Susan and Don!

Lake Tahoe/Yosemite

2011-08-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite to celebrate my 56th birthday. I had never been to either one and Don has fond memories of Yosemite going there as a child. I took lots of great pix and posted many on my facebook if you want to see more.

I didn't realize Lake Tahoe was so big! We drove all around it but stayed in Reno where hotels were more reasonable. I didn't post any pix here of Lake Tahoe. The following were taken in Yosemite. The last pix is Dog Lake where we hiked on my birthday. We figured we hiked around 6 miles and it was a great way to spend my birthday. I decided only Europeans visit there because almost everyone we met were from over there!

Wonderful adventuresome trip!

2011-06-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

I had a little shoulder surgery in early May which allowed me to take off work for six wks so a week after the procedure we left for our adventure. I figured I heal much faster having fun. We just traveled with a carry on so dealing with luggage wasn't too bad for my sore shoulder. We first flew to Omaha NE where we loved visiting Winter Quarters. I absolutely loved that place. I have an ancestor that died there and it was pretty awesome to be at her gravesite. We then flew to Rochester NY and drove to Niagara Falls then over to Palmyra where we spent four days. How we loved being there! We then flew to NYC where we booked a last min 9 day cruise going up to Canada. After many very busy traveling days this was very relaxing! We enjoyed asking other passengers about their previous cruises and one lady about our age said she was on her 64th! That blew me away. We do like to cruise and feel you get a lot for your money and really really enjoyed this cruise. We had some trouble getting out of NY (we fly standby) but finally I was able to get on a flight to Cincinnati then one after that to SLC. Don. Flew later to Cinn. Then onto Phx then SLC the next am. We spent a week there while Don worked on rentals. Unfortunately, I got pretty sick there with sore throat and flu like symptoms so I could't enjoy UT like I usually do. Now I am back at work and reality. I never really felt better so a throat culture today confirmed I have had strep the past two weeks! But what a great trip and adventure! Maybe I will post pix when I feel better.

Great Family Weekend!

2011-02-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

We had such an awesome time gathering in Vegas for a too short weekend. It seemed that nothing went as planned but it was so fun to be together for a little while. Sometimes it is nice having 2 sets of parents because they can switch places and take the picture! If you read Kamala's blog she tells a pretty good description of our weekend!

Aaron's graduation and Superstition hike

2010-12-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

It was a thrilling day to see Aaron graduate from Grand Canyon University with a degree in nursing. He was commissioned into the army during his graduation.

Camping in the Gila Box 11-10

2010-11-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

We really enjoyed our camping trip to the Gila Box the past 3 days. It is only 30 min from our house and just spectacular. This shot is a close up of some caves we hiked up to.

We expected to find a treasure or geo cache inside but only found bat guana :)

I never tire of this site - sunset on cliffs at campground.

Home sweet home! How I love the shower after riding all day!

View of 'Orange Cliffs' above campground on Bull Run rd.

Some of the roads were a bit precarious.

View we had while we lunched one day.

Midnight Canyon chock

My cousin Stephen joined us on our day trip to Midnight Canyon. He is crossing Bonita Creek.

Oregon Coast 10-10

2010-11-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful trip driving down the OR coast for 10 days. I took lots more pix and if interested you can see more on facebook. I loved being a bit cold and needing a jacket! We seldom saw the sun and that was fine with us. We also visited the Redwoods in N. CA.

2 grandbabies together!

2010-10-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Kamala and Chad had their baby, Gunnar Michael Crockett, on Sep 26th weighing 7# 15 oz. I was able to be with them and enjoyed that immensely as she was a pretty funny laboring woman! Heidi and Mary in UT didn't want to miss out on seeing sweet little Gunnar while he was still little so they drove down with four little ones including 6 wk old Bridger for a short visit. We all enjoyed their visit and wish it could happen more often.

Baby Bridger!

2010-09-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

Heidi and Bruce's baby was born 8-25 and I was able to go and help for a week. Here Brooklyn is telling him goodnight the night before he is born.

Heidi waits patiently to go for her C sec.

Isn't he adorable? Lots of black hair.

I included this pix because it cracks me up. Brooklyn was understandably a little scared of the hospital setting and her mom in a bed so at first she was more interested in playing on the computer where the nurse would chart!

I am showing little Bridger his first book! Well, I know his momma read hundreds of books to Brooklyn before he was born but this is his first up close and personal book! Amazon told me that babies see these colors first and just love this particular book.

such a cute little body!

I was able to capture one of his cute expressions

I just love looking out the window when I fly and never seem to tire of looking at this beautiful world from that perspective. I love flying over the Grand Canyon!

Now, I can't wait for Kamala and Chad's baby to arrive! I will sure enjoy loving on him often and not have to get on a plane and leave him!

Cluff Reunion at Sherwood Forest in Nutrioso and Mary's visit

2010-08-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Mary's family visited for a few days and the boys were trying to catch some kind of moth that were quite plentiful at wet canyon. Gotta love boys!

We had a family reunion with my siblings, our children and grandchildren and I counted 77 of us.

My sister Lori and Stacie. Stacie was telling Lori she remembers visiting her around age 10 and she made motherhood look so easy!

The mountain is absolutely gorgeous this year. The reunion is held in Nutrioso and we all just love it there.

Mary and Jeff's family right before they loaded up Sat. to go home. Porter was not happy to be leaving!

The girls spent much of the time getting their talent numbers ready. They choreographed them all by themselves this year and they were awesome!

For the talent show my gr. kids howled with their dog. It was pretty cute.

We all love Sherwood Forest!

flower for grandma!

Rylan paid us a visit in our trailer and we had quite a nice visit until his dad found him!

Uncle George and kids making a cup tower.

Ash Creek hike 7-24-10

2010-07-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

My bucket list item 'hike Ash Creek' can now be crossed off. Don and I hiked it yesterday with cousin Stephen's daughter, Cami and her husband David Fish, son Josh and her father in law and Ryan's daughter Maddy. It was really hard but so very beautiful. It has to be the most beautiful hike in AZ. I wish I had gotten a group photo of those that went.

1st pix is trailhead above Cluff Ponds in Pima. I love first light of day! We got up at 3 to leave at 4:15 to park the car with quad at 5 and reach the trail head a little before 6! It took us 7.5 hrs to hike up which is nothing to brag about except that we did make it! There are no pix past slick rock as it started pouring on us so my camera was put away. It is now a fun memory.

Hannigan Meadow overnighter

2010-07-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

I get maybe 2 Monday's off a month so once again I left my 'to do list' list and we headed up to Hannigan Meadow on Coronado trail -one of our favorite places to ride the bike. It is so drop dead gorgeous up there right now with the rains. After dinner and after the sunset Mon. we rode to Alpine and saw dozens of Elk in various places. It was so fun to be a little cold! We got soaked coming home Tue. but it cooled us off for that last hour ride from Morenci.

The Hannigan Meadow lodge has so much history and character. These stools were pretty cool in the restaurant I thought!

We walked down this road that had tons of butterflies! Most were this color but there were others as well. I remembered as a child catching them in a butterfly net but you don't see many of them any more.

We came to his meadow on a hike to Aker lake. So pretty up there!

Show Low trip and misc.

2010-07-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Daughters Heidi and Kamala are expecting a month apart and they were comparing bellies recently when Heidi was down for a few days. Heidi's daughter, Brooklyn, has the cutest faces!

My sister Tammy and Hartley are moving to Snow Flake. The double rainbow pix was taken from their property on a hill. They have a gorgeous view and can even see the Snowflake Temple from their house. We enjoyed walking around that Temple and seeing the pretty landscape and waterfall.

This outhouse has a gorgeous valley view and is located at heliograph if you want a great seat with a view!

Don and I enjoyed a wonderful hike yesterday and it rained coming down. I was sure glad I thought to bring ponchos!

This trail was magical after the rain! I wish I could memorize what it was like to the extent I could perfectly recall the memory like I was reliving it when life is stressful! We saw several deer and no humans on the trail - my kind of hike! This is one of my cousin, Stephen's, favorite trails and it was awesome yesterday!

My sister, Marcia, and I at our 2 gr grandfather's headstone. He led the 1st handcart company across the plains and we went to the family reunion in Show Low honoring him. He is buried in the Adair cemetery which was fun to find!

Hike down Ash Creek to the falls 6-21-10

2010-06-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to spend several days with one grandchild at a time and do fun things with them. This past week we had Megan, my oldest grand child who is now 11. Our big adventure was spending a few nights in the cabin at Columbine and hiking. We hiked down Ash Creek trail to the falls. There is a gorgeous picture in our new Temple in the chapel of these falls so I was anxious to see them in person. Megan did great on her first long hike. It was probably about 5 miles round trip.

We counted over 40 downed trees over the trail we had to climb over or under. This was no challenge for Megan but some of these places were a bit rough for us older folk!

We reached the falls! We had to leave the trail and hike down to this point to get a better view but it was worth it! We took the horse trail down to this point and went back up the shorter way through slick rock.

We all loved the slick rock portion of the trail. It was so pretty and hiking right by the creek was lots more fun that the safer horse route.

We were more than ready to stop here for lunch. The creek was really cold but felt so good on the feet!

These two pictures are on the trail up to Webb Peak which we hiked the next day.

These are more pix on the Ash Creek trail.

This pix was a group of us who hiked to the tree where Pres. Kimball carved his name the previous week. The tree is in back of our group: Jan Hunt, Jeanine Palmer Allred, Terry Blake, Don, Sarah Foote. I was proud of Sarah in our group who is blind but did rather well hiking! There were downed trees and creeks to maneuver over which is a challenge without sight!

Fun times with Carson

2010-06-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed having Caron here this week (Stacie's youngest). He is five and is a fun kid to be around. He is quite energetic (to say the least) so we were on the go alot. He also enjoyed lady bug saddle hike and the bugs did not dissappoint him. I really enjoy spending some time with grandkids one on one and get to know them better.

Kids love finding the 'treasure' the geo cache box at Lady Bug Saddle lookout.

This first pix was about the place on the trail where he was walking too close to the edge and he slipped down a few feet. I was a few feet ahead of him on the trail so it probably seemed like a long time before I reached him. When he got back up onto the trail he was a bit perturbed and said "this was seriously an emergency - why didn't you reach me sooner?" He says some pretty funny things I have tried to remember. The next pix is actually on a little trail going up from Wet Canyon. He felt pretty adventuresome and loved being the leader.

We waded down the creek at wet canyon and walked under the bridge which he thought was pretty cool.

Of course, there is always work to do at our house and he worked on and off picking up leaves and filled these trash barrels. I rewarded him with a .50 snow cone and he was thrilled! He finally got the last of these leaves picked up yesterday. Having Kamala here makes it nice for me to keep a grandchild since I work on M, W, and F's. He has been very good to play in the morning when he wakes early and not wake her up at the crack of dawn. He really cracks me up when he says things. When I put my swim suit on to go swimming with him he saw me coming down the hall and said "that is adorable!" I didn't feel very adorable but he made me laugh :).

Lady Bug trail #329

2010-06-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

My counsin Joyce Skinner has lots of kids that like to hike. I joined with her two daughters, Lisyl and Shelly and boys today for the hike from Turkey Flat to Lady Bug Saddle. We are preparing to hike Ash Creek so this was a nice steep one. Don is on his way back from London today!

Benjamin loved the lady bugs on top of the saddle.

He also loved finding the geo caches on the trail.

Shelly with daughter Jaime and son Benjamin.

I really need to learn the names of flowers! We saw so much of this one this spring. Does anyone know?

Never been here before!

2010-05-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

I love going down to the creek above Angle Orchard but had never been above the creek crossing on the trail leading to lady bug saddle from A. Orchard. I went with Kam/Chad this afternoon and it was quite warm! We need to find a better place to see the falls that are in the bottom right of this picture because they were not too visible from on top.

I love this shot. I had to crouch down under the fallen log to get this view of the creek.

I found this shot online of the Ash Creek falls. Does this picture look familiar???? I really want to go here!

Right this minute Don is on his way to London and I am left behind :( He served his mission there and has always wanted to go back. I can't wait to hear about his adventures. I wish I could have called in sick for a few weeks and joined him!

Shake trail, Turkey flat trail, Snow flat trail

2010-05-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

We parked our trailer in the campground at Twilight canyon on Mt. Graham for a few days. My son, Aaron came up and spent a few hours with us. This would be a great place to have a family reunion if we had the campground to ourselves!

We hiked a mile or so of the shake trail starting from the top. I didn't like it much at first as it was quite steep with lots of slippery pine needles but coming back up was much better. We have hiked this part way starting at Stockton Pass so it was fun seeing the top portion of the trail.

Past the outhouse at twilight canyon is a nice trail that leads to a canyon across from heliograph

On this same trail is a huge pile of rocks and when you climb to the top you see a nice view. Does anyone know how this pile of rocks got here???

Someday I am going to make a little photo album of all the pretty wild flowers we saw this spring. The year of our Temple dedication will probably be the best year for wild flowers! The desert rejoicefully bloomed! These pretty flowers were seen on the Angle Orchard trail.

This view is on the trail to Angle Orchard from Turkey Flat. If anyone knows how to get to that little body of water about in the middle of the pix let me know! We hiked from Turkey flat to A. Orchard. My knees do not like that much down hill!

Pretty manzanita blooming seen on Angle Orchard trail

On left is view from Turkey Flat to Angle Orchard trail. On R. is a nice little trail taking off from the other side of the pond at Snow Flat. It leads to an overlook.

My kids tell me all I ever post is camping/hiking pictures. Well, I work 14+ days most M,W,F's and it takes this kind of stuff for me to get my sanity back! I should have taken some pictures of the Gila Valley Temple during the open house and dedication but there have been fabulous pix online. I sure enjoyed these weeks though! I felt like attending the dedication was like a visit to Heaven! I am excited to go to a session in the morning! When my little grandson, Carson, toured the Temple during the open house he walked into the Celestial room and said "we are blessed!" I feel the same way!

Pueblo Park Campground

2010-05-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

We loved this place! The trees were huge and would really sway in the wind.

Neat trail by the Pueblo creek.

THIS is the reason you shouldn't drink from a stream not knowing what is upstream! It was so sad as her baby calf was nearby and very unhappy but wouldn't leave her.

Indian Cliff dwelling off the road going down to the Blue.

Don got the bright idea of hiking up to it which was quite the climb!

Climbing this tree which was hanging by a rope was the last challenge to enter the dwelling. We were not up to the challenge but enjoyed getting this close.

Goldie loves riding the quad and is feeling much better after her rattler bite last week.

Turkey Creek - Ash Creek - Hike above Ft. Grant

2010-04-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

This shot is some amazing Indian ruins up Turkey Creek by Aravaipa. We loved this trip because unlike Aravaipa (which is in the same area) we could ride our quad and see lots of country and not need a permit. Turkey creek was so fun and if you have an ATV this is a great place to go!

These pix are so out of order due to the new way you have to add pix but this is a snake we saw today on a hike above Ft. Grant to Soldier Creek. My dog, Goldie, was bit by a rattler yesterday and seemed better this am so we left her home and went hiking again since our hike yesterday was cut short by her getting bit. Anyway, I was telling Don on our hike today I would hate to get bit at this particular place because we were so far away from getting help. Just then this snake started moving by my foot and scared the jeemies out of me! It wasn't a rattler. Any guesses what it was?

We have seen tons of wild flowers on our outings this spring and I wish I knew the names of all of them? If you can identify any of these flowers please tell me!

Poor Goldie about an hour after she was bit by the rattler. We had to hike at least an hr to the quad then ride it down to the car taking over an hr. She was pretty miserable yesterday but better today.

Turkey Creek again. I would love to camp here except to get to the campground you need a small 4 wh drive as the road is horrendous.

3 days in the Chiricahua's

2010-04-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

We spent the last 3 days at one of our favorite places. I liked this shot with the moon.

Mushroom rock and kissing rocks below. Those rocks are kissing every time we see them!

Duck rock

Lunch spot on our drive over the Chiricahua's.

After our 8 mile hike Tue. I took a shower in our 'new to us' trailer and said 'this is the life!' When we woke up one morning and it was 35 deg and 42 deg in the trailer I was happy to turn on the heat too! I think we are going to love this toyhauler!

Lady Bug trail starting at Angle Orchard

2010-03-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

On the way back from the chiropractor (had to fix my broken body after all the quading!) I noticed it was an absolutely gorgeous day and NO wind! I just had to go for a hike so I headed out to Lady Bug trail at Angle Orchard. I love crossing Jacobson creek - it is so awesome there. You hear the creek long before you arrive and then get up close and personal with that handsome little rushing water. The poppies were so pretty on the drive.

View from the trail. I could only hike up about an hr due to a lunch appt. but hope to hike the whole trail some day - well at least to Turkey Flat.

Safford Morenci Trail Midnight Canyon Slot portion 3/20/10

2010-03-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

We rode our quad from the Riverview Campground and crossed the Bonita Creek on the Red Knolls Road. The roads are quite steep and rocky in places (to say the least!) and it took 3+ hrs riding time to get to the point where we could hike to this slot portion of the canyon but so worth it! We would love to get a big group of us together to do it again - not too smart to do it alone with just one quad! If something happened you would have to hike 25-30 mi or so to get back. After reading the adventuresome book by Aron Ralston who cut off his arm with his pocketknife when a chock or boulder trapped him I have been fascinated with slot canyons with chocks and this one has two!

See the little square lower center - that is an indian cliff dwelling granary.

Bonita creek on the Safford Morenci trail

Riverview Campground at Gila Box

2010-03-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary by taking our newly purchased tahoe and toyhauler to the Riverview campground in the Gila Box area. The steep gravel road gave us some trouble with back tires spinning but fortunately a jeep came along behind us. There wasn't much room to pass on either side but with a few inches of clearance it got by next to the wall and was able to pull us up the hill.

View from our campsite (Gila River below cliffs)

Morning light

We rode the quad for hours and would end up 20 mi or so from camp so luckily Don thought to bring along a patch kit for a hole in the tire! That would have been a very long walk back!

We were soon on our way again. Goldie loves the quad outings!

Tracks by the river. Can you guess the tracks? Racoon and some bird??? We need to learn our tracks!

Awesome views from East Bonita road

we crossed the high Bonita creek with trepidation!

We hiked a portion of the Safford Morenci trail which has a neat hx. Next 2 pix are from that hike.

Solomon Pass hike 3-6-10

2010-03-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

Don is in CA this weekend (he even went to Disneyland yesterday with family!) and I needed a good hike to start off today. This turned out to be more than I planned because I have this weird urge to climb to the top of ridges when I see them and look out. It always looks so easy from down below! I'm sure Disneyland has it's wonder but you can't beat the solitude than our nearby Gila Box area. I'm sure our grandkids would have much more excitement in their countenance at Disney Land than the top of this ridge though!

This is such a pretty view of our valley and Mt. Graham driving down the Solomon Pass road by the airport.

Ash Creek trail hike

2010-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun today! I had such a long list of things to do today and thought I would only take an hr for a hike but this adventure was just too inviting! We parked the car above Cluff ponds and rode the quad up an extremely rocky road about 3 miles to the Ash creek trailhead. This was sure lots easier than hiking that road like we did last time! We just love the part of the trail that joins up with Ash Creek. It is so pretty and fun hiking along the creek and hearing the water sounds. We keep working to get in shape to hike Mt. Graham hopefully in May! Goldie loves to ride and hike with us. Her fav. place is right where you see her and I sit in the back on that pillow. Fun time! We need to get Jody and Stephen to do this with us soon as they could ride their quad over from where they live.

Hike and quading today

2010-02-25T15:47:00.000-08:00

We took off for the hills at the bottom of Mt. Graham today for some hiking and quading. We were trying to find the Dutch Henry trailhead #297 on the East end of Mt. Graham but not sure we found it. Trailhead markers are sometimes hard to find! I thought it was funny watching Don load the quad in our little trailer but he manages!

