I love Greer, AZ. It's so dang pretty...gorgeous, really! God's country and all that. We went up there Thursday to stay in the Anderson family cabin (my bil's family's) and came back Sunday. I really didn't want to come back! It was 52 degrees Sunday afternoon when we left. When we got back home to the desert floor, it was 111! Yeeeee haw! Anyhow, here's a few pics:
Todd, Bryce and I went to the Riparian Preserve (near Greenfield and Guadalupe) over the weekend to check it out. It was a nice place with TONS of dragonflies (my favorite creature) and varieties of birds. It was hotter than Hades, the humidity has been high...have you noticed? It's like Monsoon Season is approaching and bringing the hot, moist 112 degree nastiness with it. We were all drenched and gross after about an hour of perusing the place. Anyhow, here are a few pics from the happy event:
Despite my feeling like I was on my deathbed, I was DETERMINED to see snow this year and knew this might be our only opportunity to go, so Friday we packed into the 'burban and headed north to Flag. (For those of you wondering where to go: if you have teens, the two places on the 180 toward Nordic center are fine, but crowded. If you just have little kids, just go to NAU and find a hill!)
Bryce loved the snow, but was cold and shivering after about a half hour, so that was the extent of our sledding adventure. I was actually back in the car about 10 minutes before Todd and Bryce. But I loved seeing the snow! It was so pretty!
Allie stepped over the fence and into calf-high snow. Brrrrrrrrr.
The San Francisco Peaks...AZ's highest elevation at over 12K feet. Isn't it pretty?
Thursday the 16th was Todd's birthday. This is what I got him:
No, not the car! A trip to Six Flags! We drove to Cali to spend the night Thursday then went to Six Flags all day (and night) Friday. Todd got to be Batman:
And convene with a bunch of goats....
We took Bryce on lots of rides. He LOVES rides! We even took him on some that he was a tad small for and he loved them. I couldn't get pix of his excited faces as the rides were going :o/ He just looks scared in this one:
I think Todd had a good birthday. I'm not sure what has happened to me lately. Okay, i do know. i've gotten old...er. I used to worship roller coasters. The wilder, the better. I find that has changed. I'm terrified of them, but love them at the same time. I let Todd take me on Goliath and the 255-foot hill (that then goes 120 ft. underground for a grand total of a 375 foot drop) nearly did me in. My leg was shaking so violently I can't even describe it. I lost all feeling in my hands and feet. I thought my heart would pound completely out from my chest and plunge to the ground below. After the ride, I was still shaking so badly I could hardly walk. It was an awesome treat for Todd, who got a huge laugh out of it.
Then we rode the Viper, which was much less tame after the Goliath. I love the loops; up-side-down is cool. Nothing is daunting to Todd; he'll ride anything!
For Labor Day weekend, we decided to go back up to Airplane Flat where we had recently camped for Ward Campout. We love it there--it's cool, pretty, and fun!
Even the ride up wasn't so bad--Bryce is finally getting used to car rides. Allie brought a friend and so did Zane. 
Zane and his friend had the honor of entertaining Bryce on the drive.
Todd entertained himself by making weird for the other drivers. Hehehe!
When we arrived at Airplane Flat, the campground was FULL so, totally bummed, we drove on to the next camp, which was also FULL. Refusing to be disheartened, I asked Todd to pull into Airplane Flat so I could talk to the host (he's like the ranger dude). The host told us that everything in the area was FULL FULL FULL but he joked that if we drove around the campground we might find someone we know and crash their site. Sounded like a plan to me!
We drove through and all the way at the other end, I spotted a sister from our Ward. I yelled out to her (I was so excited!) and asked if she wanted to share her site (the sites there are huge HUGE I tell you!) and she said sure, so we parked the 'Burban and got out.
Then I heard someone yell, "Sandi" from across the way. It was another family from our ward! Then another appeared one space down from the first family. We ended up setting up our tents between those 2 families. It was so fun and totally lucky that we saw them!
Bryce found an old toy and spent a while in the tent investigating it.
Then he had the best time pouring dirt down his back! LOL!
He totally took over someone's chair while he watched a volleyball game.
Allie eventually got in on the game:
Then she got stuck crossing a fallen tree over a ravine. hehehehe
Of course I had to find something funky and interesting to photo: a weird mushroom:
Our camp neighbor's boys CRACK me up. They are total cowboys; here they are on their log horses:
Good times! We had to leave early because it POURED and I woke up with dripping wet hair...Jake H. asked me where I had taken a shower (there aren't any there) and I told him our tent leaked. LOL! Despite getting rained out, it was super fun!
There's been lots going on, but nothing exciting or interesting. We had lunch out last weekend while the car's tires were being rotated. Wow, such news! Pttth. 
Of course, I had to turn the camera around and get a pic of my TWILIGHT t-shirt. I am soooo itching for the movie release. Dork am I! Note: the Italian creme sodas at Carrabba's are YUMtastic! That's the one time I will drink calories...it's so worth it.
Allie, cute as always:
And a cute pic of Bryce at home, snacking in his fave spot (on the bar):
This weekend was our ward campout, past Payson. At an elevation of over 6,000 feet, the weather was unspeakably mild and a wonderful break from all things August: heat, humidity, misery.... You should definitely read Allie's version of the campout, which is hysterically funny. Click here for it.
Bryce stopped in the middle of a pretty little stream to have a snack....
Zane's fave thing was the rope swing....
And mine was the flora....
I loved the indigo colored polka dotted beetles...very cool!
Saturday, a new marketplace near us hauled in 20 tons of snow and I really wanted Bryce to see snow, so we all drove over. We met our friend Gina and her kids. Unfortunately, the line to have a turn in the snow was about a mile long and it was humid and 100 degrees. We were just not going to stand in that line.
Bryce got to hang out on a fire truck, though. Super cool!
Then we grabbed lunch at the best Italian deli ever (LaSpada's) and took it to our house to chow down. I tried to grab a pic of my friend G and her daughter, but they BOTH tried to duck out! (Like mother like daughter, I guess). But HAHA I have a wide angle lens, so they couldn't fully escape.
Allie went home with G, so later I got to hang at G's house. I LOVE hanging with G!
Later that night, Todd and I took Bryce for a walk. This is how he chose to seat himself for the entire journey:
It was a fun day, after the trauma of the morning when my friend Amy's sister had an EXTREME low blood sugar and seizures. I went over to sit and give support...I will probably write more about that on our type 1 diabetes blog, but for now, my mind is still in shock from the event. Amy's sis is okay, though.
