Salt River Tubing 2020

We have the privilege of my bonus son, Nolan, aka Bob's son, staying with us this summer from Michigan.  We have tried to expose him to a few things in Arizona during the quarantine and one thing we were able to do was go tubing on the Salt River.

We had to wear masks while on site getting our tubes and on the bus on the way to the river.

Here we all are getting ready to get on the river.

Hannah &Simon

A smoke plume from the Bush Fire which is burning for 5 days now and only about 5% contained.

Bob was lucky enough to find a raccoon friend on the river's edge.

It's always a joy to see the wild horses come to the river.

It's been a crazy couple of years since my last post!

Let's see, what has happened in the last couple years since my last post?

My children have grown into amazing adults compared to the profile picture on the right of this blog.

My daughter just finished her junior year at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ and is 21.

My son just graduated from high school and will be 18 at the end of July.

This is a recreation of a photo the kids and I did on a vacation in La Jolla, CA while on a segway tour.

We look about the same except everyone  has grown up!

Oh my, and I got MARRIED!  I never thought I'd do that again after being single 12 years BUT, I met my husband, Bob, at a work conference in Florida in 2015.  He lived in Michigan.

Somehow, we became friends over a couple of years and then started dating after he visited in Arizona while attending a work conference.  He moved to Arizona last July.

We had this gorgeous wedding in Sedona, AZ in October 2019.

We had a non-traditional Pink Jeep Tour wedding with our families!  Everyone enjoyed the Jeep Tour that brought us up a hill to get married overlooking the red rocks of Sedona.

Finally, my son graduated from high school in the midst of distance learning and social distancing.

Thankfully, he will be having an in person graduation ceremony on May 23 at the Cardinal's stadium.

I will try to update the blog more often!

I am not dead!

Life has gotten busy in the last few years. The kids have grown up as you can see in the photo below.  My daughter is a sophomore in college and the president of her sorority (as a FRESHMAN) and my son is a junior in high school and is now 6'2" tall and can rest his head on top of my head and I'm 5'10" (although I might be shrinking)!

I have kept this blog up as my children's Dad died some years ago and I have yet to figure out how to commemorate all the family posts (before I got divorced) for them and their memories!  If anyone knows of a way to print the blog to a photo book, feel free to share in the comments.

In other news, I hiked 3 miles down into the Grand Canyon via Bright Angel Trail in early October starting my 50th birthday extravaganza for the next few months until it arrives in Dec. We would have gone further down but the tropical storms were rolling in and we got back out with only minimal rain the 20 minutes before it started pouring!

AND I got engaged to this wonderful man, Bob, in September.  He's a post for another day but I can say after 11 years of being single since my divorce and 8 years since my children's Dad passed away and I found myself to be an ONLY parent, I am really quite surprised and happy.

I will try and do better in future with my posting.

I do knit from time to time but it isn't such a compulsion as it was during very stressful times of life!

Blessed

I took a beautiful walk today in the area right behind my house. 

The desert is in full bloom right now.  There's the cat claw vines. 

A red tailed hawk looking for prey.

Mesquite

seeing the beauty of the desert reminded me to be thankful. Thankful for my health,  my children,  great friends,  great family,  a job I enjoy,  and a life that provides me so much happiness. 

As I age I have to remind myself that I need to be thankful for what my body DOES for me.  It has birthed and nursed 2 children,  it allows me to hike/bike and whatever other crazy thing I think to do when the spirit moves me.

Today,  as every day, I am thankful and blessed. 

Blessed!

It's been while since I've posted! 

In that time:

And a quick trip to Paris!

A trip to the UK to visit the kids Dad's side of the family!

A trip to antelope canyon!

A great birthday wish from daughter. Gotta love moments like this! 

A 16 mile hike in the Phoenix Summit Challenge. Met amazing ladies and hiked 4 peaks in 1 day!

There was a Halloween party. 

25 year friends visiting you and bringing more  new friend!

Hannah's confirmation! 

It's been a busy year but all I can say is thank you for the blessings!

Sunrise Trail Hike

4.85 miles, 1300 ft elevation

Beautiful sunrise!

My hiking buddies today!

The rattlesnake wasn't my buddy! Only the 3rd I've seen in all my hikes.

A hitching post for my imaginary horse.

The desert is very green with all the rain!

The hiking challenge has introduced me to some amazing women! Added bonus!!

Dreamy Draw Hike

Not much knitting going on these days! I am alive though!

I took a hike with a girlfriend this morning in the Dreamy Draw area of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. 

Along the way we found this deserted building that we've never seen before. 

It is close to a neighborhood so it obviously was easily accessible if you know where it is....but the graffiti was cool!

I liked this view of Phoenix through one of the windows. 

We also saw parts of a rusted out car. We wondered where the rest of the car went and how it got out there!