March 11, 2014 update.

   Your comments are welcome as we enjoy hearing about how our family and friends are doing as well. I've finally learned how to change the settings to allow comments. Life's a dance, you learn as you go.

   We've been so busy we loose track of time. Before you know it a weeks gone by, then a month. Now we only have 3 weeks left of beautiful Mesa, AZ . . . . until next time that is. ;) We really enjoy all of the amenities of the resort, sunshine and mainly enjoy all of the wonderful people. Boy do they know how to have fun. February 11th was the annual Mardi Gras Party where they have a parade, 3 bands, food and free beer & wine. I joined the Zumba group in the parade and we were right behind the Silversmiths.

Silversmiths group, some of our favorite people.

Zumba on the patio with friends.

Fun with our special friends.

 

   Many of the cactuses are in bloom out at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. We hope to get out there again a few more times before we leave.

 



 

 

   Our friend, Leslie was out visiting her daughter, Christy. They are both ultimate athletes. They asked us to meet them at Camel Back mountain trailhead. Bill finally got to go "mountain climbing". I opted to only join them a third of the way up and went back to the truck. It's a very rugged, strenuous trail. We enjoyed a great lunch in downtown Scottsdale afterwards.

Top of Camelback Mountain

                               

                                  Leslie and Christy                            

                                

Bill found a friend at the top

 

    The rain over the weekend had cleaned the air so we decided to go for a long hike out to San Tan mountain again on March 3rd.

  

Pictures from San Tan Mountain

 

March 5th we hiked Moon Rock Trail at Usery Mountain.

Pictures from Moon Rock Trail

 

On March 7th Bill joined Lee, a friend from Michigan, to the Good Guys car show in Scottsdale.

 

March 8th we met a group of friends at the Huey Lewis and the News concert at Encanterra Country Club. Great concert and we had a lot of fun. Huey still has a great voice and plays wonderful music. 

 

 

Today we met with friends to see/hear a tribute to Patsy Cline concert at Superstition Skies Pub. No pictures though. I hope we are able to meet with the same group of friends at Filly's Grill in Apache Junction to dance under the stars Sunday evening.

 

Las Vegas and Hoover Dam

 The Mystere Cirque Du Doleil show at Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas was totally amazing. Staying at the beautiful Paris Hotel felt like we were in Paris and the food was wonderful. Our anniversary celebration was awesome.
  We walked many miles and saw wonderful hotels on the strip such as Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, Bellagio, Excalibur, NY-NY, etc. I especially loved the water fountain display to music in front of the Bellagio. We did gamble a little here and there. We road the shuttle bus to Fremont Street (old Vegas strip) and back which was interesting.

The Paris Hotel

The Bellagio Hotel (directly across from Paris)

New York, New York Hotel (actual roller coaster)

 

   After leaving the hotel Friday, we drove to Hoover Dam. We were so lucky to be able to attend the entire tour of the Dam and of the Hydro Power Plant. Bill enjoyed it tremendously. . . I enjoyed it also.

Bill in front of the Dam

Generators in the Hydro Plant

Looking up from inside the ventilation tunnel

Looking down at the generator buildings. 

The New bridge downstream of the Dam.

 

   It was a long, long 6 hour drive back to Mesa. There were stretches of road through the desert where we saw no houses for 90+ miles. We can check Vegas off our bucket list, but may have visit Hoover Dam again someday.  

January 27th update

  We've been reading about all of the horrifying weather the northern states have been hit with this year. You're all in our thoughts and prayers. Spring is on its way in a couple months. :)
  We're so thankful to be here in Arizona. Last Sunday we went to the Barrett-Jackson car auction where they auction off multi-million dollar cars. It's unbelievable how much money people have. Bill went with a few of the guys and I road with a couple friends. We ran into each other there. 

Two of my favorites.

 

   A couple weeks ago we went hiking at San Tan Mountain then met friends for dinner at San Tan Flats restaurant. A unique restaurant where can choose a table outside and there is a fire pit next to most of the tables with unlimited wood to burn.

 

   Last Monday we drove to Boyce-Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, AZ where we hiked and took a few pictures. Such a beautiful place at 2888ft elevation where the air is much cleaner. We love it so much there so we bought an annual pass and went out there again yesterday, the 26th.

  
   We had hoped to go to Las Vegas for our wedding anniversary January 20th. But do to a few RV problems, we've decided to postpone until tomorrow, January 28th. This will be our 1st time there and will be staying at The Paris Hotel right on the strip for 3 nights.
   We're are so thankful for our friends, Judy and Clyde, who'll be coming over to feed Peppy everyday while we're gone.

   I'm still learning how to use this blog site. If you're interested in our previous blogs, go to the far right side and click on the previous months. I started this in September 2013.

January 10, 2014 Update

   Christmas wasn't the same as being home and we were thinking of you all. It must have been horrible for some of you who were without electricity and the cold weather you've been having must be absolutely horrible. We're so thankful for our friend Mike and friend Randy who have been checking on our house. It was without power for ~8 days. Randy shut the water off then back on after the power came back on. Today the furnace quit again and we're so thankful for Randy to get it going again. Other problems with pipes freezing that we have to address soon. :/
   We had Christmas dinner with 780 people, 18 of which we sat at the same table with and shared the food each of us had brought. We're so thankful to have met Judy & Clyde who invited us to join them.
  We enjoyed candlelight Christmas Eve service at the Celebration Church and driving around looking at lights. January 30th we attended the 'Chihuly in the Desert' at the Desert Botanical Garden with our new friends from New York. Truly amazing talent.

 

 

New Years Eve we had dinner with 10 other people at the Rustlers Roost restaurant which sits on top of a mountain overlooking Phoenix area. Such a fun place.

 

   Time is flying by and the sunshine and warmer temperatures have been so wonderful. We have met so many wonderful people and have done so many wonderful things. Last Sunday we joined friends for lunch at Filly's Grill and Bar overlooking the mountains. Every Saturday & Sunday from 12 to 5pm they have a country band playing outside and the place just packs full of people who ride horses there, motorcycles, etc. They dance, eat, drink and have fun. It's so different here.

 

Horses waiting at Filly's Grill

Fun with friends at Filly's

 

 



December 15th Update

   Although we're enjoying ourselves tremendously, we do miss everyone very much. We've seen and done so much since we've been in Mesa I'm not sure where to begin. So I'll start with todays events. We went to Celebration Church which is the best of the 3 we've tried here. In the afternoon we went to Mesa Art Festival where we watched & listened to a group of 4th and 5th graders play incredible Christmas music using Xilofones. On our way home we went to the Mormon Temple's Christmas light and music program. We've never seen so many lights. It was awesome.
     We bought a rosemary bush shaped like a Christmas tree and a few lights for inside. Bill has decorated the outside with lighted candy canes etc. We met some new friends for drinks by the fire after dinner at home.
   We have been spending a lot of time in the silversmith shop. It's actually sort of addicting. We have to go there in the morning after I go to Zumba.
    We have done some hiking and had nice visits with friends, Leslie, Christie and Avery from Michigan as well as with Aunt Shirley and Frank.

Lights at Mormon Temple

Beautiful Lapis Pendant, earings and mens ring Bill designed and made at the Silversmith shop as well as the ring that I made.

 

 

(Above)November 27th pictures from hiking at Pinnacle Peak with friends Leslie, Christie and Avery.

 

(above) Hike on Wind Cave trail to near the top of Usery Mountain.

 

Tehe