And the rains came down

Last weekend we kept seeing in the forecast that we had a chance of rain through Monday. Here in the desert and "chance of rain" usually doesn't mean much.  I was excited when we got a decent storm on Thursday evening.  If we got nothing else from that forecast I was pleased with the Thursday evening storm.

On Sunday evening, Curtis and I walked Oreo and it looked the like clouds were starting to build and thought that we may get more rain after all.   As the evening went on we  were getting dust storm warnings on our phone, but nothing had transpired in rain by the time we went to bed.

About 2:30 a.m. Curtis and I were both woken up with crashing thunder and lightening.  It was the kind that you see the flicker of lightening and immediately hear the booming thunder.  I love a good thunder storm, but not when it is right on top of you.  I just hoped and prayed it wouldn't hit our house.  At the same time I was also loving the sound of the rain coming down.  We were finally getting our storm.  The thunder moved on and we went back to sleep, but I kept waking up through out the night when I was getting flash flood warnings on my phone and I would still hear rain coming down. Usually when it rains here in the desert, a storm rolls in with a bunch of dust, if we are lucky it may rain for about 20 min, then clear up.  The entire "storm" is in less than an hour.  I did think it was odd that I kept hearing pretty constant rain for all that time.   My phone warning was telling me until 10:30 a.m.  That was another surprise, when we actually do get the flood warnings, they never seem to transpire, and when they do it is usually no where near us, and they are usually for about an hour in advance, not four more hours.

With my past flood experience in Hawaii and Florida, I knew that constant rain like that for hours usually causes a flood.  Not here in Arizona, we don't flood, we barley get rain. I got up and looked in our back yard and there was definitely water starting to puddle up in our yard. WOW this is exciting for us.  We turned on the news and HOLY COW,  Phoenix was flooding, freeways were shut down schools were cancelled.  I couldn't believe it.  Floods in Hawaii and Florida and inevitable but Arizona where the annual rain fall is under 8" how could that be?  The kids schools were not mentioned as being closed so off we went.  I took Dax to school, but was amazed at all the water in the streets.  Many streets were closed off, driving was slow and the water was still coming down. When I got home I told Curtis not to go to work.  It was crazy out there, and the news was telling people only drive today if you absolutely have to.  Since half the staff couldn't even get in because of closed roads, he reluctantly stayed home.

I-10 and 43 Ave exit- Not something you ever see in Phoenix

Some kids from our neighborhood enjoying the flood in the Arden Park green belt

I walked Derek and Trey across the street to Hancock and Trey loved that he could use an umbrella, and the kids wore their jackets with hoods, a novelty here in Phoenix.  Although the temp was still in the '90's.

By the time I had come home Curtis said that Dax was texting saying his bus from Seminary to take him to Erie was late and by this time they were announcing that school was optional.

I headed out to pick Dax up with the intention of just bringing home.  The normal 10 minute drive took nearly 40 minutes.  It wasn't that bad when I dropped him off earlier, but an hour later it was awful.  I was about 100 yards from where I was to pick up Dax and he texted me that the bus finally came so he went to school.  UGHH! I wished he didn't get on that bus.   I headed on to my appt.  Then I soon got another text saying not many people were at school, and not much was going on so he wanted to go home.  I called him and told him I coulnd't leave for 30 min. Then I would pick him up.  Meanwhile the rain is still coming down. 

When my appointment ended at 10:00 I headed out to get Dax, but Alma School was closed, I had to head up Dobson. Traffic was slow and the roads had water everywhere, Dobson didn't seem much better than what I saw on Alma School.  There was a few times I worried that I wouldn't make it through without water coming in.  I could hear the water sloshing around under me. Finally I make it to school about 10:45 and it was a steady stream of parents picking up their kids.  The news was saying the storm would lighten up, but we could get rain through Tuesday. 

