I know, I know. I haven't made an entry for 6 months. As we used to say in the Navy "Sir! no excuse, Sir!"
Today is G'pa's 70th birthday. I have been blessed with a wonderful life (so far).
Paul Jr. and Christy and the kids came over last night to celebrate. We had dinner and lots of family time. Christy and Courtney baked a cake topped with whipped cream and Heath bars. It was delicious.
Cake and book of inspiring thoughts for golfers
giving his daddy some love
The crew on the north patio
This is what 70 looks like
We attended the Queen Creek Church of Christ this morning. When we left here in April, they were meeting in a home, but now have moved into a middle school in the area. When we left there were 10 to 15 on Sunday but now about 25.
After church we went to a family's home for pizza and a business meeting to try and decide the direction to take to grow the membership. The congregation sang Happy Birthday to me.
I will try to quickly recap the summer.
First of all the drain problem we came home to was resolved by digging up my neighbor's yard. The line was cleared and a new cleanout was installed. Fortunately the insurance I had purchased covered it all.
Of course I could add several hundred pictures of Ana, but suffice to say she was glad Granny was home.
Easter was at Ron's house with Gloria. we all had a good time.
Souvenir hats from Texas
Mothers' day was at our house.
The three mothers Gen, Gloria and Lela
Gloria, Mom, and Jared
Gen & Ana
Austin & Gloria
Next came Austin's 18th Birthday. We all met at a restaurant for dinner and a cake.
Next came Austin's High School Graduation. G'pa was detained by the police for illegal video recording. We have no photo evidence of that confrontation.
Ron, Austin & Gloria
G'pa, Austin & Granny
Ana had her first birthday.
"I'm one year old!"
What's cake?
This is good stuff.
With Mom & Dad
We headed back to AZ in June pulling a U-Haul trailer full of treasures for "The Ranch." We completed the financial business and were happy to get started with our new place.
When we returned it was time for the Johnmeyer reunion. We went to Gasconade Hills Resort, which had been the site for previous reunions. The river was flooded so we couldn't float as planned but we had a great time with family.
Paul, Lela and H. E.
Kelly, Donna, Big Nathan and boys
Edward, Lesley, Lucy and Hillard
Johnmeyer men
Hillard, Edward, H.E., Heath & Jesse
s
Jaime, Adam, space for Amber and Kay
Amber (to be photo shopped into family pic above)
Heath, Mercedes and Jesse
Nathan, Chad, Shelley, and Reese
Gen also had a birthday, #31 .
September was Joey's 20th birthday. We had him at our house for dinner and cake.
Gloria and Joey
We were given the sign the day he was born
Our trip to AZ had one hitch. We pulled the Silver Star out here as we can park here for free. Everything went fine until we got to Winslow, AZ. The truck needed a coil. It had to come from Sacrament CA. As it happened we could drive to a small RV park where we spent the night. The part was delivered to the dealer in the morning. It was a ten minute repair and we were on our way, having lost only one day.
And now we are up to the present. We are at the ranch in AZ
Looking West to East
North side drive/patio
South side driveway.
The first thing on the agenda was to get a metal shed. We needed storage for tools and extras that do not belong in the house.
I enlisted Ben to help construct the shed. It turned out to be a three day job. We were both pretty well whipped by the time it was finished. It sits on the end of the south driveway.
The furniture was purchased and delivered. I'll post a few pics of the inside later. We are very happy with how things turned out.
Yesterday we got some free plants from around the park. They were scheduled to be replaced so we dug them out and planted them on our lot.
Bougainvillea bushes
a row of Agave
If I have forgotten something I apologize. April was long ago.
