Christmas in Mesa

This week has been an emotional roller coaster for us.  We were saddened to hear that my Mom passed away on Christmas eve.  She was in Hospice care for bladder cancer.   Unfortunately, since we don't fly, we will not be going to Michigan for the funeral.  Yesterday we had a wonderful day at Barry & Rachel's with their family.  Bob & I feel so fortunate that they include us in their holiday celebrations.  Another day of good food, good friends and good times.  As always, we had many laughs.  Thanks again, Barry & Rachel!!!

The front of Barry & Rachel's house...note the blow-up Christmas tree...

Now check out the Christmas tree.  :-)

Barry & Rachel's youngest granddaughter, Kourtney.
 She is too cute & too funny!

Vivian (my first mother-in-law)   :-)
 all decked out for Christmas

Tree in the living room

Barry & Rachel's oldest granddaughter, Victoria with her new
Barbie & Me bike.  That's the nice thing about getting a bike
for Christmas in AZ, you don't have to stare at it until Spring
waiting to ride it outside. 

Just one of Rachel's many, many, many snowmen.

Rachel working hard to get dinner ready. 

Thanksgiving - November 24th

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at Barry & Rachel's daughter & son-in-law's.  Rachel's oven was broken and the part was on back-order, so they moved it to Michael & Brittany's.  As always, the food was excellent and abundant and we had a lot of laughs.  Bob & I were the only ones that didn't bring a dog.  There were SIX dogs there!  :-)  I meant to get a picture of all of them, but forgot until some had already left.  We always enjoy spending time with them and they always make us feel so welcome.

Beautiful little Victoria enjoying some pumpkin loaf.

G.G. (Great Gramma), Barry & Brittany with Toby in his tux.

"Aunt" Gwen and her friend, Ed

Nana Rachel & little cutie, Kourtney

Watching the game...Toby is overseeing everything.

Tia Brooke with Kourtney

Red Rock Fantasy - Sedona, AZ, Sunday, November 20th

Today we drove up to Sedona, which is our FAVORITE place of all the places we've visited so far.  They are having the Red Rock Fantasy Christmas Light Display at the Los Abrigados Resort & Spa.  We drove around the city for a while, did a little shopping and then had dinner at The Javelina Cantina (the BEST Mexican food in Sedona) before going to the Red Rock Fantasy.  The light display was not what we were expecting and we were a little disappointed. 

Driving to Sedona...such a beautiful area!

Bell Rock in Sedona.

Sesame Street display at Red Rock Fantasy

Precious Moments display

Cars display..."Mater Saves Christmas"

Carousel at the Red Rock Fantasy

Another red rock formation in Sedona

A Great Day with Great People

Yesterday we spent the day at Barry & Rachel's.  Vivian and her friend, Bob, were also there.This is the first time we've seen Barry & Rachel since we arrived in Mesa because Rachel was really sick for a while and Barry travels for work so much.  It was great to see them and their family.  They always make us feel so welcome! As always, we really enjoyed our day.  After dinner, Rachel insisted on playing Left-Right-Center for dollars and it worked out well for us, since Bob won 3 out of 4 games.  :-)   Today is Barry's birthday, so Rachel had a birthday cake for him. 

Rachel & Victoria with her scary teeth.

Tia Brooke with Kourtney

Papa & Kourtney showing their tongues

Papa & Victoria blowing out his candles

Brittney & her girls

Yummy red velvet cake!

AZ Museum of Natural History in Mesa

Today we went to the Arizona Museum of Natural History

with Reid & Debbie.  It was interesting and they had displays ranging

from dinosaurs to outer space.  There was even had a 3-story waterfall

that would create a "flash flood" intermittently.  An original jail from the

1800's was there and they built the museum around it.

A photo taken by the Hubble Telescope

Another photo from the Hubble

"Crowned Crocodile" skull

Ancient buffalo skull

Canyon Lake & Tortilla Flat, AZ

This week we have been spending time with our good friends, Reid & Debbie.  They are in the Mesa area for just a week.  Monday we went to Canyon Lake & Tortilla Flat (Population: 6). 

Reid in the saloon at Tortilla Flat.  (He was trying to give me his mean look). 
Notice all the dollars on the wall behind him.  They estimate that there is
over $100,000 on the walls and currency from 70 countries. 

Debbie in the ladies room at the saloon.

Superstition Saloon at Tortilla Flat

Another wall full of dollars.

Beautiful Canyon Lake.  We were going to take a cruise on
the Dolly Steamboat, but they were sold out for Monday & Tuesday.

Canyon Lake

Canyon Lake

Oklahoma State Capitol Building in OKC

After visiting the Memorial & Museum, we went to the State Capitol Building.  If it was earlier in the day, we would have gone on a tour.  This is the 3rd Capitol Building we've visited this year (Santa Fe, NM & Little Rock, AR).  I guess we need to go to Lansing next summer. 

The State Capitol Building

Notice the oil well & derrick.  This is the only State Capitol
grounds with active oil wells.

Statue in front of the Capitol.  I think
this is Sacajawea.

The back side of the building.

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

Today we spent the afternoon at the Memorial & Museum.  It was very interesting and moving.  I did skip one part of the Museum because it was just too emotional for me.  They have a room with pictures and momentos from each of the 168 people that died and right after that is a room where they loop video of their funerals, memorial services, etc.  I just didn't want to sit through that.  Other than that, it was a beautiful presentation and when you hear about the way the people of Oklahoma and the rest of the country banded together after this tragedy, you realize that after it's all said and done there are a heck of a lot more GOOD people in this world than bad.

A very interesting story was that Florence Rogers, the President of  the Federal Employees Credit Union in the Murrah Building, was having a staff meeting in her office that morning.  When the blast occurred, the 8 employees sitting across from her desk literally disappeared.  The floor under Florence's desk & chair remained intact.  All 8 of the employees died.  Florence had one small tear in her dress and other than that, she was fine.  Can you imagine?   

This is the outside of one of the end panels at the Memorial.

Some of the debris from the bombing.

More of the damage from the bombing.

A photo of the Murrah Federal Building after the explosion.

This car was parked in front of the Ryder truck that
the bomb was in.

The license plate from the Ryder truck.

The face of a monster.

It's still amazing that he wasn't
sentenced to death.  161 life
sentences should be sufficient, though.

This is one of the end panels at the Memorial which reads
9:03 - one minute after the explosion.

The chairs at the Memorial.  There are 168 chairs, one for
each person that died.  The smaller chairs are for the 19
children that died.

The other end panel at the Memorial, which reads 9:01 - one
minute before the explosion.  In between the end panels
are the chairs. 

This press pass was in a display case of
press passes.  The rest of the passes were
 for access to Oklahoma City.
 I found this one to be very eerie.

Part of the fence in front of the Memorial & Museum.  I
thought it was interesting that this large one was from
Tawas City, MI.