June 2014

June is a month of our grandkids!  We have had a great month
spending time with all of our grandkids. 
They lead such busy lives….we are happy to spend time with them.

When we arrived in the Portland area, we put our motorhome
in storage and spent a week with Marc and Maria. 
Colby is busy with baseball season and finishing
up 5^th grade.  He will move to middle school in the fall!

Camryn (in the center with the black dress on) is graduating
from Middle School and will enter High school in the fall. 
Camryn and some of her friends rented a stretch limo
(behind the kids) and celebrated with a night on the town.

We had a fun time at our brother-in-laws retirement party.
Time to enjoy yourself Uncle John!

Next we spent a week with Brandon and Karen. 
Anna celebrated her 9^th birthday.  Anna is very busy with her gymnastics…….year round!

Ben just finished 5^th grade and will be going to middle
school in the fall. Wow! These kids are growing up so fast.

The middle of the month, we headed up to our mountain retreat.  

The deer were waiting for us. 

The boys (Mike, Marc, Colby, Brandon and Ben) spent a weekend
camping and fishing up by Mount Hood…….  Everyone caught fish!

Sounds like a good time was had by all.

Brandon and Karen came over to Sunriver for the 4^th
of July week.  Brandon and Ben took the kayaks
out for a spin and Ben fell in love with kayaking!

Great month with the kids and grandkids!!!!!

May 2014

We start the month of May in Moab Utah.  We are in Moab for the 2014 FMCA 4-Wheelers Jeep Rally which we are hosting with John and Sharon O’Connor.  We have done our homework and are waiting for the start of the rally………  Hope all goes well!

We didn’t do too much off roading during the rally as we needed to be readily available for last minute updates to the schedule…but….Mike fell in love with this Jeep.  It belongs to a company that makes Jeep parts for off-roading and they brought it to our rally for advertising.  The highlight of the rally for Mike was when he was invited to ride in this monster
on the most difficult trail in Moab!

The flowers in the desert were blooming – They were beautiful. 
We had a wonderful Mother's Day with a brunch at a ranch on the Colorado River.

Our rally was a definite success.  We had over 240 people attend and I’m hoping
everyone had as much fun as we did.

With the rally over…..we headed south to St. George Utah to spend time with friends.  After 3 beautiful weeks in Moab……. We ran into snow!  Nothing on the highways but lots of snow near the roads.  It was gorgeous!

We spent 3 days in St. George with Denny and Kay Struss and as we have in the
past…. We had a great time.  Denny and Kay are loving their home
and their town as well.  Fun times!

This is a picture of the red rocks all over the Moab and St. George areas.  

While in St. George, Mike got new tires on the Jeep.  It may not be
the monster Jeep he rode in while we were in Moab……
but he is very proud and happy with all it can do.

3 Days in Las Vegas then back to Indio.  It’s hot in Indio…. 108.

The resort is very empty……..  We had a “Green Box” party in the Owners Lounge.  (a Green Box Party is when folks who moor their boats at a marina….. all get together for an impromptu party near the green box located on the dock)  The fella who organized the party is definitely a boater.  Only about 18 people showed up at the party…….. not many people – but we had fun!

After a doctor's appointment (with very good news) we took off to head north. It’s getting pretty hot in Palm Springs!  When we reached Canyonville Oregon, it was cool, green and we had a very nice surprise.  Our friends from ORI, John and Bonnie, were staying at the same park.  We had a nice evening with them…..then headed north the next morning.

We arrived at Marc and Maria’s Friday May 29^th and put our motorhome in storage.  We will stay with the kids for the next two weeks.  It’s great seeing Marc, Maria, Camryn, Colby as well as Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna.  I have missed them!

April 2014

April brings us visitors from home…….  Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna came to spend some of their Spring Vacation with us.  Unfortunately, Brandon had to work several of the days but we had a great time with Karen and the kids.

Brandon, Mike and Ben went to the Patton Museum while Karen, Anna and
I took a short hike at the Coachella Valley Preserve.  Whew it was HOT!

One day while Brandon was working, Karen, Ben, Anna, Mike and I went
“Letter Boxing”  Sort of like Geo-Cashing….Lots of fun.  But guess
what we found in the desert – a Rattle Snake. 
We were very close but fortunately, no one was hurt.

In Joshua Tree National Park, we had a picnic lunch and the
“kids” had fun playing on the rocks.

April brings blooms on the beautiful Jacaranda Tree.

Dinner with Mike’s Buddy Neil was at the most amazing restaurant.
The waiters and waitresses sang and they were amazing!

Did you see the “Blood Moon?”

I happened to wake up around midnight and went outside
to see the eclipse.  It was gorgeous!

After closing up our lot in Indio…….. we took off for Moab Utah.
This year, Mike and I are co-hosting the FMCA Moab rally with
John and Sharon O’Connor.  It’s a big rally – 250 registered.
Should be fun!

The rally doesn’t begin until May 4^th but we arrived in Moab 2 weeks early
just  to get the last minute things organized. 
Moab is so beautiful with the red rocks everywhere.

Arches National Park has so many amazing rock formations.

Balancing Rock with the snow capped La Salle mountains in the distance-
also in Arches National Park.

Stay tuned for more Jeep Rally.  Should be a fun month coming up!

March 2014

We started off March with a great evening with Bernie and Red……

a fabulous comedy team.  They are so funny.  What a hoot!

Outdoor Resort has an annual charity event called the “Sunshine Invitational”
We put on different events to raise money for cancer research.  This year we
donated a record amount of money……. $60,000.
Absolutely unbelievable!  We have many  generous people here.

Paula, Bob (our ORI neighbors and friends) and I hosted free
Bloody Mary’s for the Sunshine Golf Tournament.
We had a great time with the golfers.

