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When we first moved into our home, it was the middle of July and blazing hot. In the corner of our tiny backyard stood a single fruit tree, its branches heavy with small, green fruit. We didn’t think twice. “It’s a lime tree,” we assumed. The fruit looked like limes,…

I’ve settled into a good morning routine lately—lacing up my shoes, stepping outside, and taking a three-mile loop through the neighborhood. There’s something about walking the same route each day that feels grounding. Predictable, but not boring. Familiar, but still full of little surprises. Most mornings, Angie’s with me. She’s…

Since the day we moved in, I’ve had one lingering backyard dream: a sprinkler system. Not the hose-and-timer workaround I’ve patched together for four summers, but a real, buried, zoned, push-a-button-and-it-works sprinkler system. The kind that says, “This yard is going places.” But there was one problem: the only water outlet…

Every year, like clockwork, our uncle flies out to Scottsdale for his annual guys’ golf trip. And every year, we get the same invitation: “Let’s do breakfast or dinner while I’m in town!” It’s become a little tradition—Angie and I finding the right night to meet up and settling in for rich…

Finally on the Trail: A Long-Awaited Backpacking Trip with Braden For years, Braden and I have tossed around the idea of going backpacking together. Every time we’d talk about it, it felt like one of those “someday” ideas—always out there on the horizon, always subject to the tides of busy…

When I moved to Arizona, I thought I had left behind the dream of lush, green grass. Summer in the desert is a scorcher, and most lawns turn to crunchy patches of brown or are replaced entirely by gravel. But then I discovered winter grass. It felt like a secret—this…