November 12 - Flagstaff, Arizona

Soldotna home- Abby decorated it :)

Thirsty squirrel

Sweet visit with Jan and Glen

We did a mission trip with them to Alaska 

Before we moved there

Rose spent many hours doing gymnastics at 

The new trampoline park, campground jump pad, and 

Summit Gymnastics

Great visit with former nanny Melissa and her daughter 

Charlie

Field trip to Bearizona 

Spike

Great visit with Marsha

We worked together at Coconino County around 2006

Cacti - we don’t see these in Alaska

We tried recreating this wedding photo

From 20 years ago without seeing it

Another former nanny visit 

Kirsten and her boyfriend Nick

She has visited us twice in Alaska and he once. Maybe 

They’ll move to Alaska one day.

Rose and Nick on Bell Rock - Sedona

Rose “the climbing goat”

Rose and Kirsten 

Remember how Ken said we are following the weather? Well… this week was one of the coolest so far, especially at night, with temps in the 20s and 30s. Thus we (Ken) had to disconnect us from water most nights. Not difficult but a little hassle.

We did a field trip day to Bearizona in Williams. I nearly hit a deer. This is why Ken does the driving of the camper. I always loved Bearizona and took Abby there a lot when she was younger. Rose loved it too. There is a driving part that reminds me of Jurassic Park and then a walking section that now features more animals than in the past. We saw black and grizzly bears, wolves, porcupines, river otters, bison, and more. 

I have been blessed with great friendships and it was awesome to reconnect with some friends and families while in Flagstaff.

Kirsten was one of our nannies (Abby only had one at a time) back in the day. She and Nick drove down from Durango for the weekend and we went to Sedona for the day. It was 70 and lovely. We hiked on Bell Rock. I stopped when I knew the level of hiking aka scrambling on rocks was at my comfort level so they ventured on with Rose and she loved it. We also spent time with the Hale family. Liahna and Abby were good friends in elementary school and Karra and I have kept in touch since moving to Alaska. Jan and Glen founded Faithworks, a nonprofit organization based out of Flagstaff that does mission trips around the world and now has a chaplain “arm” helping people with various needs. Glen is the chaplain. Marsha Marsha Marsha and I used to have lunch often when we both worked at the County. She retired 2 years ago. Yay! Melissa and I have stayed in touch since she was Abby’s nanny. She used to take Abby downhill skiing on Friday afternoons. Now she is married and has 2 daughters. 

Rose met lots of kids at the jumping pad in the campground which was very close to our campsite. She spent hours there jumping, flipping and playing games with other kids. 

Today we are headed to Tucson where it will be warmer and nights won’t be below 55. Abby is overall doing well but has been aching all over after learning how to use the snowblower when Soldotna received a foot of snow. She has been expressing her heartfelt gratitude to Ken for all of the hours he had spent clearing snow for our family in the past.

Have a blessed week and thank you for the continued prayers.