Pinetop

The first week of school, Brian and Kamille treated us to three days in Pinetop. We had a great time relaxing and getting out of the heat for a few days. We did a little junkin' and a bit of exploring. We wanted to drive around the areas affected by the Wallow fire. We first drove to Greer. Most of the town was fine, until you got to the southeast corner, where many trees and a few buildings were burned. On the road into Greer, we saw evidence of fires, though. We also drove around Big Lake. Our fear was that the forest nearest the lake was gone, but it wasn't. There had been spot fires in the meadows getting to the lake, but the area around the lake was good. Everywhere we went seemed to be so vacant. I think people feared the worst and were staying away. There was lots of forest burned on the road to Springerville/Eager, but the town itself seemed okay. The next spot we wanted to go was to Alpine, where Uncle Beans and Aunt Lorna's cabin is. We have so many good memories there and would be saddened if it were gone. On the road to Nutrioso and Alpine, there was a lot of burned areas...especially in the hills surrounding the towns. But the towns were, for the most part, just fine. The cabin was good, but there had been a small burn in the meadow area near the cabin (less that 1/4 mile away!). The firefighters did an amazing job protecting property! We drove over to Luna and saw some sections of burned areas there. Our next little jaunt was down to Hannagan Meadow. WOW! It looked like a scene from a science fiction movie. For miles and miles and miles, all you saw was black and orange trees (the tree trunk and branches were burned black and the pine needles were burned orange). It was so sad to see the destruction of that fire. That scene lasted almost all the way to Hannagan Meadow. And it was raining the day we drove down there and every little bit you could see where flooding had occurred due to the lack of vegetation on the forest floor. We didn't linger long, since we didn't want to get trapped by a flash flood! We are saddened by the terrible devastation done to the forest, but there is still a LOT of forest that is pristine and beautiful!! It's just tragic that it will take generations for the forest to be returned to its natural beauty in the burned areas.
All in all, we had a wonderful time in Pinetop and look forward to our next trip there!!

Grandparents' Day at School

Grandparents' Day is a holiday in September. It is sometimes observed in local schools and the students can invite grandparents to have lunch with them at school. We had two scheduled on the same day! What to do?? Since Brian's birthday was the day before their Grandparents' Day lunch, we opted to go to lunch with Abby and Dallin a day early. We went to lunch with Eliza, Libby and Ellie the next day. It was so fun to see them with their friends and spend lunchtime with them just visiting and enjoying each others' company. Thanks for the invitations!!!

Phoenix Arizona Temple

It was announced last year that we would be getting a temple in Phoenix. The site selected is near us....just northeast of Thunderbird Park on Pinnacle Peak. It has been much anticipated and also much opposed by some of the neighbors. All of that is finally worked out and we're getting a temple. The ground has been broken and should be done in a couple of years! YEA!!! We can hardly wait!!!

Luke birthday

I'm not sure how I got this entry out of order, but Luke's birthday was in April. We must have been busy the weeks in between, but we finally had his sleepover in May. He turned 4! He wanted to see the movie, Rio, so we did! And he wanted his picture taken with the scary poster! Luke is such a fun, happy boy. He is always smiling and loves to play on the iPads! He's quite good at it, too! We love you, Luke!

Our Big Trip

After Mark retired and we got things settled with Dad and our broken air conditioner (another negative post that I probably won't talk about), we finally headed our for our much anticipated trip. It took a long time for us to decide where we actually wanted to go. The final decision was Yosemite, the Redwoods and up into Oregon....to Tillamook. And man, was that a LONG trip! We had a wonderful time, saw many beauties of nature and places we'd never been before and put a lot of miles on the car. It was a very memorable trip and one we'd like to do again.

Baby Trimble

Erin is expecting her sixth child in December. So she decided to have a gender reveal party. When she went in for her ultrasound, she asked the tech not to tell her what the gender was. She asked her to put it in an envelope and seal it. She then took the sealed envelope to Party City, along with a big box, and asked them to fill the box with filled balloons in the appropriate color. Her friend, Terri, picked up the box and took it to Erin's house just before the party. She invited family and a few friends to join in the festivities. The people attending were asked to wear pink if they thought the baby was going to be a girl and blue if they thought it would be a boy. It was about an even split. We were also invited to offer a suggestion for the baby's name. Those were a hoot! At the appointed time, Erin and Brian opened the box. And much to (most) everyone's surprise, the balloons were blue! They're having a boy! And boy was everyone excited and elated. The Trimbles are seeing blue these days!!!

Utah with the Trimbles

Mark started his retirement about a week early...and took some vacation days the last week. We went to Utah and met the Trimbles there. Eliza had entered an art contest for The Friend and her artwork was chosen to be displayed in the Church History Museum. It will be there until the end of the year, if you chance to pay a visit. We had to go and see her talent in action for ourselves. It was a fun week of sightseeing, dining out, shopping and having fun together. If it weren't such a sore spot, I'd tell about our tire story on the way home, but I guess I won't. I don't like to dwell on negative things....let's just say that the state of Utah has the worst reputation in the nation for tire issues with consumers. Not a good list to be on. But other than that, it was a perfect week!!