Home for the week-end

I was back in Iowa Wednesday afternoon through very early Sunday. (I had a 6:30 a.m. flight so left the farm at 4:15 a.m.....ugh!) It was so wonderful to be with Mark, dig in my flower beds, mow the lawn. I also took time out for all my yearly medical physicals so that took up some of my precious time there but all needed to be done. Mark and I also spent some time helping our good friends Jan and Clayton begin their move to a new home in town. They have sold the beloved farm with the pond but the upkeep on it was getting to be a bit of a chore for just the two of them. The place they bought in town is just awesome, though. It is HUGE and lovely. I am very happy for them. They have timber on each side and in the back so it is very private for being in town. This will make them a great home. I have included pictures from my long week-end. Some are from around our farm, some from the pond farm and a few of their new home in town. One picture shows cannas and zinnias that Mark planted while I am away. I thought that was very special that he did that considering they can be a lot of work. He is such a sweet guy, but everyone knows that! The picture of me in our golf cart shows me sporting a jacket........I cannot recall the last time I needed one of those items of clothing in Phoenix! The air felt even crisp.

Fun new toy!

Great time with Grandpa

Mark flew to Iowa yesterday after being out here for 12 days. I think he was tired when he went back.......I made him do too much getting the town house ready! He wouldn't have had to work so hard if he were not so talented at fixing things and cleaning! Again, it was tough to see him go but I see him again in 3 days so we can manage that, surely. :-)

Saturday we all went to the mall to get Drew's six month pictures taken. This little guy does nothing but smile all the time, but could we get him to do that in the studio? Murphy's Law in action I guess. Megan did get some good ones though and I have posted a couple here. Grandpa pushed his grandson all over the mall while she and I picked out the pictures. I think he enjoyed that.

Well, it is a Monday morning and I am back to babysitting Drew. Much, much easier than my past Monday mornings, heading to Ogden. This is much more enjoyable and less stressful. Now, as he gets older and starts crawling and walking, the stress level may rise a bit. :-) Oh well, hopefully the little guy will keep me active and young. Have a great week everyone!

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Drew gets dunked!

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Sad Drew....

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The first week of July

Busy......Mark and I have been that this week! He flew in on Tuesday, July 3rd and that is the same day we moved into the town house. One furniture store delivered our new king sized bed and furniture that exact day and also our dining room table and chairs. We went with a pub sized table and just love it. It is good with our long legs.....well his anyway. The sofa and love seat arrive tomorrow. That will be very good, as sitting on patio chairs in the living room isn't all that much fun! We bought Andy and Megan's 57" TV as they wanted to get a new Plasma. Maybe I should say Andy wanted a new plasma. :-) We had DishNet installed yesterday morning so we at least now have that to watch, if we had some spare time....... Wednesday we have Internet installed, thank goodness. I have been missing that greatly, thus the reason for very few posts this past week. Between all the installations poor Mark has been working hard at scrubbing floors, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning garage floors and patio floors. He has also been a godsend with his handyman persona on all the little things that need fixing, etc. While he does that I am painting all the rooms. It should look really nice when we get all finished. I will post some pictures of our "second" home when we get all done!

We spent the 4th working for most of the day but took a break in the late afternoon to visit Andy, Megan and Drew. They spent most of the time in the pool and I videotaped. Be watching for Drew's first dunking in an upcoming video. I wasn't too keen on daddy doing that but Drew took it just fine! It was worse on grandma. He begins swim lessons soon and that is a very good thing. A pair of two year-olds had near drownings this week-end, one is fine but they don't think the other will make it. How terribly tragic, and adults were all out in the same yard. Horrors......

Saturday night we took Sharon and Arne out to dinner at the Satisfied Frog in Cave Creek. Fun atmosphere and good conversation and good salad bar. We wanted to thank them for all the weeks of hospitality they have extended to us both while we awaited the town house to be empty. I think I will rather miss going up there every week-end and staying in beautiful Terravita! I will always visit often, though.

Well, that is what we have been up to here in the heat of the desert. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th. I, of course, must post a few photos I have taken along the way. :-)
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Drew gets introduced to sports

Drew's daddy Andy dearly loves sports of all kinds. Here he shows his son some of the basics of several sports. I have a feeling Drew will be an athlete of some sort if his daddy has anything to say about it!!

Drew has a new bib!

It has a great message, but that could just be me...... :-)
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Pictures from the week....

It is only Tuesday but I already have a few pictures to post, naturally! Never hard to get me to take pictures of Drew..... :-)

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Five months old!

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Solid foods for the very first time!

Another week bites the dust

Drew and I had a pretty quiet week here together. We did do a little traveling, mainly to furniture stores looking for furniture for the townhouse that Mark and I will soon be moving to. I am excited to finally have a space to put my stuff and look forward to setting up a second house there. It is very close to Megan and Andy's home so don't have far at all to drive each morning, about 1.8 miles or so. If I didn't need to have a car there for emergencies I would just jog there every morning!

I spent the week-end with Sharon and Arne. She made dinner at home Friday night. Saturday morning we were hiking Black Mountain by 6:30. We pretty much beat the heat by starting out at that time. We made it up to the top in 39 minutes. Not a record for us, but close considering how hot it was. I really love hiking and would do it every day if it were not so hot. When it cools down in the fall I will start walking/jogging/or hiking every day when I possibly can!

Saturday afternoon Arne took us to the 4:10 showing of "Knocked Up". It is a comedy, even though the title usually doesn't conjure up humorous thoughts. :-) It was a little "iffy" for the first 20 minutes or so, but then we all got into the humor (black, at times) and enjoyed the movie. Definitely an adults only type movie. Arne also took us to Red Robin for dinner. It was very good. When we got back to Terravita we watched a slide show of their trip to Las Vegas and Zion Nat. Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah. Very beautiful.....makes me want to drive there with Mark sometime when we have a free week-end here.

Today I am babysitting while Megan takes Andy for a belated Father's Day golf outing. He loves to golf and they picked a beautiful course so I know they are enjoying it, even in the heat.

The pictures are from this past week and week-end. I am working on posting a few short videos so stop back once in awhile to see how that project is working out. :-) Have a great week everyone. Email me!

A test of adding video

I am trying my hand at uploading video to this blog. The video (if it works) is one that Andy made with Drew quite awile ago. Drew has changed a lot since then! It may be "jerky" at first but let it completely load and then watch it. I hope........

A little yard work

Drew and I went out today to water the new plants. When you head out doors and you are losing your baby hair you must wear a hat in the sun! The pics with a bad glare are caused by snapping the pictures in a mirror. The plants look great after two days in the desert. Water will be the key.......

(Since this blog is half mine, I would like to say something about today. Grandma isn't being very honest when she says the plants look great. "Most" of them look great but there are two that are goners. I think she ruined one on Sunday when she was planting it and was too rough with the little roots. Today as she was hauling me and the garden hose around the yard she pulled the hose right over another tender plant and destroyed that one, too! Then she made me go with her to get two new plants today. She even thought about planting them right away and hoping my daddy wouldn't be the wiser! I really think she would have, too, but she wasn't sure what color plant daddy had in those spots so now she has to ask him about that. I think that is funny cuz now he will know what she did! Grandma sometimes does funny stuff like that during our days together. When she does, I will let you know! Love, Drew)

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Digging a hole in the desert

Andy wanted to plant some bushes and flowering shrubs in his landscaping and I gladly helped him. I miss gardening so was looking forward to assisting him. Digging a hole here is a bit different than digging a hole in Iowa. Here you begin with a pick axe! As Andy broke up "the dirt" I scooped it into a bucket with a shovel. I truly marvel at all the vegetation in the desert because the soil doesn't seem conducive to growing anything, yet it is very beautiful throughout the valley.

We went to Lowe's on Saturday and picked out 20 plants. It is a bit late to be planting so he picked out smaller ones which have a better chance of surviving the summer and were less expensive if they don't make it. :-) He placed them in the landscaping where he wanted them and on Sunday morning we got up and went to work. I must say that Andy got a workout with that pick axe. I feared he wouldn't be able to get out of bed today to go to work but he seemed just fine when he left this morning. Ah, the joys of youth......

We planted oleanders, lantana, bottle brush bushes, a Spanish Bayonet Yucca, and an agave. I hope they do make it....not just because of the intense labor but because it will be such fun to watch and help them grow into beautiful plants.