Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Feeling Grateful and Blessed

It's been quite awhile since I've posted. My life has been filled with so much that blogging has seemed insignificant. My husband of  37 years next month found out he had kidney cancer last November and had major surgery to remove the tumor on January 31 of this year.  But prior to that he underwent gall bladder surgery and then in May he had a disk in his neck fused. Most recently he had cataract surgery done in both eyes. The great news is that I have my husband and he is doing great. It's as if he never went through any surgery. He feels perfectly fine and has recovered well. His cancer was found early and he has a clean bill of health. No chemo or radiation needed. We are grateful and have been blessed through all of the prayers on his behalf.
Now we have his retirement to look forward to. November is when he'll be hanging up his hard hat from 35 years at Monsanto. I'll probably work one more year just to supplement until Rick's social security kicks in next year. But we are prepared and ready for this time in our lives.
A visit from Ryker sure makes you feel better. Jan 2017

Bryce Canyon -March 2017


Antelope Canyon- March 2017


Antelope
Canyon, Navajo Reservation- March  2017

Grand Canyon - March 2017

Sunset at Saguaro National Park- March 2017
Evening swim with friends at Encanterra Community, Arizona- June 2017


A wonderful visit from Madi, Gracie and Ryker at work. August 2017

Fun times- August 2017

Friday, January 13, 2017

Kootenay, Banff, Jasper and Yoho National Parks, Canada

Last June Rick and I took a fabulous road trip through several Canadian National Parks. We have been to Banff once before and fell in love with the magnificent rugged beauty. So we decided to go again; but to also stay longer and explore more parks. Needless to say it was a very good decision. We got to step on the Columbian Icefields in Jasper, walk on the glass bridge and see so much wildlife. We hope to get there again someday. It is so worth seeing many times over.

Idaho Canadian Border
Just inside Kootenay National Park
The Canadian Rockies are magnificent.
We were immediately greeted by the friendly Canadian black bear.

  Spectacular glacier water.
                               

    Banff National Park.
                                                       

Beautiful Lake Louise


View of Lake Louise from our hike.
Resting point on our hike.
The beauty never stops.
Almost to the top of our hike
Yeah, it was worth it. The high mountain lake Agnes.

So many beautiful lakes and mountains galore.
View from our condo in Canmore
I can't remember the name of this lake.
Athabasca Glacier, part of the Columbia Icefields
On the glass bridge in Jasper National Park. So cool. And yes, it was very cool even in June it felt like a bit of winter.

This was our favorite spot, Moraine Lake, in Banff.
Moraine Lake
These guys were awesome. I took this from the car. We stopped to watch them. I could have reached out and touched them, they were that close.