working

Here at the Beckham house we are excited that Justin got a full-time job, working for a package delivery company. (Not sure how that works on actually naming employers. This is a private site, but still...)

It's been tough with him gone all day, and it will only get worse as we get closer to the holiday season. He's been training all week, and today was his first day out on a real route in a real delivery truck. Unfortunately, it was also a very rainy day, and the brown coat the issued him didn't have a hood...hmm. Hope he didn't get too soaked (he's still at work).

stage 3: the middle of Arizona

After the Grand Canyon, we took the long way (the only way) up and around, almost all the way back up to Utah to get around that big-freakin' canyon and across the river:






We took all day to make a six-hour drive to Phoenix, because there were just so many cool natural and Native American sites to see on the way. One place we stopped on the Navajo Reservation there were dinosaur tracks in the red rock:




Juma was in heaven. We also stopped at a couple sites with 1000 year-old ruins from Native American populations who thrived in this desert for centuries:

the case of the missing car

Last night, Justin tied on his shoes, packed up his sports bag, and headed out to play basketball with some friends. I didn't expect him back for a couple hours. But a couple minutes later, he walked back in...

"Sarah," he asked, "Did you move the car?"

Realizing the implications of that question (either we are really, really forgetful about where we park, or the crime rate in this town finally got to us personally), and was reluctant to answer, "No...Did you?"

"We parked it right outside, right?" he continued.

"Yes." But a case of a whole car gone missing takes some time to settle in, and my brain wasn't ready to accept the suspected truth. "And you put the club on it last night, right?"

"Yes."

We started to go through all the possibilities. Housing sometimes tows cars for not having the right sticker, but we just put ours on a few days ago...We weren't parked illegally or in the way of snowplows (no snow yet!), so they wouldn't've towed it for that...Could it be?...Stolen?

Now, we don't use our car that often. We use our feet, bikes, and buses to get around town. But for a weekend away, or to shop for non-grocery items (we get our groceries delivered), it is pretty much essential. Still, to have the car stolen--UGH. It's a violation of our right to property.

And we like that car. It's taken us on two cross-country trips; it has a ever-so cool rack recently installed on the top; and when we call it a grandma car, we mean it affectionately: It actually was owned by Justin's grandma.

Just look at our trusty, faithful, cool car, here serving us well in Lousiana:




Naughty words ran through my head.

After standing outside staring at the parking lot, which didn't magically bring back our car, we went inside to call the cops.

The cops informed us that, thankfully, our car had not been stolen, it was just impounded after all. By the tax department. Apparently, our property tax statement had gone to our old address, and we never got it...And since it was due two and a half months ago, the city saw fit to impound it. ("Failure to receive a notice is not a reason to fail to pay taxes.")

And get this--the tax department stays open until 10pm. What government office stays open until 10pm? The kind that tows your cars, I guess. So Justin (my hero) rode his bike downtown, paid the taxes and overdue fee, then rode to the car lot and got the car back for another hefty fee. Sheesh.

But at least we have our car again.

stage 2: Grand Canyon

We said good-bye to our families in Utah and headed south down 89 to the Arizona and the Grand Canyon. None of us had seen the Canyon, so we were excited. On the way, we stopped at Fremont Indian State Park



and saw some amazing petroglyphs (carvings in the rock) and pictographs (paint on the rocks). None of which you can see in this picture unless you click on it to see the bigger version:




In the evening we made it to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was amazing and gorgeous, and a little scary. Parents of a budding scientist that we are, we took the chance to talk geology, the power of water on rocks, geologic time, and in which layers exactly could trilobites and sharks be found. (Juma's on a trilobite and shark kick lately.)

school

By the way, both Juma and I started school last week, so we've been busy. (Justin is very busy applying for jobs and getting the house unpacked and in order.)

Juma is thoroughly enjoying first grade (yes, first grade already!) and has kids in his class he already knew from before, so that helped a lot. We got him into the school we wanted him in (it's not just a matter of going to the local neighborhood school here), and it's within walking/biking distance, so we've been getting lots of exercise.

As for me, I write my first paper tomorrow, and am trying to find time to learn Arabic, read two scholarly books a week, write the occasional paper, work on my thesis, and still be a good mommy and wife. And not go insane through all of that. So far, so good. But it hasn't even been a week yet.

stage 1: Utah

Our trip started out with a long day's drive from California to Utah, but we had the time to stop out in the middle of the salt flats west of Salt Lake and write our initials with rocks:




The first overnight stop on our two-week road trip across the country was Utah, where all of my family and some of Justin's family live. There, Juma had a great time playing with cousins, such as the day we went rock climbing (except for the whole part when Juma has a complete melt-down five-minutes in):




and the day Juma "flew" a helicopter at a children's museum, with cousin Mariah:




We also did a little fishing in Provo Canyon (no luck actually catching anything):




and, along with a bunch of cousins, rode ponies at the petting zoo:




There was also the party for my sister, Jody's, recent marriage, where Juma got to play with all of his Wilson cousins--especially the two boys his age, Ammon and Ethan:




And, of course, he got to act his age with his closest cousin, Ammon: