Craig's Visit

A relaxing moment with my brother Craig, his wife Debbie and mom. Looking at the fountain go off up at Fountain Hills. It was a little breezy that day and the water cooled us off. A rousing game of Scrabble up at the Lake.We got some Subway sandwhiches and enjoyed eating them by the lake and watched the boats go by. We practically had the place to ourselves. If you go you might want to purchase ahead of time a recreation pass. I didn't have one and was nervous the whole time thinking I was going to get a ticket.


We brought our dog Bentley and the squirrels had a blast teasing him.
This is Sherriff Joe's Chain Gang hard at work. Look closely and you can see they are women in chains. This was taken on the corner of Brown and Stapley. My brother who lives in California knows all about Sherriff Joe and LOVES him. We finished the day with a great Mexican dinner at our favorite restaurant "Tia Rosa". What a fun Family Day.

Annette's Baby Shower

Good Food - Family and Friends for a fun time at Annette's baby shower- due end of May.
Darling cake from "Sugar Lips"
Rosa's makes the perfect party place.
This baby will make 3 boys and 1 girl and still smiling......

Tour De Phoenix

On Your Mark - Get Set - GO!! The start of the Tour De Phoenix. Rick handing off a water bottle to Jon going up the backside of Usary Pass.
Jon came in just under 3 hours after a 70 plus mile ride. He got platinum and that was his goal.
A great ride and happy ending.
The next generation rider.
Jon and Bryce happy it's over. Bryce is our hometeacher and came in 6th overall!

Top of Shea Blvd. scenic view of the West Valley.
Mesa's finest helping keep the riders safe.


Ivette -- Jon's better half. The best part of the ride - lunch at Ned's Crazy Sub.
Congrat's Jon...job well done.

Can't keep him down.

The cast has only been on a week and he's back at motorcycles again. Only it's watching motor cylces at the Supercross at Chase Field in Phoenix. We go every year and an old broken ankle wasn't going to stop him. He was okay until today and then it really started to hurt. We think he's rubbed a blister on his ankle bone, so he's got the power saw and is cutting a hole out of the cast so it won't rub anymore. I took a picture of it but I won't go in there and check to see if he's severed off a limb. It sounds like a dentist office in there. But Supercross was fun, just Kenzie, Rick and I went. For the 3 of us was just $40.00 and we sat in the handicap section. We borrowed the Goodman's wheelchair and got him in perfectly and sat on the lower level right in front of the 3 big whoops. Parking was close since we have a handicap sticker from my parents. James Stewart "Bubba" won again and the place was packed. The score to the Cardinals football game was constantly up and they ended up winning so we didn't miss anything. They will be going to the playoffs for the Super bowl. (First time ever). Rick's been at work every day this week and drives himself. The sprained ankle is doing better if he wears his foot brace. He just has to keep his feet up so the swelling doesn't get too bad. He did not go to church this week again, he was hoping to go today but the irritation was bad. Next week we have a general authority coming to talk to our stake for a special stake conference. I hear Bednar and another G.A. is coming down. I am really looking forward to that. My son Jon moved closer to our house this past week. I walked to it from our house and it took me 40 minutes. And then I walked back. I was wearing a pink sweat suit and a pink baseball cap. I got so many waves from women driving by in there cars. I'm thinking they thought I was a breast cancer survivor or something like that, because I've never had so many people waving to me. It felt really good. Like a celebrity. By the way Rick did not sever off a leg and he feels much better with the hole in his cast.

Hollywood or weird

This is WEIRD because after our Thanksgiving dinner we drove over to Calif. and got to Grammas at about 9 p.m. That was one big jam packed day. Our plan was to go to Universal Studios the next day, but we got a late start and decided to just drive to Hollywood and see the sights. First off we had to go see if we could find Rob and Big's house. It was up in the Hollywood hills about 5 minutes from Universal Studios. Rob and Big is a reality t.v. show that is kind of WEIRD but I liked it because he had a miniature horse and a bull dog at his house. The show isn't on anymore and the house is up for sale. But we still had fun finding it. Then we ate at Tommy's Burger and the memories of our teenage years came flooding back. That was one of the first dates Rick took me on when we were dating. It's a different kind of hamburger that they smother with chili. (Sounds Weird) Then we joined the masses walking up and down Hollywood Blvd. Saw Hollywood High School where all the famous movie star teens went to school. Steve Horvath even went there.
We saw lots of WEIRD characters walking around in costumes. Then we went back to Grammas and ate out with our good friends Shawn and Jane. The next day Rick went Motorcyle riding up in the mountains with Shawn and Kenzie and I went shopping at the Santa Anita Mall and saw "Twilight". We finished it off by enjoying a nice roaring fire at Gramma's place. We always enjoy going over to see the folks.

No Room at the Inn

Rick, Jon (our son) and his wife Ivette and I spent the weekend down in Douglas Arizona for the Cochise Bicycle Classic. We got down there a little late around 9 p.m. only to find our hotel had already given away our room and the hotel was totally full. We had just driven through a hail storm in Bisbee I thought our windshield was going to crack it was coming down so hard. Luckily we were driving our Nissan Titan Truck that has four wheel drive. The wheels were starting to loose traction from the ice forming on the road. Imagine we just came from 100 plus degree weather and now we are slipping on ice. We were all tired and worn out and a little scared. Now we had no place to sleep. Douglas is not a real big town, only a mile from the mexican boarder. I didn't want to be out in the cold. Rick had heard that all the rooms in town were full because of the bike race. But we took a chance and headed to the only other hotel in town. The Gadsden Hotel, which is posted as being the Last of the Grand Hotels. Built in 1907 it looked it. But we gave it a chance and Rick must have looked forlorn and they let us stay in a room that was already reserved but the man hadn't shown up yet. It also only had one queen size bed, but Rick snatched it up out of desperation. We unloaded all the bikes and headed to Wall Mart to buy a blow up mattress and blankets for Jon and Ivette. It turned out they had the more comfortable sleeping arrangement. We were all thankful for anything at this point. The hotel is known for being haunted, especially in room 333, but we luckily got room 242. The only spooky thing that happened in our room was a huge grasshopper landed on Ricks back as soon as we entered the room. But there is a log where people enter supernatural weird experiences that happen to them while staying at the hotel. Past guests include Eleanor Roosevelt, Lee Marvin, Shelly Winters,...... Wow!! It is even told that Pancho Villa road his horse up the Italian Marble Staircase. There is an authentic Tiffany stained - glass mural which extends 42 feet across one wall of the massive mezzanine. Each pillar is decorated in 14K gold leaf - worth $20,000 back in 1929. Many movies have been filmed in this old hotel, one "The life and times of Judge Roy Bean". I loved it and had a very peaceful sleep, ghosts and all. Rick and Jon battled the wind the whole 98 mile course that took them through the old mining town of Bisbee and around some beautiful mountains and prairies. The old west still exists, only on bicycles instead of horses. A few of our bike club "Brumby's" came down to get in shape for the Tour De Tucson, which is coming up in November. Rick and Jon are thinking about doing that. Ivette and I had a fun time chasing after our husbands in the truck and catering to their every whim, which was usually just a water bottle here or a banana there. But they were very appreciative of our efforts and we felt we were needed. But it was a great sacrifice on my part since I missed getting to see my new little grandson who was born the day we left....10/10/08.

Stadium of Fire (What a BLAST)

Well who new we got 3 of the coveted Miley Cyrus /Blue Man Group "Stadium of Fire" tickets at BYU stadium that in the end people were paying thousands of dollars for. My ticket was well worth the $45.00. That started the ball rolling and I guess we had another road trip in the making. Kenzie and I flew up standby thanks to Michaels employment with US Airways. We visited the State Capitol of Utah (newly renovated) and stopped in at the beautiful Red Butte Gardens above the UofU. Lagoon amusement park was so much fun and met up with our good friends the Horne's from our ward. My brother Buck and his son Will treated us to a wild ride at Park City Olympic training site, with a 50 mile an hour zip line and an Alpine slide ride. They had worked at the World Cup earlier in the year and got $300.00 worth of vouchers. We sure got our fill of alpine fun.
The Stadium of Fire is truly a ball of fire. Smoke and sparks flying everywhere. The show was spectacular and very patriotic. It was a treat to have my first roommate at BYU (Karen Jackson) along with us.
(Just like old times).

Uncle Greg's Surprise Birthday Party /28th June

Charlotte surprised Greg for his birthday with a big birthday bash at Greg's parents house.
He had no idea about the party since it was a week before his birthday. It was fun to hear him load up his coke glass with ice before we surprised him. I liked the picture with Grampa Green and Greg and Rick. Greg has broken his neck a few times and I'm sure the neck pillow will come in handy.
It was fun to visit with Greg's kids, I took a picture of David and Christopher and coined them "HAIR and HAIRLESS".

Endless Summer

coined this blog the "Endless Summer" because it's just been one week after another of great summer adventures. I love the old movie "The Endless Summer" where a couple of surfers travel all around the world filming their surfing adventures. Wouldn't it be grand if life could be full of
endless summers and not a care in the world except when the next "big wave" would be coming in.
Well, I guess we wouldn't appreciate the "Big Wave" as much if we didn't have some little rollers along the way. I sure love and appreciate each and every little adventure we've been able to go on.
It's not really where you go, but who you go with and who you meet along the way that makes the difference. We started out for San Felipe, Baja Mexico on Wednesday, June 18th. This is the latest we've ever gone and we along with Packers were just a little hesitant it could be blazing HOT. It was hot and humid but I was pleasantly surprised with a little ocean breeze how comfortable it was. Except at night sleeping under the stars you'd wake up in the middle of the night with your sheet soaking wet and shivering to death. Kenzie brought her very good friend Leah Tate along and McCall Packer loyally came with her parents Shawn and Jane. (Usually we have a bit more girls). Danny and Lachelle also came along, (Danny's first step back into Mexico since his mission). Baja is all about friends, eating, sleeping, quading, floating, sleeping, shopping, firecrackers, SHELL BEACH,sacrament mtg., eating, games, reading, sweating, dancing and more sleeping. By the time you leave Baja you're pretty much comatose. We had a few normal quads that broke down, (that always sparks Rick's attention). We tried a fire on the beach one night for F.H.E. roasting marshmellow's. That was something new we've never tried. It would have been good but the marshmellow's had all stuck together on the trip down in the heat. I really liked playing games at night with the girls. We played spoons and catch phrase. It was totally relaxing and totally awesome.