Gina and the Girls go Four Wheeling

If you have been keeping up with Mike & Pat's blog then you know that Gina went with Pat and Dale to Prescott on Monday to do a little more shopping for their new home. When they arrived Pat’s Honda was packed full. They all had a lot of fun and I enjoyed being home alone relaxing. I spent Tuesday online trying to catch up on all the blogs our friends write. I want to thank Mike for keeping all of our friends up to date about what we have been up to. As you all know we have not really had internet service for the past five weeks. Gina and I really appreciate Mike & Pat keeping everyone updated about us. So if you haven’t checked out their blog I highly encourage you to check it out.

Tuesday evening it was decided that the girls would go four wheeling on Wednesday. Gina was extremely nervous about this since she doesn’t like going up and down the hills. However, Pat convinced her she would do just fine. It would be Nancy, Bonnie, Gina and Pat riding and seeing the desert for the day.

Gina getting instructions from Nancy


Mike giving instructions to Bonnie


Gina is ready to ride

Gina rode a smaller four wheeler today instead of Mike’s four wheel drive 500 which should make it easier for her.

Nancy leading the pack


Here's Bonnie followed by Gina and Pat heading out into the desert


Pat taking up the rear

Nancy was the tour guide since she knows the desert out here like the back of her hand. She was taking it slow so Gina could get used to riding. They stopped after a little while and Gina told Nancy she could speed up and that she was ready to go up and down some hills.

They all stop for a break


Nancy, Gina and Pat. Look at that smile on Gina's face


Gina thanking Nancy for a wonderful day

They all had a great time and the weather was beautiful. I almost forgot they saw another rattle snake which scared Gina again. There are just too many of those around here to do any walking out in the desert. So I guess we'll just keep four wheeling out there.

The desert out here is huge

I want to include a picture I took the other day. I just thought this guy was so cute.

A Horned Lizard

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

We Have Internet Service

Hallelujah!!!! We finally have internet service. We are the new owners of a Verizon aircard. This goes along with our Sprint aircard and ATT phones. So, hopefully wherever we travel we should have coverage and keep up with posting our blog. (Gina says, I have no more excuses why I cannot post the blog)

We are still here at North Ranch in Arizona. We’re having so much fun with Mike and Pat. We decided to take a little trip in the truck to Yuma, Arizona. Our son, Thomas is stationed there for approximately a month while he attends a school. We also want to go across the border into Mexico. On Wednesday we drove 200 miles south. Now we have been hearing about Algodones, which is a Mexican border town for about two years. Now this is funny. I have always heard that you go to Yuma and go across the border. Well, it’s not quite that simple since I started heading south of Yuma and didn’t find it. I stopped a Border patrol agent and asked for directions. He kind of laughed at me. He told us that we had to go back to Yuma and then into California about 5 miles and then go south. I should have asked for directions but I am a man who never gets lost??? We decided instead to go see Thomas and go into Mexico on Thursday. We picked up Thomas from the Marine Corps base and did a little shopping at the commissary before we took him out to eat at Outback. After we dropped him off we headed toward Love’s truck stop. We decided to just stay there since we only had the truck and we just needed somewhere to sleep and to take a shower. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Thought this was a pretty neat backdrop for a picture


Gina and Thomas


Thomas cuttin up with his Mom

We drove back to North Ranch on Friday and surprised Mike and Pat with a few house-warming gifts. Saturday found Gina helping Mike & Pat out in their yard while I spent over four hours on the phone with Verizon trying to get my new aircard to work. It was finally decided that the aircard was corrupted by my Sprint software and that the aircard would need to be replaced. Here's a couple of pictures of the yard work.

Mike, Gina and Pat working hard


Here's Mike being the King of the Garbage can

We are enjoying our time here with Mike & Pat. I enjoy the conversations with Mike. Gina loves helping Pat with decorating her new home. It also allows her time to play with rocks, which by the way she loves rocks. (I know she loves rocks since I have over two thousand pounds of rocks in my truck).