You can't really see the awesome waterfall coming off the rock in the middle of this pix but it was pretty! We rode the quad quite a ways to find this neat little spot. I wish we had a pix of the 3 of us on our quad, Don, Goldie and me! That was quite a site I'm sure! Goldie loves it and likes to ride up front and help Don drive.

We hiked up this road/trail that had the most amazing rocks. I need to bring Rylan here!

We added a few rocks to our awesome collection that probably only Rylan would appreciate them!

Snow Shoe Fun!

2010-02-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

I had SO much fun today on Mt. Graham. My cousin Stephen and wife Jody took me with them. I had on snow shoes and they cross country skiid. I remember as a little girl seeing the snow shoes on Aunt Kathy and Uncle Darrel's wall and hearing about them snow shoeing to the cabin in Columbine and thought that would be so much fun. Don was going but he still isn't feeling good from this virus he has.

We saw wild turkey on the road

Stephen and Jody skiing (on the road to High Peak)

Talk about a place to recharge! I looked forward to this all day yesterday at work!

Eating our lunch sitting on a log

I can't wait to go again! I really think Don and I need to take up cross country skiing. It reminded me how much fun we had in college skiing. It was a very good workout today! We ended our outing by meeting Don at the Essence of Tranquility Hot Tubs! AAAAHHHHH that felt good!

UTAH!

2010-02-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Oh, I loved my trip to UT to see my kiddos. This pix is a favorite of mine. Don was fixing Mary's toilet and her 3 boys were watching. Don was explaining how a toilet worked and the boys were SO intriqued!

Sweet Kaymie and Brooklyn have so much fun together! They are 6 mo apart.

Jarom

Seth and Brooklyn; Kaymie and Porter

Brooklyn loves finger plays! We are doing "There was a little house in the middle of the wood" here. I sent a phone video of this fingerplay to Heidi's e-mail and I hear Brooklyn wants it to play all the time.

Solomon Pass Trek 1-26-10

2010-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

These pix aren't in the right order so use your imagination! We wanted a good hike today and went up the Solomon Pass road. We decided to hike up this road you see in the middle of the pix then walk along the ridge all the way to the left then back down the road you see on the far left. It looked so easy from afar - not so much in actuality!

My friend, Cathy Konopnicki took these pix the night of the recent stormy day at sunset. It is taken of Mt. Graham. So pretty!

When we finally made it to the top we had such a view (next 3 pix) to enjoy our lunch. 1st pix shows the Gila River (yeah - there is enough water in it to see it!).

This was pretty steep hiking!

Weathery week!

2010-01-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

I drove to Tucson Thurs and saw SO many rainbows! This pix doesn't do justice to the clarity and vibrance. I kept pulling off the road to take more rainbow pictures.

We went to Gila Box area yesterday and walked to this area where the river forks in 3 directions. The river sure was flowing after all the rain we have rec'd. We didn't start out the day intending to go here but it was so gorgeous outside we couldn't go home.

The mt. looks so glorious with all the snow.

addicted to gorgeous world

2010-01-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

I decided I have to get outdoors to get recharged. Working 14 hrs every M, W, F is just the pits and my days off go by much too fast. I popped outside for a min. Mon at work when I saw this gorgeous sunrise and took the sunrise pix. Today I had a million things to do but just had to hike a bit as that is when my legs/feet feel the best from this stupid neuropathy. I love the part of the trail going up from Angle Orchard that crosses the creek. I could spend a few days here! We are so blessed to have such a beautiful world! I feel bad for you city folk who can't get out often enough.

Hike to Box Canyon 1/9/10

2010-01-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

We went hiking to Box Canyon N. of Ft. Thomas yesterday with Terrel Taylor as our guide. Brenda and Tom Blake joined us. It was a beautiful day perfect for a hike! Does this cactus have enough arms do you think?

End of the canyon

Cool arch!

Beginning of the canyon

Goldie went after this cow but the cow started charging her and she changed her mind! It was pretty funny. Tom tried to feed the cow an apple but this cow wasn't too trusting.

Last night Don make this concoction that sounded pretty gross to me but he likes it. Graham crackers with applesauce over it and cream or milk poured over it all. But after I thought about it I was reminded of something my danish mother-in-law used to make. She would brown bread crumbs in butter and put applesauce over that with half/half on top and some danish dessert poured on top. It must be a European thing? Anyone else eat anything simliar?

Last night when we were kneeling for prayers Don grabbed my robe off the bed saying he needed a prayer robe to keep him warm while we were praying. We go back and forth over the proper temperature of a bedroom. He prefers the high 60's and I prefer low 50's with the window wide open. I thought this picture was too funny!

New Year's 2010!

2010-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I spent a New Year's Eve in Silver City NM but we did and loved it. We stayed at the Econo Lodge there which has an indoor heated pool and jacuzzi which felt good after a long hike that day. Goldie experienced her first hotel stay and did rather well! We have been wanting to go to the Cliff Dwellings 2 hrs N of SC so that was our reason for the trip. We went by way of the Catwalk up mule creek and enjoyed a hike there going further up than we have previously on the Whitewater Trail #207. This 1st pix was actually taken at Roper Lake of Mt. Graham. The next 3 are at the Catwalk. We ventured off on a trail near the end of the catwalk trail and it took us quite high with some scenic views. We love hiking in the winter and find we have much more stamina. All these pix were taken with my cell camera since I forgot my other camera and I thought they turned out decent.

These next 4 pix were taken at the City of Rocks State Park in NM. It was a pretty cool place with camping facilities. You didn't see any rocks for miles and miles then there is this little city of rocks all by their lonesome. The grandkids would love this place!

The pix' below were taken at the Gila Cliff Dwelling. It was such a fun wintery cold hike with snow on the ground up to the dwellings. If you like to see sites where Indians used to live in cliffs this is an awesome place because you go right up inside of them which is a much better experience than the Mesa Verde in CO. We are just so amazed people could live this way.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009 went by much too fast this year! I only had 2 days off work, Thur and Fri. Thursday we drove to Tucson and spent the day with Kristi, Rich, Jme, Mark and families (Don's 2 daughters.) We had a very nice visit with all of them and left early Christmas morning to drive back home where we enjoyed a nice Christmas breakfast with Chad's parents and family. Leslie and Jon Crockett have a nice Christmas breakfast every year and it was very good! We were sort of tired after that from the festivities and driving thus far but decided to go on a motorcycle ride and hike rather than take a nap! We rode to Angle Orchard and started walking up the Lady Bug trail. It is 6-7 mi or so to Lady Bug Saddle but we turned around after about an hour. It was fun hiking in snow though!

Short hike on a gorgeous day

2009-12-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

We were finally able to go on another hike. Our bodies sure get out of shape in a hurry! This one left from Stockton Pass on the other side of the mt. It wasn't real steep which was nice and we hiked for about 4 hrs.

Thanksgiving 2009!

2009-11-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

This year we were lucky to have 4/5 my children (Mary and Jeff missing) and Don's 2 daughters come for TG. I thought I took more pix than I did and definitely need someone else taking pix when we all gather as too many things are on my mind than recording it all! We sure enjoyed watching the kids/grandkids get to know each other a little bit. I wish I had taken each family's pix. We need to do the weekend all over again and focus on more pix!

Sisters sharing secrets and being silly.

Rylan Harmon

After TG dinner we went rock climbing which was great fun for all these boys! Here is Skyler Chase going 1st!

Isabela wants to rock climb too!

Trevor Chase

Trevor did great!

I called Amanda (Aaron's friend) spider woman because she scaled the rocks like a pro.

Mark MacArthur (Jme's husband) made it!

Stacie with their new puppy.

All the kids loved playing games with Mark

Don and Kristi checking black Friday's ads to see how they compare to yardsale prices!

Brooklyn (Heidi and Bruce's) is hoping no one catches her sneaking into the bathroom to play in the potty!

The game Aaron played as a kid was a favorite (knock the army man over with a marble)

Amanda found her very own chair!

Another game

Happy Brooklyn!

Rylan was so cute to collect favorite rocks where ever we went. Sat. I took Stacie's boys to Roper Lake and he had his pockets full!

So sad the weekend with everyone here passed too quickly! Thanks all for coming!

Ash Creek trail going up Mt. Graham 11-16-09

2009-11-16T17:59:00.001-08:00

We headed up for a hike today on the Ash Creek Trail. It was a glorious day for a hike!
While we were eating lunch by the creek I looked over and saw this little cactus growing out of the rock. What a cute little guy.

Some of the trees were turning and so very pretty.

If you look closely almost in the middle of the picture you can see our new Temple! It will be dedicated next April or May and we are so excited! We just had Sk. Conference and heard from Pres. Keith Crockett who was recently called to be the Gila Valley Temple Pres. We loved his talks (and all the others!)

These pix of the two of us are always a little dorky 'cause for some reason I am elected to set the camera on auto and run for the pose before it clicks. This was such a pretty spot - called Oak Flat we think.

Oak Flat - too bad the pictures don't show just how pretty it was. We hiked forever to reach this spot and just as the hike was getting interesting we had to turn around and come back. We started at 10:40 and returned to the car at 4:30 and were pooped!

We went to Tucson last Thur. and it was fun to spend a little time with Mark, Jme and cute little Isabela who is 2 going on 12! We watched the movie UP with them and in one part she turned around to her daddy and asked "what is going to happen next daddy!?"

Rock Climbing w/Kamala and Chad 11/7/09

2009-11-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Kamala and Chad love to rock climb but I have never watched them so I went along today. One of the places they go is located off the hwy to Clifton in a slot canyon. It is a fun walk to this gorgeous canyon.
Chad is attaching the carabiner (?) to the hook in the wall.

Chad has been doing this since high school and makes it look so easy!

Kamala goes up.

Almost to the top - well not even the top! I was surprised they didn't go all the way to the top but Chad said that isn't the purpose. I would want to stand on the very top and look around! You climb all that way and don't even to go the top??? Now as a hiker I just don't get that.

Aren't they a cute climbing couple? I'm sure their kids will be rock climbing at a young age.

