No wonder we are tired . . .

It has been nearly 2  months since my last blog and I thought I would try and do a quick recap just so I can keep track of what we have been up to and when.  I started looking at pictures and listing all the items and I could not believe how many cool things we have been up to. 
My niece Shari can do a blog 6 months later and still remember a lot about her adventures, myself, on the other hand - not so much!
I have grouped them in sort of activity related activities instead of chronological as I usually do.
I have done a lot of "crafty crap" as our friend Larry calls it.

 I decided to make another quilt this year.  I think it turned out pretty good.  The picture below is of the wonderful sewing room here.  They have these neat boards on either end where you can put up your quilt or quilt pieces to arrange it or even admire it!  There are cutting boards and very nice sewing machines and anything you might need to do a project.  The ladies in this group are just the greatest.  Always willing to share a story or expertise.

 Barb used to be a floral arranger in her working days and she taught us how to make these cute little candy arrangements.  Suz and I took the class and we made quite a few of these over the winter.

 This was a class we took on making scarves.  You use an old T-shirt and cut it into strips and stretch it out and voila - a scarf.  Ruth took the course with us but she would rather go to zumba.

 Clare and Suz came over to my house one day and we made 5 more of the arrangements for Clare to take back for a party she is doing in Winnipeg in early April.  It was a fun girl morning - there was even salad, jello, biscuits and iced tea!

This is a rag rug woven on this loom.  Maureen started it about 3 years ago and then left it unfinished in the shed.  We decided it was time to get that baby finished up  - and also Glen was wanting it  OUT OF HIS SHED!  It was fun to sit and work on it and only a small bit of swearing and sore fingers.

We got new vinyl flooring put in our motor home.  I absolutely love it.  The air here is full of black sort of oily - for lack of a better word  CRUD!  This is so easy to wipe up.  I also took down the curtains in the front of the coach as they were sooooo dirty and dusty.  The track on the top had cracked and so they were not hanging on all the hangers.  We bought some new stripping to sew on the tops.  One morning we took the drapes down to the laundry, gave them a wash, hung them right off our awning (it was hot that day and they dried in half an hour.)  I took them down to the sewing room and sewed the strip on and we had them hung back up by noon.  That was such a relief - not much shrinkage (which we feared) and the sewing project went really really great.  I love it when things work out so easy like that!

These are from the NBA game we went to in Phoenix with Brad and Clare.  We took the light rail into Phoenix and it conveniently stops right beside the US Airways center where they play the games.  It was really quite exciting to watch one of these games in person.  They had some kind of star wars theme and even a motorcycle driving on the court at intermission.

We also went to a spring training game with Brad and Clare to Hohokam stadium.  It was a very hot day but we had seats in the shade and it was very comfortable. This was a really neat experience as well.  Oh and also they had the noodle truck there with all the soba noodles and veggies. OMG - I could eat that every day.

We went on a road trip to Payson with Ruth and Wayne.  We stopped in at a casino there and then for lunch at the Bee Line cafe.  This cafe has been around  since I think the 40's and they still use the same recipes.  We had a great lunch and then went to the Tonto National Bridge Park which was absolutely amazing.  After we walked around there for a while we went back to the cafe for pie!  The waitress had been teasing us about not saving room for desert and we said we would stop on the way back.  Of course, we were joking but the more we thought about it the more we wanted that pie.  It was a great day and I would go back to that park any time.

We went to Sloan park ball stadium for a Fox 10 media event with Suz and Larry.  We won some prizes Don won me that awesome soft kitty t shirt - which is unfortunately too small  :(    I am sure Kylie will enjoy it anyway.  It was really interesting to see how these things are organized as it was a live broadcast for their morning show.  We even made the news!
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/Clip/11158567/zip-trip-ritz-carlton-pianist#.VOeRUmxO2SA.facebook

 There have been so many fun parties this year.  Pool party, managers party, a couple of bocce parties, an ice cream party, a scavenger hunt, a dress up party, block party, brunch parties - just to name a few.  We had our own party which was a desert party.  Stupidly I did not get a picture of the spread.  We reserved the multi purpose room in Fiesta and had about 50 friends in for desert, coffee and liquors.  We really enjoyed ourselves and had a game with prizes even  - prizes were 2 of those candy arrangements.  We had a number of organized and impromptu happy hours and pot luck dinners.  There is never a dull moment in this park.

This was a little arrangement I made for Alvin's 65th birthday.  These are new friends from this year (well, we met 2 of the couples last year but got to know them better this year.)  We really enjoyed having  Janet on the end and Rick (taking the picture)  as our next door neighbors. 

I went to a wonderful breakfast brunch and a mid west states party with my date Suz.  Our men went off to Vegas to watch the Nascar races.  They enjoyed themselves and of course we sat at home "knitting and pearling"  or was it partying and shopping??  - can't remember.   Don also went to the Nascar races in Phoenix on a bus tour.

Of course we took a trip to the place where we see all the peach faced love birds.

We picked oranges and lemons.  I spoiled myself with a pitcher of fresh squeezed orange juice and one of grapefruit juice.  That stuff is heaven in a glass.  I was also given a lot of lemons ( I think I had about 200 in total).  I squeezed them and shared the juice and also made fresh lemonade.  I have a bunch frozen into ice cubes and a box all wrapped up in paper towels to bring home.  Hopefully they survive another couple of weeks! 

This picture cracks me up!  We went for about and hour bike ride on the canals near Gilbert Riparian Preserve one morning with Suz, Larry, Dennis and Gloria.  On the way back Larry remembered this house where the owner has animals and puts feed out for anyone who wants to feed them.  These 2 silly donkeys need some serious dental work.  The bike ride was just excellent, beautiful scenery and a great path to ride on.  Afterwards we went out for breakfast.  It was a very enjoyable morning.

These pictures were from our hike to Lost Gold mine trail area - petroglyphs.  The desert was warming up and flowers were popping up all over.  This pretty little area with ponds and rock was also decorated with pretty little drawing (petroglyphs)

This hike was also in the Superstition mountains.  The bottom photo is the weaver's needle.  This hike was fairly difficult and it was pretty hot but I would definitely go there again.  Love, love, love the Superstition Mountains. 
We also tried pickle ball this year which we both enjoyed but somehow did not get enough time to play very much.  I did water volleyball and water aerobics which were both wonderful.

No trip to Arizona would be complete without a little late night scorpion hunt.  LOL

This house always makes me laugh with the cactus growing in the eaves.

Last week's picnic at Saguaro Lake.  We sat and enjoyed the hot day, the water, watched some squirrels and lizards.  Then Don cooked us up some hot dogs.  After we walked around for a bit by the salt river.  Another fun day! 
We are leaving here on the 5th heading for Lake Havasu and Vegas.  Ruth and Wayne (they are from Alberta) are going to travel with us. After that we may stop in Valley of Fire  and then head north depending on weather.