The Washer and Dryer

This weekend we were lucky enough to buy a washer and dryer with Jas's yearly bonus.
Before the laundry room was just a storage area.

But now...No more laundromats for us! It's fun to become grown ups.

June 14th- Week in Photos

Leia got some new shoes from the fancy Stride Rite store. The ladies there loved her and took a photo of her.

Last Sunday, we prepared an all local cook out. Leia LOVED the corn. She could eat it all day long.

We picked up our weekly CSA with the family.

Izzie got some new shirts thanks to her Aunties Lisa and Angel.

Tucson CSA

Week 2 of 13: Tomatoes, potatoes, grapefruit, beets, squash, cucumber, wildflowers

The Tucson CSA is a group of Tucsonans that subscribe to a farm to get shares of produce. We are on a 3 month cycle. This is our first month as members and it's a great experiance to pick up our produce and plan our meals according to the seasons.

Ever since I read Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dillemma, I have been more and more concerned about our food sources.

Especially once my Izzie was born, I want to keep her body as clear from pesticides and added hormones as possible. The CSA provides organic and local foods for our table.

There are immediate benefits from this union. I am losing weight without trying too hard by eating less meat, 4-5 meals total and eating more vegetables.

Since I get new produce in every week, I have to eat up the ones from last week or lose the food.

We are happy members of CSA.

5/7 Week in Photos

This was our first week as CSA members! Here's our first week's haul. The Armenian cucumber is the oddest thing to figure out how to use.

The diva Leia in her sunglasses and jogger.

Leia loved the splash park this time. It was nice and cool and there were a few kids at the park.

On Wednesday, we had Boston Market and Leia kept putting the cover on her face and squishing her nose on the plastic. Silly Izzie.

Leia enjoyed the Pool Party on Saturday. She kept running back into the pool without anyone to help her. This is bathing suit #2.

The Pool Party

On Saturday, The Begays were invited to a fellow Raptors pool party.

After a hot run early in the morning, we all caught a quick catnap and then hustled to the southwest side for some fun in the sun.

Izzie had never been in a pool but since she loves baths, I am sure she equated the experiance to taking a bath with a few strangers and mom and dad.

We really enjoyed being together and catching up on our tans.

One move that Izzie and I are going to relive again and again is the "Turtleback" where Izzie holds onto my swimsuit or hair and rides on my back.


Everyone loved Izzie in her snazzy swimsuit and her dad who had to buy a new swimsuit last night.

Izzie went back into the pool several times. Hopping right into the action. She really needs a pool when she can swim.

As a result, we will be visiting our good friends the Hoffman at least once a week and going to city pools at least once a week as a family to get her swim on.

I desperately need a new swimsuit as well so I can fit in with my two trendy family members. At least Wyatt didn't get a new swimsuit!

The Raptor Saturday 5 mile run

Every Saturday the Raptor Running group meets at a local running location in Tucson or at least near it's border. This month it's here at our house. Leia always enjoys the company and was especially diva-rific in her jogger and wearing her sunglasses which she wore the whole time outside. Her dad made sure that no one drop of harmful UV rays got into her eyes.

We only have a few more weeks here on the River and we will enjoy every moment of it.

Water Park Take 2

Week in Photos- 5/30

This week's Farmer's Market yielded carrots, peaches, eggs, butter, pak choy, stir fry mix, mint, eggplant, dates.

Izzie enjoyed her time at the Splash Park so much so she got some watery eyes to prove she's been in the chlorine. This week she'll be showing off her fancy new swimsuit. Two suits? Such a diva.

The Begays are now proud members of The Tucson CSA! So check out all the fun goodies we make every week from our great plant haul. Izzie is going to love what we got cooking for her. I am truly excited and soon my Izzie will be carrying more than an eggplant.

Splash Park

Last Monday, Leia was invited to Maddie's birthday party at Brandi Fenton Park. It was a nice warm day in Tucson.


Perfect for a party and getting cool in the Splash Park. It was just the right size for us new parents of a new walker.