Fall on Mt. Graham Matt and Kristin Halloween

2009-11-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

Matt and my niece Kristen came by with their cute kiddos Halloween night. Kristen made their costumes from the play Wicked. They all looked so cute!
Pix from Mt. Graham. I just love fall colors and wish we saw more of them here!

Chiricahua's with Kristi, Connor and Skyler 10/15/09

2009-10-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

After an immensely stressful busy 15 hr day at work Wed. Don and I were able to leave Thur am for a few days at the Chiricahua's. Don's daughter, Kristi was able to meet us there with her two youngest boys. It was great fun seeing them again and watching the boys enjoy the cool stuff there. It is a boy's paradise (as long as they don't get hurt!) The next pix is a deer that was walking up the trail we were walking down. We finally bored him and he bounded up the cliff like he had wings. Doing things like this totally rejuvenates me to go back to the stressful job.
The rock formations are so amazing there! You can see for miles in some places.

Connor and Skyler having quite the adventures exploring.

They are very good climbers! Skyler is 9 and Connor is 5. We all did a 4.2 mi hike and the boys did very well! Kristi is doing a great job starting them young hiking. We met an older man on the trail that was glad to see 2 youngsters hiking. He said "I can't get my grandkids to leave the tv set."

Isn't this amazing? This was taken on the Echo Canyon trail down to the Grottos. I wished my grandkids could have enjoyed the hike with us. All the kids would have loved the grottos!

There were many Mexican jays at our campsite.

They got quite assertive! This one jumped onto my lap and grabbed this bread!

The temps were warmer than we anticipated but we had a very enjoyable time. We love the Chiricahua's!

Weekend at Time Out For Women with Kamala

2009-10-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days in Mesa and attended 'Time Out For Women' which is an event sponsored by Deseret Book. We heard wonderful speakers: Brad and Debi Wilcox, John Bytheway, Emily Watts, Emily Freeman, Wendy Ulrich and Kris Belcher and heard music from Jenny Oaks Baker and Kenneth Cope. We laughed, cried and soaked in the wonderful feeling of being amongst such wonderful people (1800 women!)
It was fun to spend this time with Kamala. She is currently working 2 jobs while Chad is in school full time and needed this time out as much as I did! She is such a fun person to be with and I love hearing her stories.
I enjoyed 2 good walks while in Mesa also. Thur. morning I went with Stacie, Carson and her friends along the canal and walked/jogged for 1 hr 15 min. I love a good workout first thing in the morning and wish I could do that every morning. Fri. I went with Austin and went almost as far and had a very good talk with my oldest grandson. Gosh I love that kid. I wish I had gotten a pix of us walking/talking. He is such a reader that he is fun to talk to.
My moms birthday was a few days ago. Lately I have been hearing her tell me something she said a lot as I was growing up "A place for everything and everything in it's place." I have been trying to declutter and keep things in their place! I am so blessed to have such a mother as I have.

Quading at Gila Box Area 10/06/09

2009-10-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the Gila Box area to ride our quad on a gorgeous day. This is actually called Jones Road but should have been called Rocky Road! I took the picture riding on the back so you see our lunch container on the front. We saw 4 deer right off the bat which was fun, 2 mamas and 2 babies.
There are always gorgeous flowers on our outings!

We went where we shouldn't have and tried to find our way to another road by going down this wash. We weren't successful in finding the road so we had to backtrack. A friend from work, Neil, came too and he had a great time. He tried to go over this log but they ended up moving it.

They had to make a path much of the time down this wash. Don would often say "now I know what the pioneers went through." Lol.

One rocky wash!

Neil saw this rattle snake slithering across the road so we stopped to take a pix of it. I think it is a Mohave Rattle Snake and sure was ready to strike! As much as Don and I are out in the desert this was the first rattle snake we have seen.

Wet Canyon jaunt between sessions

2009-10-03T19:06:00.001-07:00

Sat 10/3 we threw some thing together for a lunch and jumped on the goldwing motorcycle and headed up to Wet Canyon. It rained last night and everything was so nice and crisp! We walked up the creek and everything was just so pretty!

Do you recognize this? I thought it looked pretty cool close up.

Some signs of fall. These pix really don't do justice to how nice it was up there. We just love the mt!

We felt like rock climbers some of the time! Chad and Kamala would laugh at that after the rock climbing they do!

Picnic by creek after we returned from our short hike.

Goldwing trip 9/24/09; Ladybug trail hike 9/25/09

2009-09-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

On Thur. 9/24 we left for a day trip on the Goldwing. This pix was taken approaching a valley after we left Lordsburg. We went to Duncan/Lordsburg and down hwy 80 intending to see the Paramore crater which is on our atlas but there was no sign stating where it was. You'd think if it was a point of interest on a map there would be mention of it on the highway! After we left Douglas we headed back north on hwy 191 and had time for a quick hike at one of our favorite places - Chiricahua mts! Not long after we left Safford Don stopped on the side of the road to take a call and I watched a beetle push the biggest load I have ever seen. I thought this is sure something you don't see traveling in a car! There is just nothing like heading out on the bike for some getaway time! I had worked 2 - 15 and 16 hr days this week and I was in need of this very thing.

We stopped outside Rodeo, NM (did you know there was such a place?) at a very neglected playground for our lunch (avocado sandwich) picnic. I love eating in places like this with quite the panaramic views. Look up Rodeo, NM and read about it and you may want to go there!

We were so excited while driving in the Chiricahua's to spot coatimundi's! They are a mammal in the racoon family and I had never seen them before. We spotted about 8, some quite small, off the road. It is hard to spot here but look to the right of the base of the tree and you will see one. Funny thing is the next day when we went hiking on Mt. Graham and stopped at the apple orchard we saw more! I didn't know we had any on our mt.

We hiked the sugarloaf mt. trail and I thought this was a cool place right on the trail.

Oh, the views from being up high! There is just nothing like it. You feel you can see forever.

I thought this was a unique shot but then Don suggested the next 2 views!

This was a rock cavity that sure would have come in handy in our downpour hike the week previous when we got drenched! We left the Chiricahua's right after sunset and saw so many deer! It was fun to watch them get through a bobbed wire fence. One just seemed to fly right through it, another went up and down searching for a place to fit underneath. It was fun riding home watching a gorgeous sunset turn the sky a magnificent orange.

The following pictures are taken on our Lady Bug trail hike on Fri. on Mt. Graham. We first arrived at the trailhead when I noticed I forgot my hiking boots! Who goes hiking and doesn't remember their hiking shoes???? So down the mt. we went and ended up starting the hike at 11:10 and finished at 3:30. It was a hard hike but quite fun.

Trailhead found on left side of road approaching Turkey Flat cabin area. This is a fun hard hike and quite steep. There are a few good vistas along the way. Part of the trail is quite rocky. We questioned only 1.5 mi to the saddle but when it is quite steep it always seems further!

Don't you want to step right into this picture and start hiking??? I texted Kamala while we were hiking telling her we were doing the trail we (Kam, Krista Barney and myself) did in 1997 when she was 11 and I had to bribe her to finish it with a DQ blizzard. She said I would have to bribe her to do it again!

We saw lots of signs of bear but no bear :(

Lookout from above Lady bug saddle. We found a geocache up there without even looking. We left a blue bird feather. So if you want a lovely blue feather . . .

I just love the view of a great trail! What a handsome man is on this one!

It is always so nice after a long hike to arrive back at the car. Don was sure someone would drive by and steal this gem of a car but thankfully, it was still there! He is very proud of his unique red bumper! 2 days very well spent!

Ouray and Silverton CO 9/09

2009-09-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

The Ouray, Bluff and Canyon de Chelly pix's are all the same trip. We were gone 7 wonderful days and had fun hikes, nice camping a few nights and great vistas along the way! If you visit our blog please leave a comment re: any fun future trips we should plan! We love going places, seeing things and hearing from friends and family!

Pretty little view of Ouray taken from our hike on the Ouray Perimeter trail.

We hiked about a mile thinking we would just see these falls (Cascade) but then found a perimeter trail which turned out to be a great hike.

Don talking to his son-in-law Rich above Box Canyon in Ouray (neat tunnel)

The mining deposits make the water in this river (Uncompahgre River)in Ouray a very unique color. Notice how it stains the rocks along the river?

The leaves were starting to turn and quite spetacular.

Good shot of Ouray (pronounced u-ray) on our hike

We saw so many deer just driving through Ouray. This one cracked us up standing up eating the leaves on this apple tree. He didn't want the apples just the leaves.

Northward from Ouray - pretty valley. It reminded me of the valley we went hot air ballooning in that valley in WA - remember Heidi and Kam?

Looking south to Ouray

This home up high on a cliff looked a little precarious - hmmm wonder what an earthquake rumble would do?

We had a picnic by this river near Silverton. Don is always interested in the temperature so we travel with a thermometer (lol) and we thought this water was around 40 but we guessed wrong - it was 50 deg. Why is it when the temp is 50 you are pretty comfortable but if you stick your hand in 50 deg water it freezes and turns numb???? Don should have been a weatherman because he is always asking these sorts of questions.

These pictures really don't portray the beauty we saw!

It was COLD when we came out of our tent that morning! Ok - it was only 40 but we weren't dressed for temps that cold. Our sleeping bag that came from Wiggy's in Grand Junction CO did keep us warm though! Thanks Bryan and Cheryl for picking them up!

This is the view we had when we popped our heads out of our tent - snow on the peaks!

This store window in Silverton cracked us up - chocolate covered insects! yum!

Our nice little secluded spot by a river. We thought it would be lovely to listen to the river while going to sleep. It was nice indeed along with the sound of rain all night! I had dreams of the river floating us away due to all the rain!

On our way home we had more rain. This storm spanned the horizon for MILES! We planned this trip thinking we were going to ride the goldwing but Don had some minor surgery the day before we left (skin ca rem'd) right where the helmet would rub against the stitches so we took the car. It rained on us ALOT so we were glad we took the car even though the fuel pump was going out and it was trickery going uphill, switching to propane when we needed power, and gas going level or downhill. Finding propane stations open was not fun.

