It's been a long time!

I see it has been quite awhile since my last post.  We have been busy enjoying AZ but nothing special to put into a blog post!  The weather has been up and down here these past few weeks.  Cold and rainy and then sunny and beautiful.  The latter more common than the former but AZ can always take any rain it can get.  I believe they said they met their average yearly total over those few days of rain in January!  The desert was extremely dry, even by "desert" standards, so this bodes well for a valley full of gorgeous blooms in March.  I look forward to hiking that time of the year.

Mark and I spent 3 days at the Phoenix Open and enjoyed every minute of it.  It is such a fun event although I would estimate that 60% of the visitors knew nothing about golf and everything about how to have a good time!  I got a kick out of all the young girls in their stiletto heals trying to navigate around all the people.  Mark got a kick out of all the cleavage they had on display while trotting around in those shoes.  :)  I guess it must be the place to see and be seen!  As for the golf, the course provided players with ample birdie opportunities so scores were very low.  Phil won the event and the crowd was pulling for their ASU grad every day.  I am sure he felt like a rock star here with all the adoring fans. 

We continue to go to the gym several times per week.  I don't know if I am getting any stronger but I can open my own jars without having to ask Mark for help now so it must be working.  :-)  We really enjoy the workouts that Matt provided for us and am still rather shocked that we are going so faithfully.  Now....what to do when we return to Iowa with the closest gym MILES away?  I might have to get my farmer to buy a home gym for those months!

I am SO lonesome for Drew, Kayley and Ryan.  We do skype (facetime) with them so that helps so much but not being able to hug them and play with them is extremely hard on old granny.  They are coming here over spring break and we are excited about that but Drew's spring break isn't until the end of March so that seems very far away....

Some random pics from the past few weeks:

Hiking at Spur Cross in Cave Creek

Spur Cross scenery

Sister Sharon getting taped up after a fall off the trail!  It could have been way worse!

Mark and I went with friends to Turf Paradise for horse racing, always a fun day!

Hiking friends at Cave Creek

Green #9 at the Phoenix Open

Mark getting ready for the first golfers to come through.

Fairway #9

Ten days in Peoria

Mark and I flew to Peoria on December 28th to help bring in the New Year with our children and grandchildren.  We had such a great time!  The weather was cold but it didn't bother us as Drew, Kayley and Ryan kept us warm and laughing.  The kids did not lack for Santa gifts so we spent a lot of time playing with all their new presents.  They had a second Christmas when we arrived and more presents to open.  Matt arrived the following Thursday so they had a another gift opening!  He got them an x-box and Drew is in love with the bowling game and very good at it!  

Drew turns 6 (I cannot believe this) on January 15th so we also had an early birthday party with him before we left on January 7th.  Usually we plan to be there for his birthday but decided to go earlier this year and watch him during his holiday vacation from kindergarten. We bowled twice during our stay.  (I mentioned Drew loves to bowl!)  We also went to Micky's Pizza twice, another favorite of the kids.  Since pizza is one of our favorite foods it didn't bother us in the least.  :-)

It was very difficult to say good-bye but at least I had warm weather waiting for me.  Ha!  It has been very cool and they are talking three consecutive nights of hard freezing and urging to cover everything, including the water pipes.  I don't have enough blankets to cover everything so I am assuming we will lose some of our landscaping.  I won't even bother to go look for frost cloths because they are always sold out at the mere mention of a frost, much like the run on TP and beer before an Iowa snowstorm.  Maybe it is milk instead of beer?  I can't remember.  :-)

It sounds as if the flu bug is gaining a hold throughout most of the country.  I have been fighting a sinus infection since I returned to AZ and have been fairly miserable.  I cannot recall the last time I was sick so this is not sitting well with me!  I pray that our kids and grandchildren are spared from the flu.  Sounds like it lasts 2-3 weeks.  Wow.

Sister Sharon is flying to the valley on Saturday for a week.  She will be spending her days helping her daughter Lisa pack as she prepares to move from Mesa to New Mexico.  She will spend the evenings with us so we are looking forward to her visit.  She says she is bringing gloves and ear muffs to do some hiking.  Good idea, sis!  It will be cold!

Naturally I have some videos and pics from our time in Peoria:

 

Ryan with his new activity table

Merry Christmas!

Three happy  kids on Christmas morning

Someone LOVES getting his bath

Kayley with her new dollhouse and pink car from Grandpa and Grandma

Drew loves playing with Ryan

Grandpa entertains Ryan while we bowl

Kayley with her very favorite Bitty Baby, aka Julia

Kayley and a distracted Ryan

Brothers

I am happy

I'm still in a good mood!

