Heading to Phoenix

Today we are heading into Arizona. We want to be somewhere near Scottsdale as Amber and Jerad are flying in on Wednesday. Amber will be running the Phoenix Rock and Roll Marathon on Sunday, so we wanted to be able to spend a few days with them. Here's Ron as we start our drive from Joshua Tree into Arizona. As you can see there wasn't much traffic today and we had very straight roads.


This plant was growing everywhere. As you look out across this valley you can see it just goes on forever.
Yup, that's our road out there. It just keeps going on and on and......

As we were nearing the California Arizona border we saw where the kids had written their names along the rail road tracks. They used the black and white rocks from under the tracks to make their creations. Here is one made by Vince and Sheri.

As we hit Highway 10 heading east we saw a great deal of truck traffic. I'm sorry the picture is small , but if you look carefully there are trucks as far as you can see. Traffic on our side of the road didn't seem to be to bad.

One thing Ron did NOT want to do was drive through Phoenix. He was afraid the roads would be bad and the traffic worse. Well, he got part of what he didn't want. Because we needed to be near Scottsdale we ended up heading to the Lost Dutchman Mine State Part in Apache Junction. Well, guess what? It's on the east side of Phoenix. That meant driving through the city and we hit it right during rush hour traffic. Fortunately, their freeways are amazing. Not only is the surface in good condition, but the shoulders and walls have beautiful artwork on them. They are using a brown cement that blends in with the desert. I hope I can get a good picture of them in the next few days so I can show you.

Joshua Tree National Park

Today we went to Joshua Tree National Park. This is one park you don't want to pass up. We had an amazing time walking amongst the Joshua trees and huge rock formations. It sure helped that we also had a beautiful day with perfect temperatures for our short hikes into the rocks. I was going to post a few pictures so you could have a sampling of what we saw today. Ah, but that proved to be a bit of a problem since I took almost 300 pictures. Every place you looked there was another photo opportunity. I decided to do a Smilebox as it would make it a little more exciting to see and I felt I could include more pictures. We enjoyed our day and we hope that you enjoy sharing just a little bit of it with us.

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Heading South

I'm a true Washingtonian. I like the cool days and even the rain better than the hot days of summer. However, there is something exciting about getting away and having time to be outside in the sun. This is Seattle as we were driving through on our first day. It's just a reminder of why we are heading south.

On day 2 Oregon was not much better. We had fog and rain the whole day.

As we were coming into Coos Bay, Oregon the bridge just sort of floated above the clouds. It made for a great picture and just another reminder of why we are on this adventure.

After we set up camp I went for a walk and found this heron. Even he looks like he is trying to huddle up against the flog.

California and sunshine! Nope, not yet, as we head through the Redwoods we have more fog and rain.

We spent the night in Clearlake, California. They were very happy to have the rain as it has been so dry. Look how low the lake is. I'm standing where the water line should be.

California and we finally have sun. However, the day started out so foggy that we thought about pulling into a rest area in hopes that it would clear up. As we climbed into the High Desert we left the fog behind. Let's hope this is a sample of weather to come. It was a beautiful 69 degrees today.

New Years

We celebrated New Years with a party at Jennie and Will's. Here's the family.

Amber and Jerad

COUSINS

Cara, Amber, Jennifer and Jodie

(Cara and Jodie are my sister's daughters)

The Anderson Family

Cara, Rodney and Baby Rylie

Jennie with her Baby Riley

We ate and talked and ate and talked some more and then we played Wii Fit Plus. At midnight we watched the ball drop in New York and had a champagne toast. It was great fun! It must have been as Ron was still awake at 2AM and that is WAY past his bedtime.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day started out with a stop at the Sessions to spend some time with my sister Julie's family. We had our traditional Christmas morning rolls along with some cookies, coffee and cocoa. Mmmmm. In the picture are Jodie, Julie, Luke, Rodney, Cara, Baby Rylie and Scott. After the Sessions we went to Amber's for lunch and then our Santa socks and gifts. Jennie and Will are waiting patiently to begin, so it was a perfect time for a picture.

The girls found hats and mitts in their sock. I gave Santa a little help on this one. It's a little hard to tell, but there really is a butterfly design where you see the holes. They are pretty cute, the hats and the girls. If you would like this pattern you can find it at www.suzies-stuff.blogspot.com

We had a delicious dinner cooked by the girls. I was in charge of appetizers this year. Amber found some great crock pot recipes, she made ham and cheesy potatoes using 2 crock pots. Both were delicious. Jennie made a festive salad with rice, oranges, and pomegranate. She also made a cabbage and apple vegetable dish. Mmmmm, the girls are great cooks, which they did not get from me.

Carole, Ron, Jennifer, Will, Amber, Jerad

Merry Christmas to all!

Nativity

Many years ago, maybe 30, I made this Nativity set for our home. I see I forgot to add the straw this year. Oops! The figures are about 8 inches tall. As you can see there are some pretty tiny pieces to cut on the saw, but it was fun to do. A few years later the church wanted a new Nativity set. Ron and I got busy and made this one. He made the stable and I once again got out my saw and made the figures. These are about 12 inches tall, so it was a little easier. They are also large enough so people can see them during the church service. The children like to come up after church and look at and move the figures around. On Christmas Eve, after I took this picture, I passed 2 girls walking up the aisle. I overheard one of them say, "Can I be Mary this time?" They were heading to the stable to recreate Jesus' birth.

Merry Christmas

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