Monument Valley and Bluff, UT

2009-09-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

After leaving Canyon de Chelly we drove through Monument Valley. Oh, it was glorious with rain clouds, rain, rainbows and amazing rock formations.

I wanted to go to Bluff, UT (our next stop) after reading Gerald Lund's book "The Undaunted" which tells of the hole-in-the -rock pioneers who were called to settle along the San Juan river. The book was awesome and I would love to do the whole route from Escalante to Bluff which requires a 4 wheel drive. This next pix is taken from a walk from our motel to the river and a deer was spotted. The path was very dusty and we got quite hot. I certainly commiserated with what those pioneers went through! Ha! I don't know a partial speck of what they went through!

San Juan river view at Bluff

We went to a museum in Bluff and this charming older lady talked to us for sometime. She is the grand daughter of Jens Nielson whom was the danish Bishop of the hole-in-the-rock pioneers whom I grew to love in the book. It was so fun meeting her! She is pictured with one of the wagons used to bring them on their arduous journey.

Canyon de Chelly 9/11/09

2009-09-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

We hadn't planned on stopping at Canyon de Chelly but thought we would when we spotted it on the map. We ended up spending a day and half here because it was so beautiful and interesting. There is a nice campground there where we spent the night. We took a 3 hr jeep tour in the bottom of the canyon - next time we will opt for the all day one! It was great! It is so amazing that people lived in the cliffs long ago. We would love to go back in time and live with them for a few days!

Columbine cabin 8/30-9/2

2009-09-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

I didn't take any pix but we sure enjoyed our 3 days on the mt. Some friends came up and spent 1 night, the Stearns, which was great fun. We enjoyed a nice hike on Mon. then a salmon lunch on the grill before they left. We felt like we were in heaven sitting on the porch with the beautiful view eating a delicious lunch with good company.
Tue. Don and I thought we'd head down the Ash Creek trail for about an hour then hike back up. The trail is quite steep so we didn't want to do more than we could handle. It was SO fun going down we kept going further than we had planned. I was hoping we could make it to slick rock but we turned around probably about 1/4-1/2 mi before. It is so easy going downhill! We were surprised though that we made it back up in about the same length of time as going down hiking a little over 4 hrs total. After eating and resting some we wanted to hike some more so we headed back to the place Stephen and Jody had taken us to the tree where Pres. Kimball carved his name, when I don't know. I remember Rick Lines taking us there many years ago when I was 3 mo. pregnant with Kamala. Wed. we had a leisurely morning then packed up, cleaned the cabin some and headed down the road stopping at Grant Loop for another hike. I like the Grant Loop hike because there is a gorgeous overlook area where you can see much of the S side of the mt. overlooking Ft. Grant area. We felt very good being able to have three wonderful days of hiking. Why is hiking for several hours easier than working?????
Don headed back to Tucson then SLC Thur. and I have been able to keep excercising every day since then. I have been motivated to do so after reading a book Jody recommended - "Younger Next Year for Women." I really want to feel the best I can as I age which is happening faster than I can believe! I recommend this book as well.
We are headed to Ouray, CO this Thur. on the motorcycle so that should be an adventuresome trip!

Hospital Flat on Mt. Graham 8-03-09

2009-08-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed the mt. so much last week that we decided to spend my b'day on the mt. again this week on my days off. It is so much cooler up there! My cousin Stephen and wife, Jody were at Hospital Flat in their trailer and so we camped by them and enjoyed 2 great hikes. I was sad not to see any bear though, because there are reports of high activity on the mt. even on the radio!

(Below) Jody loves this tree (see how it curves 90 deg. as it grew?) and was positioning herself like the tree.

There is a cool fort near where we camped I want my grandkids to see!

Columbine

2009-07-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

I forgot the camera but we enjoyed 2 days and night at Columbine in the cabin on Mt. Graham. Gosh, I love it there -- one of the best places on earth! It was so nice to sleep under blankets, sit outside while the foil dinners were cooking and see a sky full of stars and bright bright moon. Today we enjoyed some nice hiking and wild raspberries. I love Mt. Graham!

ALASKA! July 09

2009-07-26T15:59:00.001-07:00

Don was able to book a cruise to AK not too long ago and he believes in getting inside cabins which I have a hard time in - (a little claustrophobic or something). Don was returning the rental car when I embarked and I was SO shocked and excited to find they upgraded us for free to a window! I sure enjoyed having a window!!!!! I had to take my own pix to remember this moment!

We sailed out of Anchorage and ended in Seward on Celebrity cruise line which I highly recommend. The food was better than NCL in my opinion. Oh, those cool temps were nice! We spent a day in Vancouver and that was pretty fun having awesome cool weather.

This was one of my meals - quail. Oh my gosh every bite was so good! I really enjoyed the food (too much). There is food in heaven, right? They had a choice of wonderful desserts and everyone teased Don because he ordered apple pie alamode every night! After a while the waiter just brought it to him without even getting his order. Every since hearing about creme brulee on some movie (My Best Friend's Wedding?) I wanted to try it and it is yummy!

Watching the sun set from the ship was amazing. It took hours and didn't go down - it went sideways! It is unbelievable how long it takes the sun to actually go down once it is this close. At 11:00 p.m. it is still light! I loved having light so much but the winters wouldn't be so nice.

We never tired of looking at the rain forests and hiking in them which we did numerous times.

We hiked up and around Mendenhall glacier which was pretty fun! On one of our hikes our guide hiked the Appalacian trail in a 6 mo period! Wow - can you imagine doing that?

Wouldn't you love to get excercise on a trail like this every day??? We sure would.

After one of our hikes we took a raft trip down a river which sure was awesome. I could have rafted all day.

Oh, I love the rain forest! Why can't AZ have these????

It was cold at the Hubbard glacier but so beautiful!

Aren't the different colors of blues awesome!

This view was from Hatcher Pass trail hike we went on by Palmer AK where we stayed after we left the ship.

We hiked up to this lake and the water was freezing and people were swimming!

View in Denali Park. We really loved it here. We took a tour on a bus (private cars are not allowed in) and saw moose, caribou, pmarmigan, hare, dahl sheep, golden eagles, bears and cubs, a huge moose and other moose. I was surprised it was so exciting to see all the wildlife but it was great!

Not a great view of Mt. Denali but we were excited to see it! It is usually covered with clouds. It is the highest peak in the U.S. at 20k feet. At any given time there are 400 people trying to hike it. We have no desire to do that!

Grizzly and cub not far from our bus.

We had a wonderful 7 day cruise and it passed much too quickly. After we deported we took a train to Anchorage. The views were absolutely amazing. If you ever find yourself in that area I strongly encourage you to take that train trip. We saw some of the most amazing views from the train. We rented a car in Anchorage and drove north about an hour to Palmer where Don's son has a friend and we stayed with them. They are a neat family and have a great lifestyle (no tv and lots of outdoor stuff.)

Our trip home didn't go as planned - flying standby didn't happen as our half empty plane was taken over by Continental fliers when their flight was cancelled. A very very nice lady, LuAnn Callahan, who was flying standby as well took us home with her and we really enjoyed getting to know them. They have great views from their home and a mt. trail out their door that is awesome! Walking on that trail sure beats walking around my circle for excercise! I was so very sad to miss my niece's wedding though :). We ended up buying some very pricey tickets to get home but I did get home in time for the reception in Safford. All my kids came except Heidi. Mary and Jeff are moving to UT so this was a last get together for awhile for all us.

Aaron's adventure

2009-07-02T17:33:00.001-07:00

Aaron joined the Army ROTC to help pay for his schooling and is off for a month leadership training at Ft. Knox. There is a website where many pix are posted of their activities and I found some of him. This one was taken by Stacie. I look at him and it seems so surreal like he is dressing up for Halloween or something.

The website is http://www.usaac.army.mil/acce/ltc/multimedia/index.html and he is in company 4 if you want to see bigger pix.

Bike trip to Greer 6-29-7-1 09

2009-07-02T16:16:00.001-07:00

We rode up to Greer on the bike on Monday morning since I had another few days off. It was a wonderful few days and the perfect way to unwind after 3 weeks of lots of work. If you haven't been to Greer you should go - it is a small place but there are several good restaurants and not tons of people.
This was taken from the lodge where we stayed the 1st night in Greer. These ponds are catch and release trout fly fishing ponds and it was fun to watch people fish as we ate dinner. I of course ordered trout.

View from porch at the lodge. Can you see the deer? There were about 8 that evening.

Stream by the ponds. There are tons of cabins to rent at this resort and it would be a great place to hold a family reunion. http://www.greerlodgeaz.com/home

View from where we stayed the 2nd night in Greer. This pix was taken out our back door. We enjoyed watching lots of birds and several deer in this meadow. I saw the bluest bird I have ever seen here. I wish I knew the name of every bird, flower, plant, tree out in the woods! It was very therapeutic!

Big Lake - I hadn't been here since I was a little girl and I think I came with Uncle Dell and Aunt Bardo. There are a few huge campgrounds and lots of fishermen! I was jeolous they were getting to eat fresh trout for dinner. It was an enjoyable ride over to Big Lake. Next trip we take poles and licenses!

I had this bright idea to bring the small campstove to cook oatmeal on for breakfast. I loved it!

Don enjoying his oatmeal (well not quite enjoying because I forgot sweetener for the oatmeal - I don't use it so I never remember to bring it!) The container of blueberries helped immensely!

On a quick hike before we headed home. We enjoyed a great lunch at the Bear Wallow Cafe in Alpine on the way home. We love eating there! I was so worried about enduring a hot ride home but we actually had jackets on some of the time and had some rain. I practically fell asleep on the back of the bike with the rain hitting my helmet. Don't you love sleeping listening to rain? I wondered if Don would notice if I fell asleep and toppled off the bike! The Goldwing is so comfortable I really can snooze a bit while riding.

Camping with Stacie and Mary's family

2009-07-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

Mary's boys feeding the trout at the fish farm between Payson and Heber.

Kids with Don and Amanda (friend of Aaron's) helping to build a fort.

Mary's youngest son, Jarom who was a very happy camper.

