DOING MORE OF THE SAME IN ARIZONA

On Valentine's evening here in Sun Life Resort we went to a concert of Three Men and a Tenor.  They are always good to listen to. I must apologize that the pictures are not very good.  Sometimes I have to fight because of our seating location and the lights!!

This is their advertising picture.

The gentleman in white was
from the audience and did
an impersonation of Elvis?

Quite often on Sunday after church we go to Red Mountain Cafe' for dinner. This past week we sat under this picture!

I made some jaunts to Thrift stores this past week and always enjoy that. I spent all of $6 for three items.
Gary is keeping up with his wood carving, colored pencil drawings and genealogy workshops.
I do go to scrapbooking with the group when possible. This past week we had all day on Saturday and went to Outback for their steak and lobster special for dinner.  It was a fun and delicious time!

This past Saturday we went out to Sunshine Acres Children's Home for their fundraiser BBQ.  It was great food and we took our time to walk around taking pictures and touring houses, the barn and the grounds. We never tire of touring this place!! It was busy and some came in with a bus load.  I wonder how many they served?

Their church, the front is all window looking out
on the mountains.

Getting ready to show their animals.
Some of the children show at the fair and also
sell what they raise.

One of the homes.

Entrance to the kids gardens with the new babies
umbrella swimming pool that was built this past year in the
foreground.

Horse waiting, ready for the show of the day!

Barn donated by actor, Ben Johnson,
who acted with John Wayne in many pictures.

The crowd is just beginning!

Entrance to another home.
Each home houses ten children, two to each bedroom.
They also have house parents, some with children
of their own.

The furnishings are donated items.
The original founder's granddaughter is the coordinator
of all of the decorating.
The Thrift Store that they have provides many of the items.

They are even beginning a family tree!!

We are now awaiting our friends arrival. They have been traveling in states surrounding us and hail from Oregon. We are looking forward to their visit. They will be parking their fifth wheel here in Sun Life also. 
Check back in a week and we will share our time spent with them.
Hope that your winter is winding down!!

OHIO FRIENDS VISITING IN ARIZONA

We had some surprise company this past week here in Mesa, Arizona.

Gary with Jane and Bill

Our Ohio friends, Bill and Jane stopped by when they were coming east to our location in AZ on their way to join friends for a birthday dine-out.  It was great to see them since they are not in our part of AZ this winter. Great friends/great visit!!
This past Tuesday, February 20th, another Ohio couple, Don and Bonnie,  who are vacationing in AZ stopped by.

It was great to see them in our environment here! We took them to tour Sunshine Acres Christian Children Home just a few blocks from our resort.

Front office where the tour begins!

I did not get hardly any pictures of anything other than
the houses. This was an out door grilling and eating area
which is relatively new.  We are hoping to go to their BBQ fund
raiser this coming Saturday. So maybe we can get more
pictures then.

There are seven homes in the complex that houses ten children in each, two to a bedroom. They are each responsible for keeping their part of their bedroom neat and clean everyday, especially because of the touring. They have house parents who live in a separate apartment in the home. Sometimes these parents have children of their own also. All get along together well and the children are responsible for cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. The children are shown so much love and this is what they share in the video where they tell their stories.

The granddaughter of the original founders from 1954 does the decorating of these homes. They have volunteer carpenters who make the headboards and other decorations for the children's rooms.  She does an awesome job and she finds many pieces of furniture to use in the homes from the donations made to the Thrift Store in the complex.

There are so many upgrades and additional things added to the complex that we enjoy each tour that we take there!!  So many kind and generous people who make this all possible. The children can be there from age 5 through college.  They come from such tragic situations!!  They also raise and care for many animals here, showing and selling some at the fair. When they sell, the money is theirs. Some of the older children also have jobs in town and they play in sports in the public schools.

Don, Bonnie and Gary

Kitchen in home, where the children usually settle to
do homework before dinner. 

This is one of our favorite places to visit at least once each time we are out here in Arizona!!
After our tour, we went on out east of Mesa to Tortilla Flats for lunch and the ambience.

Don and Bonnie during a long wait for our food!!

We are discussing all of the dollar bills on the walls!!

 After that Gary drove the washboard road on farther east toward Roosevelt Lake to see Vista Canyon and much of the mountain terrain.  We did not go all the way to Roosevelt Lake though. The road is much too rough and many, many switch-backs.

Don't know this person though!

 And Beyond - - -

Hope you enjoyed these few pictures. We could have taken more, but we were too busy making sure that Gary was staying on the road!!  No guard rails on this road and no backtop!!