Happy Birthday Drew!  (Long story about the cake decorations!)

Drew reads to an attentive Ryan

Drew decided to get really fancy for his birthday dinner at Micky's

Merry Christmas!

I see that I haven't posted anything for quite some time!  I have decided Mark and I live relatively dull lives when it comes to posting excitement on this blog!  I need my grandkids to perk up my posts.  :-)

That problem will be remedied in a few days.  We fly out Friday for a ten day stay in Peoria, IL.  We are so excited to see our family and pray the weather is good so Matt can drive out from Omaha, too.  Drew has a very long break from kindergarten so we will be there to babysit so he can stay home and enjoy his Santa toys and not go to daycare.  I assume Megan will let the other two stay home, too, so that should keep grandpa and grandma happily busy!

Our weather in AZ has been cool the last few days and I have been forced to wear long sleeve shirts and jeans.  Ha!  No coat, though!  It is such a relief not to be in that snow that the midwest just received.  The pictures look awful and some deadly auto accidents took place.  I worry about my kids driving in those conditions.  Very dangerous!

Mark and I joined a fitness gym and Matt gave us a workout plan to follow, along with a nutrition plan.  We have been faithful for two weeks, well, with the workout part.  His nutrition plan is causing us a little more pain and we are still working on that.  Ha!  I am realizing just what a weakling I am!  He said to go down in weights if we can't do all the reps.  Well.....I am at the lowest weight on one of my hardest exercises so it is pretty hard to go DOWN!

I still hike once or twice a week, but not as much as before we joined that gym.  In fact, I am going on a hike this morning.  It is my favorite AZ activity!

No pics to post.  I could put up one of Mark doing leg curls or something, but he would kill me.  Here is a link to a fun e-card I sent to family.  Much easier than sending out real cards!Drew, Kayley and Ryan

On our way! (UPDATED)

Mark and I left the farm yesterday morning around 10:30 and headed to Matt's home in Omaha.  We had a good visit with him and went to to dinner at our favorite steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse.  After dinner he took us to a really nice wine bar called Brix.  His friend and guitar teacher was the entertainment there and he was very enjoyable!  Matt knew many others there so we had company at our table.  Mark and I really enjoyed our evening!

We left Omaha this morning around 5:30  and began our long, 12.5 hour drive to Santa Rosa, NM.  We are in our hotel safe and sound and no problems along the boring way!  If there were a better way to AZ without going through Kansas I would choose it, but it is the shortest route.  If I would have won that half a billion in last night's lottery I would have purchased another vehicle to leave in Phoenix and just fly back and forth!  But it was not to be.  :-).

We have only a little more than 500 miles left tomorrow so that will be an easy day and we won't need to leave so early!

Our Thanksgiving was just wonderful with our two children and three awesome grandchildren!  I flew to Peoria on November 19th and Mark joined us the next day.  Matt came on Wednesday so we had a nice immediate family gathering for several days.  It was very difficult to leave them on Sunday but Christmas is just around the corner and Mark and I are flying back for that!  That will make for a happy New Year for us.

When I get to Phoenix tomorrow I will post some photos!  Having some trouble doing so on my iPad!

Update:  We made it to our winter home  this afternoon around 3:30.  The drive was uneventful which is a good thing.  I am now also able to put the Thanksgiving pictures on the blog.

Drew was VERY proud of his FB trophy!

Ryan loves getting a bath

Grandma brought Ryan a stuffed monkey

Kayley loves doing puzzles and finished these 4 in record time

Our three grandchildren

Kayley getting ready to start her puzzles

Grandpa holding 2 of his grandchildren, minus the top of his head!

Never hard to get a smile out of this one!

Ryan and Kayley

Drew wants to go to the basement and play catch

Excited for Thanksgiving!

I have been by myself in Phoenix since Nov. 1st.  Mark flew back to Iowa after helping me drive down here and getting the lawn ready and the house up and running.  It is lonesome without him but I keep busy by hiking every day and bumming around the place and of course, shopping.  I don't get to do that much while I am on the farm! 

The weather has been beautiful, if not a bit warm still.  I usually hike in the morning before the heat really cranks up for the day.  It has been 90 or so ever since I arrived but the week-end is supposed to be in the 70's.  Brrrr.  :-)

I fly to Peoria on November 19 and am looking forward to that day!  Cannot wait to see how much Ryan has grown and what he is doing now!  Drew and Kayley are always a delight and I am sure I will be playing lots of games with them come Nov.19th.

