We're moved in! We love our space!

Dining room & desk area, kitchen, living room. We should get painted outside tomorrow then we can start on the deck.

Addition update

Plumbed in powder room

Laundry and storage

Outside siding on, need to paint! Tomorrow we get insulation. Saturday they start sheet rock. Yeah! Anyone want to help paint . . . . ?

Merry Christmas

Our special Christmas tree is 70 years old this year. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad. We still miss you, but we know you're watching us too.

We had a good time at the Railroad Park with Brian, Janice, Grayson, Ry, and Tyus.

We started working on our room addition about a month ago. First we had to take the siding and the skirting off the park model. Then we started adding the foundation for the decking for the addition.

Measuring for height and distance was a challenge, but we did a pretty good job getting things straight.

We built the deck in sections. We did three sections. One at a time and yes, it was a challenge to get in and out of the house! This is the first section.

This is starting the second section. (We did put some decking down on the first section so we could get in and out of the house.

After the second section was framed, we framed the third section. What a job! It took us about 3 weeks to get to this point!

Brian and Ryath came over to help us put the decking on the deck, but we hadn't finished putting the floor-joices in the third section.

Ryath even got to help Daddy and Grandpa build the decking. We finished the decking after about 4 weeks working!

The decking is done! Then Jason got here last Sunday and in 5 days he got the addition framed, the doors and windows in and the house wrapped and some guys came in and put up the trusses!

This is the framing -- putting up the walls.

Jason hard at work. He really did a super job and worked really hard for his week off. We feel really blessed.

This is looking at the interior at the living room.

A look at the front of the house before door and windows.

Our house today. Now we need to do electrical and plumbing. Then we can think about sheetrock and maybe a front deck. WOW! Thank you Jason Jones, we really appreciate you!!!

Arizona

I've been really bad about taking pictures and posting since we got to Arizona. We took two other road trips: one to Willcox and back through the Gila River Valley and the other to Quartsite and back through Wickenburg. Both trips were really good trips and we saw a lot of pretty country.

 Sunrise from front window in Phoenix. We are sure enjoying the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We've had way too many sunny, cloudless days this winter.

 We see a lot of balloons from the RV Park. They take off from the desert north of the RV Park.

 Drive between Prescott and Jerome. Really curvy road. We went from 1600 feet to over 7000 feet on the drive!

 Looking down toward the valley where Jerome is located. That's snow on the mountain in the distance! The mountain is north of Flagstaff. Flagstaff is about 70 miles north of where I took the picture.

 Verde Valley from the top of the hill into Jerome. It's a really beautiful valley. There is a train ride around the valley that we may have to go back to experience.

 More windy road. Lost track of the switch backs!

 The town below! This is really Cottonwood, Jerome is on the hillside below this hill.

 Jerome is build right on the side of the hill. Narrow streets with lots of really old buildings on a really steep hill!

 Looking back at Jerome on the hill after going around a few switchbacks.

The mine in Jerome was a copper mine. We got to go through the "Museum Store" and see lots of antique copper things. I got a tea pot that's really pretty. We think we'll go to the Mesa Flea Market next weekend. Should be fun!

Wallowa Lake, Oregon

Pigeon Forge, TN and Asheville, NC

 This is the old mill in Pigeon Forge. We visited the pottery shop across the street and had a snack at a very nice restaurant next to the pottery shop. Lots of shopping in Pigeon Forge and beautiful mountains.

 This was taken in the garden area of the entrance hall of the Baltimore Estate. Not the greatest picture, but what a house! The largest house in the United States!

 The house itself covers about 4 acres and is 5 stories tall! There are 101 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms inside. The dining room was so big that the 4 elk heads and 1 moose head mounted on the wall looked really small!

 We climbed over 400 steps to get to the top! The view was beautiful. This is close to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 This was the view from where we had lunch after the climb. The barbecue was excellent, the restaurant very quaint.

 We drove south on the Parkway the first day. The Parkway was closed just north of Asheville and about 20 miles south of Asheville. It was a beautiful drive!

 This bridge is a mile high and joins the two peaks on Grandfather Mountain. We had to drive on I-40 a bit then cut over to the Parkway, but it was worth the drive!

You can't see it really well, but the top picture is of the viaduct. That's where the road is suspended around the base of Grandfather Mountain. This tree caught our eye as we were driving to the Parkway and I had to get a picture of it. The trees and bushes have been beautiful!