Montezuma's Castle

Ever since we moved to Arizona, Rod and I have wanted to take a little side trip off HWY 17 to see Montezuma's Castle. Since we had the time on our way home from the Grand Canyon, we decided to see this National Monument this morning. The kids did not want to stop, so they stayed in the car. They missed out! It only took about 15 minutes and was very interesting. This is an ancient Indian ruin of a cliff-dwelling tribe. They say the tribe disappeared about 700 years ago, giving some idea as to how old these apartments are. It is amazing to me how they could have even gotten the mud and dirt up there to make the stucco, let alone the rocks and the stuff they used for mortar. There is a small river down below that furnished them with water. They grew cotton, which they used for weaving crude clothing, and corn and beans. The also ate small game.They had wooden ladders used to climb up to the rooms. It looked like the apartments were weather proof, and safe from enemies - both man and animal- once the ladders were pulled up. We enjoyed this little side trip, and we did not have to hike through acres of cactus to find these ruins! :o)

Grand Canyon

This weekend, Rod and I decided we wanted to take Becca and Nick to the Grand Canyon. They weren't too thrilled at first, and then got caught up in our excitement over this little mini-vacation. We wanted to see the North rim, as we visited the South rim last summer, but there were NO ROOMS available. We went ahead and got a room in Flagstaff. We left Friday night about 6:30 and got there in time for bed. We got up at our leisure and made the hour drive to the Grand Canyon. First thing we did was go to the IMax theater and see the movie on the canyon. It is fantastic! We then drove to a lookout point about thirty miles to west and worked our way back. We got back to our hotel about 4:30 and the kids got to use the pool. It was cold and windy, but they still loved the swim time. We had a great dinner at Chili's and settled in for the night. As we were peacefully sleeping, some other hotel guests decided they had had enough to drink and noisily came back to their rooms with lots of yelling, and loud laughing. It woke up our whole family. How can some people be such idiots. Oh, well, we still had fun! What a great weekend!

My three favorite traveling companions.Becca checks out some Indian ruins. Becca and Me at Desert View Lookout point. There was a big tall tower to climb and several outlooks for some great pictures.You can see the river winding through the canyon. Love this shot - pictures just don't do this justice.Clouds, shadows, and magnificent cliffs.

Women's Conference 2007

We planned it for a year - a dream get-away trip with the girl friends. We went to Women's Conference at BYU the first weekend of May. We flew out from Phoenix and landed in SLC where we noticed and IMMEDIATE difference in the temperature. Boooooo! Last year was my first year with these ladies. Nancy called me and said "come to Women's Conference with us. We go and just eat our way through." Well, who could every pass up an opportunity like that? First thing on the agenda was a visit to the beautiful Salt Lake Temple. It is always a breath taking sight, especially from across the street. It was a very sweet experience to share with dear friends. After our temple session, we strolled through the grounds to see the beautiful flowers. I took some different and interesting shots.I particularly like the above shot - I tried to capture the tulips up close with the temple spires in the background. It was a very tricky angle and I tried several times before I actually got one that worked! Momma Myrt, Nancy, Trudy and Teresa at the reflection pond.

I sure love these beautiful girls! This is my most favorite picture! Tulips, blue sky and clouds. A very cool angle. I got this idea from some pictures that Katie took last year and put on her blog. I thought it was hilarious that these ladies were all on their cell phones talking to their sweeties as they crossed the street. What brilliant colors - and the back ground is the old and magnificent church office building, where the prophet still has his office. A highlight of the trip was seeing Karli and Diane. I hadn't seen Diane for over 4 years. It was a joyful and tearful reunion. I am so blessed with such wonderful friends!

It was a truly fun experience to be in the Marriott Center with 15 thousand women! Just imagine singing hymns in that setting. We parked ourselves in the top row and set up camp for the next two days. The speakers were so great - timely messages and very personal to me. The music was so beautiful - unforgettable - and the spirit was so sweet. And the concert on Thursday night was another highlight. I ended up buying 5 CD's. Oh well..... Of course, there was a Sun's game and Trudy and the rest will not miss such a great event. I was so dead-dog tired that I rolled over and went to sleep and missed Trudy jumping on the bed when they won! But we laughed and giggled like a bunch of school girls. I swear, Teresa can laugh more than anyone I know! We kinda got slap-happy late at night, and it did not take much to make the giggling start. We ate our traditional J-dogs - M-m-m-m-m-m! We ate our traditional spiced nuts, our traditional nice dinner at McGrath's, the traditional mint brownies from the BYU campus, and tried some new stuff, too. Yeah, we ate our way through it again! We have already started planning for next year. What a great tradition! I am so thankful I could take this time to renew my spirit and be so uplifted and get so excited about life! Thank you!