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Win a Grand 6 National Park Road Trip for Four

Win a road trip through Utah and Arizona including adventures in Salt Lake City, Kanab, Moab, Park City, the Flaming Gorge, and 6 National Parks. 

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Enter to win breakfast by the Grand Canyon from Thomas English Muffins.

Thomas English Muffins is giving away thousands of prizes to help you enjoy mornings more. Enter the 135 Toasts to Mom Sweepstakes for your chance to win a trip to the Grand Canyon worth $7,500 plus thousands of other prizes like massages, gourmet breakfasts, maid service, gift baskets, and more. Enter once per day. No purchase necessary.

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Who do you predict to win the 2015 Super Bowl?

Who do you predict will win the 2015 Super Bowl? 

Add your guess in the comments!

Arizona braces for Odile

After the flooding we saw last Monday we need to be prepared for more water. Most fire departments are handing out sandbags to local residents. The news is suggesting we stay inside and be prepared. Since the ground is already saturated from last weeks storm the water won't seep into the ground. The water will just create a huge flood across the area. 

Make sure you don't become a victim of Odile. 

Here's how to protect your property with sandbags.

Step one: Contact your local fire department and see if they are offering FREE sandbags. If they are not you will have to purchase some at a local hardware store. Places like Home Depot, Lowes or Ace Hardware will have them. 

Step two: Figure out how many bags and how much sand you would need to complete the wall. The staff at your local store should be able to help you with this. Just tell them how large of an area you need to protect.

Step three: You will need to purchase bags, sand and plastic sheeting or a tarp from your local hardware store.

Step four: Have a friend help you fill the bags. One person will hold the bag open while the other person uses a shovel to add sand to the bag. Fill the sandbags half way so you have excess to material to create a flap at the open end. Some bags will come with something to secure the bag closed. If yours does not, you can simply fold the flap over to seal it.

Step five: Place the plastic sheeting or tarp on the ground where you want to keep the water out. Place the plastic sheeting or tarp halfway up the wall, window or door where you want to keep the water out. This will help create a barrier to divert the water.

Step six: Start placing the first row of sandbags on the plastic sheeting or tarp. Make sure that each bag is tight against the next bag by tapping it down. Start the next row on top of the first in a brick pattern as seen below. 

Stagger the placement of sandbags to create a strong barrier. Continue packing the bags down as you go. Build the wall up until you reach the desired height to safely divert the water.

Step seven: Relax; you are now protected from flooding waters. Stay inside and be safe.

Monsoon storms kicked Arizona's butt today.

Living in Arizona you have to get use to the Monsoon season. It's a couple of months of crazy random thunderstorms. It usually starts in the mid to late June and ends around the end of September. Here is a glimpse of what we encounter during a Monsoon. 

Today was the wettest day I've seen a a very long time. It rained so hard that my daughters school had to close the parking lots. The water was past the tires on some cars. Here are some pictures of the chain link fence located along the parking lot that was knocked over by a wall of water. 

On the way home we decided to stop and check out the Canada del Oro wash near our home. Take a look at the videos I shot below.





Here is another video of the Canada del Oro wash.




We have tons of "rivers" in Arizona but very few actually ever hold water.  Here is a picture of the Canada del Oro river today. It's bank to bank with water. This very rarely happens.

A must read, feel good story.

My daughter has tutored in the special education 
class called the "Dream Team" in her high school for two years now. A few weeks ago she came home and said someone started a hashtag on Twitter for a senior in the class named Kevin to be nominated Homecoming King. She was so excited when she explained the whole story to me. I couldn't help but feel excited too. I headed over to Twitter and checked out the hashtag myself.

You can find it here https://twitter.com/search?q=kevinforhomecoming2013&src=typd 

Below is a picture of the amazing young lady who started the hashtag #kevinforhomecoming2013 her little brother also has down syndrome. I wanted to hug her the first time we met. She's fantastic!   

Photo credit to https://twitter.com/Niki_Stitches

The kids started spreading #Kevinforhomecoming2013 and it took off. On the day of nominations all the kids were reminding one another to VOTE 4 KEVIN. 

I thought this would be a great story for our local news. I typed up a quick status update and asked all my friends and family to share it. We took to Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about #Kevinforhomecoming2013 The story took off. Within only a few hours I received a phone call from a reporter. She was touched by the story and wanted to know more. The next day she was at the school interviewing Kevin and some of his friends.   

A few days later all the votes were in and guess what.......

KEVIN WON!      

Photo credit www.tucsonnewsnow.com

I am so proud of the kids at Canyon Del Oro High school. This is kindness at the fullest.

After trying to get just one news station to pick up the story we got three, yes three stations wanted to cover this great story.

Please click the links below to watch now. 

~Remember Be Kind and Pay It Forward~

KVOA channel 4

http://www.kvoa.com/videoplayer/?video_id=16061&categories=15

KGUN channel 9

http://www.kgun9.com/news/local/227338591.html

KOLD channel 13

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=434049600035055

Offically Fall!

It’s officially Fall! This is by it’s by far my favorite season. Not for what most people love about Fall. See I live in Arizona; we don’t get to see the leaves change color and fall to the ground. We just applaud the cooler weather. By cooler weather I mean high 90’s and not 100 degrees. That small amount really makes a difference. My absolute favorite part of Fall is Halloween. I mean who doesn’t love Halloween. The costumes, the pumpkins, the candy and don’t forget the decorating. Halloween really kicks off the holiday season. I’m so excited to pick a design for pumpkin carving!   

 

Check out the sites below to pick out your design.

http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/free-patterns.asp

http://www.bhg.com/halloween/pumpkin-carving/printable-pumpkin-stencils/

http://family.go.com/disney/pkg-disney-parties-and-holidays/pkg-pumpkin-templates/

New threat to our children.

There is very scary news circulating on Facebook. It says that people are going door to door pretending to sell books for children. They have very thick accents. They ask tons of questions about your kids and most people answer them without even thinking. After all, they are selling children's books. They are acting exhausted from the heat and ask to come in to get out of the heat and to get some water. They ask about the neighborhood and about other children who live nearby. These people are hitting neighborhoods on all sides of town. They are very pushy and refuse to leave when asked. Local police have explained that this is a new way for sex traffickers to find children. Yes, they are coming right to your home.

Get in the habit of taking your cell phone with you when you answer the door. This way if they do show up you can quietly take a video of the people and call the police if needed. Please protect your family by not answering any of their questions. Try to get a description of the people and any vehicles they may be driving and call the police right away. This is hitting really close to home for me. Another family who lives at Ina and Old Father just experienced this first hand. Kids are missing right now across Arizona because of these disgusting people. Don't be fooled if you have boys, It's not just girls they are looking for.  

If you think your neighborhood is safe, Think again.

Please share!