The Palm Springs Quilt Show held every other year was fun and this
quilt really took my eye.  Incredible hand work!

After the quilt show – us girls had lunch at Sherman’s Deli……
my favorite lunch spot!  I always expect to see a celebrity at
Sherman’s…….. but so far…..nothing!

A “Topless (convertible) Cruise” to Julian – a cute little town known for it’s
apple pies - located in the mountains toward San Diego……. Yum – a great day!

We had a really fun St. Patrick’s day.   An outstanding Corned Beef dinner
with great entertainment.  Another great ORI event.

The Indio Desert Rats (our local Jeeping group) was privileged to take
some local disabled folks on a Jeep trip.  An amputee fella from La Quinta
rode with us.  We had a great day and we hope “Doc” did too.

The final “Topless Cruise” of the season took us down to the
Salton Sea….. along the way, we stopped at the “International Banana Museum”

This place is really cute……. Everything imaginable having to do with bananas.

We had a BBQ at the Salton Sea with a talk by one of the park rangers.
The Salton Sea….. is 35 miles long by 15 miles wide and is located in the desert.
It is a very interesting location.

I made a purse from my left over material from a recent quilt.
Turned out not too bad…… I like it.

We took a Jeep trip up the back roads to Julian – had a great lunch….complete with
the best pie…… then we took a tour or the California Wolf Center.

The wolves were gorgeous and the presentation was very interesting.
We learned so much about wolves – They are beautiful animals and important
in our eco-system.

Our "End of the Season" party was a huge success.  The employees cooked an outstanding Mexican dinner for close to 400 of us  Great evening!

Another incredible month here in the desert.  The weather is in the high 80’s
every day ….. we are so lucky to be able to spend time here.

February 2014

February is incredibly busy…… We started with Mike’s 67^th birthday
and the Super Bowl both on the same day! 
Go Mike and Go Seahawks!

We had a “Tail Gate” party…and a Bocce ball tournament. 
Unfortunately Mike and I lost….but we had a bunch of fun on the way.

We had a Ladies Pearl Luncheon…… fun and the pearls were beautiful!

Just a few days later Mike rode his bike 100 miles in the Tour de Palm Springs.

He did so well.  He amazes me how he keeps himself so “in fit.”

My sister Jeri was in town and I’m so glad I got to see her and her husband
while they were here enjoying the sunshine!

We went to the Indio performing Arts Center and saw a performance of “Honky Tonk” ….
 A live rendition of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline’s music.  A great performance!

The Topless Cruise had a fun outing.  We went to a local race track under construction.

This race track is not for people to go and watch others race…..it is to go and race your own car . 
We took all of the topless cars around the track a few times.
 (Mike really liked that)

After a tour of the race track……. We drove to Desert Hot Springs and toured the
Cabot Pueblo Museum.  Cabot Yerxa built this incredible house in the early 1900’s. 
He dug two wells……one cold water well and another well less than 100 feet away
that is a hot water well…… this house was built very
close to the San Andreas fault…. All built by hand.

The middle of the month, we went with a group of motorhomers to Lake Havasu City for a Fireworks festival.  It was so great to spend some time with Pat and Rollie. 
They are loving Lake Havasu and are incredibly happy there.  One afternoon,
Pat and Rollie took us out on their patio boat around the lake.  Fun day on the water!

Mike and Rollie went off roading one day and I went out with Mike the next day.
(both days with a group)  This unusual rock formation is called the Eye of the Needle.

Five evenings were filled with amazing fireworks.  The weather was
great and the fireworks were even better.

We went to the “Desert Bar” a very eclectic bar built way out in the desert…only open
on Saturdays and Sundays…….no electricity….very unusual.

We ended our trip with a great barbecue at Pat and Rollie’s place. 
We had such a good time!!

Back in Indio…..our next Topless Cruise took us to Joshua Tree National Park.

At the Keyes overlook, we were able to look to the Salton Sea.

What a great day.

We had a fun evening with Paul and Vickie Williams while they were in the Coachella Valley….
and the Bethlehem Party at the resort was fun – as always.

Returning from my bike ride, I noticed how incredibly beautiful and colorful Outdoor Resort is. 
This is the most beautiful place to spend the winters……

I love it here!

January 2014

2014 already…….Time is flying by at an amazing rate.

We continue to Jeep….Mike more than me. 
Off roading is one of Mike’s passions.

Our second “Topless Cruise”  - Many thanks to Fred and Paddy for
loaning us their BMW Z4 for the rides…….. So much fun!

Mike took his annual trip to Oregon to golf at Bandon Dunes with our boys. 
This year, while Mike was gone, I drove over to Lake Havasu to see Pat and Rollie.

The weather was great – we spent one afternoon at the car races.

That evening we went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival Night Glow.

The balloons were awesome……and really BIG!

While I was in Lake Havasu City….Mike was enjoying time
with the fellas at Bandon Dunes.

My passion continues to be quilting……This year several of us gals took the
bus over to the “Road to California” which is Southern California’s quilt show. 
Thousands of quilters and tons of magnificent quilts.  We had an outstanding day!

Our third “Topless (Convertible) Cruise” brought us to a gorgeous
Orchid farm located in the middle of the desert in a
very remote location.  What a great find.

We also stopped at “Pioneer Town” built to be used in the movies –
also in the desert.  Thanks to Kim and Alice for the use of their convertible.

Our friend Sheri Rand owns these two adorable Westies…..Nikki and Maddie.

Sheri and I take these two sweeties on Tuesday mornings, to the hospital radiation area,
where patients can enjoy them while waiting for their radiation treatments.

Nikki and Maddie remind me so much of Stoli……I still miss Stoli.

One of my bike rides took me out to PGA West. 
Beautiful ride in a beautiful area.
This is such a great place to spend the winter.