Olivia comes for a visit!

Olivia came for a whole week to visit!! She is crushing adulthood. She has a full time job working in Georgia on a special program that lets her see various business aspects of her company Siemens. She will only be in Georgia for 6 months and that time is quickly coming to an end.While she was in Tucson we hit all the favotes, Sabino Canyon, Jason's Sonoran dogs, La Herradera, the Smith's hot tub, dog walks in the wash, Adrian's swim championships up in Phoenix, Swig and Chillis...What a week of laughter, joy, family bonding and Olivia's zany personality entertaining us all. The boys came over every night to spend time with their sis. She worked remotely and baked in between tasks. Life is always better when she is here. When we were on one of our walks Olivia got the call that her next assignment will be in Santa Barbara, California!! West coast here she come in January!

I found this little gem of Olivia's she wrote this the start of third grade. It's no wonder her writing scores have always been off the charts!

 

Back to my homeland

Our dear friend Anthony married our new friend Angie and last weekend they got sealed in the Pocatello Temple. We were happy to be invited and I was excited to see Anthony's kids, who we raised our kids with. We were literally only in Pocatello for a couple of hours. We had just enough time to stop by my grandparents old house where my cousin Kenny lives. Lucky me my cousin Richard his brother was visiting. They were generous and invited us in. I haven't seen either of them for probably 30 years (im old enough to say that now).. Kenny referenced Lindsey's culinary skills and my "homestead" he really has a great memory. In truth I don't know all of my cousins names because I didn't grow up there and we didn't visit often. Kenny and Richard are two that I actually know! My mom has a special relationship with Richard, they share a birthday and he sends her flowers every year. It is so incredibly thoughtful.

Once upon a time there was a place that never rained....

Is my family obsessed with water in the creek? Yes, but unfortunately it has been one of driest years on record. We had two seconds of rain and this water was only here for a couple of days. It was enough for new puppy Wolf to check it out. I have sorely missed the running water of years past. The creek did churn up the sand a bit enough that it exposed new glass for me! Each walk Benjamin and I take provides a handful to take home to my growing collection. I used to collect the glass in large pickle jars or vases but then I found this beauty made from recycled glass. I had to have her. Pictured is years of collection.

 

Holman gets pinned!

 Holman is a loyal blood donor (just like his Dad). I am pretty consistent but there was a time that the Red Cross kept getting my twin and I's information mixed up and I couldn't donate...It took a bit to finally sort it out. Anyways I digress Holman got a pin for all his donations, what a citizen!

Priced out of education

I graduated from the University of Arizona in the year 2000.  Tuition was $1,060 a semester. I worked at a drycleaners making $5.15 an hour. My siblings and I were first generation college graduates. Both parents took college classes but life interrupted their studies. They always instilled in us a desire to graduate. We knew to attend we had to earn scholarships and save money. The same advice was given to my own children; work hard and get scholarships. Although with our leg up we had some money set aside for our children. 

The University of Arizona is a public school designed at its inception to make higher education attainable and accessible. I have two sons who are freshmen at The University of Arizona this year. They work as life guards for the city of Tucson making $15 an hour. Tuition for one semester is over $6,800. There registration fees alone were $1400. More than my tuition, an increase of over 500%

In the last 25 years minimum wage has gone up by nearly 190%. Tuition on the other hand has gone up over 541%. My husband and I are both University of Arizona graduates our kids have been raised on red and blue and Bear Down. Each year I check to see the scholarship grid to see what merit aide and tuition will be. Each year tuition goes up and scholarship aide goes down. 

Parents if your child would like to attend the UofA next fall beware it is changing again. Right now the website says information to come. This will not be good news. Unlike the housing market there has been no crash to regulate inflated prices. The new normal is astronomical inflation. When will the steep increases end? 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.azregents.edu/sites/default/files/reports/History-tuition-fees-2010-2020.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjew_zxtPmPAxXDJUQIHTxMJ68QFnoECE8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw39wJlPyp_iKTENp2hpMOu4

27 years married!!

Benjamin has a goal to visit all 50 states before he turns 50. So as his dutiful partner I want him to accomplish his goal!! So naturally we went to the state of Michigan for his 43rd state on our 27th anniversary!! We also headed up to Canada to make it a foreign experience. We hit one of the Great Lakes, Huron. We walked the beach, ate Canadian foods like (poutine, butter tarts, and had pickle soup....I don't know if thats Canadian but man they sure had a lot of pickle products. We ate fried pickles too). Canada has a lot of national pride, flags in their yards and signs in their grocery store indicating if the product is Canadian made. They also don't put ice in sodas at fast food places, Benjamin loved that!. We went to art museums, thrift stores and nature parks. It was a relaxing weekend to celebrate "my love forever and a day"

 

Nana turns 75 years young!!

Nana turned 75 on September 2nd!! We had the best week celebrating her. On Monday we went up to camp Zion to do our annual labor on Labor day. We painted the inside of the outhouses!! Hillary made it down along with her new foreign exchange student. We shot BB guns, shot arrows and played Telastartions. Tuesday for Nana's actual birthday Lindsey and I took mom out to Millie's Pancake house for lunch then we met up with our husbands for the evening and went to the Olive Garden. Afterwards we went back to mom and dads place and ate these fancy cupcakes that our friend makes. Then on Saturday we had dinner with all my siblings and a good amount of our children. We went to Pinnacle Peak Steak House, its a cowboy restaurant and if you wear a tie the Sheriff cuts it off! There were several brave members of the family who got their tie cut off. 

We sure love this lady!! She is adored by all her family, the rock and cheerleader of our large and growing crew. Mom always says she wakes up and tells herself that she is 60...What a great way to stay young!!