Weeds, Dishes, and Way Too Much Time On My Hands

This week I have found myself with alot of spare time. Something I am not at all used to. I don't really know how to handle it, so I have been coming up with a whole heaping lotta projects for myself. I have gotten alot done too (can you tell how proud of myself I am...). I have become a master weed chopper this last week cleaning up my yard. This is something that I honestly thought I would never do voluntarily in my life, but I truly isn't that bad. Its kind of fulfilling looking back at what you have accomplished, and I now have a grand scheme for what I'm going to do with our yard. There is a perfect place for a picnic area, and I've picked out a spot for a garden. Who knows when I'll actually plant anything, but when I do I know where I'm putting it. I also degunked my kitchen. It is dang spankin' clean. You could even eat off the floor if you really wanted to, or even the table now for that matter. I cleaned out my closet and dresser drawers (Olivia will be so thrilled with the 2 bags full of clothes that I will soon be handing over) and you can actually see my bedroom floor and walk around without fear of breaking an ankle. I've been doing pretty good at keeping busy, but I am running out of ideas that don't cost alot of money... Dang. I kinda think Collin secretly likes having me home all the time. This has been a nice little break, but I think I'll be ready for a schedule when school starts up again on the 18th. Its so fun playing the litte homemaker, I love it!

Photography

So, I've kinda been interested in photography for a while, but I've sort of been too scared to try it. I really like playing off of the natural shapes and lighting that nature has (i.e. all the clouds and tree pictures) but I think that its really neat. I think I also like working with black and white film (do you call it that when its digital?) because I think that it plays up the shadows and shapes that are created. One night at home the monsoons were rolling in and the lighting was AMAZING, so I took my little digital camera out and started snapping pictures. I think some of them turned out okay... I definitely would be considered a novice, but perhaps this has shown me that I might be better at it then I had once thought, but I am still really nervous to put my pictures out there in the very critical world... So, here's a couple of pictures that I have taken, some of them are just random pictures of the mountains, but the lighting was really great. Let me know what you think!

Photo Op

Fun in the Sun at the Pima Pool

So this summer has actually been pretty fun for me. I work long hours, but I get to work with some really fun kids. Well, I have a couple of stories of our doings and goings on at the pima pool... The last couple of days have been really cloudy and overcast but they haven't produced for us at all. We have spent hours scouring the clouds for any sign of lightning and praying for the slightest downpour...NOTHING. We started joking that we needed to do a rain dance. A little while later this is what the MALE lifeguards came up with...
So we were very optimistic and all day waited for the thunderstorm that we just knew this rain dance would bring...NOTHING. However, the next day a kid got sick and threw up in the pool. We got to close the pool down for the rest of the day and go home! We are not sure if the kid got sick because of some adverse, delayed side effect of our powerful rain dance, but you can be assured that we will be doing some more experimentation and investigation into the subject. ALSO, while we were waiting on the verdict to come back on whether we were going to get to go home, or open up at a later time, me and another guard (Kali Carlsen, whom I absolutely LOVE!)ambushed a poor unsuspecting little boy and started playing with his hair. Eventually the hairspray came out and this is the end product. Notice the look of priceless enthusiasm on his face... We told him he had a white Lenny Cravitz thing going (I know, what every 8 year old boy wants to hear) and he went home looking somewhat unconvinced, but perhaps just a little flattered. :)

