I travel to Sacramento California today for work. I have traveled for work many years now but I really don't get used to it. Packing... Waiting.... Lines.... Waiting.... Cramped quarters.... Waiting.... Scramble to get off.... Waiting... Driving to a new place... Getting lost.... Why would someone want to do this for fun!

I like to travel. I like to visit new places, see different things, experience culture that is foreign to me. I just don't like planes. Airlines are the bus system of the sky's. You aren't a customer, or even a passenger, you are a fare. I also hate to leave my family. Maybe I should look at it like I am getting the next 3 days to myself. I don't think, I just worry about the family. Maybe they should just all go with me?????

Dogs, Wakeboards, and School Pictures.

We all love our dogs, but only a 13 year old would think of finding one a date. Jaron and I were walking our dog a few blocks away the other night. A truck pulled into the driveway of the house in front of us. A man and his 3 year old son got out. The 3-year-old ran toward us insisting we were returning his dog. The man picked up his son and told him that their dog was in the house. The man started asking questions about the dog, which Jaron proceeded to answer. Being as both dogs were German Shepherds, and both were papered, Jaron decided they needed a date. Jaron went home to his dad that night after the walk and said, "Guess what Dad, I just got Gandolff 'hooked up'. " Out of the mouth of a teenager! I wonder if the dog wanted to be hooked up?

Which leads me to the next story. Saturday we were doing errands and planning on spending the afternoon in the pool. Jaron called the neighbor to see if "Amber" (his dog) could come over and entertain Gandolff. Now before you get the wrong idea, Jaron does have an alterior motive. If two dogs play they get lots of exercise, hence, he doesn't have to walk the dog. That afternoon we entertained Amber which was a fun experience. Gandolff is a water dog, he loves the pool. If we are in the pool he wants to be in the pool. Amber is not so sure about the water part but loves to play in the fountain (go figure!). As we were all in the pool, Gandolff was more interested in us than in Amber. She didn't like being ignored and followed him everywhere he went. You know, the come-here, come-here, come-here, NO, get-away, get-away, get-away game. Talk about entertaining. And as suspected! After 4 hours of this, both dogs were "dog tired!" lol

We took the boys wakeboarding this weekend. In Arizona you can't beat the heat so you hit the water, any water! We go to the nearest lake which happens to be a beautiful reservoir of stone cliffs filled with water. Perched precariously on the cliffs are barrel cactus, sequoia cactus, and sage. The boys have decided to take up wakeboarding. That are actually doing really good considering Jay and I can't teach them to do something we don't do ourselves. Both boys can now get up on the boards but staying up is a different story. We took our friends, Doug and Emily with us this weekend. Doug likes to hot dog on the wakeboard, and considering he just started the last time we went, he is quite good. Me, I just jump in when I get hot, or get pushed in if a male member of my family is within reach.

For members of my family reading this, I am sorry to stay Jaron's school picture day was Friday. Jaron likes to play with his hair color, it goes from dark, to blonde, to pink, to two-tone. Well, for picture day he went back to his nature brown. He looks good as a brunette with his dark tan, and deep brown eyes. But getting back to the subject at hand, I am afraid you will have to keep the school pictures of Jaron you have from last year! He forgot to pay the money to the photographer (it was in his pocket) when his picture was taken. So alas, no pictures this year! hee hee hee

Local highway conditions are a JOY...

We live at in Arizona about three blocks from a freeway entrance. Getting to work in the mornings is usually a breeze. Jay and I carpool together, allowing for us to chat and laugh all the way to work. Coming home the other day, we saw the dreaded yellow cones.... Numerous yellow cones at the entrance to our offramp. Your blood pressure starts to rise, your breath becomes paniced..... I mean, I live on the other side of that offramp. There is no signs, no workers, no traffic on the offramp. How am I going to get home? I have to go to the next one, that is too far. I can't make it from there. What am I going to do?

We thought it was a fluke. Then the next morning, the on ramp to the freeway was also closed, same cones, same lack of activity, same blood pressure. hee hee hee...

Now there is a sign across the road just before the last exit prior to ours... Our offramp will be closed for a month! Nice of us to know, nice to tell us and every other traveler that takes our ramp. Now it takes us 10 extra minutes to get to and from work everyday. As Jaron would say, if we could apparate... we would be there already.

Jace's Poems - See if you can guess what the subject is?