I signed Dax out and once again it was a slow drive home.  We get into our neighborhood and I took the long way to our house because I wanted to show Dax our "lake" down the street from us.  As I'm coming back down our street there are all kinds of Fire Trucks and police cars.  I could see a bit of smoke rising from one of the houses near ours.  The policeman stopped me and told me the road was blocked off because of a chemical fire, they didn't want people around until they got it cleared up. WHAT???  This is a crazy day.  He told us to turn around and leave for about 30 minutes.  It truly was a day out of the ordinary.  It was nearly 11:00 a.m. and I have not eaten breakfast yet, which is also highly unusual.  I had a few nibbles of grapes and the crust from Trey's sandwich, but I did not have my normal big breakfast and I was starving.  So Dax and I headed to a little Mexican place for breakfast burritos.  When we pulled into the parking lot, there was standing water everywhere.  It was hard to find a place to park without getting our feet totally submerged as we walked inside.  Dax and I had a good time eating out Breakfast burritos and Dax was actually surprised how good they were considering they had eggs inside.  Dax taught me how to place chess and we played a short game on his phone as we waited for the food.  We had a good time, and talked about what an unusual day it had turned out to be. A flood, no school, and a chemical fire 3 doors down all in one morning.

Our "lake" at the end of our street, Sparrow Pl.

We also feel 100% blessed,many of our neighbors had flooded basements, and leaks to worry about.  We had nothing.  We just got to enjoy all the water.  At final count, Chandler pretty much got the worst of the entire Valley which was 5.5"  almost an entire year of annual rain fall in one morning.  Also from past flood experience, here come the mosquito s.

Labor Day

The kids were off school today, it is still pretty hot outside. Instead of playing video games all day we decided to go bowling.  I had some coupons, so after chores we went to Sam's Club to get some pizza and Ice Cream.   I think it's funny that of all the places the get Pizza Sam's Club is always the kids favorite and they specifically request "Sam's Pizza" often.  I can't complain where else can you get pizza, drinks and ice cream for five people costing $11.60?

The bellies were full so we headed off to the Bowling Alley.  It was kind of busy, lots of families had the same idea we had. We all had a fun time bowling.  Bumber Bowling makes the game so much more fun for kids.  Instead of 98% gutter balls, they actually get some good scores. I actually had 2 strikes.  Curtis was a little frustrated with the bumpers.  He actually knows how to bowl and the bumpers change the game a bit.  The ball doesn't get much chance to curve before the bumpers take over and then your ball is swinging the other direction.  As usual Competitive Curtis still won.  We had fun time.

After bowling, Trey's friend Soren came over for a bit, and they played with their Nerf Guns.  When I talked to Soren's Mom, Tiffany.  She told me that other day she was Hancock school waiting to pick up her kids.  Soren is still in Pre-school, but it is held at Hancock, the Pre-school gets out a few minutes before the elementary school. Tiffany and Soren were waiting on a bench waiting for the other kids to be released.  The Kindergartners are released a few minutes before the rest of the school.  Trey was released and he walked by the bench that Soren and his mom were waiting on.  When Trey and  Soren saw each other they both got so excited.  Trey was so excited and he ran over and gave Soren a hug, then he started telling Soren how he had lost two teeth, and started telling him all kinds of stories.  Tiffany said Trey was so animated and genuinely happy to see his friend Soren.   It was like old friends that hadn't seen each other in five years and the were catching up, but it was sincere excitement.  There were some other people there waiting on the bench as well and they didn't know either kid, but they even commented how cute it was to see the two friends re-connect  When actually It probably hadn't been more than a few weeks since they had seen each other, but I don't think Trey was used to seeing Soren at school. So it was as if they hadn't seen each other for a long time.

Overall, it was a successful day.

Great Weekend

Last week Curtis' niece Krystal, texted me to see if her son Jacob could play with our boys one last time before they moved back to CA in a few weeks.  Our August is going to be pretty busy so I asked if Jacob could spend the night this Friday and I would take the kids to the Extreme Air, the indoor trampoline place.  We don't spend a lot of time with Jacob, but Krystal always tells me that of all the cousins my boys are his favorite.  She says Jacob has more in common with my boys than the other kids, legos, science and a little nerdyness.

Jacob came over after school Friday and we headed out to Extreme Air.  They had a fabulous time.  It is such a great place to go when it is hot outside.  They re-did the place since last time we were there with Jacob and they added an obstacle course.  It looked pretty difficult.  I don't think any of our kids were able to do it (too high etc.) but there were some kids with no fear that did well. It was fun to see the kids running around and using the skills they have learned at their trampoline class.