Since everyone loves pictures here are a some more.

Another Rattle snake sunbathing. We have now seen six of them


One sheep out of a herd we came across in the desert


To say I was shocked when I saw this turtle is an understatement
I had no idea that there were turtles in the desert


A Jack Rabbit, Look at those legs and ears


Now this is a Road Runner, This is for Janna and Ellie since they corrrected me about a picture I posted before that I thought was a Road Runner was actually a quail.


As you can see Gina is liking this Four Wheeling thing

Now that we have good internet service we should be back to regularly updating our blog.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Hanging Out in Congress, Arizona

The reason for not posting is our Internet is poor at its best and we have been having too much fun to stop and drive 15 miles to get good internet.

We are still at North Ranch, which is located in Congress, Arizona. Our intent was to be in Utah by this time. However, Our Father had other plans for us. Without going into a lot of detail about what we have been doing the last two weeks you can check out Mike and Pat’s blog at www.mikepatstravels.blogspot.com. Mike has done a great job telling everyone about what we have been up to.

For all of you who do not follow Mike and Pat travels through their blog, they have been fulltime RV’ers for 15 years and during all of those years they have not owned a sticks and bricks kind of house. Right after we got to North Ranch they purchased a beautiful home located here. As everyone knows when you buy a house there is always so much to do to make it your home and this was no exception.

One night Gina and I were talking and something inside of us was pulling at us to stay. We both prayed for God to show us His will. The next morning we agreed that we were going to stay here at North Ranch. We can see a wonderful relationship forming with Mike and Pat as they are such a joy to be around.

To start off with Pat, Sally and Gina drove up to Prescott so they could do a little decorating kind of shopping. Pat came back with a few items but mostly with ideas so she and Mike could discuss them. Now like all good husbands we all just agree with our brides. So a few days later we drove our truck up to Prescott and Pat purchased her ideas. To say that my truck was full is an understatement. We spent the next day assembling all of her purchases. Each day is bringing their house a little closer to becoming a home. Pat has done an outstanding job. Now that the inside of their home was pretty much taken care of Gina turned her attention to the yard outside. Gina had some ideas and Pat agreed with her. So off Gina went as she started working on their front and back yards. Now Gina calls working in the yard relaxing. I on the other hand call it work. As she was working outside she kept saying she needed more rocks. So what did we do? We borrowed Mike’s four-wheeler and headed into the desert to collect some rocks. Gina has pretty much finished the bulk of the landscaping. Now I don’t want all of you to think we are working that hard because we’re not. We are really just having a lot of fun and enjoying spending time with some wonderful friends.

Our Father has placed special people in our lives throughout the years that have become family to us. Mike and Pat are very special and have become family to us. When we arrived here Gina called Mike her "cool dude" and now she just calls him "Pops". Not only do we believe, we are thankful God placed them in our life. In return we have been truly blessed. Gina commented the other day that working out in the Pat’s yard has been great therapy for her. It has also been great to spend some quiet time with them at church. It’s awesome to see the fruits in God’s timing. We are humbled by His daily presence in our lives and how He continues to reveal Himself to us. We’re in awe of His beauty and the love He has for His children. Mike and Pat have given us so much joy these past few weeks that we will always cherish in our hearts.

So between being in the desert and spending time with Mike and Pat we are having the time of our lives. Here are a few pictures we have taken the past two weeks.

From the left, Me, Nancy, Paul, Pat and Mike. Paul & Nancy were our tour guides and are another wonderful couple God has placed in our lives.


Me and Mike at a Sunrise service Easter Morning


This is a Pygmy owl, Isn't she so cute?


Gina searching for that special rock


She found it, thank goodness for four wheelers


I was about five feet away from this rattlesnake before I jumped ten feet in the air. Gina said, "I was crazy" because after I caught my breath I went back and took this picture.


The desert is full of color right now


This little fellow comes to see us every morning

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.