Blizzards in the Desert & a Giraffe Kiss.

Once again, it has been a while since we've updated this. Quite alot has happened since we last blogged. My parents came for a visit about a week ago, and stayed here for a week. It was really great for my dad to see everything here, just to give him a better understanding of what its like...as for my mom, she's been here like 4 times now total, so she's an old pro. But, it's fun to expose fresh minds to the rez and all its wonders.

On the way home from Flagstaff after picking up my rents, we had a very scary experience. We were on the rez..out in the middle of pitch black nowhere on an endless curvy road, and all of the sudden a GIANT owl eerily swoops down in front of us as if to attack us or ambush us. I came painfully close to hitting it! We all screamed..even Jeffery Howard Sandberg. I'm 72% positive that owl was out to get us. Plus, to make it a little creepier, in Hopi culture an owl is often a bad omen. So, it was an awesome way to begin our trip. While my parents were here we pretty much made the rounds and saw everything there is to see...one day we went to Winslow (my dad needed to stand on the corner..like in the Eagles song). It's a really pretty drive though. It's the kind of land that just makes you want to ewear a cowboy hat, saddle up a black stallion, and ride till the sun sets. We stopped at the Little Painted Desert (a beautiful mini version of the grand canyon..sort of) The next day, we had a massive blizzard..here..in the desert! Despite the snow drifts, we decided to go to dinner with the Pettengill's at the culutral center. It wasn't too bad on the way there, but on the way home, we drove 2 mph down the scary, winding mountain road..no joke. There were at least 10 cars in the ditch..Luckily, with my dad's skillful driving, we made it home alive. We got home, got down on our knees and prayed that school would be canceled, and ten minutes later got the call that it was! We celebrated by making chocolate chip cookies and watching Dumb & Dumber. The next day we slept in, and then my parents and I built a giant snowman in our front yard. I've had a terrible craving to go sledding all winter..so I decided it was time to take care of it. The only problem was that we don't have a sled..the only thing I could think of was a garbage bag body suit. We all went out to the wash behind our house, I put on my saggy garbage bag diaper and shoes, and slid down. I had to go a few times to pack the snow down..after my 5th time down, I was absolutely exhausted from walking up that nasty steep incline. But, I sure got my sledding fix for this winter!

The rest of the week was filled with a few visits to Stan and Beth's, my dad teaching Elijah how to shoot a bow and arrow, diligently watching American Idol, a few visits to Hopi jewlery shops, and simply chilling. For our valentine's day present, the principal took all of us teacher's + my parents on a weekend getaway. We went to an amazing place called "Out of Africa." We got to hand feed a giraffe, some brave citizens even took advantage of the opportunity to actually KISS a giraffe...which is rotten and actually means standing freaky close to a giant animal and letting it coat its goopy slobber all over your pores. We got to stand a few feet away from tigers, lions, bears, ostriches, and zebras..but not in a zoo setting, it was like they were in there natural habitat in Africa. We watched a tiger show, where courageous souls played with the tigers as if they were little infant cats. After our african safari, we went to Prescott and tried to find a nice place to have dinner..on Valentine's Day. Yeah..silly idea. We went to about 5 different places (all had apporx. 2 hour waiting) and finally ended up at good old Outback. It was totally worth the wait though. The next day my parents left to go home and Court and I went on with the group to Jerome, which is an amazing, quaint, European-ish, hippie village. We spent the afternoon there looking at antiques, handmade jewelry, art galleries, and enjoying the mountain range views. Then we drove to Flag, stayed the night in a hotel, and in the morning went back to our stomping grounds. Overall, it was a great week and we enjoyed having my parents here fosho.

We've got several videos to share, but the internet here won't allow that...so, we're going over to Stan and Beth's tomorrow to use their speedy connection. Thus, you can expect another post tomorrow evening..hopefully!

A tiny little update

Happy Superbowl Sunday! We're currently preparing our house for our party this afternoon. I baked chocolate chip cookies, which turned out decent..I've been struggling with high altitude baking techniques and as a result, I've had many batches of cookies come out looking flat as pancakes. Speaking of cooking..we like to use our broiler to make garlic bread. Unfortunately,our broiler doesn't work quite right. By that, I mean it explodes. Let me explain this better..Courtney turned on the broiler, and seconds later, an ear drum breaking sonic boom erupted from the stove and flames shot out. Everything on our fridge flew off, the grates flew off the stove..and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I half-way ran over to see if Courtney survived the explosion (I was convinced she was dead or on fire..seriously), saw that she was okay, then ran and paced back and forth screaming "what should we do? we need to get out of here!" Then I ran outside and found Ron, who came sprinting inside to help us. By that time, Courtney had already calmly put out the fire with some H2O like a pro. So, that was incident number one. The next broiler adventure happened while Court's dad was here (along with her Uncle John, Kevin Birky, and Joel Heim, who came to work on Ms. Roy's house). We were trying to make garlic bread.. and we thought we had fixed the problem with the stove. But, we were wrong. This time, Tom was standing in front of the stove after the broiler was turned on, and of course, it exploded again. First came the sound of the giant atom bomb, the oven door blew open and hit big Tommy, flames shot out, Uncle John yelled and ran away, and we all just stood in shock for a second. Looking back on it now, the whole situation is pretty funny..but at the time, I think all of us were scared to death. The moral of the story is..if your broiler blows up your oven once, don't try to use it again.

Like I mentioned above, Mr. Tom Gant, his brother John, Kevin Birky, and Joel Heim drove out last week to help Ms. Roy (the kindergarten teacher) with her house. By the time the week was over, Ms. Roy had electricity for the first time, broken windows replaced, a patched roof, and many other necessary things. Ms. Roy and her daughters, Jerrine and Leilani, were beyond excited and happy to have these guys help them out. We are so thankful that these guys were willing to come all the way out here to sacrifice time, energy, and money. We definitely enjoyed having them here..and they're hoping to make another trip out before we're home for good.

Not much else has happened lately..just busy at the school. My parents are coming next week, then Cari and Jordan a week later, and then for Spring Break Court and I are going to visit her grandparents in Florida!

Well..I've got to go vacuum and prepare for our guests! Expect another post in a week or so..


love,
Lauren and Court