Settling in to this place I call home

Time moves differently for me right now. I hear news from my family back home and wonder how so very much has happened. It feels like I was just there, with my niece and nephew running around upstairs and the sounds of airplanes, trains, and cars constant in my life. Now I feel like I gauge time by the storms that roll by in the afternoons sometimes, or the supply of home made bread in my kitchen. It isn't that life has slowed down really, just that it seems quieter in many respects. I mean, I still have two kids under two, so it's never that quiet.

This last week has held such wonderful opportunities. We met a neighbor just a couple of times who, for reasons beyond me, decided to just come over and help pull up all the prickly bushes in the back. He really just kept working even when Neal and I had to leave the house. Then on Monday he came back to burn all the dried up plants for us. It's incredible to me the generosity I find around me. I told him we'd have the whole family over for a steak dinner as a thank you, but their vegetarian so it'll be something else delicious I hope.

This is how nice and clear our yard looks now. I feel like Peter and I can play out there without bodily injury!

Speaking of the yard, I have learned why the previous occupant dug those mounds everywhere. Apparently the soil here has a high salt content and the mounds help the water pull the salt away from the plants so they don't die. This is probably why I lost my thyme plant, because it was in the flattest part of the front yard. Also, it was struggling when I planted it to begin with. We're leveling most of the backyard, effectively undoing all his hard work, but that's because Peter wants a place to run around and we do not need a garden that huge. We'll do nicely with a corner garden I believe. We have had several neighbors share of their abundant harvest already. One neighbor kindly shared not only her precious peaches, but a banana squash (Neal loves those) and tons of green beans. I feel a lot less sad about leaving the garden at our last home when we get to enjoy harvest here even without a garden. I'm hoping my herbs do well enough that I can share those with the neighborhood. I haven't seen anyone with herbs yet. 

This beauty is the Hyssop. The photo is blurry because it was windy. But the smell and the pinkish purple flowers really make me excited to this herb to thrive!

The little cucumber is still alive! I'm not sure if I should try to transplant it or not.

The challenges of life here are different than anywhere else. We feel so rich with so many kind neighbors and so much beauty. On Friday, some friends invited us on a local hike to Teardrop Arch. We ended up switching vehicles because our van is not going to make it off roading. After a ten minute drive through hilly, sandy wilderness, we got out and hiked around. There were some ruins which we peered at through a small opening. Neither of us crawled in because I was too big while wearing Mary and Neal was too busy keeping Peter from running off a cliff (you think I'm joking, but I'm not). The views from halfway up the butte were incredible. We happened to go as several storms were moving in, and the stormy clouds surrounded us in a little bubble of blue sky for just enough time to enjoy the hike. After looking at the ruins, we hiked to the actual arch. Through it you can see several of the monuments of Monument Valley. Honestly, I felt like everywhere I looked was breathtakingly beautiful. 

The storm moving in on Friday afternoon. The cloud seemed to push against the sky.

I don't have enough vocabulary to describe it accurately. I haven't been a nature writer for long enough. Let's just say that you should all visit us down here so you can see for yourself. I had someone here tell me that it wasn't that pretty after you've been here a while. They even suggested I might hate it in a few months. I hope that statement isn't true at all. In fact, I've been so bothered by the concept that I would just stop finding beauty that I made it my goal to find at least one thing of beauty every day: one thing which brings me joy. So far it has been a simple task. The way the wind moves my chimes, the rolling thunder I feel in my bones, Peter's face when he sees a lizard, the stars so bright I can see them even without my glasses.

Each morning I take a walk on the street and down by the elementary school. It's short, since my children insist on waking up earlier and earlier (why did they inherit my love of mornings?). At that very time, the dawn is just painting the monuments into dark silhouettes and lighting the sky on fire with an orange glow. Even when the kids wake up through the night (teething is the worst), I still get up to have that moment of stillness. Of course, in that peace, I wonder what animals are out and about. There are apparently mountain lions here. I'm reminded of a book from my college days, Beast in the Garden. I'm not exactly afraid, just awed that I could be so alone and so close to the wildness that pervades life here. 

There's something about a new place, a new space, which invites me to reinvent myself. By no means have I become all that I want to be, but I enjoy this honeymoon phase where my house stays clean most of the time because I'm so interested in how nice it looks when it is clean. My ambition could also stem from how large and open my kitchen feels. Having natural light and a kitchen island is the dream. I don't know how I'll ever go back. This means that I've taken to studying our cookbooks and trying new recipes. Baking bread has become a weekly task once again and, miracle of miracles, I've actually planned and prepared dinner for almost a whole week in a row. Mind you, there have been lots of pancakes for dinner kind of nights, but generally cooking makes me feel so fulfilled right now. This weekend Neal made pasta (like with our new pasta roller and everything) and I made a peach crostada with an all butter crust (important because it seems so much harder than the shortening ones). We felt so fancy! I am also realizing that living far away from stores and fast food isn't making me more healthy. I'm too capable of cooking and baking delicious, fattening, fabulous foods. Oh well, at least I know what I'm putting into these ridiculous dishes? 

