8-31-15

Me: ALL Day Swim Day... 

5:30am-7:30am  At the Lifetime Fitness Pool for Howard's Ironman training session. He swam 2.4 miles!

11:30am - 1:00pm  At the Phoenix Swim Center for a master's class with friends, Wendy & Sue. 3,000 meter swim for us.

3:00pm - 4:00pm  At the Meneely pool cooling off on this 104 degree afternoon. Plus pool playtime with Kavan & Riley when they came over this evening.

I'm water logged!

8-30-15

Me: Sweet as Sugar; Riley and the donut!

Our sweet little great-niece turns 2 next month. She is looking so grown up!

8-29-15

Me: Love this!!

Bob's sister texted this hotel comparison to us yesterday. :-)

8-28-15

"What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame,

but something wild to run with." - Robert Brault

Happy Anniversary to my soulmate! It's "Sweet 16" today & 2015 is just as exciting as 1999. Thank you for grand adventures, Bob - but  thank you for everyday pleasures & sharing your heart with me. Love you!

And Bob posted this pic on FB with…

Happy anniversary Baby!

16 years, wow, a lifetime and the blink of an eye all at once.

Every day is an adventure! You continually surprise and impress me.

I love you more each day!

- Bob

8-27-15

Me: WICKED good!!

Last night Bob & I went to the musical WICKED. The professional traveling tour is performing at ASU Gammage for a month. We are so glad we bought tickets…the show was PHENOMINAL!! Amazing singing, top notch acting, perfect set & costumes. Can't say enough good things about it so will just sum it up with "GO" if you ever get the chance to see it on Broadway or in a city near you! :-)

8-26-15

"It's my day!" Harley the Dog

But what day isn't her day?!

Happy National Dog Day to our spoiled dog & yours.

8-25-15

Me: If you're having a good day or a bad day, I hope these flowers make you smile.

Flowers definitely cheer me up! Yesterday we did some yard work which included planting some new flowers in a few empty pots. Flower Power. :-)

8-24-15

Me: The happiest Home Depot shopper I've ever seen. Harley knows her way around & greets everyone! Thanks for your help, Harley. :-)

8-23-15

Me: Garage Sale Friday Finds…

1) Tens Unit (the little walkman looking thing with sticky pads). Helps achey muscles & strains. Paid $10 (new can be $60+). Bob & I have already used it & like it!

2) Vintage glass cake stand (for all those cakes I bake). :-/ I must have at least 3 cake plate stands already. What can I say…I like vintage & I love cake. :-)

3) Tiny glass salt holders (7 of them). Will use for my glass window crafts!!

4) Aebleskiver pan. I already have one but this pan was only 50 cents (yep, that's right .50). I'm Danish & Aebleskiver is a Danish food. Funny that the guy who was selling the pan had never heard of Aebleskiver. Instead he pointed to the recipe book that came with the pan; "Pancake Puffs" (USA rebranding). Now I really had to have that "Pancake Puffs" recipe book to show my Aebleskiver eating relatives. :-)

Another Friday find was this Ironwood dog. Carved by the Seris Indians of the Sonoran Desert. There are now restrictions to harvest Ironwood trees & it's getting difficult to find naturally fallen Ironwoods…so this kind of wood carving is becoming rare. This dog (who I think looks like cartoon Harley) even came with a nice write-up.

Fun shopping day! Signed, 

Garage Sale Addict :-)

8-22-15

Me: Bob came home from CA yesterday & brought back some lovely gifts from his mom. I like this 3 tier cookie tray. It folds up for easy storage too. Such a sweet hand me down.

I love this little quilt pillow. It was made by Bob's grandmother (Pat's mom). It fits nicely in our reading chair next to the piano. Both gifts are very special. Thank you, Pat!

8-21-15

Me: Bob got away to California for a couple days to see his folks, sister, brother-in-law, & nieces. On Wednesday morning Bob & his dad flew their V-Tail Bonanza from San Jose to Paso Robles where they had lunch. Bob always loves a day in the sky with his dad! Above; Bob's dad standing on the Bonanza wing while watching planes land at the Paso Robles airport (great pic)! Bob had a wonderful time seeing everyone. BTW: Our nieces, R & M are starting 5th grade this year. Can't believe how grown up they are! Hope their first week in school was awesome!

8-20-14

We've been back in AZ for a few days now. It's always great to be home but we're still thinking about those beautiful Colorado Mountains!

And we miss this cute little guy!! 

I'm not KIDding. Is it Baaaaaa-d to love a mountain goat!? ;-)

8-19-15

Me: 8/16…Leaving camp and hiking 7 miles out of the Chicago Basin.

 Bob & I reached the suspension bridge in 2.5 hours.

The Animas River. We haven't heard any more about the river spill in the news but it looked pretty clear (still won't catch us drinking from it).

There comes the train! We were in Durango by 2:30pm & in the car driving back to Phoenix by 3pm. We made it home by 10. Exhausted. 

Thanks again to Rich, Jenn & John for joining us on this 14'er adventure! It sure was fun hanging out with them & summiting some cool mountains. Highlight: Mountain Goats!

8-18-15

Me: Recap of Sunlight Peak (8/15)…

Walking across a snow patch in the upper basin between Windom & Sunlight Pk.

We made it to the summit!! :-)

I don't have any photos from our climb up Sunlight Peak because:

1) It started out steep & loose (needed both hands).

2) Later there was technical boulder climbing (needed both hands).

3) Rain & small hail came (urging us to quickly touch the summit & get back down)!

Some clouds did roll in but it seemed they would clear quickly.

Even so...here's my concerned face.

From the official survey marker (which is where I'm taking this photo from) there are a few more large boulders higher that some hikers climb to stand on the tippy-top. It is considered pretty difficult & many don't attempt it. On a dry day Bob would likely have gotten to that tippy-top. But today, because the rocks were slick from rain, he turned around when he reached that middle standing point. Not worth the risk.

Sunlight Peak

14,059 ft.

My happy face and then we headed back down.

Stopped to point out Windom Peak where we had been earlier with John & Jenn.

It's still Bob's birthday! August 15th.

This is one of my favorite photos. Handsome husband! Happy 46th!

At Sunlight Peak saddle. Sunlight Spire is behind me; a rock climbers destination. BTW: We love our rock climbing helmets that we use often (we put them on for the last stretch to the summits or any place rock fall is a risk).

There really wasn't that much snow left but we thought it was cool.

It makes our hike look a little more epic. ;-)

Really, ANOTHER mountain goat! I'm definitely gonna make a coffee table book of just mountain goat pics!! :-)

Making good progress heading down. There's sun shining on Blue Lakes. Ahhhh! 

Another pretty day in Alpine paradise! Bob & I will camp tonight & hike out tomorrow to catch the train to Durango.

"Where are you headed? The trail you are on determines where you will end up."