Arizona Vacation

December 13th we headed out ahead of the snowstorm to Arizona for a visit with Gary's family down there. We only had bad roads to travel from Las Vegas, NM to Albuquerque and from Heber, AZ to Payson, AZ. While we were enjoying warm (although rainy) weather in Fountain Hills it was below zero at home. I think I must have taken around 120 pictures so I have picked out some of my favorites to share. Some are just scenery because it was so beautiful.

This was the sunset on Sunday evening just before we pulled in to Fountain Hills.

Jodi's neighbors have a grapefruit, orange and lemon trees that had nice ripe fruit. We got to pick a few of the grapefruit and oranges to bring home. Can't beat fresh picked fruit!

Jodi's family: Jared, Jodi, Justin, John, Jordan and Jake

This horse was so fascinating, we spent quite a long time trying to figure out what all it was made out of. Enlarge the picture as see how many things you can find. He is rather large....at least 6 feet at his back.

Nearly everywhere you look in Fountain Hills the yards are landscaped using the Saguaro cactus. This one is the the yard behind John and Jodi's house.

Here we are getting ready to head north to Camp Verde where it would be a little cooler. It was about 65 degrees and the sun was shining this morning. It rained quite a bit while we were in the Phoenix area but always stayed in the upper 50's to lower 60's. I think I could get used to that kind of a winter!!

Gary, Ron and Harry deep in some kind of discussion.

This is looking down over Sedona, AZ from the airport road. It is really beautiful country up there and you could see the snow on the mountains in the distance. Sedona is known for the red rocks that just crop up in the strangest places. I took a lot of pictures of the rocks but you can't seem to get the full extent of their uniqueness in a picture.

Seems like we spent a lot of time eating but was always a good time to visit with relatives we don't see so often. Good food, family and fellowship!

Ron and Vic both look deep in thought in this picture. Maybe they just didnt want to look up into the camera again.

Sunday morning before meeting we looked out the front window and saw this hot air balloon coming our way. I guess they give rides when the weather is good.....which is quite often in Camp Verde. It does get cold (was down in the 20's overnight) but warms up during the daytime. But the best thing is that they don't have much wind. To them it is windy if it reaches 10 mph.

This is San Francisco Peak near Flagstaff and the view we saw as we were headed home Sunday afternoon. There was a lot of snow in Flagstaff but by the time we headed home the highways were clear. It is amazing the variety of scenery, landscapes and weather you can experience in Arizona.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Okay, it has been nearly 2 months since I have posted. It's not because there hasn't been something to say but because so much has been going on. Today is Thanksgiving so before I go further I hope you all have had a wonderful day full of family, fun, food and happiness. Gary, Craig, Krista and Scott are playing an intense game of cribbage and Kayleigh, Brooklyn and Keira are playing with the play dishes. They all think we haven't had enough to eat yet even though that is all we have done all day. Jocelyn is putting Hadley to bed and I finally have my feet up. It has been a good day and we have much to be thankful for.

My last post was of Keira's 1st birthday and since then we have celebrated Brooklyn's 2nd birthday, Sadie's (the dog) 3rd birthday, Kayleigh's 5th birthday, Craig's 27th birthday, Jaret's 25th birthday and Kara's 25th birthday. Needless to say all of the birthday cake and ice cream is awfully hard on a diet. I will post a few pictures of each birthday event first and then some miscellaneous pictures.

Brooklyn's birthday party was at our house and one of her gifts was a kitchen with dishes. She does a lot of "cooking" for us now. Kayleigh got to have her birthday at a kids party place called Kids Works and invited some of her friends from meeting and from pre-school. They fed the kids pizza, juice and cake and ice cream. They also got to play in a huge play area full of balls. We had a sale at the store for Sadie's birthday and she got to eat lots of doggie treats. Kara, Jaret and Craig had to share their birthday celebrations with the little kids but I don't think they minded.

Near the end of October Harry and Minnie came, along with Ron and Vic, for Lillie T.'s funeral. Krista, Scott, Kayleigh, Keira, Kara, Jaret and Evan were able to come for the weekend so they could spend some time with G-Grma and G-Grpa. After Kayleigh's birthday party we brought the girls home with us because Krista had to fly to North Carolina for a music teachers convention. We had a fun time at the store a couple of days with all four girls in there. Of course we didn't get much work done. A couple of Saturday's ago Orin set up his glass blowing equipment and did a demonstration for us and our customers. It is a fascinating art and Kayleigh was thrilled when he made a unicorn for her to take home. The last picture was taken today (after dinner from the looks of the faces). Unfortunately Kara, Jaret and Evan couldn't be here this year for Thanksgiving because of their jobs but hopefully we will get to see them this weekend.

1st Birthday for Keira and other grandkid pics

Keira had a CareBear birthday on Saturday (officially her birthday was today). All of the grandkids were there to help her celebrate so we decided it would be a good opportunity to get some pictures. Have you ever tried to get 5 kids to sit still and look the same direction all at one time? Needless to say we got some very interesting expressions on everyone's faces. I picked out the ones that were the best of the bunch.




















Keira, Evan, Hadley, Kayleigh, Brooklyn with Papa and Grammy and with their mommy's.













Evan and Kayleigh get away from the "little" kids to play some Wii and Brooklyn and Keira go nose to nose over the new birthday toys.















Hadley thought Auntie Kara had the best tasting thumb of all. Evan playing with some of the cars and tractors that belonged to his Daddy when he was a little boy. Keira looking outside and wishing she could play out there with the kitties.



Just some misc. shots of the kids from this summer. They are all growing up so fast. Evan is now in Kindergarten (and loves it), Kayleigh will be 5 in November and more than ready to be in school, but must wait a year. Brooklyn will turn 2 next weekend and there isn't anything she can't say or at least won't try to say. Keira started walking about 3 weeks ago so keeps her parents on the move and Hadley is nearing 5 months. Kara and Jaret are expecting a baby sometime in the spring so that will make an even half dozen grandkids. We love every single one of them and are so fortunate to get to spend so much time with them.

Alaska in August

Aug. 2nd, Gary, Rol, Dan and Bob flew out to Prince of Wales Island in Alaska for a week of fishing. They had a great time and caught lots of fish and saw some great scenery. Every morning and evening they set out crab pots and harvested the crab twice a day also. One day was spent on a charter boat halibut fishing and they caught lots of other kinds of fish too. Bob caught a 75 poung halibut. The first fish they caught after arriving in Alaska is shown in the picture with Dan and Rol. It was only a few inches long. Quite different from the next day when Bob caught the 75 pounder. While they were out on the charter a whale was very close by and doing a lot of showing off. He would wave his fins and tale and splash them hard into the water. Only one minor mishap marred the trip, Gary got a treble hook stuck in his chin and had to go to the island doctor to get it removed. He was also pretty bitten up by a black bug that he seems to be allergic to but I think even though he is still itching he would take the trip again. Dan did all of the picture taking and burned a disc for us with 163 pictures and about 10 videos on it so this is just a very small selection of shots.