After trampoline we went and had pizza and ice cream at Sam's club.  I guess Jacob used the word "Dude" a lot.  Then Trey started saying it.  All night all I heard was "Dude" before everything thing.  It was funny at first, then I was sick of "Dude" no names like Trey, Derek, Dax or Jacob were used just "Dude".  They really had a good time together and they all like the same Percy Jackson Books, so they talked a lot about those. They stayed up until about 11:30 laughing and playing some game where Derek was a monster and Jacob and Trey were trying to fight him off with their nerf guns.  It was a nice break from video games.

Krystal picked up Jacob about 11:00 on Sat. I'm glad they had such a great weekend together. It was the perfect amount of time to spend with each other. My boys will be happy to see Jacob again when he comes to visit.

Curtis was gone for the weekend.  He went up to Provo, UT for the BYU Fan experience.  It was a new fundraiser that BYU athletics was doing where if you paid and were one of the first 50 people you got to go up and spend a weekend with the team, go to all the coaches and team meetings.  Ate meals with the team and got to tour their indoor practice facility.  I knew this was a dream for Curtis so I told him he needed to go. He felt a little guilty, but with only 50 spaces available I had to push him a bit.  He flew up Thursday and spent all day Friday and Saturday with the team.  HE LOVED IT.  He said it was the most amazing thing he could ever do.  Got to hang out with the players, talk to the coaches.  He realized he doesn't know near as much as he thought he did about coaching and the team etc.  If this opportunity comes up again he would go and again and again and pay even more money.  I was glad he was happy and loved his time up there.  He came home with a whole new BYU wardrobe.  Some of it was given to him as part of the package.

On Curtis' flight home he randomly ended up sitting by my old boss Chris Randall, who owned the mortgage company I used to work at. Small World.

Fun Week

The kids are in full swing of school.  Getting used to their schedules and teachers etc.  Trey still says school takes way too long, but when I asked him how his day was on Friday he did give it two thumbs up.  He likes doing buddies with a 4th grade kid from our ward, Spencer Carroll.  When Trey came home and told me his buddies name was Spencer I asked it was Spencer Carroll and he said he didn't know, but he came to swim at our house for the cub scout party.  That confirmed it.  Spencer was one of my cub scouts.

ACP-Erie had a Family swim night at Hamilton Pool.  I was surprised that Dax actually wanted to go.  Usually when it comes to school activities he isn't very social and doesn't want to go.  It was a pot luck and the whole family went and had a great time.  Dax actually talked to a few kids from school.  Trey loved going down the curly slides, diving board and the play area. He was so good about coming and telling us each time he switched areas.   Derek and Dax just did their own thing.  Hamilton is always a fun time.  They also enjoyed the food (cookies).

Trey loves having his friend Taylor in his Kindergarten class.  He knows Taylor and her twin sister Breanna from Miss Angela's Pre-School.  The twins mom was texting me about something and Trey picked up my phone and started asking me how to spell things.  He started texting Clair "Trey Loves Taylor and Breanna"  then he would go back and forth typing the words he knows.  Then he laughed and said "I love communicating"

I took a quick trip up to Flagstaff to help my Dad.  It was beautiful up there and so nice to be in the cool air.  Trey took the kids to church.  I was proud of Dax and Derek they decided to fast for the first time.  Not an easy thing, but Curtis said they did great.

Back to school #14

Last Saturday Dax turned 14.  It was a great day with much anticipation.  We had spent the prior week getting ready for school.  Going to registration, and getting new uniforms.  Trey has been looking forward to Dax's birthday because that is when we told him it would finally be time for him to start Kindergarten.  Something has has been so excited for.

Dax woke up on Saturday and he opened him presents.  A Smart Phone, a few clothes, an itune gift card and a card with $20 from Grandpa Brent.  We then headed off to "Lolo's Chicken and Waffles" for breakfast.  Derek wasn't feeling well so he stayed home, so it was just Trey, Dax Curtis and Myself.  We had a good time and we do like their food.  Dax says he likes it because it is like a combination of his two favorite restaurants KFC and Denny's.  I like it because it is a combination of my two favorite foods Breakfast and Southern.  Curtis likes it because it is Southern as well he can get friend Okra and Cheese grits. We had to hurry to home to get ready for Dax's friends to arrive for his swim party.  It was a fun day Dallin, Teddy, Brigham, Kade, Jordan and Matt all came.  One again we said no gifts, but Teddy was so kind to bring a 6 back of IBC cream soda.  Dax loved it. The kids had pizza, chips and soda. Dax wanted  an icecream/blizzard mustache cake from DQ.  We spotted it while we were doing school errands during the week and stopped at DQ for lunch. It was a great birthday for him and it always nice to have one last hue-rah before school starts.

