This 'n that!
We have already been in Mesa for a month and a half.  As they say time does FLY when you are having fun.  We have had such fun with the friends from past years as well as meeting new people.

It has been a cooler and  much wetter winter here than the last 2 winters.  Although the temperatures have not dipped too low there were a number of nights that it was at the freezing or slightly below.  There was snow in elevations just 20  minutes away from Mesa one day.

This is Terry and Glenda in the Christmas parade in our park.  It was cancelled the first time due to rain but it was worth the wait.  I even got a ride on this nice bike a couple of nights ago.  FUN

We went to the Mormon Tabernacle light display with Suz, Larry and Ruth.  It was a beautiful evening and afterwards we met up with Wayne and ate some burgers at Fat Willy's.
We went to Tempe on the light rail with a group from the park and watched the boat parade under the bridge, ate some food on the patio at Hooters and watched some really great fire works.

Our friends Wes and Jocelyn came from Saskatoon mid December to spend about 3 weeks in the area and get away from the cold. Don and I had the flu just before they came and unfortunately I believe we may have shared it with them.  It was a nasty flu and really kicked my butt!!
We went to a cookie decorating happy hour hosted by Brad and Clair which was really different and fun!  Also a great soup party put on by Suz and Larry.  Christmas eve was a nice evening at Dennis and Gloria's. Many fun evenings at various "happy hours" and enjoyable visits at Glen and Maureen's.

We took advantage of our warmer days.  We went for a picnic to Tonto National Forest with Wes and Jocelyn.  We explored the Salt river and area and it was a fun day.

We rode the light rail into Phoenix and explored the Wells Fargo Museum and the Police Museum.  We took lots of funny pictures of us all riding in police cars and behind the sign when they do the mug shots and had a good laugh at them.

Christmas morning there was a pool party.  The weather co-operated nicely until about noon and then it cooled off a lot.  We went out to Apache Junction where Wes and Jocelyn stay and we played games and ate our wonderful turkey dinner.

Kylie came on the 26th and I could not resist a picture of her with this amazing sunset.

The five of us went out to the Gilbert Riparian area where I had fun taking pictures of birds and such.  It was a sunny day and not as cold so nice to be outside.

 One day the 5 of us went out to Canyon lake and took a 90 minute nature boat tour.  We saw a lot of mountain sheep and some bald eagles. 

Kylie and I took the light rail into Phoenix twice!  We had so much fun the first time we had to go back.  There is a restaurant in Tempe called NCounter.  They had gluten free amazing items and it is sort of a young college town so really fun and interesting.

These pictures were from the Japanese garden in Phoenix.

 Kylie and I also did a lot of shopping.  I think they know us by name at Joanne's and Sprouts.  I managed to drive us wherever we wanted to go and we didn't get lost too many times. We also managed a few afternoons at the pool and Kylie managed to get some tan lines.
 Maureen gave Kylie a lot of tips on her needlework projects.  We even went to bingo one night in the park.   The last night she was here we went to a party at Bob and Gail's which ended a touch early due to rain but a good time was had by all! 

Today we went out to Usery Park and did about a 3 mile hike with Larry.  It was very cloudy and we were a little nervous about getting wet but we decided to go for it. The sky made for some very pretty pictures I think.

We stopped to let a group go by on horseback and Larry noticed a little "face".  Upon closer inspection it is just how the cactus is dying away and exposing the skeleton inside.  Sure looked like a little owl face.

It started to sprinkle when we were nearly back at the car and it wasn't long before it poured rain.  We sure lucked out.  Then we headed over to Panda Express for lunch.  As I sit here doing the blog the sun is shining  and half the sky is clear.