I bought a one-way ticket to Peoria and will drive back to the farm with Mark after our Thanksgiving holiday in Peoria.  When he is ready to leave for the winter we will pack up his truck and do that drive through NE/KS/OK/TX/NM all over again!  Thank goodness for e-books, smart phones, etc.!!!

I haven't taken any pictures because my iPhone camera is too blurry after being dropped in water and I keep forgetting to take my other camera with me.  I have the feeling I will break down and get another iPhone because I really cannot live without it having a camera.  What's money?  Ha!

Since I have no pictures I stole some from Megan to remind me how cute my grandchildren are and how much I miss them! 

No surprise....warm and sunny in Arizona!

Mark and I left Friday morning on our journey.  We arrived at Matt's home in Omaha around 1:30 and headed straight to see Megan and family who were in town visiting Andy's family.  Matt and Mark had not seen the kids since Labor Day so they were very happy to get the chance to see them.  I was just a bit happy, too!  But, had to go through another tearful (for me) good bye! 

We left around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning with our stop scheduled for Tucumcari, NM.  We were making excellent time so I got on my cell phone and cancelled that room and made a reservation in Santa Rosa, NM.  We still got in there early but we were tired after 13 hours of sitting in that car so the stop for the evening was welcome!  We left the next morning around 5:30 Phoenix time and arrived at our home by 1:30.  Everything looked good and I got to work trimming palm trees while Mark started preparing the lawn for over seeding.  We seeded it this morning and now we just wait until that beautiful green starts growing! 

We grilled the first night of our arrival and last night we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for enchiladas.  They were as good as we remembered.  :-)  Tonight it is back to the grill for Mark!

Tomorrow night is Trick or Treat here so we stocked up on candy.  We bought a lot but I learned last year that you never have enough....they keep coming and coming!  When we run out we will turn out the light and hover in the darkness.  :-)

Mark's flight back to Omaha is Thursday morning unless it will be messed up by the storm, but I think he will be okay.  We shall see I guess!  After he is gone I plan to really scrub down the house, which was surprisingly dust free after 6 months.  I also want to get my geraniums planted and to do some much needed hiking.  Sister Jan sent me a link about a hiker falling to his death on Camelback Mountain after killer bees started attacking him and his two companions.  Yikes!  I knew that they were around and very nasty but thought they were making their home at South Mountain.  I guess they are migrating north!  Oh well, that will not stop me from doing what I love.  Maybe I will just carry a can of Raid with me.  Ha!

Some pics from the week-end.  I also included some that Matt took of his trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Omaha with Drew, Kayley and their cousin J.D.  Looks like they had a very good time on Saturday!

Candles don't do well with AC set at 90 for the summer!

Getting the desert dust off the furniture and patio

Our seeded lawn, soon to be thick and green...we hope!

Mark threatening to spray me if I took his picture

Grandpa with happy Ryan

I miss him!

Matt and the kids playing video games

Pac Man was eaten often in this game. 

Matt's friend Kali with Drew and Kayley at the Pumpkin Patch

Feeding the goats

I have a feeling this was their favorite thing to do!

Kayley and Kali on the train

Matt, J.D. and Drew looking happy

The kids look a little chilly in this one

More goat feeding

Granny nanny days coming to an end

My last day of official  babysitting is October 19th.  A bittersweet moment.   I am ready to head to our home in Phoenix but I can only imagine how much I will miss these three grandchildren after spending all this time with them.  As they say, that is why jet planes were invented!  We plan to use them a few times this winter. 

Mark almost has the fall field work done.  Unbelievable that he would be done this early.  Quite the year of weather in our farming operation!  On the upside of that,  he wants to drive out to Phoenix with me when I go and stay a few days and help seed our lawn, etc. and then he will fly back home.  I get along fine driving out by myself but it is not fun so I am thrilled he is going with me.  I have a one-way ticket back here for Thanksgiving and will return the favor and ride out with him when he comes to AZ for the winter.  I would guess we will both be sick of the Iowa to AZ drive this year!  (Not enough to not do it, though!)

Ryan is changing almost on a weekly basis so cannot imagine the change I will see in him when I return for the holidays.  Drew and Kayley adore him and constantly call him "Buddy".  We decided that they needed to start calling him Ryan or he will never know his real name!  :-) 

Some pics from the last few weeks:

Ryan getting his first spoonful of solid food

Does this high chair make me look tiny?

Kayley and her friend from Pre-K during Grandparents Day

Kayley having a snack at Grandparent's Day

Sweet treats at a local ice cream shop