A Little History

My dad catching the ball as goalie on the Iranian National Soccer Team.

I have always enjoyed visiting my dad.  My parents have always been divorced... well as long as I can remember.  The one thing that I am sad about (regarding my parent's divorce) was the fact that I never was given the opportunity to really get to know my dad.  There is only one way to know a person and that is to spend time with them.  My dad has always been in the bay area and I have only been able to spend vacation time with him.  I wish I could go back in time and somehow spend more time with him... maybe a year with him in Northern California.  I would have been able to get to know him and learn about my Iranian heritage.  Every time that I visit I try to learn something new about my dad and the culture that we come from. 

During this visit I asked my dad one question that has been on my mind for awhile... is the surname "Pourheidari" a common name like Smith or Jones is in America?  The answer surprised me a bit.  Apparently some time ago, you were allowed to choose your own last name.  Often the last name was determined by the towns you visited or the occupation your family practiced.  My family's original last name was EXTREMELY long.  You might be thinking I'm exaggerating, but honestly our last night included the names of four towns and "heidari."  "Heidari" is the Farsi word for God.  My grandfather decided to change our extremely long name to Pourheidari which means the song of God.  Ha!  Apparently the Pourheidari's thought pretty highly of ourselves!  :)

Our First Garden

This year we were able to plant a garden in our backyard.  We planted a variety of different things including: two types of tomatoes, basil, green peppers, summer squash, zucchini, red onions, watermelon, and pumpkin.  We have really enjoyed seeing it grow and when we left Utah it was thriving beautifully!  We have gotten our neighbor's kids to water it and we hope it will still be alive when we get back! 

This is the first "harvest" from our garden.  Apparently you are supposed to pick the zucchini before it gets this big... I guess our motto is "you live, you learn." Next year we'll be able to pick it at the perfect moment! 

Vacancy

     The day I didn't think would grace us with its presence has come. We no longer have a "renter" living with us. Kaleb has decided to move on to his next big adventure. I am very happy that our home is now our home (the first time since we purchased it), but I am sad to see Kaleb go. He has such a funny personality and served as great entertainment for us over the last few months. I didn't get to know him until the summer when I was done with school and he was around more. Kaleb really is such a freaking funny individual.

     I think the move was good for both parties. Kaleb now has the opportunity to move into student housing and make new friends who are in the same stages of life that he is in. Chris and I have our home to ourselves (it's such an amazing feeling to know that you are the only ones who will be home). I am also very thankful that our friendship with Kaleb was not compromised by renting a room to him. Kaleb was very smart with his timing. We never argued with him or asked him to move out... he came to that decision on his own. If it had gotten ugly, we would have lost one of the only friends we have in Blanding... plus, Chris' job would be even more awkward. I'll admit I complained about having Kaleb live with us because I couldn't handle the stress. It's a skill I need to look into mastering.
     I wish only the best for Kaleb, and the offer of renting the room is still there if he ever needs it. Any other "renters" will just have to find another place to rest their heads.

Kaleb's awesome picture in front of the vacant home (behind our home) that was burned down a few months ago.

City's 1st Birthday!

Happy Independence Day to everyone!!  We had a great 4th of July this year.  The holiday was filled with a parade, a little work, Navajo tacos, shaved ice, friends, and lot of fireworks.  Chris and I both figured Blanding would have mediocre fireworks because of its size, but boy were we wrong.  We were both really surprised with the duration of the show and the variety of the fireworks.  We sat far away from everyone (literally a baseball field away) so that City could be off his leash.  With time families started to sit by us... City made a few friends out of little kids.  They just loved giving him treats, telling him to sit, and playing fetch.  We love our City boy!  Something that we learned this year is that City is not afraid of fireworks.  He is as calm as any other day and doesn't even pay attention to them.   

Today is July 5th... nothing too important about the date, right?  Wrong!  When we first found City we were told he was about 3-4 months old.  So we dated back and figured on July 5th for his birthday.  When the day came around I figured we should do something to celebrate!

Our first step to celebrate was to go on a hike.  Chris had to work so I called up Malia and ventured just south of town to hike around.  We literally parked our car, turned to each other, and asked, "where would the ruins be?"  The answer was straight across a shallow canyon.  I couldn't even believe my eyes when we saw them for the first time next to the car.  Here are a few pictures of the ruins.  There were three or four circular kivas total and a ton of smaller rooms.  These ruins were pretty badly hashed by the "locals."  We could read the names of several large families on the walls.

When we finished with the hike, I headed home and found a dog-friendly cake recipe online.  The ingredients included: whole wheat flower, peanut butter, vegetable oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking soda.  That's it!  The frosting was simply plain yogurt and peanut butter.  The one is made out of carrots.  Pre-baked the cake looked disgusting, but afterwards the doggy cake turned out pretty darn cute (if I do so myself).  City absolutely loved it, but was a little afraid of the candles :)

I realize this post is a little laughable.  I've been laughing at myself for awhile now.  WE NEED TO HAVE CHILDREN!!  Can you tell that City truly is my first born?  I freaking made a cake for him :)  I love him to death and I'm glad we can involve him in so much of our lives, but I want to add to this family.  We are getting to a position that we are comfortable (with finances and careers) in our lives.  Hopefully we'll grow some figurative balls soon and get to baby making!  Here's to walking the plank in the near or not so near future-- and no we are not currently pregnant.

Dry Wash Ruins Hike

This time we decided to try a different type of trail.  Instead of slick rock and sandy trails, we went to the foothills of the Abajo Mountains.  This trail starts by the Nizhoni campground north of Blanding.  The pine trees and brown dirt remind me of the camping experiences I shared with my family.  It was such a fun hike to take on a beautiful Sunday.  City loved the hike because he was off his leash AND there was a babbling stream next to the trail.  If City got too hot he would simply step in the water and cool off.

This picture is by far my favorite because: 1. Chris' new mustache isn't visible and 2. Chris and City are shown in their true light- as two peas in a pod! 

City also enjoyed fetching sticks and chasing butterflies.  He would jump off the trail as each new friend made an appearance.

The trail ended at the base of a huge amount of rock. The Pueblos used this rock to store food up and away from sun, water, and rodents.  These ruins were dated A.D. 1250!  I am always blown away to see these structures still standing.  There were three granaries total and the trail ended below the largest of the three granaries.  There were logs still holding the rock wall together.  These ruins are titled inaccessible, and I'm happy that they are.  A lot of ruins have been ruined by careless people or people who want to profit from illegally taking artifacts from ruins or graves.  It disgusts me to think that people would justify taking what doesn't belong to them.  (Ok, I'm off my soap box... I guess hearing different people defend the actions of their friends or neighbors has gotten to me.)  Another thing that I enjoyed about this hike was the view.  The bottom picture is an example of the great view.  To see the layers of red rock in between the green, green trees was great.