Arizona Weekend

Rick and I were able to fly to Phoenix for a fun weekend.  Our nephew's daughter, Kelsey, received her mission call to Samoa back in February, and we thought it would be great to be able to attend the meeting that she would speak at before she left for the MTC.  We purchased tickets way back then, and finally the weekend had arrived.

We arrived Thursday morning and went right over to our condo that was lined up through Gail Winterrose.  We stayed in the Scottsdale Villa Mirage and enjoyed our time there.  We stayed in the same condo resort a few years ago and loved the location so we were glad to get back.  

This was a beautiful weekend to be in Arizona.  The weather has been mild, in the 70's and 80's throughout our stay.  Since we have arrived I have loved the flora.  The plant life and smell of the desert is reminiscent of my childhood.  There definitely is beauty in the desert.  

Here are some shots of the flora.......

The Sonoran desert is the only place in the world to find the saguaro cactus.  

I just love them!

After arriving and getting unpacked and settled, we grabbed a little lunch and headed off on our first adventure.  We drove over to Gilbert to get a session in.  This is our third temple on our quest for ten new temples this year.  I was able to get here last year on our girls trip but Rick had not been here so we will count it as a temple we BOTH have visited:)

 This temple is magnificent with a floor plan that is very similar to the Payson temple.

I loved all of the agave plant references in the architecture as well as in the decor.  

Very beautiful!

That afternoon we got back to the room and hopped in the pool for a few minutes before heading out to old town Scottsdale for dinner.

...a shot of our room.

We drove into Old Town for some Mexican food and man, was it delish!  

Tacos, salsa, chips and guac were a good meal to start our trip.

That evening we went separate directions.

Rick in the family room watching the National Geographic Channel and me in the bedroom watching the Food Channel.  HAHA!  We really did!  And actually had a good time. HAHA!

The next morning we drove the two hours down to Tuscon.  It was a pretty drive, much like the Vegas to Mesquite drive.  Desert and mountains.  We enjoyed getting to the Tuscon Temple.  I loved the blue dome roof.  So different than other temples.  We had some family names for baptisms and confirmations so that was what we did.  The workers were so kind and helpful to us.  We were able to get right in.  Rick was proxy for four men and I for four women.  After the confirmations we were invited to get dressed in white and go into the celestial room.  In the modern day temples (meaning not pioneer ones), my eyes are always first drawn to the light in this particular room.  This room was no different.  My eyes were drawn to the gorgeous chandelier hanging directly in the middle of the room.  To me the beautiful lights in the temple are a symbol of the light of the Savior.  

We were able to sit together on a sofa and share our feelings of the temple.  

Tuscon is our fourth new temple for the year.

We left the temple and headed to downtown Tuscon.  I wanted to see the area.  Well, the "old town" in Tuscon is not quite like the "old town" in Scottsdale.  It was more like 'run down' than 'old town' but I still loved driving past the vintage buildings and then on the next street up seeing the old homes of the area.  We drove over to a marketplace that had a few places to eat.  We chose Seis restaurant for some nachos and tacos.  Rick ordered the tres leeches, as well!  

Mexican food two days in a row had Rick daydreaming about going back to Mexico:)

Before leaving downtown Tuscon we drove back to the "run down district" and stopped at Holy Donuts.  It's called Holy Donuts and their donuts are made fresh everyday.  The reason it's called Holy is because any of the donuts that don't get purchased that day go to the homeless that very night.  

We got a couple of donuts for dessert and thoroughly enjoyed our treat!

Next we drove twenty minutes to the Southwest to go to the Mission San Xavier del Bac.

It is a beautiful Catholic church that was built in 1797.

After visiting the mission we drove the two hours back to Scottsdale.  We stopped at a Whole Foods market to grab a few things to munch on for dinner and treats:)

The next day we were excited to get down to Scottsdale's Old Town.  I had read that they had a Farmer's Market going on and we love those!  We enjoyed testing and buying the food and goods that were being sold.  We are suckers when it comes to farmer's markets.  We spend so much money at these things!  I mean $10 for a bag of shortbread cookies, $6 for a loaf of bread,  $7 for some baklava.  We really shouldn't spend so much on these types of things. but we do!

Seriously, we love these things.

After the market we went back to the condo and spent some time at the pool.  

We enjoyed the sunshine!

That night we had a nice dinner at The Herb Box on 5th avenue.  It was the perfect setting with patio seating and a beautiful evening.  

Rick got the Thai ribs and mac 'n cheese and I had chicken and potatoes:)

Us with 5th avenue behind us all lit up.

Sunday came and we got to drive out to Queen Creek to listen to Kelsey Gordon speak in Sacrament.

She is leaving for the MTC next week for the Samoa Apia Mission.

She gave a great talk about having faith in the Savior.  It was really great.  

She will make a wonderful missionary:)

After church we met at Robert and Mary's home for a dinner with family.  Brian and Christy and their kids were there.  They provided a nice meal for us and we spent a couple of hours just visiting and laughing with the fam.  

After leaving their home we drove past Scottsdale to get to the Phoenix Temple.  Oh, how I wish this temple were open.  A few days prior to leaving on this trip I discovered that it was closed for cleaning so we were not able to attend:(  But we WERE able to see it and that will have to be good enough.  It sure was beautiful, and while we were there the sun started to set, and we got some beautiful pictures!  

Even though we did not get to go inside we are still counting the Phoenix Temple as one of our ten visited temples of the year. 

It is the fifth.

Monday was our day to check out of the condo.  We went on a walk, played some life size chess (I won:), and spent a bit of last minute time at the pool.  Actually Rick was on the phone getting work figured out so he didn't get a chance to get in the pool but I enjoyed the jacuzzi and reading by the side of the pool.

We went back to Old Town for our last bit of Mexican food.  Rick's shirt was appropriate.  "I Hate Tacos."  -said no one ever!  HAHA!

We rented a couple of scooters and road around the streets and got some ice cream in the process.

                                           It was a good way to end our trip!

Thanks to beautiful Arizona!  We had a wonderful weekend!

Mother's Day 2019

I didn't take any pictures of this year's Mother's Day:(  

Here are a couple of past photos of Mom and me!  She is and has been such a strength for me through the years.  She is one of my dearest friends.  I feel so blessed to have been raised by goodly parents.  It is an honor to celebrate her and all mom's on this special day!

This Mother's day was nice.  Our church meetings were amazing as always.  While we love to attend other wards and branches while we are traveling it is always so refreshing to be in our own ward after a vacation.  It is always good to be home.  I love the familiar and the comfortable:)  

In Sacrament Meeting we had four youth speakers who spoke on the Savior and how their moms were like Him.  It was sweet:).  In between the speakers the primary sang to us.  They are always the cutest.  While Henry stood with others looking adorable I don't think he sang many words:)

Relief Society was based on Elder Hales' talk from conference.  It was about prayer, and many of the sisters gave their thoughts and examples of how prayer has been a blessing in their life.  I just loved it!  I know for many people getting to church is so difficult.  Not for me.  I NEED to get to church.  I can't miss.  The sabbath day is so special to me.  I am renewed and rejuvenated after each Sunday. 

I feel so rewarded after being there.   The blessings of partaking of the Sacrament each week are tangible.  Truly.

After church the family joined us for dinner.  We had everyone there but Alyssia, who lives in Ogden.  It was a beautiful day outside, and Rick smoked some meat while the girls brought the sides.  We ate out on the patio and had such a nice time.  The food was so delicious and the company was even better.  The married kids left by 7:00, and Rick was so good to clean ALL of the dishes while I played games with Gary and his girlfriend, Catalina.

A beautiful Mother's Day!

French Polynesia Trip Part 2

Sunday was pretty much a laid back day.  We went to church in Vaitape, about a fifteen minute drive from our hotel.  Vaitape is the hub of Bora Bora where the ships and ferries come in.  The church is just down the street from the dock.  

We loved going to our meetings.  It is always so wonderful to partake of the sacrament!  Even though the meeting was in French and Tahitian it was wonderful to feel the Spirit.  Sunday School was nice, as well.  There was a sweet sister who did a little translating for us.  Many of the people in the class could speak English so when questions were asked we felt free to answer and give our thoughts.  

It was a really rewarding experience to be there:)

The rest of Sunday was very simple.  We had a late lunch in the restaurant at the hotel, took a nap and then later took another drive around the island.  We played games that night and then watched The Sound of Music on my laptop.  It was a good day!

Monday morning Rick had scheduled a scuba diving excursion with Bora Diving Center.  They had two dives at two different sites.  The first was in the Lagoon on the East side of the island looking for Manta Rays (didn't see any), and the second was with the sharks on the west side of the island (where we had gone snorkeling a few days before)  He saw a Spotted Eagle Ray and a bunch of sharks.

While Rick was on his excursion I stayed back at the hotel and read.  Divine!  I read on the bed, I read on our deck, I read out at the beach......lots of reading time that day!  I actually finished three books on our trip!  Reading is something that I love!

