Arizona or Bust!

It's official:

We are moving to Flagstaff, AZ for Dan to pursue a PhD.

It has been a long bumpy road to come to this decision but we feel good about it. Before you start making comments about getting out of the snow and enjoying hot summers be aware that Flagstaff only gets to about eighty five in the summer and gets over one hundred inches of snow annually. It is only two hours from the Grand Canyon South Rim and is a forested small town surrounded by hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities including many Native American ruins. The best part about it though? This guy:

The school mascot is the lumberjack, and they have an eight foot tall bronze, ripped, shirtless statue holding a double edged axe in the middle of campus. Yeah, there will definitely be some funny pictures coming as a result of this gem. To make it even funnier, I told my mom to google it while we were there last weekend and she said, "He's actually very nice-looking," Brenda-speak for , "That guy is hot!". (sorry mom, it was just too funny) Honestly, I don't think she is necessarily wrong though. . . . Check out those muscles. . .

In all seriousness, there is a lot we need to figure out before we load up the truck and head down there, but we are excited for this new adventure. Any tips on moving out of state, finding housing in a ridiculously over-priced market etc. are welcome!

Shad's First Sleep Over

We left Shad overnight for the first time last week. He spent one night at Grammie and Gramps house in Salt Lake and then drove down to Vegas with them to spend a night with some cousins and his aunt and uncle the next night. As much as I love my little boy, it was fantastic to not be "mommy" for a little bit! It was really nice to just spend some time with Dan. Additionally, since we spent much of that time in the car driving between home, St George and Arizona trying to take care of some serious business it was great to not have to drag him along. He seemed to have a terrific time with all of the extended family and they claim he was a really good boy, but they could definitely just be saying that.

There is no doubt he was spoiled to death, but I have been told that is what grandparents are for. It was great to know he was in good hands with people he loves to spend time with. I took some advice I have heard from several people and figured that even if it was going terribly there wasn't anything we could do about it and didn't worry at all. We are so lucky to have family that is so willing to help us out and Shad loves every minute with them! Also thanks to the aunts and uncles for putting up with us and him and being a bed and breakfast for us! Now that we know how well he does I might just be tempted to do sleep overs more often. Hopefully, they took pictures and I can post them to show he had a great time. Here are a few I took after meeting up in St George.

Shad, Gramps and Brooklyn reading a book together. Once again, Shad is making truck noises. Between trucks and animals he doesn't say much english.

Shad making his uncle David proud by carrying around some mechanical manual and pretending to read it while making truck noises. (and yes, that is his cousin's toy piano he is sitting on, and yes it is playing music as a result.)

Heads Up!

Due to Dan's field of employment it will soon be necessary for us to make our blog private. I immediately think of the movie "The Sixth Sense," and imagine someone breaking into our bathroom in their underwear, but in reality it can be detrimental to therapy if a patient knows too much or gets too involved with a therapist's private life.

Oh man, I forgot how much I hate that movie, just looking through pictures to find that gave me the complete creeps. Absolutely cannot handle ghost/scary/people-popping-out-at-you movies!!!

So, if you would like to be included on the list to be able to sign in and still see our blog please leave a comment with your e-mail address, or if you would like to be more private e-mail it to me. (it always drives me crazy when people get all paranoid and go private but say the only way to go on the list is to broadcast your e-mail address on their blog.)

If you have problems signing in to people's blogs that are private (Karen- I am talking to you) just request to be added to the list that gets automatic e-mails when a new post is put up. That way you will still be able to get on the blog and will know anytime something new happens. That being said, no guarantees it will be interesting. May want to stay posted though because you never know what surprises might be coming ;op