I'm having trouble keeping up with my life! Our friends Julie, Jeff, Jacob and Jack joined us in Flagstaff last weekend for a snow day. We had great fun and our snow hill preformed famously. The snow was somewhat icey and the older kids had made bumps and holes that sent us flying. We used a shovel and filled in the holes so we had no broken bones. Which made me happy since I ended Friday at work with taking care of a 14 year old with a dislocated elbow and broken arm. That was my 2nd broken bone last week! That was enough for a few days! I took Monday off. Extra time to play in the snow and time to go with Faye and Javier to see the baby via ultrasound. It was the most amazing sight! The little bun's heart was beating! Arms, legs, nose, chin, spine and even ribs were clearly visible. She is cute as a button. Yes, I said she. The doctor said, "It's a girl!" He sounded pretty sure, but will check again next month. I am excited! This is Jack 3 years old, fearless and funny! We celebrated Jeff's 40th Birthday and Julie made a snow man cake with was enjoyed by all. This is the snow on our porch. As you can see it is up to the railings. The other end where the icicles were flowing off the roof, we had a mini glacier a foot or 2 of pure ice! Back to Phoenix with the full moon closer to the earth and so larger than it's been for a long time. I was driving home and saw it soon after it rose. Ran into the house told Jules, I'm going to take pictures of the Moon. I then drove around the neighborhood looking for a wonderful shot and didn't really find it till it was a little higher and so not as large appearing, but in reality still the same size. On the Phoenix end of my life, we got 2.8" of rain over 24 hours the end of the week before last. Arkansian's and Brisbanian's may scoff at this but when you remember that it was almost half of our normal yearly rainfall it is a lot! There was flooding everywhere and lots of snow in the high country. Here is Jules digging our way into our Flagstaff homestead These 3 pictures are Oak Creek Canyon under snow, Love those reflections. Both the blue skies and trees are shown in the reflections.
The still waters of Oak Creek reflect the multiple dark trunks of trees with leaves all shades of yellow, green and orange. The creek becomes a mirror reflecting the beauty of our Arizona Fall Season. We drove down into Oak Creek from Flagstaff last Friday and spent the day hiking and stopping many times along the road to walk down to the creek. They have a new rule that you need to have a "Red Rock Pass" to park along the road. Well, after much discussion, me thinking we were not parking if Jules stayed in the car and Jules saying that he already had his picture snapped by one of those portable speed traps and didn't want to get 2 tickets in one weekend, we decided to get a pass. We found out that Jules "Golden Age" National Park pass worked, so we didn't have to pay, just show the pass! Nothing is simple these days, however, the beauty is unchangeable.
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot The creek narrows, water falling over rocks, gurgling, bubbling, frothy, white
The red rocks used to be a sea. Arizona with a beach long ago, global warming before humans, how could that be?
Branches of the Manzanita bush, matching the red of the cliffs and the red of the maple in Fall
Arizona cypress trees. The trunks are reddish brown with peeling gray bark. These cedar trees grow only in a few canyons in Arizona, mostly in Southern Arizona. I'd never seen these trees before and we stopped at several ranger stations, looked in books and finally got our hunch confirmed by a Ranger at Walnut Canyon who is writing her thesis on Juniper trees. The detective sluthes at work!
The water mirrors the blue sky, trees and multicolored leaves.
Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees. Faith Baldwin
A little lower down in the canyon there is more green. You can follow the fall colors down hill week by week if you like.
I'm having trouble keeping up with my life! Our friends Julie, Jeff, Jacob and Jack joined us in Flagstaff last weekend for a snow day. We had great fun and our snow hill preformed famously. The snow was somewhat icey and the older kids had made bumps and holes that sent us flying. We used a shovel and filled in the holes so we had no broken bones. Which made me happy since I ended Friday at work with taking care of a 14 year old with a dislocated elbow and broken arm. That was my 2nd broken bone last week! That was enough for a few days! I took Monday off. Extra time to play in the snow and time to go with Faye and Javier to see the baby via ultrasound. It was the most amazing sight! The little bun's heart was beating! Arms, legs, nose, chin, spine and even ribs were clearly visible. She is cute as a button. Yes, I said she. The doctor said, "It's a girl!" He sounded pretty sure, but will check again next month. I am excited!
This is Jack 3 years old, fearless and funny!
We celebrated Jeff's 40th Birthday and Julie made a snow man cake with was enjoyed by all. 
This is the snow on our porch. As you can see it is up to the railings. The other end where the icicles were flowing off the roof, we had a mini glacier a foot or 2 of pure ice!
Back to Phoenix with the full moon closer to the earth and so larger than it's been for a long time. I was driving home and saw it soon after it rose. Ran into the house told Jules, I'm going to take pictures of the Moon. I then drove around the neighborhood looking for a wonderful shot and didn't really find it till it was a little higher and so not as large appearing, but in reality still the same size. On the Phoenix end of my life, we got 2.8" of rain over 24 hours the end of the week before last. Arkansian's and Brisbanian's may scoff at this but when you remember that it was almost half of our normal yearly rainfall it is a lot! There was flooding everywhere and lots of snow in the high country. 
Here is Jules digging our way into our Flagstaff homestead
These 3 pictures are Oak Creek Canyon under snow, Love those reflections. Both the blue skies and trees are shown in the reflections.
