End of April in Arizona

So,

in reference to Collette's blog today,

http://thecoreyconnection.blogspot.com/

we too found a new friend

he doesn't really hiss though!

He's a little LOUDER

than a hiss!

We are looking forward to some fun times in

PineTop, AZ

this summer

trekking the fire trails

It's a Polaris RZR 1000XP

gonna be REALLY fun.

And we have some other new friends at our office

a week ago, they looked like this:

Yesterday they looked like this:

They are growing at an amazing pace.

I suspect they will be flying away any time now.

Then we need to clean up their mess and find a way to 

prevent this from happening in the future.

It's right at our front door

could be messy!

And Greg cleaned up our

2004 Ford Expedition

110000 miles

Excellent condition

(SO well cared for)

well, except for one minor mishap

(Naomi - being stocked at the gas station in New Mexico,

had a run-in with a yellow pylon)

Anyway...

it's all ready for market

Unless Sam and Randy decide they want it

fun to keep it in the family,

but in a way that WE don't have to pay the insurance on it :)

Pretty great truck!

It was my daily vehicle for about a year and a half when we first got it.

(we thought we had a big family! ha ha)

then,

We travelled every 4th of July week

with our 3 kids (and sometimes a friend in tow)

to San Diego

in it - for about 5 years.

That was about all it was driven for many years.

Then Naomi took it to New Mexico to college for one semester

That's about it.

We decided it was time for it to have another home.

Where someone else could enjoy it.

Greg has taken such good care of it over the years.

washing and waxing it regularly

and we NEVER let our kids eat in it.

As a matter of fact, we all remember the first trip we took in it as a family

Greg and I fitted all the seats with blankets or sheets

to protect them from our kids! ha ha

Worked great!

The only car snack treat allowed was twizzlers!

They weren't messy.

And bottled water.

Meals were eaten OUTSIDE the car

(like IN the restaurant or at a park or something)

That rule has pretty much stuck in our family

no eating meals in the car.

We NEVER went to the drive-through

and then ate in the car.

The result? a practically new looking 14 year old vehicle!

On another note:

Look at mom and dad's beautiful

and prolific

back yard!

They have BEAUTIFUL roses

and all kinds of other flowers.

Plus

(although I don't have pictures)

they have SO MANY oranges on their tree

and SO MANY figs

and SO MANY peaches

They also have lots of tomatoes

of varying varieties

and even

GRAPES

on their grape vine!

Such Fun.

And they have a lot of humming birds that love their back yard too.

It's a lovely place to sit and relax

swing on the bench swing

and smell the garden

watch the birds

and look at all the beauty around!

Till next weekend when it will be 97 degrees out!

ha ha

welcome to Arizona!