Church of the Latter Day Saints

Our last stop on the Christmas Lights Tour was the Mormon Temple.

There were millions of lights around the buildings, grounds and even up in the palm trees.

Last year there was a nativity stable scene but this year it was Joseph leading Mary and baby Jesus on a donkey.

 The back temple was highlighted in front of the pool with a large statue of Jesus.

Inside there were over 100 miniature mangers from countries around the world. This one was from the Yukon.

Christmas Lights Tour

We had a fun time going to see many lights around 3 different neighborhoods. Our transportation was a genuine red London double decker bus. That was lots of fun with goodies and hot chocolate.

We drove through this area for 25 minutes and the lights were amazing.

We walked through a complete cul-de-sac, where it is said that you have to sign an agreement with the HOA when you buy, that you WILL put up Christmas lights. Even the entry to the street had reindeer flying overhead.

 Two guys were so proud of their 'man caves' that they had their garage doors open for viewing.

Someone presented Santa in Hawaii. There was even a seal with ball on his nose.

Historic Downtown Mesa

 We had 2 couples over tonight, enjoyed jambalaya and played Mexican Train to many laughs.

Bella, my league pool partner called today and we shot some pool, then decided to go explore the original historic downtown Mesa.
We stopped into the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum and saw the "Messin' With the Masters. It was quite an interesting display of contemporary works based on the original Masters done in a very new interpretation.

                                  The area has great street art.

We also enjoyed antique and gift stores with some unique items and coloured street art - a shoe.

              And here's my partner with a huge Christmas tree behind her.

Daily Fun

I finally rode along the canal in back of us, something Myrna and I wanted to do and never did.

You could ride for miles. I couldn't believe the seashells in the dirt. Where'd they come from?

We had some friends for dinner and one made a beautiful cake 'Happy Traveling Ann and Ron'. We leave for Laughlin Jan. 1.
We were having so much fun I didn't think to take a picture until we'd finished. I must be slipping!

Merry Christmas

We shared friendship, eggnog and mimosa's in the pool

                          and hot tub this morning.

then a great dinner with friends.

Christmas Presents

We enjoyed our Christmas presents from Suzanne and family.  We had special Christmas coffees at the new Starbucks at Frys. It looks like they're expanding into all the Frys stores. We had a caramel brule frapicino and peppermint chocolate latte. Very fancy and delicious.This is unusual for us as it's usually black coffee.

                                We are Santa ready.

with our little Santa sitting on the dash and Christmas tree on the steering wheel..

We love the lights at Sandy and Curtis' across the street.

Visitors

Chris and Brian came up from Casa Grande today. We attended a wine and cheese party with karaoke to convince us that this is the place to stay. They are hoping we'll buys park models. Then we enjoyed the music out in the Courtyard..

Mesa Market

There are so many things to do  and see in this area. We went to the large outdoor Market and bought Dominoes with real numbers on them. Forget the tedious counting the dots to find your score. We play Mexican train up in the clubhouse.
We're enjoying outdoor dinners with friend and meeting more people all the time.

We shop at the Superstition Market for produce. Cauliflower are 3 for $1, all prices are unbelievably low.
Here's $8.00 worth of fresh food.

                  

Holly Jolly Christmas Parade

Our block had a Block Party as we watched the annual Val Vista Parade.

                        Lots of clubs and groups were represented. Tennis club here.

                                             2 cute elves.

Lots of Fun

We've had a great time with Roger and Myrna. They left Sunday for Yuma, their usual haunt.

I have really enjoyed being on the Val Vista Village women's pool league again this year. Very nice women and my new partner Bella is great fun and good.

Here's what we saw going down Val Vista Dr. one day - stupidity strikes fear in my heart.
These yo-yo's were standing on their bike seats going 45 mph.

Fiesta Mall

We did a little looking around today and went here for the first time. I took Ron to see Santa.

                                It's starting to look like Christmas around here.

                          It was fun to hear these singers dressed in old fashioned costumes.

German Dinner

We have been waiting for the 1st weekend of the month to go to this Restaurant, est. in 1962 for their specialty, pork hocks, Schweinehaxe, a baked hamhock "pork shank" It was delicious, served with potato salad, dumplings or fresh roasted, with sauerkraut or red cabbage.

er

In addition to separate booths, there is a long family style table. The servers were in traditional dress which was amusing as they were blond, Asian and Black.

                     The dinner should have been shared.

                                               Welcome sign out front.

Friends from Home

We had a lovely dinner at Debbie and Richards last night and today Larry and Celine came up from Yuma.

We had Chuck's famous Martguerita's, then went to Tia Rosa's for lunch. I love the very authentic decor at this restaurant.

World Class Sky Diving

We had the greatest day today. Our motorcycle crowd got on their 12 bikes and Ron and I, who seem to be the little old folks in this crowd, followed them in the car. We stopped at the Galloping Goose for a pit stop and coffee.

We headed down the back roads to Eloy to the municipal airport. The weather is ideal here with no winds and people come from around the world to participate. Here's a tandem jump.

 There were 6 planes we saw up at 16,000 - 18,000 ft. that dropped 120 divers who formed a star formation and then finally they started swooping down onto the field.
Some landings were great and some others slid along on their bums.

Next the parachutes were re-packed and away they went again.

I talked to 4 women  (3 from the UK and 1 from Holland ) who were here to break the world record of 41 women, and they did this morning. 100 women tried out for slots and  64 qualified. They jumped out of the plane together, going 180 mph, heads down to get into formation. Then the trick is to slow yourself by spreading yourself bigger if you get ahead so the rest can get into their appointed slots. Quite fascinating. I told them that I couldn't do this as I had promised my daughter that I would never sky-dive or river raft. One girl told me that she had to promise her mother that she would never ride a motorcycle. This was after she'd hurtled down threw the sky setting a world record. I laughed and said I'd just joined a 'motorcycle gang' this morning.   Great experience
Unfortunately the following Tuesday 3 men collided at 250', with canopies opened coming in for their landing and 2 crashed to earth and perished.
 Here's one of the photographers, complete with nose and mouths cannula's for Oxygen. I think they hover longer at the highest spot capturing the shoots to prove that it is a world record.

American Thankgiving

We have celebrated their Thanksgiving since 1984 when we were shopping in Ferndale Washington by chance and were given 10 lb potatoes and all the trimmings for thanksgiving dinner as a thank you for buying a turkey at the CostCutter store. We start our day by watching the Macy's Parade in New York City. The floats are gigantic and the huge balloons had to be tethered down by 32 handlers and flown very low due to higher winds.

We had 12 for dinner outside, the day was perfect and everyone's favourite recipes were to die for.

This startled me when I saw these orange Poinsettias in the grocery store celebrating Thanksgiving and Autumn. We grew them in our Brown Bros. Greenhouses at Haney as a red Christmas flower decoration.

Good Movies

We've had a little rain overnight and a cool day so Roger and Myrna and we went to Harkin's Theaters to see 'Last Vegas'. It's a must see if you want a good laugh. We thoroughly enjoyed it and Sunday drove them to the Sky Harbour Airport for their flight to their Panama Cruise.
We had another cool day Wed. 27 so we went and saw the film Capt. Phillips, played by Tom Hanks. It was a very thought provoking, serious movie based on a true story of Somalian pirates boarding a Maersk container vessel and how it worked out. Very well done.

It is so easy to drive here. There are 3 main freeways, 6 lanes and very good signage. There is so much to do and everything is within 30 minutes.

                                                                  Interesting sky.