The wedding.....

The wedding of our niece, Amy and Jon Lantz.
The Florian Gardens, Eau Claire, Wisconsin


Our niece, Amy and her new husband, Jon Lantz

My Dad and Lynne

(sister and mother of the bride, Amy)

My Dad and siblings...(L-R) Lisa, Julie, Mary, Dad, me (Jeff,) Jeanine (our hostess for our time in Minnesota,) Rick and Lynne (mother of the bride)

(L-R) Gina, Macie, Natalie and Brian Stangl, my godson and nephew with two of their three girls. Newborn Evie Marie took the night off! Gina looked great (she gave birth to Evie on 6/24)

Jeff and Martha

Good times, great food and lots of laughs

Stops along the way.....

Break time?!

Oh, look, an oasis!

I think we can, I think we can...make it.



Ahhh, this is the life!

On the road again......................(martha)

"All our bags are packed, we're ready to go."

What were we thinking? We forgot to pack the kitchen sink!

Everything else is in the back end of the SUV (Nissan Murano). Two suitcases (each), guitar, golf clubs, boxes, trunk(s) and 1 case of wine. Some of the items are from friends/family. They asked us to bring them back since we're driving and they flew. Whew, we avoided the weight restrictions and we don't have to pay for extra baggage. Yippee.


Yes, we begin our haj to Mecca (the promised land) today. Stay tuned.

We might send updates from the road. First stop Santa Fe, NM.

House beautiful?...........(martha)

Whew, the dust has settled and the floors were mopped.

I am over the moon that I can walk around the house sans clothes (NOT!) because no more workman are here. Guess it is time for a photo shoot?

We then added an Arizona Door (see below) which acts as a screen door.

And.....thanks to our photographer, Jeff.

Extreme Makeover??...............(martha)

Two weeks ago, I woke up at 6 am to noise directly outside the house.

‘What’s that sound?’ I wondered. It was sound of scaffolding being erected outside our windows and doors.

We have been under siege (and noise) since then. Inside our house we have a thick coating of fine dust. Since work is still on-going, I will wait to thoroughly clean next week when the dust settles.







Stay tuned for pictures of the finished product!

The bloomin' Prickly Pear.......(martha)

Two weeks ago, the prickly pear in our front yard looked like this.



Last week it was farther along.



Today, it bloomed even more.



Nothing more to say....

More desert beauty.............(martha)

Six weeks ago, we purchased two blue planters to give our house a splash…(or is that a dash?) of color. Ever since then, we have been eagerly waiting for the cactus’ to bloom. Well, it happened! (for one of them). The other cactus has not done a thing. Hmm, maybe desert gardening is harder than we imagined?



Today, we went to Sabino Canyon and hiked outdoors for about two miles. We could hear a desert stream nearby before the path took us to the running water. It made me think of the beginning of Psalm 23…

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.



It was nice to see the stream and remember that God is leading us no matter where we live. For now, our path is here.