A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Gary was in Arizona recently so I asked him to take some pictures of the very first house we every bought when we moved to Phoenix. I can't remember the number but it was on Aldine Street. It was pretty small but the perfect starter home for us as we were just starting out and begining our family. We had lots of plants, flowers, trailing vines, bushes and trees. Now not much of our hard work is left. We learned how to do a lot of home improvement projects thanks to our foresight in purchasing a 30 year old home. As a result we also learned that it's always better to buy new!
I was amazed at how tall the palm trees have grown over the years. Course that was a few years ago back in 1985 when we sold it to take a job a new state.

When we lived there we only had a carport so some where along the line it was converted to an enclosed garage. Sweet! I wonder if the washer and dryer are still in a shed off the patio in the back yard???

Even though most of the vegetation we planted didn't survive through the years, surprisingly the 2 palm trees have done very well. When we moved away the biggest one was just a little taller than the roof line of the house and the smaller one was more like a big bush!

That was the side gate to our 8 foot jaccuzzi though neigbors wall was natural brick ...not painted white.

There was an alley behind our house separating us from the backyards of the houses behind us where the garbage truck would drive down to empty the big dumpsters that 4 homes shared. I was always afraid to go back there to throw away our trash at night. It was spooky and kind of creepy in the dark! Not to mention the chance that I might run into a black widow spider or two. That's our lemon tree. It was big when we left but it looks like it's finally taken over the whole back yard! That's where we aquired our taste for fresh lemon aid. MMMmmmm!!!

This is the building where we attended church and made some awesome friends. We still keep in touch with the Ball and Hansen families.

This is the big baseball field behind our church building where Gary and I played on the ward softball teams, and where another members older son taught Eric (in pre-school at the time) his first swear word! Grrrr!

This was the stake center that we helped build through a financial assesment. We still remember the huge parking lot! It's amazing to realize how fast the years have flown by, and a little hard to believe that it was 26 years and 4 houses ago. Good times, good times!

Memorial Day

Today we had a big Memorial Day get together with our Texas family members and our special friends the Schaerrers. We invited everyone to come and swim at our neighborhood pools and have an early dinner with us.

We decided to have a traditional Texas BBQ with brisquit from the "Swinging Door" restaurant, on bread or rolls, with BBQ sauce, grandma Helen's fameous potato salad, pickles, sliced onions, green salad, fruit salad, lots of chips with french onion dip, and of course guacamole. For deseret we had pecan pie, peach cobbler & vanilla ice cream, and a pie that Whitney made that had a cream cheese filling in a graham cracker crust, topped with strawberries, (she also added blue berries), and drizzled with a chocolate that hardens. It's a heavenly creation that Jessica made for them on their recent visit to Kansas. What can I say ...it was a work of art and scrumptious too!

We ended up skipping the swim part of the get together and dove straight into the tasty food. Can't say that I blame them ...it was awesome! Afterwards everyone had a great time visiting and catching up with each other and relaxing in the post BBQ glow. After a quick clean up I stayed upstairs to keep an eye on the younger generation. Before dinner they started out playing in grandma's "toy box from the 70's". Which is a mix of classic toys that survived my kids early years. No batteries required, not a single computer chip driven toy in the lot, manual operation only. The kids love them!

They also played Crossfire an old "arcade style" game of Eric's which is still a family favorite. As always it required an early intervention due to 7 little ones all clamoring to have a turn all at the same time! Which is code for ...time to put the game away before great aunt Kathy goes bonkers! Post dinner they moved on to Jenga, Whack-Attack and ping pong. It was fun watching them play different games together and interact with each other and see each of their cute personalities shine. They are a lively bunch and very entertaining! When good byes were said and the last one headed out the door for their drive home the house was filled with a deafening silence! We can't wait to see them all at the next big family event ...The Richards Family Reunion. It will be awesome!

Unfortunately I didn't remember to pull out my camera until our friends had left and the party was winding down. So here are the few pictures I managed to capture of our fun day. Enjoy!

Hello New York City

This is one of the first things we saw as we were in our shuttle headed for Manhattan.

One of the first things we wanted to see was the 9/11 memorial.

They have a long way to go but they've made a lot of progress in rebuilding.

We saw a tiny little garden on one of our walks one morning.

Peeking out behind the tall buildings is the Crystler building.

Our hotel room over looked Times Square so we went down each night to check it out.

Harry Potter ...all grown up!

A place where you could hang out and take pictures. We were all the way up on the top.

This one is for Whitney. Reese's Peanut butter cups ...Yummmm!

And of course we had to get a picture of Homer Simpson for Elder Stephen!

I think this was in the subway???

I took these shots just before the NY policeman came over and told me to turn off my camera. Oops! I guess things have been a little tense following the whole Osama Ben Laden episode. My first clue should have been all of policeman with assault rifles and dogs all over the place!

Here we are at Carlos' Bake Shop from The Cake Boss show. Where's Buddy?

Here's one of the sisters from the show keeping everyone in line.

I had one of these little babies ...and went back for another after I finished the first one!

Their delivery truck was parked behind the shop in the alley. While we were taking pictues of the truck another sister pulled up in her big SUV. She had to hunt for a parking space just like everyone else. It really is a mom and pop operation.

Madeline was so sweet and thanked us for coming all of the way to New Jersey to see her. I think she's the nicest sister. Gary thinks she looks like the women in my family. She reminds me of my mom's mother.

There was a beautiful park near the bakery with a spectacular view. We sat in the park for awhile enjoying our treats and enjoying the scenery until it started to rain.

This is the church we went to on Sunday. It's also Steve and Kirsten's ward. They were so sweet to invite us over to their cute apartment afterwards for an awesome dinner. Thanks guys!!!

This is also the building that has the temple on the top floors. Notice the angel moroni on the short spire! We had a great time and I will try to post some additional photos and video.