Why I "HEART" my 'Hood!

Oh my 85201 how I love ye.

**reminder....click on pictures to see them larger.**
This shall be but a small ode to our little neighborhood, because I could certainly go on and on and on and on it brings such happy to my heart. Whenever people ask how we're liking our new house, my response is "It's great, but what I reallllly love is the neighborhood." It was so interesting, before we moved in, whenever we would tell someone where it was we were moving (and they happened to be "in the know") their response would be in hushed awe and reverence...."gasp...you'll be in 20th ward." When we came to look at the house, Tina gave me a cursory walk through of the house and it's offerings, but REALLY sold the neighborhood and the ward. I found it all amusing and cute. LITTLE did I know how life altering and transforming it would be to move into this small piece of shang ri la. WHO KNEW that this existed, these adorable little houses, all with very different looks and character. The streets are wide, the houses are kept beautifully. Almost every lawn taken expert care of, and lovely. The neighbors are friends, they care. We were literally welcomed with wide open arms and accepted and loved immediately. And, people were NOT kidding when referring to this ward with awe and excitement. It is such, that I already have anxiety attacks even thinking about how we can stay in this ward after 2 years when Jim and Tina want this house for one of their kids. What can we do? We are MEANT to be here, we BELONG here. I don't know how to explain it, but we just do. But, this entry will be long enough with pictures, I shall stop waxing eloquent and just talk about TWO of the reasons that I adore living here SO MUCH!!








NUMBER 1: Nearly every morning, and almost every night I take my kids for a walk through the neighborhoods (perhaps because of the novelty of actually HAVING a neighborhood). We go between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. and we just have a great time checking out the houses, watching the sun get brighter, enjoying the cool air, and getting some exercise. We have a total routine now, and Maggie is too smart for her own good and recognizes when we deviate.

Here they are in all their morning glory, ready to head out for our walk. (Usually about 2 miles)
Our first stop is always for a purple flower, which Maggie specifically requests each day. As soon as she has her "purple one flower", she begins requesting the pink one, which is by Jim and Tinas, and then the white one, which she knows is on the way to "other one Jenees" (Jenee P is other one, Aunt Jenny is just Jenny). And she is generous and insists that Maxi always needs his own flower as well. But, he usually tries to eat them, so I'm hit or miss on giving him one. We also say good morning to Delight every day as she sits working at her computer. AND, Maggie points out every house that she knows people at. Such a smart little cookie that one.

This is looking down my favorite street. Well, I have 2 favorites, and their right next to eachother. The houses are just all so different and cool and beautifully kept. I mean, will you LOOK at that grass there? And we usually see the same people out for their morning walks, walking their dogs, nodding and saying hello. It's all so Mayberryish and wonderful.

Here we are stopping for our "pink one" flowers. There are not many left, so I don't know what we're gonna do when there are none. Maggie is sure to be bothered by this. Ok, quick story...so, occassionally I like to jog for little bits of time. For whatever reason Maggie HATES when I jog. She usually tells me "No mommy, don't do dat, it hurts my ears." Wha? But, i do it anyway and explain that I need to get my exercise. Well, lately I have added lunges as well. The first time I did them, she turned around and said, "WHAT you doing MOMMY?" I mean, I s'pose it was disturbing that suddenly the stroller was jerking instead of moving. So, I explained that I was doing lunges because I needed more exercise. She accepted my answer and all was well. So, the next few times we went, apparently I did lunges at the same spot each time. This last Monday I actually got up and went to my bootcamp class which was ALL lunges, squats, abs. So, when we were out for our walk, I didn't feel the need to further the torture. But, as we rounded that same corner and we were moving along smoothly, Maggie was troubled. She turned around and said, "Mawmaw, you need do lunges?" HELLO? Where does she get these smarts from? After I stopped giggling, i explained that i'd already worked out and wouldn't need to be doing lunges today. She said Ok and off we went. Man I love her.

So, at least 3 days of the week, when we come home from the walk, we water the roses. She REALLY likes to do it herself, and gets bugged when i have the audacity to help her. She's RATHER independent and snooty if you ask me, but I try to let her at least water the roses. Max sits in the stroller and watches and sometimes I'll give him a little quick spray of water which he LOVES!

Most of our nighttime walks are sans Daddy, and they usually lead us to Gramma Dars (wish I had a pic). But occassionally Daddy will come along and when he does, it is soooooo wonderful. Maggie truly loves her Daddy and told me the other day that her Daddy was sooo handsome and she "really loves him." Moments like this, out for a walk with him are truly precious.

Now, these walks are numero uno reason for my neighborhood love, but then there is THIS:

NUMBER 2: Block parties, true neighborhood friendships!

HELLO! How many of you have neighborhood block parties that include GIANT blow up slides, and all the free AMAZING bbq that you can eat? Yeah, i thought not. On Friday night our neighbors Jen & Russ (who own a restoration company) put on this RIDICULOUS party for their workers and insurance peeps AND their neighbors, 'cause they're just cool like that. Can't begin to explain how awesome and fun it was. Just kickin it at the end of our street and hanging out with friends and talking and eating and playing.

There was a full on carnival set up. You walked up and got bags with tickets and played games and got prizes and ate cotton candy and popcorn. I didn't put in the picture of the freaking bull ride and the petting zoo. Yeah, I know, it was INSANE and soooo great!!!

Max was VERY pleased with his balloon sword. I LOVE, no LERVE this picture of him and his perfect smile. He was so patient too, 'cause I made him stay in his stroller most of the night. Finally at the end I let him loose and he was in HEAVEN crawling all over the street. Apparently some people didn't think it was so great for a kid to be crawling in the street, but whatever...it was closed off....he was safe and need I remind...HAPPY.

Maggie proudly showing off her balloon flower. She did quite well with it, until the end, when she popped it, and totally didn't freak out, unlike me. I hate balloons, 'cause I'm quite terrified of them popping. Maggie was so happy to see her "friends" from church, and... she MIGHT have fallen in love with our new bestie neighbor boy Chris. I'm just sayin.

I even met more of my ward neighbors that I hadn't had the chance to get to know yet. Here my new friend and I are showing off our awesome new lips. We were laughing 'cause mine were all perfectly shaped and hers were melty and spread. But, we're still pretty hot, no? Gotta give a shout out to my cute neighbor Kathleen, saying thanks for making us go down there. AND for letting us play in your backyard AND for just being so fun!

A parting shot of Jere and our totally manly, cowboyish friends chatting it up. These guys are so great and totally love Jere, which is so nice. The woman there is Brenda, my visiting teacher, our 2 doors down neighbor and truly one of our FAVORITE people. I think Jere has adopted himself in to her family. I wish I had some other pictures of all the awesome people we are surrounded by, but I s'pose this gluttony of pictures will have to suffice.

Truly, there are no words for how much I love the people around here and for how blessed I feel to be a part of this "family." Bet you're all jealous now huh?

Early walks and neighborhood lovin,

Allyson

P.S. Kimbo, I TOTALLY remember you from your comments back in the d-land days. You're still a total mystery to me though. Write me and tell me about you. But, glad you found me and are back to being my fan. Uh, well, at least I think you're my fan. :smiles: