Hello from Arizona!

Some of you may have been wondering where we went.  :)  We finally made it to Arizona on October 29th.  It couldn't have been soon enough.  We were 9 days (and 2 stops) away from getting here when our slide went out.  Not sure if everyone knew but we traveled all 7 months without one of our slides so to have another one go out meant we had absolutely no living space.  We lived with the coach being the size it is when it goes down the road. Ugh.  Since we were still so far away we decided to continue on with our last 2 stops (though we condensed the days spent) and arrived in Mesa 3 days early.  Upon arrival we drove straight to the repair shop where they had it for the day to diagnose all of the problems.  When we picked it up, they showed us how to over ride the system to be able to put out the slides. WHEW!  We drove into the park, parked it and put out both slides.  It felt palatial after 7 months with one of the slides in.  I think it actually echoed.  ;) 

Now we are settled here for the next 4 months and loving it.  We haven't done too much in the area  because we have been in and out of town.  I went home to Boise for about a week to help my parents move and then Gary and I went to back to Boise a couple of weeks later for his work.  We got back after 4 days there and 2 days later Gary, Taylor and I went to Disney World for a week.  We loved getting back to the park as a family.  We had a fantastic time and bonus points were made for being there during the Christmas season to see the wonderful decorations that only Disney can provide.  We also did a day at Universal Studios to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  That was an amazing site to see!  We all bought interactive wands and had a lot of fun "casting" spells throughout the park. 

December was spent getting ready for Christmas and trying to get back into our "Arizona routine".  I have come to think of our park we stay in as "summer camp".  We anxiously await our friends' arrivals so we can catch up and exchange stories of the last 7 months.  It is a fun time and we are blessed to have a place with close friends around.  Another bonus of being here is to have Taylor so close by.  She lives about 20 minutes away so we get to see her quite often.  We like to take her doggy, Charlie for hikes or walks at least once a week.  The day after Christmas we toured the botanical gardens here.  It was a night time event with lights and various bands throughout the garden.  It was beautiful.  We are so used to freezing while touring the botanical garden in Boise that I couldn't stop reveling in the fact that I just had a light jacket on.  :)

We spent New Years Day taking advantage of being in Phoenix by going to the Fiesta Bowl.  Central Florida vs. Louisiana State University.  I with I could say it was a good game but it was ugly football.  :)  We still had a good time though.  Now that the new year is here we plan to keep enjoying the area and doing some more sight seeing.