June 2012

Is it June ????/ or Jun-uary??  The weather hasn’t decided that it’s summer yet…… but I have faith that it will warm up – sooner or later!

We started the month up in the Portland area with our grandkids, Ben and Anna.  They were still in school but so very close to the end of the year!

Ben & Anna’s new dog – Lucky, is growing so fast!

Ben’s baseball team played an outstanding game!

Anna is taking gymnastics lessons – and she loves it! 
Do we have a future Olympian on our hands?

Back in Sunriver, we have some visitors – The Pedersen’s have come to stay for a while.  They were looking for a house – and they found one in Sisters!  Congratulations to Steve & Linda!

Can you see the fish in this beauties mouth?  He landed right behind out lot!

Wildlife galore!  This doe was posing for me!

Another great visit – from John & Bonnie Kearsing.  We really enjoyed having them stay with us for a couple of weeks.  We love seeing our “ORI” friends!!

What a gorgeous morning sky as I flew out to Boulder Colorado for a
“Quilt Retreat” at Paula Lucas’s home.

Although we quilted every day – we also took some time for sightseeing. 
This was snapped at the “Stanley” a historical hotel located in Estes Park.

The quilters with Boulder in the background.

The weather was hot! ….. around 100 degrees most every day.

The Brown Palace Hotel – a landmark in downtown Denver.
So much old world elegance!

While I was in Colorado – Mike was on a camping trip up by Mount Hood with our two sons and two grandsons.  Mike said it was pouring – miserably pouring ….. but the fishing was good!

Marc & Maria took a week to get away and Camryn & Colby came to visit Mike & I.

We had so much fun ….. We went to town, took a few hikes, went to see “Brave” and several other good things!

A terrific month!  Now if the weather would just warm up –
it would be an even better month!

May 2012

At the beginning of the month, we left our Winter home in Indio and headed north to Moab Utah for a Jeeping rally.  We spent two weeks in Moab and as usual, the area was gorgeous.  The rally was a huge success with dinners, trails and lots of together time.

This is a view on my favorite trail……this is "Hidden Canyon."  So gorgeous!

On the "Seven Mile Rim" trail, we came across Uranium Arch…….
one of hundreds in the Moab area.

This is Mike climbing up slick rock on the "Fins and Things" trail

The view from another one of my favorites is awesome.  The canyons are thousands 
of feet below this lookout on the "Top of the World" trail.

After we left Moab, we traveled south to St. George Utah.  Some of our very dear friends have set up housekeeping in a retirement community in St. George.  Everything you can imagine is within a few miles of their home.  We really enjoyed spending time with Denny & Kay and getting a taste of their town. 

Next stop was our summer home in Sunriver Oregon.  

Five days after we arrived, we awoke to SNOW!! Now we were in Sunriver last Christmas and there wasn’t a single flake of snow……… But honestly, it’s almost JUNE!  What’s the deal?

Both Mike and I were in desperate need of a grandkid fix!  So 6 days after arriving in Sunriver, we headed to the Portland area to see the kids and grandkids.

Five days with Marc and Maria and we were able to take in five baseball games of Colby’s! 
Colby is just finishing up the third grade.  He has grown so much. 
We really enjoyed watching him play.

Colby’s team took second place in the tournament over the weekend!

Camryn is just finishing the 6^th grade.  She is taller than her Grandma and so very grown up!  Camryn is going to play soccer this year and we were able to see one of her practices.

We also were happy to have a great visit with our friends Ken and Darlene Sutton.  They brought us up to speed on the changes in their lives. No matter how hard we try to stop it – time is marching on.......

Stay tuned – June is shaping up to be an exciting month!

April 2012

Spring is here and it’s incredibly beautiful here in the desert. 

I love this place!!

We had an “End of the year – Going away Jeeping party”  All of the off roading people got together for a potluck dinner before everyone took off for the summer.  
Lots of fun with some great people.

The ducks are loving this warm weather. 
All sorts of little baby ducks in the ponds.  Mama Duck is watching closely.
They are terribly sweet!

Mike rides his bike 4-5 days a week …… but April wasn’t so good to him. 
In a contest between Mike and the pavement ……. The pavement won. 
He got pretty banged up but has healed up beautifully by now.

It’s been pretty warm …….One day our car temperature gauge showed 109 degrees!

Yikes!!
Just a few blocks from us, there are some huge gatherings of people coming to the desert for music festivals.  Cochellafest (2 weekends) and Stagecoach.  They have about 50 thousand people each weekend.  It's something else!! We can hear the music in the evenings!

With this warm weather – the pools are pretty attractive.  Outdoor Resorts remains beautiful!  Did I mention that I love it here?

We will be leaving here very soon and heading up north. 
Stay tuned for an exciting June!

March 2012

March has come and gone …………. Where oh where does all the time go?

2012 was Outdoor Resorts 4^th Annual “Sunshine Event” – A two to three day series of events (everything you can think of) to raise money for the Cancer Society.  This year, we raised $41,300 – Unbelievable!  This is a fella selling Tequila shots!

In the evening, all of the luminaries were lit and placed around the swimming pool.  It was very solemn and gave us all time to reflect on the wonderful people with cancer
who have touched our lives.

The colors in March are fantastic. 
This is a picture of the back of our lot.  

My nephew, Scott married his sweetie this month. 
Don’t they look happy?

We drove over to Lake Havasu for three days to visit friends that spend the winter there.  This is a picture of the famous “London Bridge” – every brick numbered, the bridge taken apart – transported to Havasu and reassembled. 
We had a great time with our friends.

The last week of the month, we took the motorhome over to Apache Junction (about an hour east of Phoenix) for a Jeeping Rally.  100 motorhomes – 100 Jeeps – about 200 people.  The Jeepin’ people are all wonderful ….. we have made so many friends among them. 

Apache Junction is in the Sonoran Desert – the elevation is about 2000 feet. There thousands and thousands of Saguaro Cacti located here. They are everywhere…… most of them are huge – approx. 30 feet tall.  They are beautiful.

The rally has plenty of time to socialize too. 
This was taken at one of our dinners.

The desert here is beautiful. 
This is a Stag Horn Cactus in bloom.

The Gila River  …… water is an unusual sight in the desert.

The Hedge Hog Cactus are all blooming their beautiful magenta blooms. 
There is quite a bit of color in the desert.

February 2012

February 2^nd was Mike’s 65^th Birthday and Marc and Brandon took
Mike to Las Vegas to celebrate.

According to Mike, a good time was had by all!!

We had a great Super Bowl at the resort.  Tailgating on the back of
our golf carts …….. hot dogs and beer ……. And, of course,
we watched the game too!

Mike and some of his buddies went to “The King of the Hammers” off roading race. 
They camped out for 2 nights and spent the days with 75,000 other
enthusiasts watching the races.

Pat and I ride our bikes 10 – 20 miles around 4 days a week …… We decided that we should ride our bikes to Palm Springs (25 miles) and get a ride back home.  We rode the 25 miles and were very proud of ourselves to pose in front of our favorite deli ….. Shermans.  Mike, his brother Chuck and Chuck’s wife, Eva met us.  We all had a fabulous lunch and then Mike drove us home!

We had a great visit from Mike’s cousin Gloria and her fella Len. 
It was fun to have some time to catch up. 
We hadn’t seen Gloria in quite some time.

One day, while off-roading in the middle of nowhere, we came across this wonderful vacation home.  No roof, windows, doors, water, electricity or bathroom but we got a kick out of the “For Sale” sign.  This house was about 15 miles down a trail from the nearest paved road.

The annual “Bethlehem” street party was a great success.  Hundreds of people all
bring potluck dishes …… they have live music and plenty of drinks.  Lots of fun!!

We had a sell out crowd for our Italian Feast.  The food was fabulous and everyone
was stuffed when they left.  We had a great night!

We end February on a good note. 
The month was wonderful. 
Great weather and great friends.

January 2012

We ended 2011 and started off 2012 with a great New Years Eve Party at our clubhouse at Outdoor Resorts.  The theme was Roaring 20’s and it was so much fun!

Mike continues to love off-roading in his Jeep and the crowd of off-roaders continues to increase.  On this trip, there were 24 Jeeps.  Around noon on the trip, we all stop along the trail, get out our chairs and enjoy lunch. 
It’s a great time to meet new folks.

Janet continues to love Tuesday’s ……… We call our sewing day - Thread Therapy – a great time to quilt and talk with all the gals. 
We share ideas, techniques and stories.  So much fun!

January has been a beautiful month….. a little windy but mostly beautiful.

This is the tee box of the 14^th hole …….. just a few feet from our patio.  There is quite a bit of water on our golf course!

Mike flew up to Portland, then rode with our son’s to Bandon Oregon where they met up with other fella’s for their annual golf weekend.  It is hard to imagine that the weather could be so nice on the Oregon coast in January……. But this picture shows it to be true.  He had a great time!!