Crap happens (literally, in this case)

Sometimes life gets so habitual that when people ask us how we’re doing, Jon and I always answer: “Same old same old,” or the classic “nothing too dramatic going on right now.” But here’s an event that proves out of the ordinary … :

Last Tuesday was an unseasonably nice, cool morning and Jon was driving to work after the previous evening of relatively short-lived (25 minutes) yet exhilarating and inspirational fireworks we’d watched in nearby Tubac, AZ. As he calmly drove on to work, all of a sudden, something caught his attention in his peripheral vision, as its furry little body ran along his driver’s-side window sill from back to front. Startled, Jon shrieked, undoubtedly terrorizing the mouse, who immediately dropped to the floor by Jon’s leg.

Jon stopped the car and collected all the trash from the floor (we are the original water-bottles-anywhere-and-everywhere couple) and didn’t see any sign of his newfound furry friend. The mouse had completely disappeared.

After work, Jon went back to the car, worried about smelling the odor of death. (Hey, we live in Arizona, after all. It gets “stinking hot” here, as Jon describes it.) But this mouse was lucky: Last week was unseasonably cool, only in the 90s rather than around 110 as usual. So no rancid smell after work. Maybe the mouse had left?

On the way home, Jon looked back and out of the corner of his eye, who should make another appearance but Mr. Rat, right on the back seat.

On his way home that night, Jon purchased two black, old-fashioned death machines (snap traps), loaded them with peanut butter, and armed the car. The next morning it seemed the mouse was uber-appreciative because the traps were licked clean – but the mouse was nowhere to be seen!

So Jon drove the car to work again, figuring again that he might find (or at least smell) roasted mouse at the end of the workday. But instead, he was greeted by several deposits. Seems the mouse had begun digesting the peanut butter.

Turns out there’s something called “live traps,” which capture the mouse rather than kill it. So once Jon mentioned those, this animal lover encouraged him to buy those instead. So thank goodness, the next day, Jon picked up two live traps and peanut buttered them and put them in the car when he got home that night. Before going to bed, Jon thought he would check the traps. Both live traps were sprung but empty. Being frustrated but not having much to lose, Jon merely resprung the two live traps and went to bed.

In the morning, the front-seat live trap remained unsprung. However, the live trap in the back was sprung. Jon thought, “Aha, now I've got him!” And that’s exactly what happened. That morning when Jon drove down our street to work, about a mile away from our house, he stopped by the side of the road and opened the live trap to fully view the culprit. A tiny 2” gray mouse jumped about a foot out of the trap, then walked calmy into the bushes, he said. Afterwards, Jon commented that he was amazed at the amount of “rat rocks” in the now-empty trap!

The icing on the cake ... or not

As alluded to in a previous entry, here is...drumroll...the photographic evidence of my cake decorating classes...well, actually only the most recent of the three classes I took. Unfortunately, my cell phone -- which stored the compelling (I'm sure) photographic evidence of my first two classes -- decided to take a time out. Thus, all the photos from my first two classes were erased when the phone crashed. So you won't see any frosting here (per the first two classes). This third class pictured is all gum paste and fondant, neither of which I had used prior to these recent classes. It was kinda cool because I felt like a sculptor with the gum paste and fondant (seriously).

At first I was leary of gum paste and fondant because you really build your biceps while blending them together (a la Play Doh on steroids), but the results are so much easier to produce than with frosting. The only drawback to working with gum paste and fondant, in my estimation, are that they crack and dry out quickly. (You have to keep them constantly covered except at the exact moment you're molding them into...something.) And the remedy to the dryness dilemma is not for the faint of heart: Get ready to douse those hands into your nearest bucket of Crisco to ensure smooth, seamless, cooperative gum paste and fondant. I fought this unfortunate requirement for a couple classes, then accepted it as reality and dug into the full-on grease, no holds barred. Fun times. Here are some of the results:

Here is the bow I made in the first gum paste and fondant class session. Notice how it's got a few cracks. That was before I had embraced the whole Crisco-hand-dipping requirement...

And...still fighting the Crisco gig here on this purple rose (above)...

No, it's not a pink artichoke...It's a mum!

And here's my final cake. I made the calla lilies and the leaves. As you can see by their smooth texture, I had embraced the whole Crisco gig by the time I made them. Regarding the design of my final cake, I strongly wanted to be different and make a cake with striking colors. Thus, I found out black fondant existed and immediately wanted to use it. I only found two cakes online that used black fondant as a base (hard to believe, but true). I also found online only one store in Phoenix and one store in Tucson that sold it. So the rarer the better, and black fondant it was.

My original vision for my final cake was a black fondant cake with white lace fondant cutout overlays on the sides of the bottom layer, with deep red roses and calla lilies on top. But the night I had to make the flowers, I tried to mix Americolor red dye into the gum paste and ended up with something that looked like a huge bloody mess. It seriously looked like I was holding a bloody heart or other bodily organ in my hand. Now I know what surgeons feel like, and I literally almost vomited. Not a pretty picture. So I freaked out and threw the whole bloody mess away, so to speak... The lace cutout idea didn't pan out either because I had ordered the lace fondant cutters via online/mail order and they didn't arrive before the final class... So I switched gears quite a lot here both in design and color for my final cake:

Now I just have to get some real-world practice one of these days! My dad's birthday is coming up. Dad...? Of course, I'd nix the calla lilies for his cake!

A hush fell over the land …

Honestly, I was in a cranky mood (internally) most of January. It was rough going back to the regular routine after having partied down the entire latter half of December. And then in early January, two of our vehicles decided they wanted to take a vacation too – a vacation from working right, that is.

Alas, my trusty 1998 black Corolla, which looks like it’s fought in three battles, was spewing smoke from under its hood. Jon took the car into the mechanic on his sojourn to work, only to pick up the “fixed” car from the repair shop the next day, drive home, and notice an even thicker black cloud billowing out from underneath the hood upon being parked in our garage.

Jon said maybe the mechanics (and I use the term “mechanics” loosely) hadn’t totally screwed it up – maybe they had just been klutzes and jarred something loose under the hood when they “repaired” it. He suggested that a quick spark-plug presto change-o might be just what the doctor ordered (this time around).

Now you know they say if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is? That had happened a couple times before with other repairs, which appeared to have a one-step quick fix but later digressed into multi-day, multi-level surgeries on said mechanical wares. However, this time we were lucky, and the spark plugs restored the Corolla’s reliable (smokeless) purr. We were thrilled. A bonus: the headlights - which had decided they wanted to always be on, even when the keys weren’t in the ignition - decided to settle down and behave of their own volition, once Jon fixed the spark plugs (though they have nothing to do with the spark plugs). I think we were blessed on that one.

But our poor Nissan Frontier pickup remains mid-surgery in the garage to this day, where it’s stood with its innards partially dismantled for quite a while now. The project, which Jon volunteered to do to save us thousands of dollars, was bigger than we realized going in, and has taken several multi-level repairs. Since we are in Tucson about every other weekend and Jon normally works late-ish during the week, the repair has taken many weeks so far but is moving forward.

Luckily, we still have Jon’s 1996 Isuzu Rodeo, which roars like a lion, smells like an exhaust pipe, and makes you sweat (literally – its A/C hasn’t worked in years). Yet it still provides a stylish (and necessary) ride.

So amidst our mechanical travails of January that lingered into February and beyond, I was shocked to look outside one Sunday in late February and see some snow on the ground. Of course, a text from Jon, who was already at the church building for early bishopric meetings, prompting me to look outside the window helped too. I didn’t realize the sheer grandeur of it all, though, until I backed the Corolla out of the garage, passing the garage door’s snowdrifts. As I rolled out of the garage and down the driveway, I realized I was entering a winter wonderland. I drove tentatively, not wanting to disrupt or mar the scene that lay before me in any way. Everything was perfectly still, and the atmosphere was hushed with nature’s quiet white blanket laid down upon every tree and cactus. For the first time, this 30-year desert resident could truly say the desert was beautiful and downright awe inspiring. The incredible peace of the snow, which was probably about 1.5 to 2 inches deep, completely enveloped me. All my problems seemed to melt away as I drove to church through my now-totally-white surroundings.

Jon always says the sunsets remind him of Heavenly Father’s power and love for His children, but I had never experienced that feeling - until I saw the snow that day. As I gazed out at the beautiful result of some force of nature, I thought surely this snow had to be a gift from God; it absolutely reminded me of His power and mercies toward His children. Of course, right about now, those of you who have snow all the time wonder what the big deal is. But for us desert dwellers, the snow truly is nothing short of divine magic.

The curtains are closing on 2010 … but what a year!

