Winter?....... or summer?

Dec. 30 Today was so hot, we

couldn't remember if it was summer
or winter- so we went swimming-

and hiking (with our friends, Russ

and Liz from Canada. The friendly
man at the Y let us all in for free,
maybe because we were a bunch of

happy zealous Canadians, who knows. The kids loved it, we had the place practically to ourselves
except for the 2 old men in speedos who happened to do a 45
minute stretch routine in front of our very eyes. Oh well, anything goes at the Y.

Elena and Liam had a blast playing together

this week. She will miss him!

North Mountain reserve park near

Scottsdale is really beautiful. The hiking was

great for kids with nicely paved

paths. Dan made us wear our Peru shirts from his mom. (She just went there.) There was a brown family that was smiling at us real big so maybe they were from Peru, who knows. My shirt said (in Espanol)- someone who loves you very much bought you this shirt in Peru! Ha ha, the kids loved them. Thanks mom.

Thanks for visiting us and showing us a great time Russ and Liz. You guys are great, we will miss you!

Holidays!

Christmas holidays have been fun at our house this year. I look out my window every morning and feel an instant uplift from the bright sun shining out at me. I see the green field with 200 sheep and wonder how I was so lucky to end up in a place that is just summertime all year long.

Elena got this keyboard from Santa this year, she has been attached like glue to it ever since.

Sierra got this scooter for

Christmas and she was

thrilled to ride it outside

on Christmas day!

This preying mantis caught the kids attention for a while, they loved it.

Our friends from Canada came to visit us for a couple days. They arrived in shorts and t-shirts. I couldn't help laughing because when the sun goes down, it actually gets quite cold here.

Fun times on Christmas day caroling and games with my cousin Maria and her family.

Merry Christmas!!

We do a family letter and picture every other year. So this is last year's picture. Since we aren't doing a letter this year I will just say Merry Christmas to all friends and family. We miss you and hope you are doing well. We are looking forward to having lots of company come stay with us in January and February. As our blog suggests we are very happy living here in Arizona. Dan's work is great, and he couldn't ask to work for a better company. Frito Lay, ~lots of free chips and good benefits.
The children are doing well in school and making alot of friends. Dan keeps busy as the Young Men's president and I keep busy with little Maysa at home. We have been blissfully enjoying the 70 degree winter in the Arizona desert and continue to discover beauty all around us. We have good faithful friends here and hope to buy a house in the very near future!
We plan on staying in Casa Grande permanently as it is everything we had hoped for plus more. The immigration fees and 2 year wait time was well well worth it. Hope everyone will have a fantastic Christmas, thanks for reading today!

Ten Years - We got it!!

So we have ten years! Dan and I celebrated our anniversary by climbing to the top of Picacho Peak last Friday. The guy that took our picture said, "wow ten years and still in love?" Dan said- "even more so".

Love you too Dan! Even if you didn't touch the "sissy ropes" -even once- and by so doing stopped my heart on several occasions! You are the best. Even if we are still a little immature at least you make me laugh every day. Even if you are my big handsome trucker dude at least you're strong and bring home the bacon. Even if you forgot the roses at least you went back to get them as soon as you came home. You are the sweetest best husband a little Canadian farm girl could ask for. Don't you forget it.

Electric Light Parade

We went to the electric light parade last week. We have never seen anything like it before. It was simply awesome and the kids loved it!! I decided that my children will be in the marching bands when they grow big. My favorite float was from the Baptist church and on it was written,

"This Christmas night, let us not forget Jesus".

At the end of the parade when Santa was waving at everyone Dan was yelling his lungs out, "SANTA!!, ITS SANTA!! I was a tad embarrassed. But the kids loved it.

Rock Climbers

We were feeling adventurous again today so we went rock climbing at North Mountain park. This park is nothing to get excited about but it was kind of pretty in the very natural desert setting. If only there weren't so many broken beer bottles and litter everywhere. Sometimes I wonder who are these freaks anyway. That deliberately destroy and upset the fragile and delicate natural environments that we live by. Dan had a good idea and said he would like to take his boy scouts here on an outing and they can pick up litter while rock climbing.

Elena really seemed to have no fear of climbing and was begging for more afterwards. Sierra was being a scaredy cat and Maysa was just enjoying riding on Dad's shoulders.

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you!

