Snowpocalypse 2019

The biggest storm to hit Arizona in over fifty years--and what did we do?

We headed north, of course.

Brad tried to go on Thursday, but the roads closed before they could reach Payson. Hyrum and two of his buddies had been pulled out of school that afternoon, fully expecting two days of sledding and playing, but instead they returned home in less than an hour, all three looking dejected at the prospect of returning to school on Friday.

We thought about heading up Friday, but we held out till all the roads were clear on Saturday. 

I have never seen the snow levels this low, and most of the drive from the valley was blanketed in white.

 All the roads were plowed except the last 100 feet to our driveway, so we had to hike through two feet of snow to get to the cabin. It was incredible!

 Look at the view out our bedroom window!

 And this is from inside the garage. Can you see the dirt in the foreground? And Micah's head peeking over?

 Hot chocolate and oreos--great combination we discovered while there.

Our driveway makes an amazing sledding track, but the snow was so deep that Brad had to drag the kids on the sleds to tamp down the snow before they could speed down the hill.

 It was even too deep and too wet for snow angels!

 The girls dragging Brad . . .  not as easy as it looks!

 The pictures can tell the story.

 Look how deep it was!

 And the stream was rushing--

It was about 40 degrees when we got there, and the closer we got to the creek, the wetter the ground got.

Here at the bottom of the driveway, the snow was halfway up my thigh. Brad wanted me to stomp the snow down as much as I could, and I hit running water about two inches deep--which flooded into my boot and made me a little unhappy!

 What a glorious day--the snow, the temperature, and the kids.

Brad and I both vowed that the next time a storm like this is predicted, we're going up before it and getting snowed in.

I love this corner of the woods more than just about anywhere on earth, and I'm so grateful we get to enjoy it so often.

Where's Micah Been? And Other Denton Doings

Micah has been shockingly absent from the blog lately. What's he been doing?

First of all, since he no longer attends a school with a hair dress code, he's been growing out his hair.

 It's so long that he can use my velcro rollers!

 A smolder makes everything look better, right?

 I even attempted a smolder, but I can't pull it off as well as he can.

 I think after tonight, we may have convinced him to at least cut the back a little. He's vowed he won't cut it till June. We'll see if he can hold out that long.

After our little photo shoot Monday morning, I received this text from him just before dinner:

Seriously? A text?

And this is how I brought him home:

Lucky for us, his friend's dad is also our local orthopedic doctor. Chuck threw him in a boot and gave him crutches before we even left for Urgent Care. And lucky for Micah, it wasn't broken. He's been in the boot and on crutches all week, but I think he's mending. We'll know for sure this week. Dang kid! Next time, call your mama!

Brad has been on a cupboard organizing kick lately, and he took on the hardest project in our entire kitchen--the plastics cupboard. When he did the dishes, he made little signs and it has stayed organized for over a month, so he attempted the same procedure with this cupboard, even including a short lecture to the kids on how to correctly put things away. 

 So far, so good.

And best moment of the entire week:

He surprised me with dinner at Cafe Monarch in Scottsdale. What an incredible restaurant! I'm not a big foodie, but I was thoroughly impressed with every course, every waiter, and the ambiance. 

I married a keeper, that's for sure!

Love Week

So many things to love this week.

Brad took the kids out to Cardinal stadium Sunday afternoon to see President Nelson and President Oaks and their wives speak.

Haven't had many pictures of Micah lately, but I think I've finally convinced him to get his hair cut this week.

I forget that I'm still recovering and overdid it the day before. Lucky for me, Tucker sent me a link so I could watch it from home.

It wasn't the same, but I loved listening to it, especially Sister Nelson's talk where she described what it's like to be married to the prophet. I can't imagine how hard that must be for her.

For Family Night, we made dozens of valentine sugar cookies and Brad took the kids to deliver them

 My mom's sugar cookie recipe is the best in the world, and I always eat way too many of them!

Speaking of my mom, she and Dad sent me a bouquet of flowers on Tuesday with a card that read, "When you look at these flowers, remember you have 3-5 more weeks."