This year Jon and I decided to only send paper copies of our Christmas letter via “snail mail” to those who couldn’t or likely wouldn’t check our blog, such as grandparents or those with limited Internet access. (You get the picture.) And to you, our Web-enabled friends and family members, here’s the lowdown for 2010:

January undoubtedly flew by … once we got back into the employment groove after the “machine” came to a dead halt in December, thanks to fabulous (paid!) vacation time. Jon still works at his engineering job of more than a decade, while I’m still at my same full-time and freelance journalism gigs of five years now.

February held a couple of surprises in our church duties: Jon and I had taught the 17-year-old Sunday School class for a grand total of three weeks (that has to be the shortest calling on record) when he was called to be the Ward Executive Secretary, and I was called to be the Assistant Den Leader for the Wolves den in Cub Scouts. Yep, you heard right. (I still recall the several-minutes-long laughter my boss at work rolled in when I announced this to him ...) It was definitely out of my sphere of experience, but I learned what a phenomenal program Cub Scouts really is.

March marched right by with ne’ery an event, according to my calendar’s recollection.

April ushered in our 6-month wedding anniversary … Wow 6 months already, time to attempt to eat the first half of our (extremely voluminous portions of) frozen wedding cake! (We didn’t make much of a dent in the cake.) Additionally, my mom underwent her first knee replacement surgery (her first surgery ever)! All went well, though the physical therapy afterward was extremely arduous.

May’s Memorial Day extravaganza was a trip to Kartchner Caverns. Neither Jon nor I had been there before, and I was absolutely amazed at the sheer majesty of Nature's intricate designs on the cavern walls. They were absolutely awe inspiring.

June was rife with parental events. My dad underwent successful surgery to remove a malignancy, which was caught early, eliminating the need for any further treatment. They had to go in with a “roto tiller” (per his description) and really go deep, he says, thus he is STILL healing now in December, but everything looks good, his doctor reports. Three days later, Jon’s mom, Betty Lou (Haddock) Hess, passed away after having been in hospice a few days. Her fun spirit, knee slapping (not always her own knees either), and goodness will be missed.

July started off with a bang, as our fourth of July celebration occurred on Monday, July 5^th. Jon and I went to the Titan Missile Museum, in nearby Green Valley, to gaze at the Cold War era built missile silo. (Of course, it’s not activated, but its mere presence leads one to fantasize about all sorts of future movie plots that could take place there ... ) Since my job involves technical articles about military technology, I actually found this silo of interest. And later that evening, Jon and I went to the uber-tiny locale of Benson, Arizona and saw what was an astonishingly spectacular and long-lasting fireworks display – as good as any I’ve seen in major metropolitan areas.

August brought a couple of trying events: Mom’s second knee replacement surgery. (No, they didn’t botch the first job; this was the OTHER knee!) The other difficulty was that my wonderful feline friend and companion of 8 years, Mackenzie (“Mackie”), passed away. I got her when she was a tiny kitten, and still miss her … She added so much to my life.

September started with a Labor Day weekend hike to Seven Falls at Bear Canyon Lake ... which was sheer labor in and of itself! I say it was an 11-mile hike; Jon would say it was 8. The reason I say 11 is because we had to hike 1.5 miles over hills to even get to and return from the 8-mile trailhead, thus it all “counts” to me! The first half of the hike was, frankly, grueling. We hiked in direct sunlight, and it was nearly 100 degrees that day. It was a sheer endurance test with my "inner voice” repeating, “OK just keep going, just keep going …” Jon said if we had to turn back, that’d be OK, but of course that spurred me on to try even harder and be that much more determined to finish the hike, which we did. The 2^nd half of the hike (the path back to the car!) was so much easier and more wonderful, because we were going back to the car (ha ha) and because Mother Nature smiled upon us and it suddenly got overcast and even started sprinkling. So we weren’t being full-on blanched by the sun anymore! Needless to say, I was in a much better mood on the return path!

October was time for our one-year wedding anniversary! Jon and I went to Silver City, New Mexico, and stayed at a vintage cottage that was indeed magical in the Land of Enchantment. [Catch the details of our anniversary trip in a separate blog writeup entitled "Our first anniversary sprinted toward us!"] It was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy one another’s company without the “busyness” and interruptions of everyday life and technology, and we did a lot of nature-oriented and historical sightseeing.

October also included a surprise for me: I got released from Cub Scouts and put into the Young Women’s organization at church, assigned to work with the MiaMaids (ages 14-15).

November was the icing on the cake, literally, as I took my first official cake decorating class at a local craft store. I have wanted to take cake decorating classes for absolutely years on end, and finally thought, “What’s stopping me?” So I took “Decorating basics” and was absolutely ecstatic when my yellow frosting roses looked pretty good!