This week has been fast for us. Mary suddenly cut two teeth last night (it felt sudden to me at least) so we were basically up all night consoling her. Peter has started mimicking finger spelling in sign language. Mostly I have only spelled their names because I already have a sign for mommy and daddy and he wanted one for Mary and he. It's adorable to see him try, but I am slightly stressed because my finger spelling is the worst. My signing in general is pretty terrible. I apologize to anyone who actually speaks such a lovely language because I'm slaughtering it in my attempts to communicate with Peter. 

My final photos are of my front entry. Isn't this so inviting? I wish more people came to see us because we are trying really hard to make our home welcoming! So, if you live nearby, come on over! If you don't, then get in your car and drive about eight hours and come visit! I'm joking only a little on that one folks. We have sleeping accommodations ready to go for you and know one hike and one restaurant and almost how to say hello in Navajo.  

My mom made me this mini library. It's got children's books and more advanced reading!

I made that extremely simple wreath by myself! I have a tiny amount of craftiness! Well, okay, there is more to it than the sunflowers, just you can't see that from here. I ditched the ribbon bow I was supposed to add. I am not there yet. 

The Beginning of a Grand Adventure

It’s sort of ironic that the day after I get internet connection, it goes out and I’m unable to do the one thing I’ve been waiting to do, write. As it turns out, I can type on a computer even when it doesn’t have internet connection. This way when my brief window comes, I can just post it. I’m ever so glad that I’m living in these sketchy connective circumstances right now though. It helps me truly feel like I’m living in the present. I don’t have a device with me all the time. Any television I watch is consciously chosen from our stash of shows. Cooking, cleaning, organizing, gazing out my window, playing with my kids, talking with Neal, and singing fill my days much more than before. I find that for the first time in almost a year, I truly want to bake bread and read my cookbooks. If you had told me where I’d be a year ago, I probably would have argued that we were staying where we were, thank you very much, for at least three more years. Adventures like this seemed to be far off and along the same lines as the fiction I read.

I’m not claiming to be doing anything truly different than what so many do, but for me it’s a dream come true. I have always wanted to have the gumption to step away from modern city living for a bit. Thanks to Neal, I have that chance.

The big move was humbling to me. We had so much help in packing up our basement apartment and putting in the trailer. Then the next morning, we realized the trailer was packed with too much weight so we got a moving truck and repacked everything. During this second packing both Neal and I felt emotional. So many good friends came to help us with almost no notice. It ended up being an inspired decision, because we really did have a lot of stuff and a long drive with some bumpy roads! As we drove down, we somehow lost track of my dad (driving the moving van). My mom and I were leading the caravan and Neal and his dad were a bit behind because they had errands to run. So we knew he was somewhere between us, but not where. After four times calling my dad’s cell we realized it wasn’t in the truck with him. Thank heavens for the random person at the rest stop who let my dad borrow a phone so we could track him down! And I congratulate everyone who ever drove long distances without cellphones: it was a stressful couple of hours while we didn’t know where my dad was.

When we arrived in Monument Valley it was later than we’d anticipated, but we still had so much help! About a dozen neighbors came and unloaded the truck. I ended up with some delicious stuffed French toast dinner and two different loaves of zucchini bread, plus some phone numbers for in case we needed more help. After such a long and exhausting drive (courtesy of kids screaming for the last hour), we just collapsed. But as we’ve begun settling in, I am more and more grateful for those who have helped us get here, even if they wish we hadn’t decided to move.

To be honest, the longer I’m here, the more I realize I could still run out and get just about anything I needed quickly. The tiny grocery store actually has decent produce and apparently makes excellent cakes. Based on the way the doughnut counter looks, I believe it. There’s a restaurant at the local hotel, one by the Monument Valley tours, a tiny food court by the gas station, and a Subway just twenty minutes south. I’d spend twenty minutes getting to and from the Subway when I lived in Roy just based on traffic. I don’t want to use all those things though (well, I may want fresh produce). The goal of living away from the city was to really live…away from it. So Neal and I will take a big shopping trip once a month. We tried Cortez, Colorado first. It’s just over two hours away. For some reason, I was expecting a mini metropolis. It does have a Walmart and a Thai and Indian restaurant (yay!), but it’s not nearly as big as Logan is. I had to laugh as we drove in and realized it was still a much smaller city than most I’ve lived in.

