2014 "Spring has Sprung"

We volunteered for the 2014 Arizona City Daze Celebration.  Ken worked extensively on grounds preparation and both of us were involved with the parade.  The event was a great success and we all had a fun time!

Friends Lynne and George from Oregon visited the SW and included a few days in Arizona City in their excursion.  Here we took a quick trip to the Casa Grande Ruins to get a glimpse of the ancient history of this area.  We so enjoyed their visit and now they know what it is like not to use an umbrella every day of the week :-).  

Happy hours in  our community are common...a 4 pm gathering with yummy hors d'oeuvres and lots of cheerful conversation!  The group here is a year end  gathering of the many friends in our clean-up crew.

Our humming bird garden was a delightful respite area for our feathered friends this year.   The flowers from February through April in Arizona are absolutely gorgeous.

One of the most exciting events of this season was a visit from son Jon and his family.  They spent the week of their school's spring vacation with us.  Their adventures included the Grand Canyon, Tucson, Tombstone, Sky Dive  AZ, and fun times in their aunt and uncles swimming pools in Robson Ranch.

It really meant a lot to Grandpa and Grandma Parsons to have this visit.  Now the grand kids have a vision of how we live when they are busy with their lives in Washington state.

We were delighted to have friends Mary and Bill stop by for an over-night visit  as they headed from California to the east coast on an extended four month RV trip around the USA.  

Though we were unable to attend the farewell  party in Portland, we are also very proud of our grandson Justin as he headed off for the Navy.  In fact, as Joanne flew to the NW on April 9, her flight from Tucson to Salt Lake to Portland literally passed Justin's flight as he flew from Portland to Chicago!

This is our Argentine Giant  cactus in our humming bird garden and the day is April 9, 2014.  Again, these blooms open at night and last ONLY for one night.  Would you believe this happened the night before I left AZ and was the first "twins" we ever had.  Do you think that was a hint of  "beauty" blossoming in our lives :-)????

On Saturday, April 12 Melissa and Mike were greatly blessed with the birth of two beautiful twin baby girls!  At 6:30 p.m. Karina Anne (on right) was born and at 6:36 p.m. Liliana Grace was born.   We are all so very thankful for healthy babies. They will be in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a few weeks.

Now is this not the most beautiful precious photo of  spring 2014!!!!

As you can imagine the first time holding a new little grand daughter makes my heart thump!

Now you may wonder where Grandpa Ken is during this time Grandma is having so much fun in Portland!   You will find him  in the motor home headed northward with his first stop at Rabbit Hole, Nevada.  This photo was from his first day dry wash from three buckets...not too shabby!!!  He will be having a fun time with our Prospectors and Metal Detectors club in the Mill City, NV area during the days ahead while Joanne enjoys the family expansion in Portland.