Thursday, July 28, 2016

Mom's 94th birthday party








Instead of having the birthday party in January, we talked mom into just having cake and ice cream at her home for the 94th birthday.  She wasn't happy about skipping the birthday dinner in January, but gave in.  I took a couple of angel food cakes and Janell did a chocolate one.  Margene made cupcakes, thinking the kids would like that.  Well, when we got all done and everyone but Margene and Janell had gone home, mom came out to the kitchen and asked, "Could I have some cake and ice cream?".  We had totally forgotten to take her some...talk about jerks!

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Baking Cinnamon Rolls



I actually love baking...cookies, cakes, cupcakes, breads, etc.  And cinnamon rolls are one of my favorites.  I usually try to give away at least half or more of them so Jeff and I don't eat them all...

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Babysitting Kierra





While we were driving home from Arizona, Braquel called and asked if we could keep Kierra for her the next day... Danelle wasn't feeling well...we also found out she was expecting another baby while we were on this trip....so we kept her.  It was so much fun!  We gave her a bath and spiked her hair...and played with her all day.  Love that girl.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Hwy 191















Yes...we're still in Arizona....believe it or not!  We spent the night in Benson, and looked at the map.  We found a road that went straight north to Utah...Highway 191...and thought that would work great.  So, we started out.  We went through Stafford, which Mark told us his grandparents were from, and then to the huge mine...when we drove out of the mine, a sign said next services 90 miles.  We thought ..."Okay...we've got plenty of gas".  I think we should have realized then that this wasn't a "main" highway.  But, we just went on our merry way.  Well, it was over five passes, there was snow on the road...they had plowed part way through...and we never met another car for over half way through.  We were beginning to wonder if the road was even open all the way.  It was gorgeous, but Jeff didn't have time to enjoy it because he was constantly making turns.  When we finally came to a little town, I went in to ask how far to the next larger town, and found out that people love that road, especially sports cars and motorcycles...over 400 curves.  We saw wild turkey, but that was about all the wild life.  It took us so long that we decided to go into Gallup New Mexico and spend the night instead of trying to finish going through straight north.
The next day we drove into Colorado, over to Monticello for lunch, then towards Moab....where we ran into a road stoppage due to a semi catching on fire.  Sat there for over an hour, and then finished driving home....great trip.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Mine














I think this is the largest mine I've ever seen.  Open pit, leaching gold.  It went for miles and you drove right through it.  Very interesting.

Saturday, July 23, 2016






Organ Pipe Monument Part II












I was surprised to read that the cactus that has arms, is 90-100 years old before it ever grows an arm.  And, they live for a very long time...We went through several check points for illegal immigration.  I guess even though we had a pickup with a cover, we didn't look suspicious...never was stopped at all.