What a beautiful place! A tropical paradise in the middle of the desert. A desert oasis indeed. We had a really great thanksgiving day at the zoo. Let me tell you a little secret. Nobody goes to the zoo on thanksgiving day. We really felt like we had the place to ourselves. It was really fantastic. My favorite part was the Columbian rainforest and oddly enough it was the only part of the day we needed to bring out the umbrellas.

We also enjoyed how open and big it was. Lots of walking and space for the animals to roam. We didn't feel sorry for them like we do at other zoos. We saw every part of the zoo today. We wish we could have stayed longer but it closed down at 4 so we left feeling exhilarated and satisfied. Can you believe its almost December! I wouldn't trade Arizona for the world, we feel it is the best place to live on earth! Dare I say.

Turkey Lurkey

This year we did a turkey on Tuesday so that we could go to the zoo on Thanksgiving day! This 20 pounder only cost us 8 bucks. I was so satisfied with myself that I decided to blog it. Don't even ask me how it turned so golden and moist because I don't even know. This is the very first turkey I've ever done!

I forgot to take out the gimlet bag thingy so Dan was thrilled about that. First thing- he took a big bite out of the heart and acted like he was on cloud 9. I took a bite too just to see what all the fuss was about and almost spit it out. It MUST be a man thing.

Anyway, we had a real fun dinner as a family and I wouldn't hesitate to bake another turkey sometime. It was a good learning experience!

Christmas is yet upon Us. (These are last years photos in Northern Canada) !

I have a little secret. I actually do like snow.......... at Christmas! :)

After Christmas is said and done, I'm wishing for summertime again.

So this will be our first year away from extended family for Christmas. Our first year spent all alone in the warm comforting walls of our very own home. The first in ten years! It will be different, but I am oddly excited about it.

Why is it that December is the hardest financial time of the year for us. It seems we've overspent throughout the summer then Christmas lands in our laps and there is no money left to speak of. The kids end up spoiled by Grandparents and cousins, so life goes on. Call me scrooge, but I really hate Christmas shopping. Why is there a feeling of a need to buy... for so and so.. and so and so. Lets say we all donated money to our favorite charities for Christmas. Lets say we didn't emphasize so much on giving gifts and instead did service work for eachother or baking.

Something that has me utterly confused is why so many anti- christians celebrate Christmas. If you don't believe and have testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior of this world then WHAT ARE YOU CELEBRATING!! "Happy holidays, have some spirits and we'll toast to Saint Nick." Christmas must be so simple and meaningless to those.

Okay enough scrooge. This year I would like to focus more on serving and celebrating the nativity. I do love Christmas because of family and I will miss my Canadian families dearly this year. But after the New Year is done and I sit outside in my lounge chair soaking up the Arizona rays, I'll be gratetful to start a new year and maybe a crash diet.

Obama Wins

The awaited day arrived. Finally the opponents speak words of grace, compassion and humility towards one another. There was no sore loser here. It is my hope that color had nothing to do with nothing in this election. I like to believe that people based their votes on moral conscience and researched issues. I hope people did not base their votes in the ferver of excitement and the event that America will see history in its making- the first ever African American president. I like to hope that the American people researched what they were voting for and looked deep down inside and prayed about who could handle the country's issues best at hand. All is said and done and we are looking to a future that could bring about major changes, for better or worse. We are looking at a day where the word tolerance will have to be stretched thinner than ever.

2 days before this election, Boyd K. Packer spoke personally to our stake here in Arizona. He said something to this affect: Things are going to change and they are going to change drastically. Don't live in fear and don't let your little ones be afraid. Be firm and steadfast in the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Stand for what is right and we'll be alright.

It is my belief that we are approaching the last days. It is now more than ever important for us to hold fast to the morals and teachings we were taught in our youth. Lets be prepared and thankful. Lets keep God in the equation and remember who gave us this great and free and beautiful land in the first place.

Hiking Picacho

Today I hiked Picacho Peak with some good friends in the ward. It was the hardest hike I have ever done in my life. Lots of climbing and hanging on to steel cables. It was alot less terrifying than I thought it would be. We saw this huge tarantula about 30 seconds into the hike. Gross! I screamed like a 2 year old. We met lots of nice people on the hike and got lost hmmm, maybe only 3 or 4 times. The summit was incredible and breathtaking and we are so glad we made it. Lots of fun and would recommend this hike for anyone. There are no dropoffs and climbing the steel cables wasn't as hard as it looks. We did this hike in a total of 4 hours. The picture at the top is the full view of the Picacho mountain. The hike was straight up and straight down- no friendly flat levels.