Home from Arizona

We survived sunny Arizona!  It was so nice to see all of our friends and family and friends that we have known long enough to be considered family.  We arrived Saturday around noon after stopping in Albuquerque and catching some much needed Z's.  It also insured that we arrived looking and smelling fresh!  Much better impression to those that haven't seen you for months.

We grabbed some lunch and then headed to my niece's graduation party.  Very fun.  My sis was hard at work making cotton candy for everyone.

I think all the kids were in a sugar comatose state by the time we left the party.  Besides the cotton candy they had a candy table set up with all sorts of sweets in different little jars.  Very cute.  They also had Eegee's (yum! yum!) and a snow cone machine.  She also had a blow up obstacle course which I think the adults had more fun on than any of the kids.

Sunday and Monday were relax days spent with family.  The kids all went swimming in Uncle Reuben's pool.  Monday friends from all over came to visit.  So nice to see them all, kids that are growing like weeds and meeting new little faces.



This little guy is so cute and such a pefect blend of his parents.

Tuesday we visited more family and then headed up to my big sis's house.  They took us kayaking down the Salt River.  We had so much fun and the weather cooperated somewhat.  It wasn't too unbearable hot and we got too see so much wildlife.  We saw more Blue Heron Cranes than we have ever seen and we also got to see wild horses.  That was the highlight of the trip.  Hopefully my brother-in-law will send me some pictures.  They have a waterproof camera and he was snapping pics for us.

Me and the hubby after kayaking.  We went to this fabulous pizza place on the way back home called "Barro's".  Very yummy pizza.

The cousins.  Proud of themselves for making it down the river.  Z. rode in a kayak with his cousin.  J. powered his own kayak and had fun going through the rapids with his dad.  And, for those of you in the know of A.'s perils with canoes and kayaks you will be proud of her.  She powered her own kayak and at the end decided she loved it.

Me and my gorgeous big sis.  Thanks for making our trip so much fun.  We love you so much and miss you more than you know.

Friday we headed back to Tucson to see more friends we missed the first go round.  Then we hit the big highway.  Sad for those that we missed seeing AGAIN!  Ugh so sorry, I promise we will be back.



So that is our trip in a nutshell.  And now we are back home in our green, green home and busy again.  Garden updates coming soon.  Everything is growing like mad.  And I am happy to say the cages I built around the plants the deer seem to like the most worked well because they are all still alive and growing.

Love you all!

Photo of the Week - Week 41 - Girl Day

Week 41 of 52

Location:  Florence, AZ
Subject:  Mother-Daughter-Sister-Aunt-Daughter-Niece-Cousin Day

Yep, long title.  But it is THEEEE most awesome day.  I miss being so close to my sisters and nieces.  It was great spending the day with them and doing a little photo shoot.  As usual, serious pictures were quickly abandoned.  These are better anyway, they show the true us.  These pictures are courtesy of my big sis.  Enjoy!

365 Days Later. . .

One year ago today we arrived in Michigan.  Yep, one year, 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, or 525,600 minutes ago, we officially arrived in our new state of residence.  It is amazing how quickly time passes.  I have had to count that year sometimes in months since it flies by so fast, and sometimes in minutes because it seems to pass so slowly.

It was a very long drive, a very sad goodbye.  Even as I write to you all today I tear up thinking about all those I had to say goodbye to in order to come to this new life.

So in honor of our making it one whole year I decided to dedicate today to listing 52 things I miss about Arizona.  One for every week we have been away.

1. My Sisters  2. Our family  3. Our friends  4. My house  5. Our congregation  6. My sisters  7. Mexican food  8. Grocery stores that have everything I want to buy in them  9. Knowing EXACTLY where everyplace I want to go is  10.  nieces and nephews  11. My Sisters  12. a K12 school that has no limits on enrolled students  13. Those I love even though I didn't know how much until I had to leave them  14. Arizona sunsets  15. Great craft stores five minutes from my house  16. My Sisters  17. Gem Show  18. Camping in the mountains  19. Patagonia  20. Mountains  21.  Knowing north, south, east, west just by looking up  22. My Sisters  23. Friends  24. Discount movie theaters  25. Sitting on a mountain and seeing for miles and miles  26. Great Mexican Food  27. living around the corner from M&M K.  28. night walks around the city block  29. backyards with walls so my pups could run free  30. My sisters  31. fireworks you can actually see from your house  32. Our friends  33. seeing our friends children grow up  34. nieces and nephews  35. second-hand stores  36. circuit assemblies where you know almost everyone there  37. getting to that circuit assembly without the use of a GPS  38. MY SISTERS  39. living so close to California  40. Our house  41. My brother  42. Giant, mysterious saguaro's  43. walks in Sabino Canyon  44. weekends in Florence  45. My Sisters  46. Mexican Food  47. Friends  48. Family  49. Driving home from my Big Sisters and watching the city lights  50. Monsoons  51. Adopted Parents/Grandparents  52. Friends/Family

So there they are, 52 of the things I miss most from Arizona.  And no, I am not crazy (well mostly not), I have some things listed more than once.  But that is because I miss them so much I had to list them more than once!