Kids all enjoying a snack and a break from their many activities.

Mary's baby, Kaymie loved being pushed in this dump truck.

Carson showing me his flashlight and dirty face. I should have taken a pix of him holding a stick. He never was without a stick which was either his sword or his gun.

Megan was a great help with Kaymie.

Going for a rhino ride was a favorite activity by all. There was a neat place to ride to which was on the edge of the Mogollon rim with awesome views.

This pix was taken on our way down from our camping trip. We camped off Young Road by Heber. We drove home through Young, AZ and this is Roosevelt Lake which was a pretty view. I doubt if we will come that way again (I had never been to Young but it was fun to do once.)

Baby birds

2009-07-02T15:53:00.001-07:00

This is one baby bird and 3 eggs in a bush at our home.

Baby birds with beaks open waiting for food.

Mama bird was never far away and would fly above my head every time I took a pix. I looked in the nest today and they were all gone :( I didn't even get to say goodbye.

Noon Creek with Mary and kids 6/4/09

2009-06-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

We went to noon creek today and let the boys play in the creek. They had quite the adventure for a few hours.

It is so pretty here. To get to this particular spot you go past noon creek and park at the trail marker and head down the trail. It is only a 5 min walk to serenity.

I think they are watching a frog here.

Mary with happy Kaymie

The boys sure loved climbing on all the rocks.

Porter was so cute with his feet in the creek eating pork and beans!

Kaymie finally gave in for a 15 min nap.

Mesa for a few days

2009-06-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

I just returned from Mesa for a few days but forgot my camera. The purpose of my trip was to be there when my brother had surgery on a heart valve. It all went well and he is now out of ICU. He credits Ray Tuttle for detecting a problem and referring him to a cardiologist. I was very impressed with the hospital Scottsdale Shea. All the staff were very nice and helpful.

My oldest grandchild, Megan, turns 10 tomorrow so I took her on a little "birthday date" today. I let her choose what she wanted to do and bless her heart she chose to go to the visitors center. She got into a dress and we just had a special morning. We walked around looking at the pretty plants and flowers and talked about the Temple. We watched the movie "The Testaments" which is always a wonderful movie to see. She spent some time at the Jeruselum exhibit seeing where everything took place. She enjoyed seeing the Friberg picture exhibit and asked a lot of meaningful questions. She enjoyed seeing all the Book of Mormons in different languages. We then went to lunch at Nielsens Custard. I enjoy spending time with the grandkids especially one on one when you can really talk to them. Megan is such a special little gal. She has a very kind heart especially if one of her brothers or cousins gets hurt or needs something. I feel very blessed to have her be my granddaughter!

Don is in UT helping Susie and Allan redo their kitchen and work on his rentals. He will then drive down a rental moving van for Jme and Mark who are moving to Tucson. We are excited to have them closer.

I am excited to have Mary and kids here for a few days this week!

Eagle Creek 5/25/09

2009-05-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

We have been eating these veggie sandwiches on our outings lately - even when we hike - and they taste so good! It was so pretty I had to take a pix before I put it together and ate it!

What a gourmet meal by a nice creek! People pay big money for this kind of food and atmosphere!

We saw these 3 antelope on the drive there. It reminded me of the song my dad would sing in the car when we were little "and the deer and the antelope play . . ." What a fun memory that is - my dad singing those old songs like "she'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes." It made me think what a wonderful childhood I had and how safe, secure and happy I felt in the car singing along with dad on road trips. DVD's in the car just aren't the same!

I have always wanted to come here since Cathy Konopnicki came here to work in the school about 20 yrs ago! She made it sound so fun. We found the best place for a picnic. Cathy~ you would have been proud!

These flowers growing partway out in the creek intriqued me.

These pix just don't do justice to how pretty it was!

This was our gorgeous picnic spot. The temp was just perfect and the birds were mighty happy.

Isn't this road pretty?

Hike to High Peak on Mt. Graham 5/23/09

2009-05-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

We had never hiked to High Peak before so we didn't know it was so far. We keep turning corners thinking we were almost there but finding another peak ahead. It took many hours but were glad we didn't give up and turn around. We figure it was about 4 miles up (which meant 4 miles back too!)

This shot shows how close the fire came to the scopes. That thing looked huge up close.

This is a view from High peak of Safford I think. Now when we look at the mt. and see the highest peak we can say "we've been there!"

We made it to the top!

Goldie sure scared us by dissappearing for 30 minutes or so. She sure loved exploring so I didn't have the heart to keep her leashed.
Isn't this a pretty part of the trail?

We were glad to get back to the bike! I must have my dads knees 'cause if I hike more than a few miles they sure hurt! What a fun hike it was though - nice and cool. We saw a deer and a rafter of wild turkey.

(Did you know a group of turkey is called a rafter? I didn't until I just looked it up!)

Bonita Creek and Gila Box area 5/22/09

2009-05-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

We headed to the Gila box area rather late in the day Fri with our quad. It was quite gorgeous with the clouds and the cool day made the trip nice. We covered many miles on the quad seeing lots of pretty sights.

The above shot was taken down by Bonita creek. I wish we could have stayed longer down here but it was getting dark and believe it or not we didn't even have a flashlight. If something would have happened to our mode of transportation (1 quad) we would have had a long night walking many miles.

I couldn't resist taking the pix of this pretty cactus in bloom.

We want to return to this area and explore more on the quad! Richard~ a great place to bring the rhino!

Hannigan Meadow

2009-05-14T14:28:00.001-07:00

We just love going to this place on the motorcyle riding up the Coronado trail. It takes about 3 hrs to get there but oh what a ride! This place overlooks a gorgeous meadow (last pix.) and is very serene, quiet and COOL! They said they had 3 ft of snow last Memorial Day! It is the highest elevation in AZ where people live year round. It is kind of like going up on Mt. Graham except you don't bring much and don't cook! The food is pretty good.

We paused on a short hike for a quick pix. Oh, to walk through a forest hearing nothing but birds and quiet.

Don't you want to just step into this picture and start hiking??? There are tons of hiking trails around Hannigan Meadow and lots of places to ride quads and Rhinos. We even bought a map showing all the MTV trails!

Hannigan Meadow - the perfect place to get out of the heat. Too bad it is so far from Phx area. Coronado trail was built in 1924. One person was overheard saying "they should take that road off the map!" I guess she didn't like all the curves. The motorcyclists do though and we saw lots of them today.

Aravaipa!

2009-05-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Above: some of our group, cousins - Julie Weech and Joyce Skinner, their sis-in-law Jana Cluff and Lena Skinner who is daughter -in-law to Joyce. This is taken shortly after we entered the canyon and have already sampled the delicious water cress which may be seen in this pix. We started hiking at 08:00 and the canyon was quite cool. We thought we could do this hike even in June as cool as it was in May. WRONG! Coming back was quite hot.

Lynn on horse is telling us something interesting. That guy told us many interesting stories that kept us intriqued the whole trip.

Such a fun place to go! We walked about 2.5 miles in and found a wonderful swimming hole, ate lunch and headed back.

You cross the creek about a hundred times and walk in it sometimes. You don't even try to keep shoes dry but plan on getting them wet. Oh, that water felt good!

We loved the little peephole in this huge rock.

My cousin, Steve and his wife Jody, were supposed to go with us but had an emergency come up. We were sad they couldn't go because they have been in several times and knew where this wonderful swimming hole was. Lynn and Dell were able to find it amazingly enough because it was quite a ways up this certain canyon. I was so hot and was looking forward to this swim.

I absolutely couldn't believe how cold this water was because the creek water wasn't even cold. It was the coldest water I have ever been in and let out a scream which Don captured in this shot. After the shock wore off it felt so good!

Don is dumping the rocks out of his shoes which was a needful thing quite often!

It was VERY warm hiking back and Don is cooling off here. We loved our adventure today! We saw a group of havalina with some babies that were no bigger than baby puppies and were so cute. We also saw goats on the top of a big cliff and a coyote on the road coming back. There were fish and frogs but not a snake to be seen. It was a great day and we hope to return!

Kamala's NAU Graduation!

2009-05-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

It was such a fun day yesterday to attend Kamala's NAU graduation in Flagstaff. She looked so cute and was a joy to be with throughout the day. She graduated in elementary education and wants desperately to teach so we pray she gets a job! They are in short supply in the Mesa area. I met two of her teachers who both couldn't say enough good about this gal.
Don was in UT as his son, Steven, got md the day before so we each had to miss the other's event which was too bad. Here are a few Pix:

Aaron was the sole sibling who was able to come up and it was good to have him with us. All the kids are able to meet at Stacie's next Saturday for a graduation party.

I couldn't resist snapping a pix of these two who were both taking pix of Kamala and Lorie.

Her feet looked so cute matching the pretty pink flower in her hair!

Paul had a class to teach in Phx and wasn't able to get out of it but was able to meet up with us for dinner at Red Lobster! We all enjoyed a fun day of celebrating.

Frye Mesa

2009-05-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

Can you believe I had never been to Frye Mesa until now??? Don and I went up on Wed. and had a great time. We didn't even know there was a waterfall there until we followed the water, crossing the creek several times, balancing on rocks and found the pretty waterfall. I'm sure my kids have all been but they never took their mom! We took Brent and Terri up Friday on 2 quads and had such a fun time. We're told kids slide down the waterfall into the water which we couldn't imagine. I need my kids to give me more info on that.

It is such a pretty view of the valley from the mesa. Coming down after dark we looked forward to the day when there would be a beautiful Temple to see from up there!

If anyone knows of fun places to take a quad let us know! We love to go exploring.

