Iowa neighbors

We have been busy the past few weeks.  Our neighbors from Iowa (Both Petersons, Barb and Craig and Jeff and Patty) came to our home two weeks ago and we had a great time with them.  After giving them a tour of our little home here we drove to Cave Creek to look around.  We all especially liked "The Town Dump", a store with tons of unique and special order items you would never see anywhere else!  I will be going back there before I head back home to Iowa.  After shopping we stopped at Harold's Saloon for a cold beer then back to our home for visiting and dinner.  It was a very nice day!

Last Friday we spent the day back at the horse track helping our friend Alice celebrate her birthday with her cousins, uncle and one other friend.  We had a blast and I even won $112 on a race with a $6 bet so that was extra fun!  Normally I only bet $2 per race but decided to up it this time and a long shot came in to help boost my winnings.  Yay!  That evening we took Alice and her Wisconsin cousin back to Cave Creek for the all you can eat fish at Buffalo Chip Saloon.  What a place!  It was packed to the brim and out back they had an actual rodeo arena where we watched bull riding and toddlers riding sheep.  Good time.

I still fit in my hiking, as I need to get in shape for a trip I am taking with my sisters in April.  We are hiking down the Grand Canyon, or Havasupai to be more precise.  It is a beautiful place and we are looking forward to this adventure!  We hike down, stay two nights and then hike out on the third day.  It is the "hike out" part that requires you to get into some sort of shape!  They do have a helicopter that will haul you out if you cannot make it but it can't be cheap and that is not what we want to do!  :-)

Now we are busy looking at the Cactus League baseball schedule to see what games we want to attend.  The Diamondbacks have a new (last year) stadium that we have not seen so that is on our list.  Spring baseball is a huge thing down here every year and it is fun to go to the games.  Our son-in-law Andy is coming down here to go to some games so Mark will entertain him while I fly to Peoria to see my daughter and grandchildren.  I cannot wait for that!  Well, that is about all I have for now.  Hope everyone's snow is melting!!!!

Pics from the last few weeks:

Mark at Turf Paradise

Barb, Patty, Marla at Cave Creek

The Three Amigos....Mark, Jeff, Craig

My winter geraniums are doing well.

I love this color of geranium!