Jennifer

Dear Family,
Hope everyone is enjoying their Spring. It’s been so nice here! Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers. And especially Happy Mother’s Day to my mom. Mom, you are awesome and a wonderful mother and friend. Thanks for being there for me! When I was a young girl having a bad day at school, you came to me and gave me a big hug and brought me a treat (a chocolate eclair, my favorite!) and said something to the effect that it’s tough growing up and here’s something to help make you feel better. I love you, Mom, have a wonderful day!!

I’ve been lucky to be with Finn a couple of times these past two months, a few days in March and a few days in April. He’s a growing boy and is so fun. I’ve learned a few more signs such as “shoes” and “please” (baby sign language) and it is so nice to communicate with him even though he can’t fully verbally talk yet. I got to witness one of his royal tantrums. Honestly, I didn't think Finn had it in him to throw such a fit -- okay, okay, he was trying to tell us that he just wasn't ready to leave the playground, but my goodness, let's tell the whole world about it -- didn't you hear him screaming in Georgia, Wendy? We look forward to seeing Finn and his parents next week as they are coming to California for a little vacation.

We decided we’d take a big step and paint Ammon’s old bedroom – now our guest room. We thought it would be rather easy since every time we see a show on Home & Garden TV, they say anybody can paint. Well, it’s a lot of work and I think rather impossible to do in one afternoon – there’s filling all those little nail and thumbtack holes with wall putty, then cleaning the walls, then priming, let alone picking out the color you want that doesn’t totally end up being the color you envisioned when you picked it out, and then there’s the taping, and laying out ground cloth, then finally painting and all the cleanup and sore arms and shoulders and thighs from stepping up and down the chair. Okay, basically what I’m saying is, we won’t be painting the rest of the house (someone else will). So our hats off to John who plans to build his own house and do most of the work himself!!

In March we visited the Hanlons in Snowflake. On our drive we saw a lot of scenery, hoping for more desert wildflowers, but not enough rain. We did drive through Sedona (south of Flagstaff) and also took a detour to see the Meteor Crater. It was SO windy that they closed the tours that normally let you walk around the rim. The power went out a couple of times at the museum. But it really was quite a site. Hard to imagine a meteor so huge striking the earth, but here it was right in front of us. On our way back we saw many cacti and drove through the Mojave Desert Preserve, which has the highest concentration of Joshua Trees in the world.

We drove across a good part of Arizona desert in a wind and sandstorm, like a fog. But it was great seeing Priscilla and her family and seeing where she spends her days. We went to the Petrified National Park – it was really awesome! We were very intrigued about how this giant forest became petrified and afterward we wandered around Priscilla’s property and across the street and found pieces of petrified wood. It’s illegal to take any petrified wood out of the National Park, so it was fun getting a few souvenirs for free.

Jim and Priscilla also took us to an area where there was some petroyglyphs (we took a hike and had a picnic lunch). Unfortunately, they’re not protected by a park and modern day people have carved graffiti right next to the ancient writings.

Work is going well – business is picking up. We had a very nice staff appreciation week, with non-stop cappuccinos one morning, catered breakfast another morning, and an ice-cream social on Friday afternoon. Couldn’t ask for a nicer place to work.

Love, Jennifer & Steve