Family Time – Page 54 – Letters from Home

Red Rock Explorers

Only the young and thin may pass. The rest of us just take pictures.

Feel the excitement... or is it heat stroke?

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

We took a drive around Fish Creek near Cove Fort to see the damage from last year’s fire. This was a place where Richard’s family memories are richer than their mine ever was. We wanted to see where the fire had been. It was sad to see so much land burned. There were enormous mushrooms which looked like boulders and the little oaks are making progress in some areas. In the places where the fire had not destroyed everything, it was so green and the wildflowers and birds were rich in variety and vivid color. Richard’s dad identified every one for us when we asked.

Area above the cabin site was saved from fire

Mexico snapshot

Protected: Mexico

5th Birthday

“Prepare to be amazed…,” said Mark to one of his friends this week. Yes, friends. Prepare to be amazed by this high-powered achiever and sweetheart. He’s not going to let his status as youngest brother dictate for himself any portion of anonymity. He’s a determined little guy who savors a good ride on a swing and has consumed more peanut butter than I have in my lifetime.

We love you, Mark!

The Folks

We’ve been entertaining guests. Since we are not very good at conversation or selling ourselves as interesting (I’m convinced it’s all in the selling… ), we compensate by eating interesting food when company comes. Richard smoked some ribs and chicken. We feasted on various things and ate a few pounds of Utah candy. It was nice to have Richard’s parents at our place.

We celebrated our 16th anniversary by having our portrait taken. It’s one of our best. I fell asleep as I was putting Mark to bed and didn’t find my anniversary gift on my bedside table until the day after, confirming that I am just as awesome a wife as this picture portrays.

Pima County Fair

We’ve had some crummy days. Somehow we managed to come down with 3 varieties of illness. I have been tired. On Monday I took 3 naps to try to catch up on some sleep. We stayed focused, though. We had a reason to get well: we had Pima County Fair Tickets! We had to postpone our trip a few days, but we made it.

We enjoyed the exotic animals such as the monkeys, sharks, sea lions, and opera singing tropical birds. We watched the 4-H kids show off their pigs. We had to see the pigs. Timothy just finished reading Charlotte’s Web.

Daniel went on the scary rides with Richard. Paige went on the fun rides. Timothy was Mark’s guardian on rides. I pushed the stroller and bought cotton candy and popcorn.