Summer

Our summer is going by so fast.  We are having a blast.  This is the home we are living in for the summer.  A sweet family from California decided to take a chance on our crazy family and let us rent their vacation home for two months.  We were able to leave our apartment behind.  Good times there, but truly it was a little tight - and move closer to where our permanent location will be.  This has been great, because I drive over a lot to let workers in, check the mail, and show it to our visitors.  The house is large enough for our brood and friends and we have a pool!  This is amazing because it is the only rental house I could find that had a pool safety gate and I just couldn't take a chance without one, so I thought we were not going to get to have a pool this summer.

We have had so many people visit us recently and there is no end in sight!  If you know me, you know that this makes me very, very happy.  I have often told Stan I need to run a bed and breakfast.  I love, love, love having company.  I love having other people in our home - for short visits or long ones.  We once had a single mom and her daughter live with us for six months!  I loved every second of having  another set of hands and the company on a daily basis.  I would have done well "back then" when extended families all lived together.  

Anyway, we started out a few weeks ago with a friend and her two teenage sons, who we have known since the kids were little.  They drove out, stopping at national parks along the way and spent four days here with us.  It was so good to see them.

This past weekend, some of our best friends from Naples showed up.  They decided to take their family vacation out here in the west and spent the weekend with us before heading off to the Grand Canyon.  They will finish up their vacation with another weekend with us in a couple of weeks.  We had so much fun with them - their two youngest are Graham's very best buddies and they have two daughters that are very close to our girls.

Joshua has one of his best friends here for three weeks right now.  The first two, they spent in Colorado at a camp and now they are back and we are playing tourist this week.
This is the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture school and campsite, located in the Arizona desert.  It was beautiful, even if I am not a huge fan of his style.  The whole thing was stunning.

Today, we visited the Arizona State Capitol building.  I am always amazed at how unique each state capitol is (not that I have toured very many).  Anyway, it had a great museum with lots of Arizona history - all housed in a very old, but beautifully refurbished building.  We even got to see some people dressed in period costumes in the old Senate Chambers filming a commercial of some sort.  It was very interesting.

We also spent time today walking around downtown Phoenix.  It was hot, but neat to explore the avenues of a big city.  

Tomorrow, we welcome two more friends of Joshua's for a two week visit.  We also welcome some more dear, home schooling friends of ours overnight on Friday.  They have also been out here on their family vacation and are wrapping up here before heading home on Saturday.  Lots of Naples is currently touring Arizona and we could not be happier!!  In fact, for a brief 24 hours, all five of these really cool young men will be in the same state once again.  These are Joshua's very best friends and he is blessed to have them in his life.

We have two more of the kid's friends flying in the first of August and then my sister and her family will be here for two weeks.  By the time everyone leaves, we will be moving and it will be time for school to start.  

We will also be seriously lonely!!  

More pictures to come - we have several more trips planned!

We are humbled and truly grateful that our friends have taken the time and expense to travel across the country to visit us our first Arizona summer.  It truly means more than they will ever know.  God is good.