It has been a hard, busy, crazy, stressful, fun, wonderful year.  We have learned so much, made so many new friends, and are so glad we made that very hard decision.  We miss you all so much and can not wait until we can see your smiling faces again.

History in the Making

Get cozy - this is a long one.

This week has been a crazy busy week.  My Grandmother has been in the hospital since last week and things were not looking good at all.  She needs surgery.  She needs surgery on her broken arm, she needs surgery on internal things that are not functioning as they should.  BUT, she is so frail, so frail that they said she will not survive surgery, so she has to live as comfortably as she can with the ailments she has.  It is all so, so very sad.

Last week my parents and my two older sisters decided they needed to be here.  They arrived on Sunday.  We were all so glad to see them.  Six months is a long time to be without them.  Tuesday my Grandma was transferred to a nursing home to see if they can give her some therapy to make her a little stronger so that she can go home.  So this crazy week has been spent back and forth first to the hospital, then to the nursing home, and trying to squeeze in some quality time with the family.  Whew - busy week.

It also happened to be the week of the Circuit Overseers visit.  Time for myself?  Nah, who needs that anyway.  Thursday we had to feed the C.O. and his wife lunch.  I planned on being all suzy homemaker and preparing a fruit tray with hand made dip.  That so did not happen.  Thank goodness for Meijer and their fresh fruit tray.  I will admit that I jazzed it up a bit.  I cut the fruit into smaller chunks so it would spread farther, added some I had at home, and put it all in a fancy little dish.

Saturday we did service.  Arizona people stopped early, it was too cold for them.  We tried convincing them that it was a "dry" cold so it really wasn't at cold as they thought but they didn't buy it.  So Rachel and I along with a couple of the munchkins and a friend continued on.  I got a very nice call with an older gentleman, 93, we talked for about 30 minutes.  Then I got back to the hall to discover that he was the only do not call on the street.  OOPS!  Then we got to attend the entire pioneer meeting.  So encouraging!

This morning I had to say goodbye to my sisters, again!  I hate that!  We went to meeting with plans of service afterword.  Rachel, Cameron and I are all auxiliary pioneering this month so we were trying to jump start our hours.  We walked out the doors after meeting to a blizzard.  No kidding, full on blizzard.  So crazy.  And usually Rachel drives like 90% of the time.  But today I thought I would be nice and offer to drive.  Mistake!  BIG Mistake!  We made it about half way home and I did a big giant spin-out in the street and almost went off the road.  So scary.  But we made it home alive and I am refusing to leave again.  So intended sleepover person for the night is postponed till tomorrow.  Sorry young person, please forgive me.

It was a very busy week.  So busy.  But all encouraging as well.  I love when the Circuit Overseer is here.  Everyone is so uplifted and encouraged to carry on.  He read us this letter from the JW Media site and congratulated all of us for being part of "history in the making".  I am so proud of our little family this month.  Cameron is pioneering for the first time ever.  So very proud of him and all the progress he has made these past couple of years.  Kids have all set goals of increased time.  It is going to be a busy month.  But busy in service to Jehovah is a good busy.

Love you all.

Treasuries = Compliments

My online shop Polka Dot Poppy is currently being featured in this soft and pretty treasury: She Scatters Kindness.  How lovely is that.  And what a great title.  These little pretties are featured there.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/31754558/smokey-swirls-purple-grey-and-black

I love when a random stranger finds your work and likes it enough to comment on it.  I think that is the best compliment ever.  Whether it is on your favorite craft, your work, your photography, your writing, or your children, when the little bit of favorable wind blows in your direction and it happens to come from someone who feels no need to boost your ego or pop your bubble, it just feels, well, awesome!

So that is my little moment of self promotion.  I will go back to putting on my mommy hat and my hosting hat since all my beautiful sisters happen to be under one roof at the moment, and that roof happens to be mine.