Snapshot of the weekend...

It's been gorgeously rainy here in Tucson, but unfortunately my body seems to want to reflect the outdoors, and I've been battling with minor sicknesses.  Here are some snapshots from the lovely rainy weekend.  

the kitchen window with RAIN in the background!

the dog's wet footprints

she loves to chomp and bite at the rain as if it's attacking her

lovely friends on a Saturday night - aren't they so cute?!

I heart snow

This isn't Tucson, but it's gorgeous, no?

 

However, today it's only FORTY-THREE DEGREES here!!! 

AHHHHHHH!!! It's WINTER!!!! :D :D :D!!!  

I'm a little excited.  

I took my homeroom outside and taught them how to skip rocks on this massive puddle because it rained ALL NIGHT.  So fun!

Check out Arizona!

Weather- you crazy

Ok this was from a few days ago. A with a high of 108 today, you would have never known it was like this just a few days ago!

At my parent's house in Indiana, the high was this?!?! Never heard of reaching 100 there EVER

Let's go to Ireland instead! Who's with me?!

First Triple Digits

More to come on the camping trip soon.

But now, of course the weekend I went camping, Tucson reaches 101 degrees (AHHHHH)!!!!!  And it's ONLY APRIL.

Wow Tucson.

Life is craaaaaazy

So much has happened in the last 2 weeks.  SO MUCH.

My dear friend Coleen was here and we shared many moments like this:

We laughed SO DANG MUCH when she was here and it got me thinking, "Why don't I do this more often?"  I guess there are friends you can just be silly with, but it left me deeply missing her and her husband (two awesome peeps!), and praying for more silliness in my life and people I can share life with in general. 

It was also ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!  And Coleen (along with the lovely Village) helped me throw a first-rate St. Paddy's Day partay (and in case you're wondering if I spelled "Paddy" wrong - check this out).  It was an absolute blast!  But of course we still had to hit up the Dubliner for some Guinness and Irish stew...mmmmmm.....

  

 Then here's just some random amusements from the past week:

My students made little paper people at lunch - so cute

Ice formed on the roof of my school - ICE!!! It got to 34 degrees one morning last week, and the high yesterday was 88. Tucson, you're so weird.

I went to my students' Spring Concert where various bands and the choir performed. Here are two of my students who I spend a lot of time with, through lunch and astronomy club, doing trumpet solos in their jazz band - they were so good! Way to go Albert and Jorge!

Sadly the stupid auto flash went off when I was taking this, and by the time I turned it off, they were done...so - crappy picture quality but you get the idea...

And now, I am officially on Spring Break - WOOHOO!

 

The clouds

Don't you just love the clouds today? Thanks God for the beautiful weather!

Snow!

I was afraid there wasn't going to be any snow during my time in Indiana, but woke up yesterday morning to this...AWESOME!

welcome december

it's so nice to see you again

winter is coming

A lovely day...

Tucson's cooling down, if ever so slightly

We've had some dang crazy storms over here on the south side.  One of which pushed my beautiful tree over, and 3 of which have brought hail...

But the cooler weather brought the temps down at church, much to everyone's relief. Here's some shots of my lovely community from last Sunday...

 

the Park's

 

the view from where I sit

oh the beauty of a day overcast

the storms, the rain (and hail here on the south side), and the clouds have taken Tucson's overbearing triple-digit temperatures down into the 80's and 90's during the day.

how wonderful it has been...

and with that I REJOICE!  And have turned off the air conditioning!  It has been absolutely lovely to sit in a quiet house (even though most of the time I'm home I'm sleeping because I'm never here)...to feel the breeze coming through the windows, and to know that the electric bill will be significantly lower  :)

I'm typing this by candlelight, and while I don't want to return to the pre-electricity days, the lack of the running air conditioner and an open window bring a part of my soul and self to life that I always miss until fall returns.  I have always loved this time of year...and the candlelight makes me long for simplicity.  I know my life will never be simple, though I'm convicted to remember it's a choice...and to choose better tomorrow.