Arizona in January - Everyone should do this!

Alan and I flew out of IF on Monday and arrived just two hours later in sunny perfect weather Arizona.  It is lovely here and I wanted to just stop and bask in the sun.  On the flight down, my seat was on the left side of the plane and I watched out the window for geograpy, roads and towns that were familiar to me.  The first thing I recognized was Bear Lake, and then Strawberry and Deer Creek reservoirs.  I watched for and saw state highway 6 disappearing off to the east and down Price canyon.  BTW, we flew right over Billy's mountain.  I was sad to see that CastleValley had no snow and then I saw right below us Joe's Valley reservoir looking beautiful and very frozen and snowy, and Castle Dale ,Orangeville and the Power plant off in the distance.  The wedge was huge and the desert was so cool looking.   


This is how the Swell looked, except we were father away.



Castle Dale and Orangeville were not green like in this picture and we were up higher.

As we flew farther south I could see the definite line of the San Rafael Swell and then we came to the Henry Mtns. and after that more desert and Lake Powell, I didn't realize how extensive the lake is.  I think I even saw that huge monolith, Shiprock, off in the desert.  Pretty soon I didn't recognize anything and so I just watched out the window because it was so interesting to see how the earth was so different from

Idaho to Arizona.   Russell picked us up at the William Field airport, very close to Mesa - only a ten minute drive back to his place.  It was so nice to walk out into the beautiful AR weather and no jackets. 

Alan and I met Craig and Julie on Tuesday at the Mesa Temple to go through a session. 



It's been nice to fire up the grill, pick grapefruits every morning, go for walks every day, and even go swimming. Miles came over on friday morning from ASU to spend the weekend with us.  That evening we were invited to Gene and June Osborne's home for dinner.  They are Russell's neighbors through the backyard. 

 

Gene and June Osborne and their cat, Candy.  Candy loves to sit with Gene when he plays the organ.


 They are really sweet and we had a great dinner.  During dinner, June had been talking about their church (Methodist) and how her daughter had played a concert their for them, so I just assumed that Gene played church music too.  I asked him if he would play for us, and he was quick to say yes.  We all settled down in the living room to listen and all the sudden the rhythms came on and I was instantly transported to the mid 60's Saturday night and the Lawrence Welk "champagne music", only not quite so good.  I just barely kept from laughing when I looked at Alan.  Miles was a good sport and kept a straight face all the way through the entertainment.  He played quite a selection of songs including Calcutta, Yellow Bird, Has Anybody Seen my Gal, Begin the Begine, and Moon River.  I think the only song he forgot to play was Baby Elephant Walk.  

Wunnerful, Wunnerful!

 On Saturday, we went up I-17 to Julie and Craig's home for a visit.  It was good to see them after six months.  Their boys are really growing - tall! They have a beautiful new home and are in a great neighborhood.  We had fun going to Lake Pleasant, a drive of about 12 miles from their home.  The lake was beautiful, the weather was great and it was fun to be with them and the boys.  

There were many sailboats out on the water - it looked so fun.

Miles, Grandpa, and Craig in front of the visitor's center at Lake Pleasant.

Looking at Lake Pleasant

Inside the visitor's center they had some displays, one of which was of scorpions.  There was a black flashlight and we shone it on the scorpions to make them visible.  Cool, huh?

Julie was stung by a scorpion one night in her bed.  She put her hand and arm under her pillow and was stung, but thought it was feathers from her pillow, so she went to pull the feather out of the pillow and was stung again.  She suddenly realized that something was stinging her and pulled up the pillow and found a scorpion.  She said it was like a bad bee sting.  Scorpion stings are worse for children and old people.  She said it caused some numbing and tingling in her arm and hand.  We also saw a tarantula in the next box over. 
When we left the loake we drove back down to Julie and Craig's and on the way we saw several hot air balloons sailing around in the area. 

We went to church this afternoon -  at the Senior's branch.  I think it is the only one like it in the church.  Alan and I were the youngest people there.  We were so obviously out of place, but the meetings were great and the speakers were RMs from the Phillipines and Panama - a Senior couple.  Sunday school was good "Living Waters" and then the 5th Sunday lesson was given by a local seminary teacher and was one of the best lessons about teaching the gospel I've ever heard.  I was so impressed - I think it was almost the highlight of the week.  So glad we went to church today.  

So we're off to California tomorrow to see Camille, Jack, and Alex and maybe Claire and some family in San Diego as well.  We're having fun and not missing the snow and cold, but we are missing Morgan, Leah, Lily and Andrew.  

We'll see you next week in Idaho.