6 day motorcycle jaunt

2009-03-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

When I was a girl and riding horses I fantasized about packing on my horse a bedroll and food and riding off for several days. Now that I am older and much wiser we went on a trip packing our tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads and not much food on the motorcycle and riding off for several days. We left on Wed. riding up Coronado trail and found a campground in the dark with the help of my GPS unit by St. Johns. We pitched the tent with one flashlight (you know I was traveling light with only one flashlight!) and spent the night. I found out my 15 deg down sleeping bag didn't keep me warm in the high 30's temp range. The next day we went to the Petrified forest then went on to Holbrook and stopped in at Hartley's pawn shop. Tammy and Hartley put us up for the night where we enjoyed a very yummy dinner and breakfast and wonderful airbed where I slept warm all night. Friday we headed for Oakcreek Canyon where we enjoyed a nice ride and found another campground. I slept warmer by sleeping in my riding snow bibs. We had a great hard hike the next morning before heading down the canyon into Sedona. We enjoyed the sights there then rode to Jerome and over the mt. to Prescott Valley. It was quite windy and cold traveling home from PV but we made it safe and sound. There will be pix posted when I get my lost camera back which is another saga for another day.

Overnight camping at Chiricahua National Monument

2009-03-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

I remembered how Fred and Karen Call loved to come here with their kids. Don and I came for an overnighter and found a delightful campground, awesome hikes and views which revamped the soul. The day we got there we hiked a 4 mi. loop and the next day we took the camp van up to the top then hiked down a 7 mi trail (it even hailed on us!) We thought it would all be downhill but we were wrong! These pix sure don't do justice to the grandeur of this place.

It seemed every other bush was a manzanita. The blossoms were so pretty!

Our pretty little camp spot. The temp was in the 30's when we got up!

This rock formations is called 'Duck on a Rock.' The trails were amazing and Don was always pointing out what an engineering feat they were. The CCC built them and they truly are something. I love going places with Don because he notices things I don't and I learn so much. Don't you want to just step into this picture and start hiking????

The following story made me sad so I took a pix of this description: Harris Mt. perpetuates the name of a pioneer family who died at the hands of Apaches in 1873. The Harris family had been part of a westward bound wagon train. When the family attempted to take a short cut through the Chiricahua Mts they dissappeared. Several years later soldiers from nearby Fort Bowie found one of the Harris girls in an Apache camp in Mexico. She told them what had happened and led them to the spot at Harris Mt. where the Indians had killed her family. There they found and buried the remaining bones. A carved headboard marks the gravesite.

We just knew our grandkids would love to explore this place!

Noon Creek and Marijilda Canyon with Brent and Terri

2009-03-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

I returned to Noon Creek with Don and friends, Brent and Terri Beals to show them my travels the Monday night I hiked in this area. This is the sort of area I hiked up the hill when I couldn't find the trail. The creek is below.
Here we are walking up Marijilda creek which was really fun.

This is noon creek which is pretty high due to melting snow.

Adventure last night 3/02/09 at noon creek

2009-03-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

I wish I had had my camera with me last night rather than just my cell phone but these are 2 pix I took. They don't do justice to how pretty it was. The sun's setting pinkness was shining on the pool of water in noon creek and it was so pretty!

I enjoyed hiking so much in the Superstitions that I wanted a bit of exercise after work so I took Goldie and head up the mt. a short way to hike the trail from noon creek to Marijilda. I knew it was a steep trail so it would be a good hike. I started on the trail at 5 p.m. and hiked about an hour before deciding I better come back down. The sun had set over the mt. before I even left but it was quite light. When I came part way down I saw a sign that said 'noon creek ridge .5 mi'. I knew I had already come .75 mi so this seemed shorter back to my car. The trail was very overgrown and hard to see in the light (should have been a warning signal!) but I continued down to noon creek, crossed it and up over the hill. The trail kept climbing and pretty soon I realized I would not end up at my car! By now it was dark and luckily I had grabbed a backpack with flashlight, jacket, clif bar (long time since lunch!), cell phone and water. My plan was to go back to the creek and follow it to the road and my car was not far parked at the corrals above it. I was scooting along boulders when my cell phone slipped out of my pocket and it took some maneuvering to retrieve it. Don knew I had gone up for a short hike so I kept in contact with him so he wouldn't worry. I was also texting my kids sending them the pix above. They were getting kind of worried because it was way past dark. I went partway down the creek but just couldn't proceed due to the high water and no place to walk. Boulder skimming isn't my specialty. I found a place to cross over and climbed up out of the canyon hoping to find the trail again but the growth of bushes, grass, etc was quite dense. My greatest fear was someone would call search and rescue and I would end up in the local paper as they always post those stories to make people look stupid and the search and rescue team seem heroic which are both usually true and definitely would have been in my case!

About 9:40 Kamala suggested she call Chad's dad, Jon, to come find me. I really hated to bother Jon and Leslie but that option was defintely better than search and rescue! Funny thing was - I wasn't lost. I knew where I was and I knew where I needed to be. There were just lots of obstacles in my way and I wasn't sure how to get around them! (I think there is a life lesson there!) Jon was able to reach me by cell phone and I told him about where I was and he headed up. It was really impossible to yell out and hear due to the rumbling creek noise. After awhile I could see his light off in the distance (at 10:42) and he could see mine. He came over to me then cleared a path like a jungle man would to a trail he knew existed and down we went and ended up at upper noon creek campground. We had a nice visit on the way down which took awhile! I got home about 12:00 a.m. very thankful to be safe after the stupid thing I did. That hr hike turned into a 6+ hr hike! Oh my gosh the stars were so beautiful though. I had a lot of pondering time and had some special feelings come to me about where I have been in life, scary times like facing divorce and how grateful I am to be where I am now.

When Don returns we will have to go back on that trail so he can see what his stupid wife did while he was gone! I told him that is what happens when he leaves me - lol.

Weekend 02/26-29/09

2009-03-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

On Thurs. we met Don's daughter Kristi and her 3 boys at the Superstition Lost Dutchman State park campground where we camped a few nights. Don went Wed to secure a spot. The view is spectacular from the campground! We went on some fun hikes each day and just enjoyed being outdoors. In this picture we had hiked to Hackberry springs and the boys (and dog!) were enjoying the cold water.

What a view from the campground!
This picture was taken Sat. All my kids were in town (Heidi had flown in with Brooklyn and Mary drove down with Kaymie) so we went to see Megan play in her softball game. She pitched two innings and did very well! Yeah Megan!
I love the picture below. I delighted in seeing the boys find such joyful things. Here they are watching a lizards tail after it got separated in the catching process. It wiggled and wiggled. Skyler is holding the tail and Conner has the lizard on his thumb.

Sat. was a fun day getting together with my kids/gr kids. We enjoyed lunch at Cafe Rio then Mary and Kamala were nice enough to run a few errands with me. They helped me find some great hiking clothes on clearance! That afternoon Mary and I took Stacie's younger boys to a nice outdoor reserve near her house with water, birds, etc. The weather has been so beautiful and I dread it getting warm. Time with family sure goes by much too quickly!

Superstition Backpack trip

2009-02-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

On Sat. Don and I took Stacie and Richards kids on the Hieroglyphic trail hike in the Superstitions. The kids found lots of rocks to climb on (and make us nervous.)

Carson was so excited to reach 'the waterfall'. The hike is about a mile one way and he got a little tired but was so excited to reach our destination and find there really was a waterfall.

On our way up - even though it got warm Carson wanted to keep his 'old lady' jacket on. It is really his Old Navy jacket but he always says 'old lady jacket' then tells you a story about this old lady that gave it to him.

It is a pretty view of the valley on this hike with many interesting cacti. Megan wanted a pix of her with 'the view'.

I hope the kids remember this hike forever! I thought it was a good accomplishment for their first hike. We forgot to spell out the rules at the beginning however like 'don't run up the trail and leave us in their dust.' Austin ran ahead and when we reached the end of the hike he was nowhere to be seen. He had our sandwiches in his backpack and we were starved! Carson and I were the last to arrive and all these munchkins were having a ball on the rocks with no supervision. Megan was so worried about him. When he showed up he said he went searching to find where the water was coming out of the mt.

Carson confiscated my hiking stick early on. He sure loved this hike.

The rest of the pix are from our backpack overnighter

I have always wanted to backpack but didn't think I could carry a pack. Don assured me I could so off we went to the Superstition mts. We really want to hike Aravaipa Canyon so this was a trial run. It surpassed my expectations! It was so gorgeous. The first 15 minutes I thought WHAT AM I DOING! The pack seemed so heavy but I guess I got used to the pain. These pictures really don't do justice to how beautiful it was.

This view is what we woke up to and was actually taken from inside our tent. It rained during the night and everything was so beautiful as I laid there in the tent not wanting to get up. We camped by a running creek in a canyon at Hackberry Springs hiking through Garden Valley and up a ridge to get there.

Our tent was against this huge canyon wall which prevented most of the tent from getting rained on during the night. Don's strong hands could roll up those ground pads tight enough to get them in their bags. I was quite happy this $5 yardsale tent kept us dry when it rained about half an inch that night! There wasn't a cloud in the sky when we went to bed and I told Don we wouldn't need that rain fly because I wanted to see the stars through the air holes but he insisted on putting it on which I was so thankful for when the wind started blowing shortly after we went to bed then the rain started . . . I'm sure he was glad he didn't listen to me too.

This was our view from where we camped. I'm sure we were the only ones camped in the entire canyon that night.

Packed up and ready to hit the trail Tue morning. Those hiking sticks sure helped us maneuver through the creek on the way back.

The dark clouds sure made for some pretty sights. Everywhere we looked it was a gorgeous view.

Goodbye Superstitions -- we hope to be back soon! One has no idea just looking at this mt. driving down the freeway there are so many gorgeous hikes on this mt. Anyone want to join us for another overnighter? (I would love to have a llama or a mule though for our packs.)

Kauai trip Jan 09

2009-01-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

Don and I were able to go to Kauai for a week which was a trip to remember! We had a little trouble getting there. We were listed on a flight from LA and didn't want to miss our connection so we purchased Southwest tickets from Phx to LAX on Tue. a.m. Our SW flight was cancelled so we took a later one but missed the flight going to HI by 13 minutes! We were so sad. We were able to take a later flight to Maui then a flight the next morning to Kauai. We had such an awesome time (the pictures speak for themselves.) We loved visiting the ward on the west side in Kekaha where several welcomed us with a hug and kiss on the cheek. I have never heard so much laughter in SS or RS classes! They are a happy, lively group who know the gospel well. I sure don't know how they afford groceries though! This was the prettiest island out of the 4 I have been to. Don agrees having been to the same 4 I have at other times.

