Ode to Anthem ...

Why I LOVE our new community ...

Sidewalks. Sounds odd, but many of the neighborhoods out here don't have sidewalks. Which you don't really notice until you have kids and talk frequent walks.

Kids. lots and lots o' kids. There are a handful a youngin's on our street that are a year or two older than Ian. (of course he loves to run with the big kids, so this suits him fine) Often, when we're out in the evenings, there are kids outside to play with and other parents to visit with. And as always, Ian is devestated when play time ends. We have some great neighbors, to our right, a young family in our ward, to our left a couple of young bachelors, one Firefighter and one finance guy. I figure you're always in a good place with a medical guy in your house and a fireman next door. HA!

Parks. Many, many parks. Each neighborhood in the community has a smaller park and ours is just around the corner. This weekend "Adventure park" opened - the BIG community park with huge slides, swings, etc. Hooray! In addition, there are fish and release ponds, soccer fields, more.

Community Center. This huge place has stateof the art fitness center, tennis courts, basketball courts and any other "court" you might need, a 3 story rock wall, game rooms, and... a favorite ... the "Kid Zone" where the kids can hang while Mom and Dad enjoy the facility. They offer swim lessons, dance/tumbling, karate, etc... they bunco one a month for the ladies and so many other activities... I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see the calendar each month. Last Friday,the "Dive-in Movie" was nanny McPhee ...but of course, being Russell's in a new house, were planning yet another Yard Sale. The good news is that this time we set up the night before and just had to put up signs and pull the table out into the driveway from the garage. LOL

Splash Park Water Park. Last night for family Home Evening, we went to the water park. It opened last weekend and will be open until mid September. They have 2 slides, 24' high. One is a "tunnel" and one "open". Jon did the tunnel slide and I did the open slide... When I got to the top, the two "jr life gaurds" (who weren't more than 12) told me to lie down. I was like, "Lie DOWN??" "yeah, or you might fly off the side." "FLY OFF THE SIDE???" it was so funny. Of course, I didn't really want to lie down...and was worried the whole time that I was actually going to fly off the side. LOL The splash park also had a smaller slide/playground area in the pool for the little ones. It was awesome. Ian was a little startled on his first ride down the slide when he landed in the pool. But seemed to enjoy it. ever 5 min or so an enormous bucket would dump hundreds of gallons of water onto the the toddler area and he that was pretty cool. In truth, I think he may have enjoyed the post-pool shower more, because when we left today, he tried to go back into the locker room shouting "Shouwa, shouwa"

This morning, I took the boys to the kids zone to play with the other kids and I went straight to the pool. I layed there in the sunshine with my book and enjoyed 30 minutes of "me" time. (It was all I dared as I didn't want to ruin the experience by charring my pasty white skin. LOL) Felt a little guilty leaving them there to just lounge at the pool, but I'm sure that will pass. Why don't I feel guilty leaving them to workout? hmmmm.

Long story short, as much as I love Oregon and miss my friends, the silver lining of returning to AZ is being close to our families, a job that Jon loves, and living at Anthem. ;)

So... if you're passing through Arizona any time soon, be sure to stop by because there is much fun to be had at the Russell's!

**my disclaimer...the photos are from the Anthem website, but don't worry, you'll soon these fab places with some familiar faces pasted throught! **