They came on a particularly hard day for me and brought me to tears. This recovery journey is hard. I've had to abandon all of the healthy, sanity-supporting routines I had in place to sleep late, not count my steps, not clean house, not cook or clean. It sounds dumb, but this has been hard for me. I don't sit still well, and I feel like I should be back to normal and I hate the burden this places on my family and how it disrupts life around here. Those flowers came at a good time.

Eve and Hyrum had STEAM night at their school.

 Not a good picture of Eve . . . but she had fun going from station to station and seeing her friends.

 Hyrum was the big cheese on campus that day--I love that about sixth grade. He ran around with friends and assisted his teachers with their displays and sitting at the information table. This kid is growing up so fast, and while I'm excited to see where life takes him, I really hate junior high and its accompanying drama and angst. I'll live in this little sixth grade bubble as long as we can.

Micah had a trip to the headache specialist this week. He's had pretty bad migraines for a few years, and after fighting insurance and doctor approval, he finally got an appointment. I loved the staff there, and she gave him great advice (his triggers are probably lack of sleep, dehydration, and stress) and new meds. I picked up three of the meds one day, but the final one had to be ordered.

Sticker shock!

 And this was after insurance! I guess he's worth $300. But he better keep track of that stuff!

I got a surprise message this week from one of my former students--he took his oath to join the Marine Corps.

He's wanted to be a Marine forever, and he had a few roadblocks placed in his way these last few months that almost derailed that dream. I'm impressed that he worked through it all and will go to boot camp this August. I'm as proud as if he were my own kid. Way to go, Sam!

Here's a rare moment when these two brothers played together. I know sibling relationships go through phases, and I know that as they get older they will rely more and more on each other. That knowledge is one of the only things that keeps me sane while they fight and argue and wrestle and sometimes get hurt.

 FYI: Just after Hyrum threw this pass, the joyful moment ended. Good thing I snapped the photo when I did.

My valentine remembered me. I love getting flowers and cards from him, and this is our 30th Valentine's Day together and I love him more and more each year.

Usually February in AZ is beautiful mid-70s days, but it's been rainy and COLD. I can't complain too much, because I still get to wear all of my glorious boots a little longer!

Hyrum has a new obsession--Safeway's Monopoly game. He begs to go to the grocery store for more pieces and meticulously places them on the board. He psyched himself out this week when he accidentally filled the $100 gift card section with a duplicate.

 Hope he wins that million!

Eve finished her great horned owl project by making this cute diorama.

 I love when my kids do their own projects with minimal help from Mom.

And the best thing to love about this week:

Heidi had her baby on Friday!

 Little baby Kate Colwell. 6'12" and 19" of pure perfection.

This is my favorite picture from the whole week

I love that my girls are up in Idaho together.

Look at that tribe of Brubaker kids

Three boys. Three girls.

The hardest part of this hysterectomy recovery is that I can't go up and help right now. Hopefully after Spring Break I'll get up there, but right now I can't get enough pictures and FaceTime.

No pictures, but I was privileged to play at a funeral on Saturday for a lady in our ward who died unexpectedly. I had played for her to sing a few years ago and it had a deep impact on me (read that post here), so I was excited to participate in a celebration of her life. I prepared a little surprise for the postlude, and after the closing prayer, I began the first few notes, then launched into a medley of songs from "Oklahoma!" just for Lynne. I hope she was singing along wherever she is and that she knows the impact she had on the lives all around her.

Hopefully this week I can get back to a few more of my normal tasks. Baby steps.

Mixed Bag

 Great week around the Sanatorium. I got clearance from the doctor to drive and resume some of my activities, but I think I went too hard, and I've been laid out yesterday and today--couldn't make it to Church. I guess I still need to take it slow. Who'd a thought only 18 days post-surgery?

Funniest moment of the week:

I walked the kids to school on Thursday morning and permitted myself a walk around the block as well (a whopping .48 mile that must have been too much, in hindsight).  I snapped this pic, because this is something rarely seen here on the desert valley floor

It's frost.

