Normally at this time of year, well, for the past 14 or so years I have helped in the planning of our Annual Harvest Dinner.  This year because of conflicting schedules and things we decided to not do the Harvest Dinner, but are going to have something in the spring.  This dinner is for our church family and friends who are "Seniors", years ago we set the age for fifty and up.  We serve a delicious home cooked meal made by a few of the church ladies and then the young people serve the meal and provide special music.  It has always been well attended and we have a real nice time.  So while I am not busy working on that project, I do have some other projects on the back burner.  I really need to get in our church library and reorganize it!  Anyways, I wanted to share a few photos from last year's Harvest Dinner.

Grand Canyon with the Grandgirls, and their parents!

We are back from our trip.  What a great time we had with our daughter and her family.  

#3 - glad to see us!

We arrived on Thursday, Oct. 6th  in Tucson, Az.  On Friday we loaded up and after a stop at the german bakery in Sierra Vista, drove to the Grand Canyon.  It is about a 7 or 8 hour drive.  On the way there we saw many sights.  One I really liked seeing was the snow covered mountains.  The San Francisco Mountain Peaks were beautiful.  And we even saw snow falling! Not a real welcomed sight when you are planning to go tent camping.  We arrived att he Mather State Park campground which is located closest to the Grand Canyon.  We set up camp and cooked over an open fire.  It got dark quickly, so we did not get to see the Grand Canyon that night.  During the night the temps fell to about 21*.  We were freezing as we didn't expect this kind of cold.  At about midnight, #2 grandchild got sick and was up again at 3:30... sick.  So we had a mess in the tent and had to get out of our "warm" beds to clean her and the tent.  On Saturday, after cooking eggs, bacon and toasting english muffins for breakfast,  we decided to go to the store and get something to make our sleeping warmer.  We bought some insulated foam mats to put under our 30* sleeping bags.  

When to go to the Grand Canyon, you cannot see it until you are right there on top of it, as it is a canyon and not a mountain!  We parked the car and got out to walk.  Coming upon the canyon took my breath away.  I wanted to sing "How Great Thou Art", but I controlled myself, and nearly got tears in my eyes.  Wow, what an awesome view.  I would love to go to the bottom and look up!!  We spent the day looking around there, then drove out of the park and up some side roads to collect fire wood.  We saw several deer, they grow them big "out West".  

We slept much warmer on Saturday night, though it was still really cold.  Then #3 grandchild decided to get sick.... #2 still wasn't feeling real well either.

Sunrise on the Grand Canyon

 We woke at dawn to go out and watch the sunrise.  It again was freezing cold, but there were many brave souls out there to watch.  Wow, again, what a sight to behold.  We got some good pictures as the sun came up.

We went to the Grand Canyon Baptist Church service.  It was good to go to the church, but nothing at all like our ESBBC.  

We decided to pack up camp and head back to Sierra Vista on Sunday afternoon.  We drove out to Desert View and the Watch Tower.  What a very interesting building.  We climbed the 85 steps to the top of the tower and saw the canyon in every direction.

We stopped at the gift shop to get a few souvenirs, then headed away from the canyon.

Heading back south we stopped in Flagstaff and had dinner at the Galaxy Diner on Route 66.  It was a cute little place with a pretty good menu.  #3 child still not feeling well. :-(

We arrived back in Sierra Vista at about 1 am.  So glad Josh had Monday off.  We did some laundry and hung around.

Parker Lake, Coronado National Park

On Monday evening, we went to the Coronado National Park and Parker Lake.  It was a nice little drive (except for #3 getting sick) and pretty lake set in the mountains.  We had a snack of crackers and grapes and cookies.

Tuesday found us hanging around the apartment and playing with the grandgirls, who were feeling much better now!  Rachel & I cooked Beef Burritos and Chicken Fajitas for dinner.

Tombstone, AZ

 Wednesday, Josh was off work early, so we took off for Tombstone.  It is about a 25 mile drive.  This town is the Old West.  The little shops and people dressed in period clothing.  We had a Sasprilla Root Beer to drink.  We shopped the little shops, saw a donkey and went through the reptile exhibit.  (Tarantulas, snakes, scorpions, etc. )  It is a great little town to visit.  We left there and drove through Bisbee, a colorful little town... many different colored houses and stores.  We saw the copper mine there.

Thursday found up staying near the apartment. We took the girls swimming and bike riding.  Cooked hamburgers for dinner.

Border PAtrol north of Sierra Vista

German Bakery

Friday came so quickly.  Time to head to Tuscon to catch the 12:10 American Airlines flight to DC via Chicago.  But only after stopping once again at Rachel's favorite place, the german Bakery.  I sure wish I had bought more of those wonderful pretzels.  

Pastor Rob was at DCA Reagan airport to pick us up.  We arrived home in Galena at about 12:30.

Two more days!

Miss these girls

We are getting packed up and ready to go to Sierra Vista, Arizona This will be first time trip for us.  We are going to the Grand Canyon, too!  Looks like we are going to freeze. We will be camping with our daughter and her family.  The temps are supposed to get in the low 20's over night.  Brrr!