Leia has been getting a little fearful of new situations and she wanted her mom and dad close the whole time. She held tight and made sure she was close enough to hop into her parent's arms.


Leia mainly watched all the other kids have fun. She may have touched the water on the ground but refused to get showered by any other source.

She was even fearful of the water spout that was a low flow system.

Next time, we will definitely take more sunscreen, water and go when there are less screaming preteens hanging out. Mom and Dad will also be wearing swimwear so that we can go through more of the splashes with her.





Maddie got a Fancy Nancy tutu and tiara with "posh" earrings. Fancy Nancy is one of our favorite picture book characters. Hopefully, Maddie loves her, too.

3rd week of May Week in Pictures

This week's Farmer's Market haul included a watermelon, 1 lb of organic purple asparagus, pink and white grapefruits, .5 lb of mixed dates, 2 beets, yellow split pea soup, carrots, no hormone sausages, stir fry mix, yellow and green zucchini, roasted red peppers

The Raptors were at the Begay house this week for a 5 mile run. Everybody ran really well this week. Check out our raptor blog: http://raptordos.blogspot.com/ This week Auntie Lisa is the RAPTOR of the WEEK!

Katrina and I have a total of 1 picture of us together. Hopefully there will be more in the future. Check out our Raptor gear! Stylin'.

Saturday and Sunday Izzie came down with a fever. She spent most of the week on the floor with her treasure bear (a blanket/stuffed bear/bag). Poor monkey girl :( Will she be well enough for Maddie's birthday?

2009 Shiprock Marathon

On May 1st, The Tucson Begays left for the rez to run in the Shiprock Marathon. Izzie would be dropped off on the way so that we could sleep and rest for the race ahead. Instead, it gave Tia a heartache. It was hard to leave behind our baby even for a few hours but she was in good hands with Grandma.

We spent the night in Farmington, NM.

The hotel was definately lacking with everything falling down around us including tiles and the dry wall off the ceiling. We spent the morning talking about strategy.

It was a cold and rainy morning when Jas and I began our run in Shiprock. This was our journey together to complete a couples half marathon.

We got on the bus and we each had our own journey. Read about them here: Shiprock Marathon

Finishing time for Jasper 2 hours 44 minutes.

Finishing time for Tia 3 hours 2 minutes.After our run we ate some Burger King and went back to my mom's house. Izzie spent lots of time with the new puppies that Ginger had and sleeping in grandma's room.

April 12- Eggstravaganza

It was an eventful weekend with both of Izzie's parents running a 10 miler in preparation for The Shiprock Marathon.

Jas took the morning to run his 10 miles in an impressive 2 hours 6 minutes.


After a quick cat nap and some lunch Jas was ready to color eggs with Izzie.

While Jas was napping, Tia boiled 6 arizona eggs and got the dyes ready for the two silly monkeys when they woke up.

Izzie spent most of the time watching her dad color the eggs, we had a monkey/bear egg, a Wyatt egg, a dinosaur egg, Lisa's golden egg, a pink zig zag egg and Lisa's fire egg.

We hid the eggs in really obvious places so that Izzie could find them.



She totally missed the green egg but all the other eggs she wasn't sure if she should touch them or not. It didn't help that Jas and I were yelling, "No!" to Wyatt the whole time.


Izzie took about 15 minutes to find all the eggs.

It was good day with a few eggs and just the small family hanging out and having a no pressure egg hunt where the kid got to have all the fun.

Turns out that Izzie enjoys the messy yellow yoke more than the whites.

Time is relative

Our daily lives seem not to have changed in the past few months since posting the last blog. However, this could be further from the truth. Since the last post - we had Izzie's first Christmas and birthday, we moved yet again, we discovered the meaning of conventional food and local food markets, we learned that baby health is measured in terms of output (i.e. poop), we have family runs once a week, we have not eaten the same dinner for more than a month, we converse with Izzie (such a talker), learned that Izzie is a two fisted eater and she randomly bites people, and discovered that Izzie is growing faster than speed of light (well, according to my calculations).