They did have what we needed, most of it anyways. They were all out of bottled pesto and I couldn’t find Israeli couscous, but those are luxury items anyways. The thing I was most excited for was just about four miles out of town, a huge nursery. It felt so good to get out of the van and see the greenhouses filled with perennials, herbs, and regional plants. I had carefully planned what we wanted so I didn’t spend all day wandering. We did have a two hour drive home with cranky kids and groceries in coolers after all. They had almost everything I wanted: basil, chives, rosemary, oregano, and sage. We planned to buy some Russian sage too, which grows really well out here. I grabbed some Red Hyssop because it’s supposed to grow well. I didn’t realize until much later why hyssop sounded so familiar. It’s both an herb and a biblical one at that! I was sad there wasn’t any dill and my scattered brain forgot to grab some lavender. Oh well, we’ll make the trip again. I would hate to buy everything I wanted at once just to have it die because I wasn’t used to gardening in red sandy soil.

Speaking of our soil, it’s a whole new adventure. I have always lived somewhere with grass. I also always said that I didn’t need much of it because I wanted a sort of wandering yard with lots of herbs and trees. I don’t think I imagined the first time I’d get to try life without grass would be when I replaced it with prickly bushes. I can’t properly call them weeds since I’m the one encroaching on their territory. But they are everywhere and can be difficult to get out when the ground is rocky. To be fair, it’s not nearly as much trouble to get rid of as morning glory or dandelions. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of either of those pests! It took me a couple of days to realize that the bushes which grow wild everywhere, when dead, are the stereotypical tumbleweed plant. The wind just picks them up and throws them everywhere. It makes me feel bad when I pull weeds and don’t get them in the trash right away because then my neighbors have to deal with them too!

I have planted all my herbs now, and we have cleared about half of our yard of the prickly bushes. I am praying for the little herbs. They like dry soil, but I am not sure the fertilizer I bought will be good enough for here. I didn’t have time to do a soil analysis and add compost and the likes. I’ll be sure to do those things for my vegetable garden, but I wanted to give the herbs time to establish before any frost hits, not that frost is coming anytime soon. The temperatures soar during the day. What’s so nice about living in the desert is that the temperature also drops every night. It’s so lovely to sit outside and see the stars come out and the bats swoop up and down in the backyard. In other words, life is good, beautiful, and trying at times. I am incredibly grateful for this new place and all the friendly faces I’ve met so far. As always, here are some pictures to go along with my ramblings!

Before we moved, our goal was to (finally) get a cement path down in the backyard of my brother's house. Peter helped us get prepared...

But somehow he found something he is allergic to, and boy howdy did he have terrible hives! Poor kid!

Unfortunately, we usually spend part of each church meeting in the foyer...but we still enjoy it!

We tried to go to Thanksgiving Point with Neal's mom several times before we moved. The last time, we got ice cream! Notice Mary's jealous face...this little girl just wants to be big like her brother. 

We also made a goal to go enjoy dinosaurs with my brother and his family. This is our attempt at a funny photo. It's mostly funny because Peter is so not into it. 

We really took almost everything with us when we moved. But here are the twenty-nine-ish boxes of books we put into storage instead...we have a bit of a problem with that. Someday we'll open our own library though!

This is the view our first week there. It was so beautiful to have storms when we were expecting scorching heat!

More storms! And also, this is what the houses look like!

The view from my desk is spectacular. It looks like a page from a magazine. It makes me feel like I should write about epic things instead of everyday adventures.

Mary likes to give kisses, or eat your face, whatever you prefer.

Grand scenery!

Fantastic sunrises!

Peter and Mary actually interacting like siblings!

These are the most beautiful shelves that Neal, his dad, and my dad built. There's nothing on them at this point because the stain is still drying. But I love them and I love that they are off the ground (so there aren't any...bugs.

The previous tenant must also have liked herbs, but they were all dead when we moved in (except that hearty oregano!)

Peter can finally look out a window and see what's happening. Too bad there is almost no traffic on our dead end, teachers only street.

Peter is pointing out how much her colored on the wall. He is also holding a rag because I made him try to clean it up...he enjoyed that part just as much. 

More storms! The neighbor's house is in the way, but the lightening was incredible.

This is what our backyard looks like...the prickly plants abound.

But somehow there's a volunteer cucumber plant! Who'd a thunk?

I could take a photo of my backyard view every day and it would look different. I just might do that. You can pick your favorite.

I wish you could see how pretty the moon was a bit better. My camera isn't exactly state of the art...

Today Peter helped me make bread! He really like the part where we punched it down!

And in case you thought the storms were a fluke, it's storming now! There's rumbling thunder that shakes the house and the power went out for a moment. My wind chimes are going crazy and I'm contemplating whether I can keep Peter from running for the hills if we all go outside to enjoy it for a bit!