These are a Few of My Favorite Things-Backyard Edition

Though my backyard has a long way to go it's given me a few things to smile about these last few months.

 

My first ripe tomato. 

I think I finally figured out tomatoes in Arizona.  Pots.  It's too hot in the summer so you need to grow in the winter in the pot.  During our freezing nights I can just pull them inside and I don't need to get upset that even though I covered them they die anyway. 

Beautiful leaves!

We don't get a lot of color in the fall here in Arizona, but I was thrilled this year when my Ash trees turned a beautiful bright yellow.  What makes trees change color?  Last year they did not turn color but fell to the ground green.  Oh I hope that it will turn color next year.  You can almost see my next favorite thing in the photo here but it is covered by the beautiful leaves.

 

We have grass!

Here it is better.  We finally have some grass in our house.  No we sill haven't finished the clean up, but getting it in was such a big job that we are just glad that it's done.  Clearing away rock and prepping the ground that has laid dormant for decades was a lot of work, but it's nice to have a little more green in the back yard.

 

Ripe Lemons! 

You might remember our disastrous crop from last year.  We've enjoyed quite a bit of fresh squeezed lemonade this year.  We have tons of oranges on the tree but they aren't quite ripe yet so we are still hoping for them.

Jedi Training

A few months ago John and I decided that the kids were old enough to watch the origional Star Wars movies.  That, combined with the new addition the the lego Star Wars game to our household was enough to ensure that Hyrum wanted a Star Wars Party for his birthday.

A quick search of the Internet brought up numerous party ideas, including pin the light saber on the Jedi and Star Wars bingo.  I love six year olds.  They get so excited over the simplest things.

I think my favorite was the asteroid hunt.  We wrapped candies up in tin foil balls and hid them around the back yard.  The kids collected them like Easter eggs.  Really, why should you have an Easter egg hunt only once a year.

Last  of all was light saber training where Darth Vader showed up.

OK.  So the costume wasn't the best.  But the kids thought it was cool.

The kids seemed to forget about the light sabers though and decided it would be best to tackle Darth.

 

Happy Birthday Hyrum!  I hope you had fun on your special day!

Happy Birthday Hyrum!

It's been a wonderful six years. 

(I shouldn't be allowed to say the prayer on my kids birthdays because I always end up crying.  I love you Hyrum!)

Proof

The last week of December in snowed here in Phoenix. It's true. I know even most Phoenicians don't believe me but it really did happen. You just had to be at the right place at the right time. So for all of you doubters out there here's proof.

Hey, I didn't say we got a lot of snow.

Wildlife World Zoo

We went to the wildlife world zoo over the break.  I definitely recommend going there once, but it is so expensive that I doubt that I'll be back.  Even with our buy one get one free coupon it still wasn't cheap.  But it is a great zoo because you can get so much closer to all of the animals.

The petting zoo was neat because instead of just the normal sheep and goats they also had deer, lamas, and tortoises.

The exhibits were a bit more interactive as well.

Bring quarters to buy food to feed the animals.  I think feeding the giraffes were the coolest.   Yes I did squeal when it licked my hand.

I'll admit I don't often watch videos on other peoples blogs but this little gibbon cracked me up.  I guess he didn't realize that I was watching.

December

Alan started taking Taekwondo in September.  We looked around for a Martial Arts class for a while and finally found one that we are happy with.  It's a good challenge for Alan.  Though the teachers aren't harsh they really make the kids work to get their stripes/belts.  Alan had his first testing for a belt in December.  He was nervous, but he did well and is thrilled to have moved up to an orange belt and not to be the very bottom of the totem pole in his class.

We love all the fun things that our neighborhood has to offer.  A nearby shopping center does free carriage rides with Santa in December.  As with most lines to see Santa it is about an hour wait but you are free to roam the shops while you wait.  It's fun and free!

 The library in a nearby retirement community does a Christmas story hour for the kids.  Since it is a retirement community their obviously aren't a lot of kids around.  When only six kids show up to these things they get tons of attention.

A visit from Santa Claus is cool but the kids said he was a fake.  Santa apparently doesn't wear tennis shoes.

It ended with a craft where the kids were able to make marshmallow snowman.  You know how it went.  One marshmallow for the snowman, one marshmallow for the mouth.