After Rick returned from diving we ate lunch at the hotel. 

 I LOVED my grilled chicken sandwich and fries.  

After lunch we drove over to Matira Beach to do some swimming.  Matira Beach is the nicest beach on the island.  We had fun finding the flounders in the sand and then chasing them around.  They're cool because they try to camouflage themselves by burrowing in the sand.  They look just like the sand and are hard to spot if they are not moving.  

That night we had a fun dinner at Bloody Mary's Restaurant.  I can't even begin to think why a person would name a restaurant Bloody Mary's.  I know it's a specialty drink and all, but really?

The food though was really fun.  We were introduced to all of the meats that are on the menu and we chose which meat we wanted.  The meats ranged from beef, chicken, shrimp, fish, and lobster.  I was not too hungry so I chose a chicken and shrimp shish kabob. (children's size)  Rick had the parrotfish.  It's kinda crazy to think that he was eating such a pretty tropical fish but he liked it.

The next morning (Tuesday) we knew we wanted to head out to "The Garden" to do some more snorkeling.  The Maitai offered kayaks to do that.  It was a 15-20 minute trek across the Lagoon to get there.  We pulled our kayak up onto the rocky beach and got to it!  There was so much to see, and we had fun exploring.  I wanted so badly to find a Green Moray Eel but couldn't see any.  I thought for sure I would see at least one.  We did spot a huge stonefish and he was SO COOL.   He looked just like the reef he was sitting on.  Major camouflage going on!  I could tell it was a fish because I saw his eyes move but everything else was COMPLETELY still.  Rick saw him at the same time as me and after observing him for some time Rick poked his fin at him to get him to move.  It made me a little nervous because stonefish are hailed as the most venomous of all fish.  It's better to just observe in my opinion....but my honey...he loves to touch things!

Out at The Garden.

The cool stonefish.

After kakyaing we drove into Vaitape to get some lunch and ice cream.  It was delish!

Here's our little car.  A Fiat Panda.

A pretty church in Vaitape.

After our lunch in Vaitape,  I enjoyed the afternoon reading while Rick rented a scooter and drove around the island sightseeing:)

I don't have pictures of our Wednesday activities, but we took the kayaks out again (still no eels), but we had an interesting experience.  As we were leaving the beach with our Kayak we met two women who were going to kayak to The Garden as well.  One of the women put her foot into her bootie and got stung by a bee, so she thought, so she decided not to put that bootie on and just wear one.  We got to the reef a little before the ladies, but when they got there she wanted to put on her bootie but said that the bee was still in there.  After further inspection she hollered, "That's not a bee!  That's a bug!  A bad bug!" So Rick went over to help her get it out.  As he looked inside the shoe he saw a huge centipede!  He then proceeded to pound the shoe on a rock to kill the centipede.  It took a bit of doing but finally killed the thing.  The woman, of course, did not put the shoe on but put it into a baggie to show someone at the hotel.  The women were staying in a room up on the mountain (the ones we were originally going to stay in), and the centipede had gotten into her room and crawled into her shoe in the middle of the night.  Freaky!!

After snorkeling we went to Matira Beach for lunch.  It was a beautiful setting. 

 We then headed back to the room for a short nap.  We knew we wanted to get some more swimming in on our last day, so after our nap we went back to Matira Beach to go swimming with our snorkel gear.  There is not much reef to see at this beach but we did find more flounders and we also found a cool hermit crab!

 That night was our last night on the island so we wanted to live it up!  We had dinner at Bloody Mary's again.  It was a wonderful way to end our last night!  So romantic!  And delicious food!

The next morning it was time to pack up and leave.  I felt like I couldn't take enough pictures!  We were still feeling that everywhere we looked was just so breathtaking.

  I wanted to capture everything!

We hopped on the ferry and headed to the airport.

Goodbye, Bora Bora!  You have been SO good to us!

We arrived back in Papeete for the afternoon and rented a car (a Peugeot:)).  We wanted to get back to the black sand beach to play in the waves.  It took about thirty minutes to get to the North part of the island, and we had such a good time playing in the water.  The waves were pounding us so hard!   I nearly lost my swimsuit bottoms!  Seriously!  It was so funny!  By the time we finished we were covered in black sand.  It felt good to get cleaned up at the hotel.  Then we stopped at the food trucks for one last hurrah.  Of course, we had to finish off with another waffle covered in chocolate with a scoop of ice cream:)

It was a nice way to end our trip!

What a dreamy trip this was.  We're not sure if we will ever make it back to Bora Bora, but the memories will last us a lifetime!  It truly is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been!