Thirty days hath September, APRIL, June, and November.

I see something out and about and it screams

"blog about me!", so I take a picture and

when I finally upload it and blog it has totally

lost its importance.  So as not to hurt

anything's feelings I am posting my pictures

and will do my best to explain.

 

Starting here ~ early in April I walked by

my garden and one little onion had popped up.

Must mean the earth was warming up.

And this onion was saying, "surprise!"

This was sad to me.  These two pictures are of a

new casino just outside of Flagstaff.  Not that it

surprises anyone.  What surprised me was who built it. 

 I remember many years ago when

every tribe dug a hole

at the edge of their reservation and near

an eager gambling population and built a

casino....all in the name of financing their

tribe.  At that time, the Navajos said no to that

idea.  Times change and so do people.

So welcome to the Navajo Nations' Twin Arrows.

 

This is Boo on Sunday mornings.  She knows

she isn't going anywhere.  This picture doesn't show

how low she is to the ground.  She just sinks.

 

I've learned a lot about peach trees.

Mostly since we planted one.

The biggest thing I learned is each variety

blooms after having counted a certain

amount of cold winter days.  And that is

it.....it buds out and blossoms.  You can't change

it mind.  And this one must have the shortest

number needed.   The prospects

of me ever getting a peach are slim to none.

Pretty picture though!

 

 

Little preschool people. 

 I approach this time

of year with two competing feelings: Yes!!

I am almost through.  The other is I love them

and will miss them.  They come to my house

just enough to fill a need for children.

And I enjoy putting things together

to help them learn and have fun.

They are my friends!

 

Tommy ~ learning to fold washcloths

    Matching upper and lower case letters.

Talmage ordering from biggest to smallest.

 Katelyn sorting nuts.  They love this one.

 London matching opposites puzzle.

 

The fisherman.

We got up early two Saturdays ago and drove to

Big Lake to fish.  It was so dang cold.

And all we caught was about 50 feet of

someone else's lost line.  But it was an

adventure.  I remember David's parents

fishing every chance they got.  Maybe that

will be us one day. 

There were hundreds of ladybugs on the rocks. 

 Boo didn't much like the lake.  No place to lay down.

 

Bishop Merrill and the Elders.

These guys like David.  They come over

a lot.  This night I signed up to feed them.

And I had wanted to get a picture of David

with some Elders.  See Elder Page,

on the right with the piece of bread

in his mouth?  That was deliberate.

The reason I think it is so funny is

he was so comfortable being goofy.

And it reminded me of my girls who

will do that when I am taking pictures.

Made me laugh.

We don't see Dylan as much as we used to.

He really is a busy boy.  He still plans on

being a doctor and he was working on a

project for school so he came over to enlist

our help.  He had me put a puzzle together

with soft music and then with not so soft music.

He took my heart rate after both times I

finished the puzzle.  I was impressed.

He really loves doctor stuff.



 

Last Saturday we drove to Alpine to pick up

an appraisal.  We took the road behind Big Lake

that went to Alpine.  I loved it!  No pictures

there though.  We made a loop out of it and

came back through Round Valley.  This is a

control burn west of RV.  Sometimes stuff

just sneaks up on me.  It is fire season

again. 

 

Our highways from Pinetop to Big Lake turn

off have become a hazard.  We were glad to

see them at work fixing them.  The downside is you get

stopped and have to wait.  This was something

we didn't anticipate when starting up Big Foot.

Need to think this over.....

 

So we got home from Alpine and traded

cars and drive to Woods Canyon Lake

to see these guys and pick up our trailer.

 

Ben kills me.  This fish in his hand is about

six hours out of the water.  I think his little hand

was frozen in place because he had held it for

so long.  The other hand is holding Cheetos.

I never saw him eat one. 

 

I think the Father and Sons outing is the

best thing.  It is loaded with memories

for those boys.

Mike wanted to ride from the lake to

the campsite with us.  We were pleased to

load him in but in less than three minutes

he was out!  Fishing is hard work!

  

I have to rethink this post.  Most of these

pictures still mean a lot to me.  The people

for sure.  Tomorrow is the last day of April.

I don't know where it has gone but I am

glad I shared parts of it with good people.

