Golden Sun, Apache Junction AZ, 12/13/ 2010 - 1/3/2011

Our next park was Golden Sun in Apache Junction, AZ. We stayed here for three weeks. We really like this park. We like the staff and the location. They have a length restriction of 35 feet so we just "barely" squeeze in! This is an Encore park and more than half of it is park models where people own them and lease the space. Most of them stay six months or more and a large part are from Canada.


Megan's Pinning

I left Terry to fend for himself and I hopped on a plane and flew to Medford, OR, to meet up with my brother Bill. We then drove down to Arcata, CA, to our niece's, Megan's, RN pinning. This is a picture of Mt. Shasta and Mt. Shasta Lake from the window of the plane. It was a much more awesome site than this picture shows.

LouAnn and Larry Sutton (Megan's step grandparents) and Megan's brother, our nephew Marc, also came down for the pinning. I ran away with them and Bill while Lorrie, Marcie, Taylor, and Trista went to help Megan make cookies. We went to a beach that Terry and I had been to when we camped at the Little Red School House campground. We saw lots of elk at the campground before we went on down to the beach.

This beach is beautiful, but kind of scary. It usually had big waves crashing up against the rocks. Marc almost got wet standing on them. This beach has a lot of agates on it and there are usually people looking for them. We found so many different colored rocks that it looked like we had "rock candy" in our hand. Marc took some home to drill holes in them to make pendants for his two boys.

Well, Megan got pinned after four and a half years of hard work and nothing but "A's" for grades and running on the track team all four years, getting national awards.

Lorrie did the honors up on the stage (and didn't even fall down walking up there!) Megan will make a great RN.

Uncle Bill and all of her other relatives and friends are really proud of her!

When I got off of the plan back in Apache Junction, Terry gave me a bouquet of mums! I was really surprised. When I asked him what was up, he gave me some crazy stories about trading in the 5th wheel and other things, but I guess he just missed me! I could get used to this!

Christmas in Arizona

We usually put up our Christmas tree after the 15th of December, so up it went--well, not too far up. It is only a couple of feet high! Our ornaments were the ones we made in Wikieup last year with pictures of all of our kids and grandkids on them.

We didn't do much decorating outside--just our "big" stockings and some red bows. We spent a lot of time picking them up off of the ground when the wind would blow. Some people really go all out with decorating their RVs for Christmas. It is fun to see them.

We were putting up the "big" stockings after Christmas and found a little gift in each of them. They were signed "Merry Christmas, from Bev and BJ." There was a note on one of them that said, "We just couldn't resist." We tried to figure out who they were, but we never did. That is just the kind of people RVer's are!

We spent Christmas Eve at Travis' home in Gilbert so we could get up with them Christmas morning. The boys are all anxious at the top of the stairs. I think a couple of them had already ventured down and spied some filled stockings and Santa gifts!

My nephew, Cameron came and spent Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day with us at Travis's home, too. It is always fun to have him with us.

Spence, Nic, Nate, and Josh all stop for the go-ahead, all wearing their traditional Santa hats.

Well, it looks like Santa left filled stockings for everyone, even Terry and I and Cameron!

I got Terry a rack for the back of his bike. Lots of times we ride our bikes shopping and have to hang the grocery bags over the handlebars. Now we can pile them on the back of his bike!

I was the one really surprised this year. A couple of months before, we had been in Costco and I saw this little "theater" popcorn popper and I told Terry that it would be really fun to have. He said his usual, "We don't have room." So, I didn't think much more about it until I unwrapped it Christmas morning! It makes great popcorn. We use it almost every night. And, I did find room for it!

I don't know how surprised our family was this year that everyone got a Scentsy warmer for Christmas, but they seemed to like them okay. Shannon and Travis are opening their gifts.

I am helping Josh open his "basketball" Scentsy warmer. They all got two Scentsy bars (scented wax) that they could share with each other.

Spencer was on the high school golf team when they lived in Payson, so he got a "golf" warmer.

Nicholas got a "soccer" warmer and Nathan a "baseball" one. I hope they all enjoy using them. They will have the best smelling home in town!

Nathan is taking fencing lessons so he got all dressed up in his stuff and showed us some of his moves. It looked kind of scary, but he assured us that he will not stab anyone who doesn't deserve it!

My brother, Frank, had our name for Christmas this year and one of the things they gave us was a puzzle of Boise State football team. It was so fun to put together. It has the capitol building in the background, along with the Boise River and people floating down it (which we have done in the past.) The track around the blue "smurf turf" field is the one that Sarah ran lots of races around in High School (although this picture didn't show the track too well) and we sat in the bleachers cheering her on. It kind of made me a little homesick as I put it together. What a great gift, Frank and Andy!

Hiking at Saguaro Lake

We love hiking with the Golden Sun Park hiking group when we are there. We went to Saguaro Lake and hiked part way around it. It was a great hike.

We had a pretty good group and got to make new friends and meet old ones from the previous times we have been here.

We were quite fascinated with all of the pin cushion cactus that were on the mountains. I guess because when we go to Nettie's Place in Wikieup it is hard to find them. That is probably because over the years we have confiscated too many to take back to friends and family (school teachers, bus drivers, etc.) each Spring break for over 20 years. They are just the right size to fit in a butter dish or little pot.

We were part way around the lake and looked down and saw this little green oasis at the point of this little peninsula out into the lake. I told Terry that it would be a fun place to go.

Well, we ended up there and had our lunch! There was actually some grass growing--which you don't see too much of in the desert.

On the way back I got this picture of the mountain reflecting into the lake.

Not too many places do you see a fisherman fishing out in a like like this one, in December, wearing a short sleeve shirt! How nice to be in Arizona in December!

I got a late Christmas gift from Terry. He had Travis and Shannon pick these up at the M & M Factory when they went to Las Vegas the week before. They had left them in their hotel room when they left, so they were sent to them and arrived after Christmas. How fun!

We spent New Years Eve at Travis's. We played games all evening and the boys set off fireworks intermittently until midnight. Then we all went outside and set off the grand finale fireworks and saw the new year in! We were invited to come back the next morning to start a Travis Howard family tradition of a polar bear swim in the pool on January 1 (not as challenging as in a some climates--but the water was about 42 degrees). We declined, but Travis and his four boys all did it (with Shannon documenting it on film) and then they all jumped in the hot tub!

What a great year!! We are looking forward to another one in 2011!