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....