I haven't posted any pictures from Christmas but all my kids were able to come home (which hasn't happened in 4 years) and we had such a great time together. We have added 3 new family members in 08 making us 20 in number, Don (my sweetheart), Mary and Jeff's baby girl, Kaymie and Heidi and Bruce's baby girl Brooklyn. We sure tried to take a family picture with all of us but it just never happened!

I enjoy going to friends my kids grew up with blogs so if you visit us leave me a message so I can see yours!

Beautiful Kauai!

2009-01-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

Waimea Canyon - our beach house was at the foot of this beautiful canyon.

Taken from 12th floor at the Marriott Resort - we just visited here!

Don't you love these roots?

The kids were having fun at this place. We just watched - I was so sore from Na Pali hike the day before.

Na Pali coast hike - 4 miles round trip that seemed like 40.

Typical part of the trail. We were both happy to reach our car without any major injuries! Remember I broke my toe just walking to bed few yrs ago! I did fall off a rock into the water at the beach and bruised my shin but it could have been so much worse. I was so happy to have my hiking shoes on. There was a local hiking it barefoot! There have been deaths at that beach by hikers swimming and getting swept away. There were many warnings posted not to swim there.

Destination reached on Na Pali coast hike -- I was sure wishing our car was here!

Hanakapi'ai Beach - destination of hike

Na Pali coast hike. See why we were willing to go through the mud?

Along Na Pali coast hike

Gorgeous full moon rising

Valley on North shore

Lighthouse on N shore

Wailua falls

Along South Shore. See the sea turtle???

We walked along this south shore for awhile and just loved to watch the waves hit.

South shore

Sea lion having a rest along the south shore

Beautiful sunset!

Don got a kick out of this sign at a beach park.

Taken on Na Pali coast boat trip. See the back pack tents on the cliff? Wow!

This is one of my favorite pictures showing the gorgeous Na Pali cliffs and waterfalls.

The water was such a pretty aqua color in this particular place along the Na Pali Coast

Waimea canyon

Na Pali coast

We were told a James Bond movie was filmed where a helicopter went under this arch.

On our Na Pali boat tour. See the whale behind Don??? We saw quite a few whales.

Our boat was able to go inside a sea cave. Way cool!

Lots of waterfalls on this island.

Fun trail! We really enjoyed hiking on this trip.

Another beautiful rainbow.

Oh the views from Waimea Canyon! It is called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.

We couldn't believe all the chickens on this island! They are EVERYWHERE!

Waimea Canyon valley

Taken at beach across the road from our beach cottage at Ole Kamaole's where we stayed.

View from our beach house. We loved listening to the ocean at night!

Don couldn't resist!

Do we look happy to be here or what?

One of my first shots up Waimea Canyon!

Alpine bike trip

2008-12-03T16:19:00.001-08:00

We left here Mon. morning 12-1-08 for Alpine on our motorcycle. Our plan was to go up through Mule Creek and Glenwood, stop at the Catwalk for a nice late Fall hike, stay in Alpine overnight and return through the Coronado trail. We had a nice hike (lots of pix for Kristi) and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Bear Wallow Cafe (I had trout and Don had their yummy hamburger.) The temps were down in the low 20's but hi's were in the low 60's. We traveled to Hannigan Meadow on Tue. (1st pix) and had to ride through some icy roads which aren't ideal on the motorcycle! We got word at the Meadow that the roads were even icier so we returned home through Alpine enjoying a nice late lunch at Alma. We met a couple on their bikes at the Alma Grill who biked that day from Safford to have lunch there! We enjoyed our 2 days spent on the bike and are anxious to plan a week trip whenever the weather and my schedule allows! I am posting a lot of pix of the Catwalk for Don's daughter Kristi to see as we have been trying to get their family to come there with us. Perhaps the weather will be nice for all my family to go at Christmas. We met a photographer there from the NY Times. Soon the Catwalk in NM will be famous!

Mexico cruise

2008-11-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

We really enjoyed our recent cruise and loved to have this time to relax and enjoy good food and great entertainment!

Susan holding iquana which I only did for the grandkids!

Don above enjoying the jacuzzi on the ship. The pix on Left is in Puerto Vallarta which was probably the most beautiful place we went. I couldn't resist taking the pix below of chicken feet for sale. I was reminded of my son Aaron eating these on his mission.

I took the pix of watermelon because it may look like seeds but those black things are actually flies. I couldn't believe people would eat it with all those flies swarming on it.

Mt. Lemmon

2008-10-30T18:29:00.001-07:00

These pictures really do not do justice to the beauty we saw riding up Mt. Lemmon. The weather was gorgeous and views and smells were amazing. Don just loved the rock balancing formations. This last picture was taken because it amazed us how this tree was growing right out of the rock. There are dozens of hikes to be taken off this Mt. Lemmon road and we wish we could hike them all. There is nothing like being all alone on a mountain trail hearing the birds and mt. lions -- ok, just the birds. The village of Summerhaven burned up in 2003 but they have rebuilt some of it and it was fun to visit. I can't wait to take a week long bike trip sometime!

Sabino Canyon

2008-10-30T18:12:00.001-07:00

On my last 3 days off we took the bike to Tucson going through Globe, Superior, Kearny, Mammoth, Oracle to Don's daughter, Kristi in Oro Valley. It took us 6 hours due to a road closure in Globe on a very windy day. The next day we went to Sabino Canyon with Kristi and Connor which was great fun and very beautiful. I had never been here and hope to return and do some hiking.

Resting at Salt River Canyon and picnic at Stockton Pass

2008-10-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we took the bike to Payson, spent the night and came back through Showlow and Salt River Canyon which was great fun! We had a picnic down by the river and it was beautiful.

The 2nd pixture was taken at Stockton Pass. We rode to Fort Grant then had a picnic at Stockton Pass where I remembered having Easter Egg hunts as a small girl. We went on a hike here then came home. I am sure enjoying my days off when Don is home! We just never know where we will end up but we always have fun! I could spend days at a time on this bike and we hope to do so! You see things up close with the wind on your face, smell what is up close, and feel the outdoors in such a personal way.

Bisbee Mine Tour

2008-10-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

We left Safford Fri morning on the bike intending to go to Bisbee, check it out, and return that late afternoon. It took us longer than expected to get there so we decided to spend the night. We hadn't packed even a tooth brush so my thinking is to keep a few essentials in the bike at all times like underwear and toothbrushes! We had a great trip even though it was quite windy and we got drenched on the way home. Bisbee is higher altitude than Safford and was very nice. The mine tour was very interesting and was a great getaway! I just love riding the bike and we have some 3 dayers in mind!

Pix from Mt. Graham

2008-08-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

We stayed in my cousin, Sondra's, cabin for a few days and just loved our stay. We went for awesome hikes and enjoyed the rain. Oh the memories of Columbine!

This was taken a few flights up on the Webb Peak tower. You can barely see the telescope through the clouds. On right is a tarantula we passed coming down. I wanted to bring it home for Allan and Susie's collection (Don's son) but we needed a jar.

Fruits of raspberry picking on Mt. Graham

2008-08-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

We got caught in the rain during this berry picking session so we were quite proud of this bowl of berries! We had such a nice time in Columbine and the high was probably about 55!

Fun bike trip up Coronado trail to Hannigan's Meadow

2008-08-14T18:42:00.001-07:00

We had a fun overnight trip up the famous Coronado trail to Hannigan's Meadow and stayed at the lodge there. It was lots of fun and a great getaway. There are not many roads where you have such a fantastic view for hours and hardly any traffic! We borrowed this bike but if anyone knows a great deal on a road bike for 2 let us know.

UT trip

2008-07-10T18:56:00.001-07:00

We spent July 4th in UT and had a great time. Brooklyn (Heidi and Bruce's) was so happy to see her Grandma. We were lucky to get tickets to the Stadium of Fire which was great fun. The canyons were so enjoyable and it was a great time to leave hot AZ.
I think living in UT half the year sounds like a great plan!

Nauvoo trip

2008-06-20T20:14:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a trip to Nauvoo (after first going to CA to bury Don's dad who passed.) I loved all the green and trees. Going to the Temple there was thrilling and just being there is so wonderful. We are glad we were able to go before the flooding. We were able to hear one of my favorite speakers, Susan Easton Black, and also see the BYU Folk Dancers. We love traveling!

Fun bike riding

2008-06-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Don rode his bike all the way from Provo so we could ride together. It took him 2.5 days but he enjoyed it. He spent one night with Tammy and Hartley in Joe City.
We rode up the mt. one day which was great fun but that seat wasn't made for my bum! I think it also needs a back rest.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-05-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

My siblings

2008-05-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

It was so wonderful to have all my children and their spouses with me on this fun wedding day. It was also very special to have all my siblings come. This was my dad's b'day so that made it extra special.

Wedding Day with my kids

2008-05-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

The man on my fridge

2008-05-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Since Don is gone so much I have this picture on my fridge to remind me that a. I am married b. This is the man I md! I took it one day while we were walking around Roper Lake -- one of our favorite places to go around here.

The Day we met - Day after Thanksgiving 07

2008-05-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

We had only met the week before (online) but sure liked talking on the phone. There were a few experiences I had that led up to my going online (something I said I would never do.) I really think my mom had something to do with this as she said when she was dying she would find someone for me as she hated for me to be alone.

Anyway, Don flew in from UT, I met him at the airport then we went to Bass Pro Shop and walked around. Oh, I sort of forgot where I parked my car at the airport so that was a bit embarrassing. I even put the space # on my cell phone notepad but went to the wrong floor (but the right space!) The way he kept looking at me had me a bit flustered. After the Bass Pro Shop outing which was rather fun we went to the park next to that, walked around, talked and talked, and had lunch I brought. We then went to another park where all my kids and grandkids met us. Our first day together was really fun! We went to the Temple the next morning and things just kept going at quite the fun pace! Don was so easy and comfortable to talk to and it just seemed so right from the very beginning.