 



Easter Egg Hunt at the Arboretum

 The six weeks before Easter weekend were some of the

most frustrating and unproductive weeks I have ever

experienced.  It was a case of doing the same thing over

and over again and expecting different results.  I won't bore

anyone with details.  As Easter weekend approached I told

David we should try and get together with the family

and have a picnic and let's try and make it a meet in the

middle event.  That sounded like a good idea to everyone....

at first.  Then it became complicated.  Again, I won't

bore anyone with details.  Because of my frustrated frame

of mind it just started to be more than I wanted to think

about.  So I texted everyone and said let's nix it.  And

then I went to bed.  I woke up the next morning so sad.

No matter what I wanted to see grandchildren.  Ya....

and their parents.  Before the morning was over my

two sons had called....maybe I called Pete.  But they

both said, "Mom, let's just do it".  They could both see that our

families are getting older and we will just have to

plan an event and those who can come will come.

Thank you, boys!  I loved the day!

And thank you to Tim for all the pictures.

   

This is how I first saw Megan.  She just turned 12.

I was worried when I saw her sitting at the table, alone,

with her itouch.  Is this the new Megan?



Nope!  She was great!  You can't see her in front

of  David but we had a great time with her.  Close

to the end of the day she walked the trail with David

and me.  This is the suspension bridge at the Arboretum.

Brittany is good to remember what photos

ought to be included.  We are missing Rockwell

here.  (He didn't want to go for the walk through

the Arboretum so his dad volunteered to stay

behind with him.)  We love pictures with all

the grandchildren and us.  You may not be able

to see that Jett, who I am holding, is upset.

We had to pull him out of the water.....he fell

in trying to reach over and touch the water coming

out of the wall.

 

The Saguaro Cactus were beautiful and green

against the rock backdrop.

And Abbey acted as my guide through

the trails.  She has been studying dessert

plants and really had a much to teach me

as we walked. 

Pete and Jett (still recovering from his

the recent fall in the water.)  Nothing like

being on Dad's shoulders to ease the pain!

Pregnant mom #1 (Brittany).  Due the end of May.

Pregnant mom #2 (Connie).  Due in October.

Official photographer and husband of

pregnant mom #2.



Amazing cactus!  

These are a barrel cactus and they were just

so pretty and just cute too.



Abbey helping grandpa find his way.

The youngest among us.  And his smitten mom.

Megan, our oldest grandchild and Rockwell,

her cousin, and our youngest grandchild.

Finally!  The egg hunt begins.

Watching Ben was great.  He would run to an

egg bend over with his basket to pick it up and

all other eggs in the basket would tumble out.

He did that a half a dozen times and then he changed

tactics.  He would run to an egg put down his

basket, pick up the egg and throw it in the

basket and then pick up the basket and be gone again.

So cute!

It was all about the boots for me.  Mike and Ben

came dressed in matching shirts (which they

happened to get from Grandpa and Grandma for

their February birthdays!) but Mike

finished his outfit with these cowboy boots.

Nice touch, Mike!



Daisy only went for sparkly eggs.  I don't think

she was trying to match the eggs to her basket

but it was really close.

Jett....tossing some back.  Must not be keepers!



Melanie was cracking eggs open.....she heard

there were prizes inside.

 

Abbey with the mother lode.

There was one golden egg and it was loaded

with cash.  Megan was scouring the field but

couldn't find it.  (Look to the right and up

in the tree.....there it is!)  

Found it!

To the victor goes the spoils.



Good times were had by all.  

Melanie always takes care of Daisy.  And Daisy

loves it.  

Before the infamous water incident.

And, again, Melanie and Daisy.

Nothing feels better than to be the one

somebody wants to walk with....in this

case they wanted me!

These two love each other.  Of course they do, right?

To prove my point, Ben (on the right) was at the

bottom of a set of stairs and had taken a bit

of a tumble on some rocks and had sat down.

I happened to see him and was trying to coax

him up the stairs when Mike walked up by

me and looked down at Ben.  Ben's eyes

just lit up and he ran up the stairs and off

they went.  Brothers.

Boys and water.

Would you expect the scene to

be any different?

Rockwell and Grandpa Dave.

This tree is a desert pine and it was full

of pollen.  I would just tap the cones and

out dropped yellow pollen.  It was really

pretty but the fear of hay fever gripped the

allergy sufferers.

Ba Dee Badda Dee a a a  ahhhh

That's all folks.