Arizona "Winter"

I know many of you are digging yourselves out of powdery inches and looking for lost mittens, but I thought I'd share with you one of the difficulties of Arizona "winter."

February came in like a lion, which is uncommon here in the desert--gusting winds and pelting rain that roused us from our sleep. As Brad climbed back into bed, he muttered, "Of course it would rain tonight. The first irrigation of the spring comes down tomorrow." (I know. Using the words winter and spring to reference the same day is slightly confusing, but that's how we Arizonans see it.)

The kids got ready for school that first February morning, and it was cold--40 degrees, drizzly and windy. (I know. That's not that cold, but you must remember where we live and what we face daily in July. It's all perspective, right?) When they got home that afternoon, the back yard was enticingly flooded. My kids normally run for swimsuits when they see the back yard lake, but they hesitated slightly. I mean, it was cold! Tucker looked straight at Hyrum and said, "I'll give you five bucks if you lay down in the deepest water for fifteen seconds."

Without a second thought, Hyrum raced upstairs for his swimsuit, grabbed some goggles, and bravely ventured into the icy depths. (Ok, some artistic license used here.)

Steeling himself for the chill, he sat for a moment . . .

and with the vision of five crisp dollar bills firmly in mind . . .

. . . he took the plunge. (Notice where these pictures were taken--from the safety and warmth of the house. I was shivering in my jacket on the couch. It was COLD, people!)

Tucker counted down the fifteen seconds, squealing like a little kid that he had convinced his brother to do something so crazy.

At 15.1 seconds, Hyrum shed his goggles and bolted for a towel.

Tucker yelled his congratulations, and after Hyrum was kind of dry and still quite cold, Tucker opened his wallet. Instead of five dollar bills, he gave his youngest brother one $1 bill and two $2 bills--which in the mind of an eight-year-old boy is even BETTER than five $1 bills.

After a dash upstairs to a warm bath, and  clean and dry clothes, Hyrum came back downstairs, wrapped in his favorite blanket and sporting a huge grin.

"That was so worth 15 seconds of agony. I can't believe Tucker gave me two $2 bills!"

Together we calculated his rate per hour. $5 for 15 seconds = $20/minute x 60 minutes =

"MOM!! That's 120 dollars per hour!"

I love when they do that--figure out the value of their time.

You couldn't have paid me $120/hour to do that. No way. But when Micah and Lily found out, they searched for Tucker to see if the offer still stood. It didn't.

You snooze, you lose around here.

And that's one way we suffer through our "winter." We can't play in the irrigation. Do you feel bad for us?