Fourth of July

Fourth of July this year was really fun. Kinda lowkey, but I like it that way sometimes. For the actual 4th, Rochelle invited us to go and celebrate with her family in Central. My parents were up on the mountain, and Collins family were mostly out of town. We went over there and had a super fun barbeque and round of card games afterward. Those Ferrins sure do know how to play SPOONS! We were on our way to the spot that we usually watch the fireworks when they started up. We just kinda pulled over on the side of the road and watched them for a little while. Kind of a bummer, but it was okay because it was raining and lightning anyways and I almost enjoyed watching the lightning more than the fireworks. On Sunday morning we went to Columbine to be with my family for the day. Collin had never been to our cabin, nor to church at the mountain, so it was pretty fun for him. I saw some people there who I hardly ever see anymore and it was really fun to rub shoulders with them all. We had an amazing R.S. lesson by Leora Taylor about pioneers, and being our own kind of pioneer today. I swear there was not a dry eye in the place. It was really neat. Sacrament meeting was cut a little short. It started raining two testimonies in, so we said the closing prayer, and everyone made a mad dash to their cabins. Mom made an awesome dinner for us. Manicotti! Woo hoo! I love that stuff! They cleaned up after lunch and left, Dad leading the way on the motorcycle (I'm sure mom was a nervous wreck the whole way down). We stayed and visited with Carol Anne Weech for a while and then Phillip and Sophie Weech (NEWLYWEDS!) and Emily Weech and her boyfriend, Jason, came over and we visited with them for a while too. It was fun to get to see Phillip. I haven't really talked to him since he got off his mission. He has been a little preoccupied though, so I guess there is a good reason. We took a short nap after they all left (I swear there is nothing like sleeping in the mountains) and we took off too. Let me tell you Dramamine is a LIFESAVER. That mountain road is HORRID, but we made it down. It was really fun to get to hang out with my family up at Columbine. Here is a picture of us all outside our cabin getting ready to go to church (I told Collin "Nobody wears Church clothes up there, its the mountains" Needless to say he was kinda miffed at me when he saw that my family wasn't the only ones in white shirts and ties. Oops!)

Saga II

So this lovely Saturday morning Collin and I didn't have to be anywhere so we slept in. We stayed in bed a little longer and visited and then decided to get up and make a huge breakfast. Yummy bacon and eggs, hash browns, buscuits and gravy- it was quite a spread. I was making the gravy and noticed Jason Black driving by on a trencher and really didn't think anything of it. We ate breakfast, and then I was going to get in the shower to get ready for work. I went to go turn the water on and.... NOTHING HAPPENED! Collin called Jason and guess what? That innocent trencher (with him driving) hit the water line. Water, Water Everywhere, but not a drop for me... So the second day in a week where I am learning what a precious commodity water is. I live in the desert so you would think that I know that by now, Eh? Well, I guess this calls for another dip in the pool. For me, this is having a little too much in common with all the little pool rats (thats our fancy term for the kids that are at the pool all day, everyday). Thankfully, unlike Thursday, there was still enough water for one more flush of the toilet. HALLELUJAH! There are still miracles from heaven! The funny thing about this is that I have had a song from SESAME STREET, stuck in my head all morning. It goes something like this. "Cool, Clean Water (Water, Water, Water) Cool, Clean Water." How's that for life's little ironies.

No Water WOES!

So this morning, Collin went to flush the toilet and GUESS WHAT? No water. We called Gerald and to make a long story short the pumps broken, and the pipes are broken and we don't know how long we will be out of water. Its funny how you don't realize how much water you use until you have none. I ate some Spicy Nacho Doritos for a snack and went to wash my hands... No water. I went to wash my face... No water. Its amazing how little water you actually need to brush your teeth when you are using the last of the bottled water in the fridge. HALLELUJAH for the tiny bottle in the fridge. Well, I guess I can just take a dip in the pool today and call it good... I swear half the kids that swim there all summer don't take showers anyways, so I'll fit right in, right? Just make sure that you don't stand too close to me today... Hee Hee. Isn't country living grand! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! :)

Arizona Monsoon We Salute You!!!

Can I just say that I love this time of year! We had some pretty amazing weather today and I think it is safe to say that the monsoon season is here. Anyone who has ever lived in Arizona knows how cool it is to watch the storms roll in. The clouds start to accumulate and then BAM! all of a sudden you are smack dab in the middle of a thunderstorm. One of the hazards (or perks if you're a glass-half-full kinda person) of being a lifeguard is the weather. I was supposed to work until 9:00 tonight, but the weather was being hazardous, so I got to come home 2 hours early! No complaints here! The typical storm in the Gila Valley goes like this... It usually starts in Solomonville and barrels through the valley. There are rolling power outages all over and by about the time it hits Thatcher everyone in Pima is out on their porches watching the storm because well, the electricity is off and what else are we supposed to do? So in the end you spend a wonderful evening with your family on the front porch watching the lightning and rain as if it were the 4th of July fireworks show. It is sure great! I have alot of memories hanging out with cousins on Grandma and Grandpa Crocketts backporch watching the storms come over the mountains. Its enough to make any person nostalgic. Well, no salute would be comple without some pictures. I did not take these, however they are still pretty cool. Some of them are pretty close to what we experienced today too, others are just cool pictures.