December had a definite sting to it, literally. The evening of December 2, Jon and I went to sleep, expecting a full night of peaceful, refreshing slumber … but it was not to be. After seemingly only a few moments of REM sleep, Jon had the light on, saying he’d just been stung twice by a scorpion! (FYI, the scorpion was about 2 inches long, and Jon caught him thereafter by the tail with pliers and flushed him down the commode.)

Since neither of us had a scorpion clamp our flesh previously, we didn’t know what to do. So … we Googled, of course. The two or three websites we went to all said if your eyes start moving in a weird way and you start tingling, you should go to the ER. So about 3 hours later, we found ourselves in the halls of a local hospital. We were probably only at the ER about 1.5 hours total (3 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.), so they were pretty fast, but basically, they told us that it had to be super extreme, like he had to be walking like a drunkard and practically have his eyes rolling back in his head or something – and within the first hour, basically. [The medical advice restated in this blog is not to be taken as medical advice for all -- consult your doctor should this happen, but better yet, don't try this at home (or anywhere!)]

Jon was really miserable, but I was glad he was OK, at least according to the doctor. By then he had all the typical symptoms and some unique to him: Walking funky, ears funky, teeth hurting, eyes dodging around involuntarily, feeling sick, and having tingling in his feet, hands, and legs, in addition to burning and pain nonstop at the two sting sites. Not a pretty picture. Of course, though I could tell he felt miserable physically, he retained his naturally upbeat disposition, quipping a couple times and trying to keep a level-headed perspective.

Now, as we head into the holidays (Christmas next week!), we’re still racing to get the final tasks done in time for Christmas, but we hope everyone (including ourselves) will take a moment to remember the true reason for the season: The gift of the savior Jesus Christ. We wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a great 2011.

Watch out for speeding objects

On a recent after-work drive from Tucson to the Phoenix metro area, Jon and I were engaged in what I'm sure was yet another witty repartee when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a huge cloud of dust accompanied by a speeding object coming straight across the median toward us (from the left). We were the only vehicle on our side of the freeway, and we were traveling at about 80 mph, since the speed limit is 75 mph on that stretch. I braked uber-hard for several seconds just in time to clearly identify the object barreling in front of us as a truck followed by about 4 police cars 5 feet off its bumper. After darting clean across the freeway in front of us and ending up on the freeway's other (right) side, the truck rolled onto its passenger side about 20 to 30 feet away from us.

Within a second, several cops leaped out of their cars and ran to the side-resting truck, which showed no signs of life except for shadows we could see in the cabin's windows. Then a couple of cops suddenly and assertively pointed guns toward the truck's cabin. We had an absolute front-row seat to the drama, which didn't end there. Then a couple more cops started beating in the truck cabin's back window, but either they weren't very strong or didn't want to be sued for that much damage or who knows ... They gave it several decisive thumps and marred but didn't break the glass. (Where's the nonbulletproof glass when you need it?)

Jon and I quickly locked our vehicle's doors in case someone escaped from the truck and tried to jump into our vehicle. But luckily, after a few minutes - 3 to 5 maybe - the police were able to start pulling the passengers out of the truck. Then the cop controlling traffic (we weren't alone on our stretch of road by then) bid us adieu and we went on our way.

It took me several minutes to climb down from the proverbial ceiling afterwards as we drove on to Phoenix. It's one thing to see high-speed chases on TV or to see people pulling guns in the movies, but it's another to see it in real life only about 20 or 30 feet away, with real lives at stake. And if I hadn't seen the criminals' truck when I did nor braked super hard, they would have T-boned us pretty hard: Just a couple seconds more would have yielded a different destiny for our vehicle. This sobering experience gave me a wakeup call as to what cops actually do all day – and, much more importantly, also made me SO grateful for the power of those daily safety prayers. I can attest to the fact that such prayers really work!

Our first anniversary sprinted toward us!

Jon and I recently celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary by going to (drumroll please … ) Silver City, New Mexico! “Where?” you ask. That was the exact same question I blurted out when Jon first mentioned this obscure possibility for our then-upcoming anniversary getaway weekend.

Lacking any other riveting alternatives within our budget and allotted time off work, we did indeed pack our bags and embark on a 3.5-hour road trip to none other than Silver City. An uber-tiny locale in southwest New Mexico, Silver City was a booming mining town in the late 1800s, with gold and silver in “them thar hills.” It’s uber-tiny present status is because those gold and silver booms can only last so long, then everyone moves on (like 100 years ago).

A magical cottage

Our first stop in the “Land of Enchantment”: The Cottage of the Whispering Pines, which would be our resting place for three nights. Wanting a quaint, cozy getaway different from the typical, my mind’s eye had pictured a cozy cottage or log cabin. So when I saw the Cottage of the Whispering Pines online, I fell in love with it immediately. And it was even more endearing in person.

The Cottage of the Whispering Pines: The proprietors say it was a miner's home built in the 1950s that was moved (I guess the foundations weren't ultra-secured back then) and renovated somewhat.

A large parlor in the cottage - it's all about the decorating details. On the furniture there is an old-fashioned knitted throw.

... and in the parlor's corner, check out that ultra-vintage phone and decor. I so loved this place.

The guest bedroom - this cottage was so large that two couples or a large family could have stayed there.

Again, it's all about the decorating details. Does this look familiar, a la "Titanic"? OK Leonardo DiCaprio didn't come for a visit, but this place was so vintage!

The master bedroom - The proprietors were so creative in their decor that they used an old door turned sideways as this board's headboard. But it really "works" visually.

The weekend we were here, it was in the 60s in the mornings and got into the 40s at night. This completely sunlit sitting room was definitely the warmest place in the house and was where we ate breakfast every morning.

An inside view of part of the sitting room. It was very spacious!

Melding natural and historical works with spiritual perks

Full day 1: After 8 hours of shuteye, we headed to our exciting first destination – after a trip to the Walmart Superstore to get some sustenance. (Since Silver City and the surrounding areas are all extremely tiny and devoid of entertainment other than taverns and saloons, we weren’t surprised when our cottage’s proprietor described the Super Walmart as being “like the mall” to locals.)

The next stop: the “catwalk.” (OK that infectious yet hilarious ‘80s tune “Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred comes to mind every time I say that, both now and on the trip.) So the catwalk forged steel walkway was over a very sexy canyon with a stream that burst in some places and only trickled in others. An easy 2-mile roundtrip hike, this was just my speed and height – not too much opportunity for freefall here, as the catwalk was only maybe 15 feet above the nature over which it hovered. The only drawback: It was a 3-hour roundtrip drive. In other words, it took us nearly as long to drive there and back as it would have for us to drive home to Arizona! But who wants to do that? The rest of the evening: Even more driving to see local sights and downtown Silver City.

The sexy catwalk canyon

The canyon is still sexy after hours in front of the camera, and never needed a touchup.

On the catwalk. By the way, I have a sweater tied around my waist that makes it look like I've gained quite a few pounds, but it's the dark sweater that blends in with my pants, FYI. I can just hear it now, "Hey look, she's already gaining weight after marriage!" ha ha ...

And the final stop: a full-on, no-holds-barred pork-out session, literally, at Jaliscos Café. Jon devoured most of the pork carnitas appetizer while I slurped up a large bowl of tortilla soup. Then I devoured some cheese enchiladas while Jon put away a 3-course meal including enchilada, chili rellano, and something else undoubtedly gooey, high-fat, and high-cal (and isn’t that really the best kind of food?). All the while, we both drank multiple glasses of root beer to water it all down. Needless to say, we were literally in pain as we walked out the restaurant doors about 1.5 hours later. I don’t know that I have EVER eaten that much, and it was the same for Jon. As I said, there’s not much to do in Silver City at night, so I guess we substituted our food and root beer for the real thing going on in the taverns and saloons so abundant there.

Full day 2 – our actual anniversary date, Oct. 29^th: After getting a late start (I tend to piddle around every morning and make me and others late for anything and everything; not sure why this natural phenomenon has always occurred), we decided to head to Pinos Altos (or “tall pines”), a town of 300 people. There was supposed to be an opera house, but upon further investigation, it was part of the local saloon (color me surprised), thus we opted to leave that one as a nix after calling and being told the opera house’s two main functions – at least for that evening – were drinking intermingled with the locals singing tunes … and don’t forget the alcohol.

However, Pinos Altos did have a museum that we went to that morning. I was expecting a large, multi-room modern museum containing rows and rows of sky-high shelves of historical items. Alternatively, the Pinos Altos museum comprised only two small rooms … so I had to adjust my expectations. But the good news is that the museum’s contents were respectable and interesting, though few in number. My favorites were the 1945 newspapers announcing the end of World War II, the 2-foot wide pump organ adorned with religious hymn books, and the many flavors of old phonographs and sewing machines. The larger room of the museum was actually an old schoolhouse. It was originally built in log-cabin style and still is, though it has been reinforced a bit.

