Chase and Amy in Arizona

Amy and Chase came into Phoenix on the 24th of January after a good flight.  They even came in a bit early and dad and I were there ready to meet them.  (There have been some instances where we were late - due to car trouble so now I made sure that we were there early.)

 Chase was so impressed with the BIG cactus and had to have his picture taken, even before we had dinner.  We took them to a Mexican restaurant that dad and I had found last year.  It has good food and everything is so colorful.  All of the furniture and signs are hand-carved and painted.  Good way to start a visit!!!!!

 One of the carved and painted chairs - they were all different.

Tomorrow we'll show you some pictures of sky-diving.  Do you think Amy and Chase tried it out - you'll have to wait and see.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Phantom of the Opera

Before I get into our wonderful visit from Amy and Chase, I want to send some videos of Holly in her spring musical.  Just beware:  these are PROUD gramma videos.  The musical was beyond my expectations - I'm going tonight for the third time and I still am amazed at the voices of these high school students.  It was difficult getting pictures because the auditorium is so dark and my camera is a "plain jane" camera.  Here goes:

This is our ballerina with her mom and pops after the first evening's performance.

 

 

Holly was five different characters in the play - above she is three different dancers plus she was a nurse and a ballrina in a white tutu.

 

Thank you, Holly!!!

 

Love to all,    Gramma and MOM

The Park Bench



Last year the park put in a security gate to the entrance and part of the landscaping was a 25-foot bench.  The young lady in charge of the beautifacation project talked about the tiles that she wanted to put on the face of the bench.  When Vonna arrived at Wagons West this fall, she began creating the tiles for the bench.  She said there were about 21 people who met 4 hours a day 4 days a week to cut out, glaze and create these tiles.  She then created different panels and it is beautiful.  If you want to read a more in-depth article about the bench, let me know and I'll send you the article that we'll be putting in the newsletter.

 

 

 Our beloved San Xavier Mission just south of Tucson.

 This panel depicts the saguaro cactus.

You need to look closely at the above picture to see the mariuchi (sp) band.

 These show the kokepelli dancers.  There are different cacti on each panel.  The little black things at the bottom run the entire panel - they're the ants that go marching on.

There is even a list of "can you find" items that Vonna put on the bench.

Putting the panels on the bench.  I don't have a picture of it completed yet.  It is such a beautiful addition to our park and this is from a daughter of one of our long-time members.  Vonna became a member of our park just last year and does an enormous of good-will within the park.

Can't wait til you two get down here to see this.  Oh, that's right, DeAnn, you won't be coming this winter.  Maybe you'll decide to change your mind and come anyway just to see our bench.

Love to you all,
Gramma and MOM

Shuffleboard

Saturday night Dad decided to get in a little shuffleboard practice.  We played with Marvin and Judy but didn't play teams.  Marv and Dad played well against each other.  Marvin's an old bowler and did a really good job of knocking dad's pucks off the board.

 

 

 I beat Judy the first game and the second game I was ahead til the last frame when she got a 10 and a 7 and ended up beating me.  She was thrilled and I was bummed.  I really don't like to loose at anything.  Oh well, it happens.

 Dad beat Marvin 15-13 but Judy tromped me at 17-9 - all of her score in the last frame.

We had a nice time and enjoyed an hour or so of playing.  Til next time, love from

Gramma and MOM

PS:  Tonight we went to Sweet Tomatoes with Uncle Rich and Aunt Henrietta for Uncle Rich's birthday.  If you go early, you get your meal plus your drink for $7.49 - a huge saving over going after 5:00.  Had a nice time with them, as we usually do.  Happy 74th Birthday, Rich!!!!!

Arizona

Coming from Barstow, CA to Needles and then through Arizona to Tucson we came across the Mojave Dessert.  The scenery was quite different - lots of sand.

 and then I spotted my first saguaro cactus.  When we come to Tucson, I always wait anxiously for my first sight of this mighty cactus.

 This is a scene of the mountains from the shuffleboard court here in our park.  We were playing a couple of practice rounds with Marv and Judy and the sun was shining on our beautiful Catalina Mountain.  Gorgeous.

That's it for today.  Downton Abby just started so guess what I'll be doing for the next two hours?  Tomorrow - shuffleboard.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

On the way to Arizona

We left these three wonderful young people yesterday (Sunday) morning.  I miss them already - if Chase had been there, it would have been absolutely perfect!!!  How I love these kids.

 

 

There was fog on the hillside as we left Washington.  I ended up falling asleep as we were leaving Bellingham which is only 20 minutes from DeAnn's.  I had a headcold and just felt a bit lousey.  Stayed in Sutherlin, Oregon last night after a very good day of traveling.  There is always a concern about the Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia traffic but we sailed right through.

 

 

 On to Oregon wtih the clouds just sitting on the mountains.  Beautiful - a little sun off and on and temps in the 40's.

 Today we went from Oregon to California.  About noon we ran into temps in the 60's - no coat, no heater on.  (Sorry for those of you in the Midwest.  I'm not gloating, just stating a fact?!) 

These pictures are for Jan.  We went through Ripon, CA which is where her uncle has a very large almond farm.

 This is the Ripon Christian School,

 and a grove of pecan trees.  Wish you were with us today, Jan.  We would have dropped you off at the farm for the evening.

Tonight we are in Modesto, CA.  We stopped early because we decided that we will not make it all the way to Tucson tomorrow night.  Had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant and are now watching "The Lone Ranger" - isn't that exciting?

Goodnight to all
Gramma and MOM

Christmas Day

We went to church Christmas morning - a wonderful way to start a very special day!!!

We spent the day with John's parents, aunt and cousins and his brothers plus Becky, the neighbor lady.  These people know how to party!!!!  We had a huge meal for dinner, then snacked our way through the afternoon until supper which included ham and turkey sandwiches plus leftover fixins from dinner.  I "rolled" home afterwards.

DeAnn did several fun games which I participated in but dad just sat on the couch and watched.  I did not get any pictures of the games so you'll have to wait to see DeAnn's blog for them.  Here are the Christmas families:

Neighbor Becky with the kids

John's Aunt Grace with two of her children:
Edie - Cassie, Auntie Grace, Amy and her husband, Rick
Rick and Edie are John's cousins.  Cassie is Rick & Amy's daughter (they have two sons who had already left)  Edie's husband Mark had to work.

 John's oldest brother, Gary and his wife, Sally.  They have two married sons who were spending the day with their spouse's families.  They also have a new grandson, Bradley who is about five months.

 John's parents:  Pete and Elizabeth Hiemstra

 Our wonderful Christmas host and hostess - they are the utmost greatest at their job

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!!

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM