I am going to Art Camp!!!

I am going to Terri Brush's Art Camp in Oregon the first week in October.   I have taken Terri's classes before through Vintage Melrose in Phoenix and she is amazing.  I was able to talk my friends Krista, Amy, Stephanie & Mary from Texas into coming with me (it wasn't very hard, who wouldn't want to go).  We are going to have a blast, 4 days of fabulous teachers/artists helping us create. 

We will staying in beautiful Canon Beach, Oregon. The whole weekend will be about 25 women enjoying catered food, long walks on the beach, and sipping wine on the deck in the evening.... 

Playing in the snow

We had the best weekend, it started off at our friends Toni & Shane's house for a Fondue Party for Valentine's on Saturday evening.  We had so much fun, the food was wonderful and the company fabulous (we hope they make it an annual thing).   Then Sunday morning, we woke up and drove to  the White Mountains.  Our friends Jill & Ken have a time-share up there and invited us to come and play in the snow.   The weather could not have been any more beautiful,  the sky was a gorgeous blue and the temperature a perfect 50 degrees.  Ken found a sledding area right outside Sunrise, where we spent all day Sunday and Monday playing.   Everyone had a blast!!!

Sunday we met some new friends who had snow mobiles and they took us on a hour ride through miles and miles of snow covered fields.  If you have never gone on a snow mobile, you should put it on your list of things to do.   I can not explain, how much fun they are to drive.

Now that we are back to daily routine and work, it sure is great to have such wonderful memories and friends.

Happy Valentine's Day

Design from Rhonna Farrer

A huge thanks to Pinal County Search & Rescue

Yesterday evening around 8:30, Suzi received a phone call from my sister-in-law telling us that my brother had gone hiking for the day and had not returned home.  She was wondering if she should be concerned.  After hearing the details, we quickly decided we all were concerned.   The area where they had gone hiking was under the jurisdiction of the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.  These two very experienced hikers had set out in one of the most remote/rugged areas in North America, the Superstition Mountains in central Arizona for a 12 mile day hike.  Despite the remote location, limited information and the late hour,  a search began around 2 a.m.   By 3:30 a.m. my brother and his friend were spotted by the state police helicopter in a remote area that was too rough for a helicopter to land.  GPS coordinates were locked in and the volunteers spent the next approximate 8 hours hiking to the men and leading them out.   You could look at this and remember the fears, apprehension, failure of a personal GPS device and many other factors.  My brother and his friend were gone for over 31 hours from the time they started to the time they got back to their vehicles.   They had strayed miles from their intended course.   What we found to be very humbling was the group of men and women who woke up in the middle of the night, used their own resources, skipped their work day and dedicated themselves to help total strangers.   These men and women were positive, reassuring and hard working.  They are true blessings to our family, and to future people in need......