I know. You're all wondering what was so funny. Well, as the kids approached the crossing guard, she directed them not to the playground but straight to their classrooms because "It's too cold to play outside today. It was 33 when I got here!"

I had to laugh at this and sent the joke to all my family in the cold northern regions, and my sister replied with this screenshot:

She works at an elementary school and said they've had indoor recess all week because of the cold. Somehow none of them had any sympathy for us "frozen" AZ people!

Brad and Evie went to the school's Daddy-Daughter luau. Brad got to pull out his stuff from Fiji and rocked it, but Eve wasn't too impressed and shed her scarf quickly.

But that girl can hula hoop with the best of 'em! I'm so happy our school takes time to do activities like this--a few treats, speakers and some tunes and the girls had a great experience.

Gotta love my Rum. That kid is self-motivated. He had the science fair this week, and I've been gone much of the first month of school and was little to no help with it. He chose his own project (comparing graphics drain between two different games on the Switch), adapted the project (initially, he thought playing each game three times until the battery died would be fun, but when the first trial took almost four HOURS, he amended it to three 30-minute increments, measuring the battery drain each time--life lesson and a win for Mom!), wrote up the project, and constructed the project. I only helped with proofreading his slides and showing him how to use my paper cutter.

Granted, this project probably won't win (because many parents enter "their" projects at science fairs), but this was Hyrum's project, and he was really proud of it. And I was proud of him.

Speaking of Hyrum, he's playing basketball this season. It may not be his favorite sport, but he's on a really good team and they're fun to watch.

In the four games he's played, he's only put up shots in two. When I asked why, he retorted, "Why should I when there are three incredible shooters on my team and I can pass it to them?" Another good life lesson.

And Eve.
That girl.

All she wants to be in life is a teacher.

 She learned how to use our printer as a copy machine (possibly a big mistake on my part!), and she's  been writing up homework packets and warm-up packets and math sheets ever since. As she inspected her latest seating chart (she means business, people!), I heard her utter under her breath: "I just really want to be a teacher so bad!" It's in her genes--great-grandpa, several great-aunts and -uncles and cousins, plus an aunt, an uncle and her mom. Her chances are pretty good, I'd wager.

She and her best buddy also made these posters yesterday and called them their "BFF posters." Only three weeks apart in age, these two have known each other their whole lives and were destined to be BFFs when both moms found out we were both having girls.

Funny: As they were admiring their work, I overheard one of them say, "Let's hang these in our college room!"

And you know you're an AZ kid when you get "banished" outside for an hour in the winter and you wear your parka to sit on the edge of the diving board and sing.

One Denton Sanatorium tradition is waffles every first Sunday of the month. Annie loves waffles, and if the menu ever varies on this day, she lets me know.

 Looks like Cleo was hoping for something to slip to the ground!

And look at baby Caroline!

This little one is so sweet-tempered and calm. She keeps herself pretty busy now that she can crawl and pull up to the furniture. Looks like she might be an early walker like her big sister!

Caroline loves people and lights up whenever she locks eyes with someone.

 I'm so glad they live close and we see them all the time.

Brad snuck this picture of Karli during the Super Bowl, calling it "Mother's hands."

The irony of the pic is that Karli is right-handed but she snagged a quick moment to "practice her leaves." She's an incredible artist, and even left-handed creates much more than I can with two good hands, an empty lap, and hours of work.

Last shot of the week:

I took Cleo out for two truncated morning walks last week, and it felt so good. I know now that I'm still not ready for all that, but I know I'll be back out there sometime soon. I've been working with her to stay on our corner without her leash as I walk away. She's not allowed to leave until dismissed, and she will sit there for a couple minutes, but when I say okay, she bolts across the yard like she's been a prisoner for hours. The light was so pretty that morning that I had to snap a quick shot.

Here's to a week of still more resting and listening to my body and what it is and isn't ready to do.