3 Poems

I’m in a world all my own
Where fairy tale creatures live and breathe
Holy warriors, and ominous villains, even a few kooky friends
Long roads that eat their own tails, with fast cars rubbing their spines
Leagues of warriors eager to fight
Even some things that bump in the night
All of this I can choose from one spot
My own escape from the ordinary, and bland
With my controller in hand I prepare for it all
Sitting there with my head in the clouds.

I wait as eager as a child on Christmas morning
We go here, and there, and everywhere
Must find the perfect one
Four days its been since we started this hunt
And yet no luck
Too many miles or too high a price
And then one day all that changes
As I see the one that is all I need
Its my own Eleanor, you see
I can’t wait to see how she handles a race.

Got to get up, got to get going
Bags are heavy laden with goodies
Not too hot yet not to cold
We leave at sun up for the crack in the ground
Oh, the trails we will climb
My father and I love this sort of thing.
All the little animals making sweet songs
The ups, the downs, even the turn-arounds
In the most beautiful of National parksZion’s National Park.

Lights on the Bridge

I promise not to include so many posts in a week but I had to share this. Seeing as the reason we came here is the trains it is so exciting to see something completed. This is the Light Rail Bridge that goes over Tempe Town Lake in Tempe Arizona. Of course, you can't just build a bridge you have to make a statement. The lights are finished now and this is the first lighting of the bridge. It will be so cool when the bridge looks like this and the train is traveling over the bridge....

Greg, you will appreciate the lighting here, but I wish you were here to do the design!

Being a mom

There is very little in life that prepares you for being a mother. Being a mother of boys has been easy, until this year. My Dad always told me that kids become teenagers, going through all the teenage stuff, so that parents will let them leave the nest. If you kids weren't a pain in the teenage years you would never want them to become independent. My oldest son, with his pride and joy, goes to college next year. I am miserable about it. Do you think I can talk him into staying home.?

I think about him moving on, growing up, and being independent a lot. He has never been a "pain". He will make a great adult, he has all the skills to be an independent success. But mom doesn't want him to go.....

Boys in paradise!
Utah in the Fall!

Rainy days and Mondays - Are we in Seattle?

We really know we aren't in Seattle - rain here is preceeded by 50 mile per hour wind and a cloud of dust - beat that Seattle. But it is raining and it is Monday. Did I mention I hate Mondays? Monday means getting the kids ready for school, putting the house back together, cleaning the pool/patio of towels, and putting the boat away. That is always sad. But as Jay would say, it does mean Monday Night Football (FOOOBAUGHLLL) in the fall!

Today really isn't reminisent of the valley of the sun. Arizona is a white wash of rock, cactus, pools, and traffic. Everyone you ask who hasn't been here for long mentions how it is so bright. No color, no green. There really is green but compared to other areas of the world, it does look like you landed on a whitewashed landscape. August is the worst for Arizona. You have the heat in triple digits and the humidity. When the heat finally goes down to the high ninety's you see huge clouds, the sky is dark, the winds are high, dust is everywhere, and lightning is striking. It really is beautiful at times. It might not sound like it but beauty can be very dramatic. It is like God is trying the change the channel or something.

Since this is our first, I will mention a few things about us. We are not native to Arizona. We have only been here for a few years. We come from one of the most beautiful environment in the country _ UTAH. We are in Arizona for the trains!!! By that I mean, we moved here so my husband, Jay, can put together and operate the light rail system. That could eliminate one of the comments above (traffic). Jay and I have two boys. Jace is 17 and a senior. Jaron is 13 and in 8th grade. They are both keeping us hoping but the cutest young men there are... Ok, my best friends kids are also pretty darn cute too. So are my nieces and nephews. hee hee hee

When Jay received the offer to come here we packed up the kids, our dog (Prince Gandolff Von Paradyne Harper IV) Kujo for short, and came to Phoenix. I work as a project manager, and the kids work as students. Jace just got a job at the local pizza place after school. We live here, love here, learn here... When we want to do what we like, we travel, play games....



.... Sorry for the break... Jaron was out playing in the rain and the lightning just went off. You know the kind of lightning that looks like day, there is no break between the light and the thunder, and the pictures are shaken off the walls. Needless to say, Jaron is now inside.....


In the next few months we will be traveling a lot, trying to get our senior through the college entrance dance, and keep everyone informed. Catch you on the flip side.... Peace!