 Last week I was helping Derek stay fresh with his school work and I've been having him do some math practice on the Kahn Academy website.  It just runs him through a few problems so his brain doesn't go to mush over the summer.  Trey was asking me what we were doing and why.  I tried to explain then he asked if the webpage was called givechildschoolwork.com.

We both started laughing, it was just funny that Trey put that all together and came up with that website.  I said yes, that is exactly what it is.  I couldn't have come up with a better name for it myself.

Dax, the Freshman

Derek and Trey, ready for 5th grade and Kindergarten

The long walk across the street to school

Trey with his pre-school friend Taylor Anderson in the same class

The kids all went back to school.  Dax is in 9th grade at ACP-Erie it is the High School/sister of the school he had been attending.  We can't believe that kids is in High School.  I think it is exciting. , Derek in 5th grade, he has the same teacher Dax had Mrs. Doerneman except she is having a baby so she is team teaching with another 5th grade teacher having a baby so half the week he has Doenerman, the other half he has Mrs. Barutha.  I don't love the idea or the set up, but Derek doesn't seem to mind.

Trey has been so excited to start kindergarten.  Knowing that his brothers go to school, made him excited.  Back in February when they had Kindergarten registration/orientation he could hardly stand it.  He would always ask how many days until he could go to Kindergarten.  I would tell him when It's Dax's birthday then it will be time to start Kindergarten.  He would say "I can't wait for Dax's Birthday"
It seemed like forever for him.  The day was finally here.  He is in Mrs. Ellinwoods, advanced Kindergarten class.  They do Kindergarten for the first quarter, then they move onto 1st grade work the rest of the year.  He is already starting to read and put words together.  He is definitely ready for all day Kindergarten.  Trey was so excited getting ready for school, getting his back pack, meeting his teacher he was giddy.

On Monday, the first day, I went over to the school to meet him when school got out and he didn't seem very happy.  For how excited he was for school to start something wasn't right.  He said his day was good, he did recess etc.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong.  I started asking him if he liked his teacher, if he made new friends.  He finally said "it is so long, it is worse that church"  I had to laugh.  He does think church takes for ever, but this is twice as long. I think he will adjust.

He was excited when he finally had recess at the playground I would take him to play on during the weekends when there was no school.  He said "I want to show you the playground you took me too. "  Of course I already knew which play ground because I took him.  Curtis, Trey and I walked over there and said " I eat lunch behind those doors, then I come out to this playground"  I think he finally understands why I wouldn't take him to the playground while school was in session, I had to take him to the other park.  Trey also enjoys lunch.  He has been excited to eat the lunches like I make his brothers for a long time.  He never complains about that.

Trees down & Sketch Comedy

For years we have noticed the roots of the large shade producing trees in our yard were causing havoc.  The roots are right on the surface, and they are starting to uproot the curbing, and block wall.  We have also been concerned that if we get a bad windstorm that it would knock the trees down and cause serious damage.

As much as we hated to get rid of the trees we decided it was time.  While the trees are down and the yard is torn up we will move forward to make some improvements on that yard that we have wanted to do for a while.  As we had tree people come look at the trees for an estimate they all let us know that these trees are a problem and they definitely should come down.  So on Monday they started chopping and chopping.  It was a huge job that required a dumpster to be dropped off at our house.

The trees are gone, the yard seems a little bare, we really miss the shade.  They were cleaned up just in time to have Curtis' family over for his Birthday on Wednesday.

Dax signed up for an Improv Comedy class this summer.  He enjoyed it. He did a sketch about running and being out of breath.  And another one about being at a rock concert and not being able to hear.  He picked ones that were fitting for him and his personality, you could notice his voice starting to change.  All the kids did really well, some were actually great.    At the end of the class we had a pool party at our house.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Curtis.

