How Small Children Entertain Themselves While Waiting for Ceiling Repairs to Be Completed

 

 

Actually, the children have enjoyed riding their wiggle racers all over the house ever since we moved in.

They love the lack of carpeted floors here.

 

February in Yuma

Citrus grows in abundance during February here. Ian is showing off a blood orange from our tree. We found that the best-tasting juice is a mixture of regular oranges and blood oranges with a couple of grapefruit added.

 

We had a gas dryer in Logan. There isn't a gas line to the laundry area of our new home in Yuma. However, this does not pose a problem since we can hang the laundry out to dry in February! Kevin set up a temporary clothesline until we can install a more permanent one between posts.

 

This is the first tree lizard of the year that we caught, on 11 February. It was hanging out on some wood and cardboard that we were cleaning up from our parking pad. Erin wanted to keep it as a pet, but we convinced her it would be happier living outside.

The neighbors across the street invited us over to see their new chicks. Some dogs got into their chicken coop and killed several of their chickens so they ordered replacements. In a few months we'll be able to buy farm-fresh eggs from them again.

For Valentine's Day, we made some cards for each other.

Grandma & Grandpa Young sent a fun treat--6 lbs. of gummy bears!

Ian turned 11 years old on 15 February!

He got up early so he could open presents before Kevin had to leave for work. The family gave him a deluxe yo-yo set which he had been wanting, and grandparents sent him some swimming trunks and new clothes. Later we went to the library and got our new library cards--what more could one ask for?

Well, I guess he could ask for a homemade chocolate cake. I tried out a new recipe, and it was rather time-consuming to make, but well worth the effort. After Ian returned from Scouts, we ate cake and ice cream. 

 

Our first visitors: Carl and Theresa Z. from Washington, D.C.!!!

They were visiting family in the Phoenix area and made a detour to Yuma, just to visit us. We felt pretty special. We met Carl and Theresa at USU, but they moved away 8 years ago (or thereabouts). It was fun to catch up with each other. They treated us to pizza and we treated them to freshly-squeezed orange juice and lemonade.

Did you know that when you move to Arizona, you have 10 days to get a new driver's license and license your vehicles? We didn't either. We got around to it eventually. We were happy to learn that our driver's licenses don't need to be renewed until we're 65!

(Please comment to Kevin that he needs to wash his car...)

Here is the first Mediterranean gecko we caught. 

Erin wanted to put it on her shirt.

Dallin didn't understand what was so neat about that.

He has more geckos on his shirt.

(note the continued presence of security cat and dog)

 

Our Start of Food Storage--Yuma Style

Pick a box of delicious lemons.

Wash the fruit, then halve.

Juice the fruit with your handy-dandy citrus juicer.

(thanks to Dixie Crook for giving us this before we moved!)

Strain the pulp, if desired.

(Yes, we have picky children who don't like the pulp.)

Pour into freezer containers, label, and freeze.

The Flood and Aftermath

And now...the post you have all been waiting for...

We signed our lives away on our house loan on Monday, 31 Jan, and then had to wait 24 hours for it to be recorded. We were finally able to occupy the house on 1 Feb. That night, the temperature went below freezing, which is unusual for Yuma. Our indoor thermostat said 67 when we went to bed, so we didn't think anything of it--it was warmer than we kept our thermostat set in Logan during the night.

The next morning, Kevin took a cold shower before work, realizing that the water heater had not been turned on yet, but he fixed that problem. Then he went off to teach his classes. Around 10:30, April and the children heard water start running in the ceiling above the laundry room. And you know the rest of the story from our mass email. The low spot was over the school/hobby room, but the laundry area flooded as well through the light fixtures.

Here are the promised photos of that memorable day, plus the repairs:

 

 

The room had been full of boxes and furniture and as you can see, we were able to get a lot of it outside before the ceiling collapsed. We ended up getting the ceiling above the laundry/pantry area replaced as well because it got so wet and warped. And we are most pleased with Tom Lemmon Drywall's repairs. If you ever need drywall work done in Yuma, they are the ones to hire.

Good as new, almost 3 weeks later