The Pinos Altos Museum was tiny but had some intriguing old-time sewing machines, phonographs, hand-pumped organ, and much more.

The museum had this authentic 1945 newspaper announcing the cessation of World War II.

Next stop: The Gila Cliff Dwellings. Since this was going to be a 2-hour drive each way (our relationship with our truck reached a new depth during this trip), we opted to eat lunch first. Again, I was stunned to walk into a local restaurant and find that the entire restaurant was one large room, probably 12 x 20 feet, with only 5 tables. In keeping with the Pinos Altos/Silver City look and feel, the restaurant was a log-cabin-type design and was quite cute and quaint, though I was floored by its tiny size and limited seating. Our waitress was a spitfire. She greeted everyone personally. It was obvious it was a small town where everyone knew each other. My cheeseburger with all the trimmings was great. We heard a gentleman teasing our waitress while she was in the back room about the deep dish pie’s crust or lack of it, and it was only when we received our portions that we knew why: The crust was a 3” diameter piece of (transparent) dough (note I said “dough” not “crust,” because “crust” would imply it was actually cooked!) put on the top center of the cup containing commercial fruit pie filling. So again, it’s all about the expectations.

On the road again: We arrived at the Gila Cliff Dwellings site some time later, and then footed it about 1 mile to the cave dwellings. Tourists are permitted inside the dwellings, which consist of “rooms” separated by rock-wall partitioning of sorts. The dwellings and rooms were completely devoid of any vegetation, which makes me suspect the forest rangers are doing a little yardwork. OK, the rake marks were also a dead giveaway. But it was a very interesting place. Hey, if I had to live outdoors 24/7, I’d choose a place like that too, warmed in the summer via direct sunlight and cooled in the summer via shade, as touted by the promotional film we watched before entering the caves.

Hey, if you had to live outside 24/7, wouldn't this be a smart place to do so, away from people and wild animals (assuming those aren't one in the same) and cooled in the summer and sunned in the winter?

Jon in one of the "rooms" or partitioned sections within the cliff dwellings.

And the final (sightseeing) stop of day 2: Racing against Mother Nature’s clock, i.e. the sun would be going down in about an hour, we drove again … this time to the "City of Rocks." The City of Rocks is a naturally occurring congregation of huge vertical rocks. What’s unusual is that they are like a crop of rocks all bunched together like a village in the middle of a seemingly endless, unvegetated, uninhabited, flat, desolate desert. These rocks are kinda fun to climb up on though, particularly for height phobes like myself, as their slopes are gradual and easy to scale. We got there just in the nick of time, running up some rocks and snapping a few quick photos before the day drew its curtain of darkness on us. We capped off the evening with dinner at a local buffet, Asian style (Jon’s favorite type of food), followed by a half-hour session of perusing the greeting cards at … the Walmart Superstore. Hey, it’s the most entertaining thing happening within Silver City itself. I was absolutely thrilled when Jon found a musical Centipede greeting card, which he purchased to give me on my next birthday ... in 50 weeks from the time of purchase. (Remember that 80s arcade game? It's always remained my all-time favorite ...)

The City of Rocks stands alone in the middle of an otherwise flat, barren desert.

Fabulous view before the sun went down.

Jon's GQ pose in the City of Rocks

Full (and final) day 3: Church in Silver City. Hard to believe that such an extremely unpopulous (at least by appearance, though it reportedly has a population of 10,500) area would have two wards, so we rolled the dice (and slept in) and ended up at the ward that met later in the day. Numerous warm and welcoming people introduced themselves to us. I’ve seen friendly wards before, but this probably rated No. 1 in that regard. It sure was refreshing. Demographics of the area are primarily empty nesters and retirees, as there’s not much industry there, except if you work at the Walmart or one of the (maybe) two restaurants or (perhaps) four fast food restaurants in town – or one of the touristy shops selling cowboy clothing or Indian blankets.

Back to the real world
Thus concluded our first-ever anniversary festivities. We drive home to Arizona after church, and because it was much lighter than our dark drive into Silver City, we actually enjoyed the topography of the Land of Enchantment as our tires gripped the road.

It truly had been an enchanting getaway weekend with my fabulous husband, away from the routine, demands, and “busyness” of everyday life. We didn’t have cell phone coverage during the vast majority of the trip, which was part of what made the weekend so refreshing.

Well I’ve got to hurry and get this post to go live on our blog so you can read it on your cell phones!  ;)