has been the hottest since we have been here)! But it is a DRY HEAT, unlike any HUMIDITY we have had back east. It is funny because when there is the slightest bit of humidity I hear it from people complaining, but it really is nothing. Our AC is practically on constantly and our first electric bill is higher than any one we have ever had. We now have two AC units, one for upstairs and one for downstairs (The one downstairs I have to keep an eye on because it is near the stair and in reach of little fingers. One day the heater was on!) We are learning to conserve electricity (I always grew up with my father teaching that to me and now I am finally learning and teaching it to my children.) There are on and off peak times, the off peaks are from 9pm-9am and weekends (just like a cell phone almost). So that is when we try and run our dishwashers, laundry, and lights when needed. We also have fans in every room which help.

Well, enough about that... since, it is so HOT we aren't out in the heat for every long unless we are at a pool. We don't have a pool at our house, but luckily we have two community pools near by that we have access to anytime. It is great because we are nearly there every other day. The kids love it!

There is also a lot of wild life here that I am learning about. Of course you here that there are snakes, which luckily I have not encountered. (When growing up in northern California there were snakes around our house at times, but I never seemed to be around when they were.) There are also scorpions, which I have encountered and killed one in the garage. I was luckily I did not step on it and it sting me. I was putting the kids in the car and Brandon looked down and said, "What is that?" I very briefly looked down and said it was a leaf and kicked it aside with my flip flop. Then he said, "Look!" Sure enough it was a baby scorpion, known to be more poisonous and deadly. It was flicking its tail, luckily staying in one spot, so I quickly got a shovel and killed it, cutting it in half and then discarding of it. Too bad I did not get a picture of that for you all. But there are also other creature besides snakes and scorpions, like lizards, bunnies, bobcats, jalevinas (sp - but some sort of pig/hog like animal), and coyotes, which I have also seen in near by neighborhoods.

So, anyone want to come visit??? Summer is the best! Just kidding! They say, just wait until the Fall and Winter, even Spring is nice. Anyone is welcome, anytime. However summer we may want to leave the heat and come visit you.

Below are a few pictures of different kinds of cacti and the landscape of Arizona. We live near the mountains, which I love!

There will be more photos soon on the house, kids, hubby and our adventures here to come. I would also like to get Mike on here to comment about his new work, but that will probably not happen at least until after his boards in Oct. and Nov., that is if I can convince him to comment.