We had a good day.  Curtis got some new athletic shirts, and a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper.  and you can even count the fitbit scale he bought himself a few weeks ago.  The kids were good to him.  Trey made him a card at school.  Then Derek and Trey made another at Primary.  Trey did a great job and really wrote good stuff.  Like- favorite things to do with Dad -Trey drew a picture of a roller Coaster. My Dad likes to...Trey drew a picture of him playing tennis, then he said he loved him and it was cute.  On the other hand, Derek made the exact same card and his answers were... My Dad likes to-Do almost everything.  I love my Dad because he gave me everything.  Favorite things to do with Dad...Everything.  I think Derek could have give in a little more thought.  Derek did offer to give him a 20 min back rub.

During church they had the Primary kids get up sing a Father's Day medley.  Usually our kids don't get much into singing at church.  Today they couldn't wait.  After they announced the kids would be going up, Curtis said something to Trey and he was so excited.  He couldn't wait to get up there and sing to his dad, He kept asking  "is it time yet" , "how many more minutes"  he was so excited once he got up there and he gave him a great big kiss as he sang the song "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home"  Usually Trey dreads Sacrament meetings and can't wait to get out.  It was a nice change today.

In Primary Trey gave a talk about Priesthood Ordinances and the Temple blesses my family.  He did a great job.  Right before he gave his talk a little Sunbeam got up to give the prayer.  She got up there and rambled and rambled and I couldn't even understand anything she was saying, I didn't even know if she was actually saying a prayer.  Then one of the Primary counselors got up and helped her finish.  She sat down and someone whispered "she was speaking in tongues"  I started laughing so hard I could barely help Trey get through his talk.  It was a good day.


It was a bit of a busy week. Dax left on Wednesday afternoon to head up to the Grand Canyon to hike down to Havasupai.  He returned on Saturday filthy and tired, but had a good time.

 Trey was invited to 3 spur of the moment Birthday parties.  The first was was when we got a text on Monday for a pool party for Soren on Tuesday.  Trey had a great time with all his buddies, and especially loved the squirt gun Soren gave all the kids as a party fabor.  Then on Wednesday he received an invitation to his school friend, Johnny's, party at Peter Piper Pizza.  Trey had been begging us to take him to PPP ever since we went there to celebrate  the end of school on May 30th. Trey was thrilled to go to Johnny's party and kept asking if it was time to go.  It was finally party time on Saturday. I think Peter Piper is his new favorite place.

The last of the impromptu parties was when we received a text on Thursday to have a Birthday party for his friend Trajen at Phoenix Children's Hospital the following day.  Trajen is battling Osteo sarcoma which is bone cancer.  It was Trajen's 6th birthday.  Very sad to be battling cancer at such a young age.   The family hadn't made plans because they didn't know what his condition would be and hoped he would not be in the hospital for his birthday.  Trajen got an infection a few days before his birthday and he was so disappointed to be in the hospital for his big day.  The hospital decided that Trajen wasn't well enough to leave the hospital, but he was well enough to have his friends come to him.  There is a big game room at the hospital called "The Zone"  everything else at Phoenix Children's has been so nice and well done for the sick kids and their families, I knew it would be a fun party even if it was at the hospital.  I took Derek and Trey, I don't know that Derek was too excited to go to the hospital.  The party was fabulous.  The room had air hockey, video games, all sorts of activities.  For being such short notice there were so many people there.  I felt like it was almost like a graduation party, not a six year old birthday party.  There were people of all ages there, many families came.  Lots of friends of Derek as well as Trey were there.  Trajen was showered in gifts, he was so happy to see everyone that came out to celebrate his big day.

London Garcia, Jacob Vasquez, Ronan Bowers, Ronan's Sister, Trajen, Chloe Curtis, Brock Curtis

 

 

 

We were only allowed to be in "The Zone" for 1 hr,  after an hour we had to move to the hospital cafeteria to open the gifts.  This is when it got a little crazy.  It was a hospital so there were wheel chairs and other medical equipment handy.  The kids got in the wheel chairs and started pushing each other around up and down the halls.  It was kind of funny and crazy, just because you don't expect to have a Birthday Party in a hospital, where kids will act like kids.  It turned out to be a fun time for all.  Trajen had a wonderful Birthday and realized hospital birthday's are not so bad after all.  It was nice to see all the love and support for Trajen and his family.