Life is Good....

Seems like April has been a busy month for us.  We visited Lake Powell for a houseboat cleaning weekend, celebrated nephew Jimmy turning 14, celebrated our 30th anniversary!, traveled to the Pacific Northwest and saw friend Lisa after too many years and I went on my first real hike in a year!  Oh, and good news from Dr. Paripati - I continue to respond positively to the Afinitor.  I haven't reached dormancy yet - but we're moving in that direction.  I asked Dr. Paripati if she'd pose for a picture so you can all put a face to the name of the doctor who has been taking such good care of me. 

We learned that Karen, Connie and Dave were heading to Page, AZ, for a houseboat cleaning weekend.  Now that we live so close, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate.

Great weather and hardly any people - gotta love it.

The trip allowed for a stop in Prescott to see Laurie and Mike (met them when we lived in Peru) and meet Laurie's friend Tina. 

Nephew Jimmy (brother Jim and wife Liz's son) turned 14 - geez, does time fly or what.

You're going to see a few Larry and me pictures in this post.

I continue to enjoy spring in the Phoenix area.  There is a progression of blooming that takes place.  Now we're starting to see the Palo Verde trees bloom - I've started taking Claritin daily.... 

April 17th - we celebrated our 30th anniversary - has a lot happened or what!?  Those 30 years have taken us to Battle Mountain, NV, Yuma, AZ, Oroville, WA, La Paz, Bolivia, Cajamarca, Peru, Safford, AZ, Silver City, NM, Thatcher, AZ, Calama, Chile and now, Carefree.  It has been a good 30 years - thanks Larry.  Here's to the future!

Larry had business in Vancouver, BC, and I got to go along.  The trip allowed us to travel the short distance south across the border into Washington to visit Lisa and meet husband Oscar.  It has been far too long since we saw her last and was great catching up.

We stayed at the Semiahmoo Resort (highly recommended! if you're ever in the area).  We enjoyed the cool spring temperatures as well as the views.

We learned about the Tulip Festival taking place a little further south in Skagit, WA, so decided to go check it out -- loved it.

We then traveled back north to Vancouver for Larry's meetings.  Downtown Vancouver allows for nice walking -- such a clean city with neat architecture.  We enjoyed rain, spring flowers and cool spring weather while Arizona was experiencing its first 100 degree temps. 

Upon return to Arizona, the process of having our house repainted had begun.  The house is 15 years old and evidently it has never been painted and rumor has it (okay, the painters told me this) that homes that bake in the summer heat should be painted every 5-6 years - yikes!  I hope we're still here in 5-6 years to test this statement.

Friends Mike and Sue and Allison and Brian ventured out our way this past weekend - was time to catch up!  We then went on my first hike in the past year to a trail close to us here in Carefree.  It was a long but easy hike and so pretty - along a river bed with Mesquites and saguaros - so pretty.  Seems like life is almost returning to a somewhat "normal" state.  I'll go for scans every three months now (rather than the previous every two months) and I'll go for blood work every three weeks (rather than the previous every two weeks.)  Life is good....

April

March brought our first winter conditions contributing to snow on the surrounding hillsides near our home which is exactly the type of winter conditions I prefer to live in -- conditions that do not require that I shovel or have to drive in it and instead merely enjoy looking at it -- from afar.  March also brought us spring desert flowers - another motivator for taking walks in our neighborhood.

Did I mention in my last post that Larry's job was requiring more travel?  The most recent travel was to Safford and involved an overnighter so I went along allowing me to meet up with friend Becky.

Thanks Becky and Marty for the great dinner that evening - always a pleasure to catch up.

We traveled from Safford to Sierra Vista where we met up with brother Jim and his family to tour Kartchner Caverns - something Larry has wanted to do like - forever.  I messed up and didn't grab a photo - oops.

A couple of weekends ago, I was out and about when I received a call from Larry advising me to be careful, when I returned home, of the rattlesnake sunning itself on our driveway.  I think he/she looks quite healthy for having been hibernating.  Needless to say, I'm quite vigilant on my walks now -- before it was just keeping an eye out for the coyotes that were stalking me.

Last weekend, taking advantage of life in the city!, we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens for the butterfly enclosure.  One of the downsides of life in the city is that a whole lot of other people had the same idea.  Nonetheless, I was able to get close enough for a few pictures - okay, probably too many you'll be thinking as you scroll through....  First though, I need to post the picture of the King snake we saw at the DBG -- I was told King snakes are rattlesnake predators -- I need one of these in our yard.

Now for a few butterfly and spring cactus flowers...

The following day, we ventured out to the AZ Game and Fish Department's Ben Avery Shooting Range where brother Jim works.  I believe the shooting range was hosting a wildlife expo -- all I noticed is that there were a lot of people shooting guns -- a lot!  Was nice to see Jim though...

  Sue, Harper and Allison came up to Carefree for a visit recently.  Harper is a cutie and I love taking her picture -- I just have a difficult time catching her looking at the camera when the picture is being taken. 

And, of course, I must include a picture documenting the hair growth competition...gad! I might be ready for a trim!

I'll end the blog with a health update.  As a result of my appointments in March, my good doctors at Mayo determined that I was experiencing inflammation in the lung air sacs (inflammation can cause scaring and therefore permanent damage) due to the Afinitor and have elected at this point to keep me on the drug but at a reduced dosage.  I've been back on Afinitor for a week and am doing well.  Whoo hoo - hope it stays that way.  I go in for blood work again next week (I go in every two weeks) and meet with Dr. Paripati the following week - Dr. Paripati monitors me closely.  I need to get a picture so you can put a face to the name.

This is Easter weekend and we're heading to Lake Powell!