The Raintree Circle House

I didn't sleep a wink last night. Okay, that's far-fetched... I slept some, but was awake at least once every hour on the clock for the exception of a couple. So in that time, I couldn't turn my brain off and for some reason got to thinking of our house in Flagstaff, AZ and just how much I loved it and how dear it is to my heart still. And how I should probably write a little about it for my future prosperity.
I in essence grew up in that house, more than any of my siblings did really. I lived there from 8 years old to 18 years old, and before that in Southern California. We built the house over in the Fox Glenn/Continental area (for those of you still in Flagstaff or that used to live there like me). It was my mom's "dream house". When she was a little girl in South Africa, she read a book by Enid Blyton and in it there was a picture of an English Tudor home that she'd always loved. Our home was an English Tudor.

Our Flagstaff, AZ home on Raintree Circle

 We had wallpaper in EVERY ROOM IN THAT HOUSE! We also had "Dusty Rose" carpet in every room except for the rooms my brothers had, and they were blue. My dad landscaped the yard beautifully, he spent ALL the time he could on that yard- front and back. There were 2 ponds- one in front and one in back, a stream with a bridge, a hammock in the back next to the pond, a veggie garden on the side yard with a stepping stone path to it, a compost pile, a beautifully manicured Clematis vine (you can see in the picture) that climbed the face of the house during the summer months, and the list goes on. I loved being in our yard. I loved sitting on the front porch there and looking at the beauty my dad had created. We also would go on a search for Aspen trees to plant out in the forest in my dad's 1979 Dodge Ram (with NO power steering)! He found one especially for me, and it eventually grew to be the largest in the yard (in my head anyway). For a long time we were the only ones in the cul-de-sac too, and my neighbors Jill & Beth and Michelle & I used to play house out in the pine trees and make rooms out of pine needles. 
The house had 5 bedrooms, 4 upstairs and my parents master was downstairs. There was a loft up above the garage as well In what was first my sister Delinda's room, there was a "cubby hole" in the closet that when you went in to it was the opening between the slants in the roof and the walls in the bedrooms on that side of the house. Delinda made it her little safe place I guess, she took pictures of surfers out of magazine and stapled them to the walls (if you could call them that) and had lots of hidden things in there. The surfers were because she missed life back in Cali I guess. It was mostly used for storage, but that was a fun little spot to hide in. I remember it being kind of dark and creepy but fun because it felt so "secret".
There was a window in the bathroom upstairs that if I got on top of the clothes hamper below it, I could crawl out of and sit on the roof of the house. I liked it up there. It was where I went to be alone and to think. Although not very safe, it was definitely quiet and private. I love the sunsets in Flag and that was one of the best places to watch it. It had a good view of the backyard and of the neighborhood below. I always went out barefoot so that my feet could keep traction on the grittiness of the roofing shingles.
We had seminary a few years up in that loft above the garage, dad put up drywall for walls and painted a scene from the Old Testament on it with Brother Dohrmann. We also used that for storage some years, we used it to do haunted houses, we used it to hide and roll up paper and light it on fire and pretend to be smoking (haha), we had a BIG table my dad built out of plywood that had different sections on it- and we found different kinds of rocks and each had their own section. Like turquoise or quartz or fools gold. That was probably the beginning to my interest in Geology and my short lived school career where I majored in it.
Flagstaff has a lot of skunks. And there were a few that managed to find their way IN to the house. There was a direct walkway from the front hall, in through the kitchen, through the laundry room out to the garage. In order to save money on air conditioning, dad would often open all the doors and windows in the evenings to cool the house down. Well... one night two skunks ventured their way on to our driveway. One got REAL gutsy and walked right on through the garage in to the laundry room and that is where he was discovered about to make his way in the to kitchen! I don't remember how, but my dad had to carefully remove him from the premises as to not frighten him making him spray in the house!!! He was successful, but I just remember how scared we all were he would, and how we laughed about it afterwards.
Our dining room also doubled as a library. It was basically floor to ceiling shelves of books. I remember using the set of Encyclopedias on the bottom shelf for book reports. Isn't that crazy? Our kids probably wont even know what those are thanks to the Internet. Speaking of the Internet... I had my first experience ever with the Internet in that house!
Mom taught piano and voice lessons in the living room. That is also where were almost always had our Christmas trees as well. You could kind of peek down from the stairwell above in to that room on Christmas morning to see what kinds of presents we got.
My brother Greg had a bad relationship with the stairs. He would frequently fall UP them! He didn't live at the house very long, he was a senior when we moved to Flagstaff and then went on his mission right after that and then moved to UT after that. But anytime he'd come home to visit or even when he did live there... we'd occasionally hear a few thuds and know it was Greg and the stairs having a fight!
Our family room had a wood burning stove that we used in the winter. I loved watching my dad make fires in it. And I loved listening to it. It was so cozy, especially on those frequently cold, snowy, windy days there in Flagstaff. It was a Country Blue color and very my mom's style. She liked the "country" theme.You can see a smidgen of it below. The dollhouse was one that my dad put together for me, it was almost a replica of our house.

Mom & Dad with the doll house he built me in our family room

I slept in every room in the upstairs by the time everyone else had moved out. I'm the youngest and Delinda is 5 1/2 years older than me so I had the upstairs to myself for a few years. My first room was in the front of the house, I got to pick out my own wallpaper and chose one that was pink with cute little hearts. I had a really cool window seat that doubled as a toy chest. The second room was even cooler, we changed it from a boys room (Greg's) to a much more feminine and older room with bedding that matched the valances and everything. I slept in the other two rooms, ending in what was once Delinda's room. It had wallpaper that looked like clouds. (I wasn't kidding when I told you that EVERY.ROOM had wallpaper!)
I really loved that house. I was heartbroken when my parents called and said that they were moving to Logan, UT and that they were selling. I often wonder what has been done to that house. I'm almost positive that the ugly (sorry mom) carpet and wallpaper were taken out, and that everything looks totally different. The front yard does anyway, no more beautiful landscaping- the new owners let the little Aspen trees take over the yard and you can barely even see the front of the house anymore.I loved that house as if it was a family member, I know that sounds weird... but it was such a huge part of my life and was always so super special to me. I know my parents both still miss it, maybe not Flagstaff itself but the house. I hope that the new owners are loving it and living in it as happy as we were.