We returned from Renee's in Fresno Calif. last night. We had a wonderful time spending Christmas with them. The grandchildren have grown and in such a short time from when we saw them in Sept. Andrew is walking and getting into everything he is a darling boy. Olivia got a skateboard for Christmas and she is really good at balancing and she can even do a few tricks already. She is going to be quite an athlete. Renee is pregnant with her third child again she is due in August which will make the new baby and Andrew only 18 month apart. She is really going to have her hands full. Greg is doing well he is trying hard to get all of his grading finished before deadline and helping Renee with the kids. His days are full. We talked to Paul and their family is doing great they are in Willamsburg Virginia for the holidays Danielle is with them. The boys were as usual very excited about everything they got for Christmas. They are such happy boys. We sure miss their family alot. Danielle lives only about 1/2 hour from Paul so they get to see her more now and that makes the family very happy and complete with her near. Wanda and Marshal spent the Holidays in Oregon and also got back last night. They announced that they will not be returning home until June so they will be traveling with us for a while when we leave here. We are glad to have them join us. Well enough for now hope you all had a great Christmas and hope your coming year is even better. Love and prayers for all.

Well it is a very unusual thing but I got on line tonight so I thought best to blog while I had a chance. Last night we went to the Phoenix Zoo Lights. There are about 3 million lights and it was a beautiful sight. Not a lot to really fill you in on since it was only a few days ago that I posted last. Olivia called her grand pa and asked him to come to her house for Christmas so can you guess where we are going-------------------you guessed it we are heading off to Renee's home for Christmas will be leaving on Tuesday and returning on Sunday . At least that is the plan for now. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, hope Santa gives you all what you are hoping for. We send love and prayers for all.

Hello to everyone. It has been awhile since the last blog. I apologize about that. It is hard to get on line here and very frustrating so I avoid it. We have been very busy but most of that business is just doing daily things around here. We had a visit from John and Emily Boyd in November. They were on their way to visit their son and stopped by for a visit we took them to Tortilla Flats where we had dinner it was a nice drive and an interesting place. The next morning we went to breakfast before they were off to sons house. Couple of weeks later we were off to Yuma Az. where we spent a couple of nights . From there we went to Algodones Mexico which was about 20 minutes from our hotel. Terry braved having some dental work done there. We heard some good things about a dentist there so he decided to try it out as he really need the work done. The cost was about 1/3 the costs of the states dentists and he was very pleased with the work done (whew). We were invited to my cousin Mitch's home for thanksgiving and we had a great time there. They have a lovely home with about 2 1/2 acres which is home to some horses, miniature horses, mules and dogs big enough to be mistaken for miniature horses (Terry would like me to say those dogs were the size of a damn horse not a miniature horse). Last week we went to Flagstaff Az. and had lunch at Salsa Brava which is a diners and dives (seen on food channel) pick of places to eat. From there we took a terrific drive to Sedona Az. It was beautiful driving through the mountains and seeing the red rock surrounding Sedona. We actually went to Sedona to see the Red Rock Fantasy of Lights which was a disappointment but the drive made up for it. We spend time during the day playing volleyball in the pool, shuffle board, riding bikes, and walking. Our evenings are spent playing pool, pinnocle on Mondays, bingo on Tuesdays, and euchre and Fridays. There are many other things that come up in between like tonight I went to a cake and ice cream social followed by a childrens play. There are just so many things all the time to do plus there are many day and over night trip events if a person wants to take them.

We spent a week at Uncle Oscar's and Aunt Peggy's House in Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) /Mexico. It's right on the beach of the Sea of Cortez (picture). The only time you can see the Baja from the house is at sunset (picture). Oscar took us for boat ride and 6 porpoise played with the wake off the bow (picture). When we got back to the marina

a fisherman was unloading one of the two Grouper he had caught 51 miles out at sea. The one pictured weighed 280#. The other weighed 190#

Well we finally got to go to the Grand Canyon and it truly is grand. On the 29th and 30th we met Marshall and Wanda at a camping site inside the Grand Canyon Park. We stayed with them in their motor home. We were at the South End of the park. I wish I could even begin to tell you all how beautiful it was, but even a picture doesn't show how truly magnificent it is. On the way home we went out the East Gate and visited many of sites as we traveled out. We are having a great time here in Arizona we go swimming everyday and play pool volleyball. We also played shuffle board and dominoes. We even fit in some bike riding and walks. Meeting people is not a problem they are all so nice, friendly and ready to get to know us. We are going to Rocky Point, Mexico Thurs. We will be there about 4 or 5 days. My uncle has a place there and has invited us down. Marshall and Wanda will be going with us. Well I hope all the family is doing well. I would like to say I miss Oregon but I don't. We do miss all of our family and friends there. Well I think T. is going to add some pictures for you all to enjoy. Love and Prayers for all.

Well we have been away in Tehachapi. We left on Monday for Uncle Billy's funeral and got home on Wednesday. Got to visit with a lot of family that we have not seen for a long time, it is to bad that things such as a funeral is what brings a family together. We really have not been doing much since returning home but we have been playing pool volleyball and it is a lot of fun. Life here in Arizona is very good and we are enjoying it very much. Well it is late and I'm going to get ready for bed so good night all and have a good tomorrow. Love and prayers for all

Hello all: Today is a sad day. This morning I got a call that my Uncle Billy had passed away. It was not a total surprise as he has been having a lot of difficulties with breathing and heart problems. It is hard to lose a loved one and especially such a icon to the family . We will all miss him very much but he will remain in our hearts for ever. He will be the one in heaven waiting to welcome all family members who come to join him and other family members already there.

Yesterday Terry and I went to Tortilla Flats and had lunch. We continued on from there along the Apache Trail. It is 22 miles of a twisting, turning and nasty dirt road. It took us 2 hrs to complete, and yet worth the trip it was beautiful. We saw the Superstition Mountains, Canyon Lake, Apache Lake, Roosevelt Dam and Roosevelt Lake. The Roosevelt Dam is the largest masonry dam in the world. We had a great day and it was a nice break from our tough retirement schedule of resting, eating, bike riding and swimming. Life in Arizona is great. Love and Prayers for all

Well we finally made it to Mesa, Az. where we will be staying for the next 4 to 6 mo. We arrived here on Tues. eve. about 6:00 had dinner and rested for the eve. On Wed. we both did our thing in getting set up and just enjoying being here. The weather is warm and sunny. Last night we went to the Golden Corral for dinner. We had gone there last year and really enjoyed it. The internet service is in and out so will post when I can. Love and prayers for all.

Cheryl & Olivia @ Yosemite.................................................Andrew @ 8 months............................................. Olivia @ the Fair

Today we went to the Carothers District Fair with Renee, Greg, Olivia and Andrew. It was a very nice small town fair not to crowded or to hot so it made for a good day. Olivia got to ride for the first time a Roller Coaster, Ferris Wheel with dad, rode in an Airplane which she got to make go high herself, and drive the Cars. We all had a good time then we drove countryside home and it was very nice scenery. Best of all while we were out having fun Lily stayed home and fixed us a nice dinner from her home country of Napal. Great day hope all of you who read had just as good a day love and prayers to everyone.

Well it has been awhile since my last posting and I don't want my readers to think I am not going to keep this blog up. It is hard when we travel because we don't get internet, but i will do my best. Our first night we traveled to Port Orford and stayed the night. Plans were to go on the Jet Boat ride out of Gold Beach. We would have to had to get up about 6 a.m. and we decided that since we have done it once that we did not want to get up that early. The next day the 16th we traveled to Cresent City where we stayed for 2 nights. We spent that time touring around the Red Woods as we have never been there before and we had a very nice time. We went down a road that was traveled by stage coaches in many days gone by.. It had very little improvement since then it was curvy and narrow but very beautiful scenery. Upon leaving

we decided to travel hwy. 1 along the coast it was very curvy with steep up and downs very slow going when they say 15 mph they mean it. We stayed right on the beach for the night it was a k.o.a. and very expensive but our big splurge. It was great. We then traveled on to Sana Rosa. That eve. we went to a Mexican restraunt seen on Diner and Dives, found on the food network it was very good. The next couple of days was spent touring San Francisco we did take the Alcatraz Tour and found it to be very interesting and worth going. Finally on the 22nd we headed for Renee's. We took a few back roads with a lot of farm land enjoyed it but I never get to read my book as we keep going to places where I have not seen the countryside but there will be plenty of time for reading. Well I think I have caught you up to date as we have been at Renee's about a week and spending a lot of time being grandparents and loving it. Have a great time until we catch up with you again at a later date. We send our love a prayers for all.

I can't believe that we only have about 4 or 5 days until we leave. Yesterday we spent more time packing the motor home and then we went to dinner with 6 of our very dear friends. We had a wonderful time but it reminds us of the fact that we are not only going to miss family but we truly are going to miss our very good friends. Today fri. we are going to take plants over to my sister Sandy as she says she would love to try and keep them alive(ha ha) it is our last chance to spend some time with her. Saturday we are going to visit some friends that are camping they want us to have dinner with them, will be a great time. Sunday we are going out to mom and dads they are also going to take care of a very special christmas cactus for us. They are taking us out to lunch and this will be our last time to see them before leaving at least I think it will be. Terry has a dr. appt. on Mon. and then just finishing up last minute details and off we go. Well love to all and have a great week.

There is not much of anything different to post this week over last week . We are still just putting things in the motor home and preparing the motor home for the trip. It is nice in many ways to have so long to prepare because each day we do things and remember things we want to do or take with us. Maybe in some ways it isn't good because we take more. I truly am trying to limit myself but at the same time I hate to leave anything behind that may ruin while we are gone and we need it anyway at some point. While going through things and picking out what we are taking I am getting a lot of deep cleaning done. When we get back home it will all need done again and that is sad. Well maybe next week will be more interesting as it will very close to time to leave. We are hitting the road soon after the 15th of Sept. Well all have a great week and God Bless.

Well this week has flown bye and every day brings us closer to leaving(yea). We almost bought a different motor home thinking it had more storage for us but thought better of it and so we are still in our winnebago. I do think we will probably get another one soon. We really want a 40 footer with a few more amenities and more storage. We now, with the one we have, have to add our own storage with plastic drawers and we are getting tired of having them take up space. Terry would like to have a diesel with bigger engine and more under the m.h storage. Well enough of that. We have been spending time with family and friends that we wont be seeing for a while. That is the hardest part of leaving but we still feel this is the time to have this experience and who knows it could lead to a new way of living for us for a while. We have no real plans other than Mesa and visiting the kids but that is the beauty of full timing(part time as we still have our home) we don't need to make plans just go where we want when we want. We did have an unfortunate little item come up this week our heat pumps brain board burned up and we have to repair it at about $700.00 minor compared to the cost of a new heat pump and that is what we thought it might be. Oh well it is just money. Well closing for this week and will post next week. God Bless all and have a great week.

Well it has been 6 days since the last blog and I am getting very close to being ready to leave except for the last minute things to do before leaving. I can't believe how many things there are to do to prepare to leave a home for a couple of years. Every day I find things I can't live without and I have a special place on the counter I put these cant' live without things and Terry keeps going by and checking them out saying remember the weight and why do you need this or that. Maybe down the line I can toss them but right now they are needs not wants at least that is what I tell myself. It is getting harder for me to sleep I wake up thinking of the things to do I hate that and I just cant take care of these things as it is to early to shut off the water and unplug fridge and freezer you know those kinda of important things for every day living until we leave. Well guess I best end for today. I hope all of my readers have a terrific day and God bless.

We are about to begin a new journey and hope that you will join us. It is the 16th of Aug. and it just happens to be our 41st anniversary. We are planning a 1-2 or longer years trip we only have one for sure destination right now and that is that we will in Mesa Az. for 4-6 months arriving there on the 13th of Oct. We aren't sure of our leaving date yet somewhere between the middle to end of Sept. I will try to keep this blog up to date better than the last trip. We do know that our children both in Fresno Calif. and Hershey Pa. are for sure place we will be visiting. Most days are used to cleaning, sorting and packing the motor home for our trip. Well the posting has begun please keep in touch with us love to here from you all.