Dave and I decided to take a quick trip over to Lake Havasu City to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We aren't the best at trip planning apparently. We got caught up with business issues Friday morning and left town 3 hours late so we missed the opening, the sky divers etc. We got into town late afternoon. Our GPS was broken, we didn't mapquest anything and Lake Havasu is a bigger city than I thought. We had to call the hotel to get direction and the hotel employee spoke a dialect of English that I did not recognize so we wandered around for a bit. We finally found the hotel, dumped our bags in the room then went to find a restaurant and wandered for a bit to find that too. We had a nice dinner, but we took a little too long before we left for the Festival. The event info suggested bringing a flashlight as the parking would be at an off site location with no lights. I did pack a flashlight, but left it at the hotel, so we tripped and slipped trying to get out of the parking area in the dark. Our hats and gloves were in our suitcase at the hotel too and it was nippy out. So then after a little hike from the parking lot, we arrived for the Balloon Night Glow event. Here is a picture of what we would have seen had we arrived on time. 
But instead we were told "Oh yeah, they were all lit up a while ago and were so pretty". Although the event was supposed to go until 9 pm, many of the vendors were shutting down so we rode on the Ferris Wheel and called it a night. Oh, and Dave spotted some antique tractors on display. He is a tractor magnet -- did you ever have any idea that tractors are displayed in so many places? I didn't. He even found an Allis Chalmers just like his.
We booked a very inexpensive hotel room. Although it had some nice amenities, the one thing it didn't have was a decent bed. The mattress had the same amount of spring and cushion as the floor. We both had hip and neck kinks by morning.
But instead we were told "Oh yeah, they were all lit up a while ago and were so pretty". Although the event was supposed to go until 9 pm, many of the vendors were shutting down so we rode on the Ferris Wheel and called it a night. Oh, and Dave spotted some antique tractors on display. He is a tractor magnet -- did you ever have any idea that tractors are displayed in so many places? I didn't. He even found an Allis Chalmers just like his.We booked a very inexpensive hotel room. Although it had some nice amenities, the one thing it didn't have was a decent bed. The mattress had the same amount of spring and cushion as the floor. We both had hip and neck kinks by morning. We vowed to make Saturday a little better. We got up bright and early, stopped by the front office of the hotel for the free continental breakfast which consisted of coffee, pre-packed danishes, a loaf of white bread and a toaster, and packages of craisins. We filled up on craisins and off we went. We arrived on time to see the flag raising ceremony. The first balloon took up a huge flag with the National Anthem playing. Cool. 
Then there was a mass ascension - balloons going up every few minutes. Cool.
There were some old cars displayed. I was enjoying the colors and shapes. I think Dave was enjoying the engines.
After we had our fill of festival events we went over to see the famous London Bridge, had some lunch and headed home. It was a poorly planned yet fun little get-away. 
Then there was a mass ascension - balloons going up every few minutes. Cool.There were some old cars displayed. I was enjoying the colors and shapes. I think Dave was enjoying the engines.After we had our fill of festival events we went over to see the famous London Bridge, had some lunch and headed home. It was a poorly planned yet fun little get-away. 
We always think we are going to go play in the snow each winter. Then we let our calendar get in the way. We'll go when we have a "free" Saturday sometime. (What family ever has a free Saturday??) So this year we just put it on the calendar and hoped there would be snow. We collected the kids, a couple of their friends and headed up toward the Heber and Forest Lakes area. We got off the highway and saw some awesome spots to go sledding, but we also saw that the cars that stopped to play were being ticketed, so we drove on looking for our own cozy spot. We were driving along a dirt logging road looking for a place. The road started curving back and forth into a valley (note - there were death defying drops at the side of the road) but had some potential for some good places to play if we got to the bottom. Then 5 minutes later the car just starts skidding BADLY like we were on ice. Fortunately we had been slowing at the bottom of the hill and we just went "DOINK" gently into a snow bank. We couldn't back up and so we got out and couldn't figure out why we had skid. There was no ice on that area of the road. Then we noticed the two front tires were pointing in completely different directions. Whatever it is that holds the steering mechanism in place was unattached, broken, bent and protruding in places where it's not supposed to be protruding. The steering broke! Have you ever heard of the steering of a car suddenly breaking?? Minutes earlier we were driving 25 miles an hour around narrow curves of a mountainous cliff. (ok, I don't know how fast we were driving, but we were going around scary curves on a logging road with scary drop offs that I would describe as death defying, perhaps.)
Anyway - a couple of pickup trucks full of boy scouts stopped and loaned us some tools, Dave figured out how to 'band-aid' fix it to drive it back up the hill to civilization, then my parents came and put the van on their trailer and hauled it to Heber for us, not exactly how they planned to spend their Saturday, but THANK YOU ! Dave got to the store, bought a couple of parts and fixed it in about 10 minutes. He truly is SuperDave. If I had been dealing with a problem like that, it would have been a 3 day ordeal getting the car into a repair shop and getting back to the valley. Dave saved the day. We definitely were being watched over. (Thanks for that little blessing)
Dave and I reached our 25th wedding anniversary this summer. We celebrated in Europe! Three weeks, six countries. 
I had a rare opportunity to take a road trip all by myself for a few days. I drove to Utah and visited family, high school and college friends, and got a chance to do a little hiking. 
Roxanne bought a house this year. Although I don't have an adequate picture of her and her house, this picture of yard work is indicative of being a new home owner. 
There were a WHOLE lot of boys hanging around our house this year!
Dave and I were the "Ma" and "Pa" on a Pioneer Trek with our stake this summer. (Melanie went too, but was assigned to a different family.) Many hours were spent making aprons and bonnets. We spent 3 fun-filled days with these kids in the rain and mud. 
Our family has lost a combined total of 220 pounds over the past 3 years. We all feel stronger and healthier. Everyone contributed to that number except Roxanne who continuously stays thin and petite. 
No doors. (And yes, that is a padlock on the toilet paper.)
BUT . . . all was redeemed the next day. Up on a mountain, just after sunrise, looking toward Camelback Mountain in PHOENIX. . . . was this stunning view: