This is and acrylic painting of a dahlia on my daughters deck in Alaska. 

Roses from my daughter, Thank you!

Sunny ,sunny sunflowers from our garden!

I really liked these clouds and was hoping they would develop into rain but they just faded away.

I haven't taken many photos lately but I do have a few very nice sky and flower shots. The one is was captured by Karl one evening.

This picture of a dahlia is not from our trip but from my patio. It is my first attempt at growing a dahlia. It was always too hot in phx., and they are so beautiful.

Mary and I created this picture out of pieces of cloth glued on canvas board. It was a challenging project but it turned out kind of neat, don't you think?

Grandpa went fishing with Owen and Ella on the beach. A lot of line tangling went on here with no fish caught but it was a beautiful day!

Ella and I painted this painting on the wall of her room( she did most of the work) Grandma mostly advised. Ella and grandma testing the raspberry, huckleberry jam. It was great!My daughter Mary Janet, ultimate hostess and hot dog cooker!
We had an nice picnic on this beach and had fun searching for beach glass. I am still thinking up projects for all that glass.

Mary and Mark built a guest room cabin so guests can have their own space with a lovely view of the ocean.
We had a wonderful time visiting Mary, Mark, Owen and Ella this year. So many interesting things happened.
One morning while we were eating breakfast pancakes that Mark had made for everyone , someone spotted two bucks strolling on the beach. The Hillberrys got really excited with the thought of all that venison they could put up for winter. So without further ado Mark , the great hunter went out and shot one. Karl and Mark spent the morning preparing the venison for canning and Mary and Carol did that part. I am not sure when Mark got to eat his pancakes!
We had a good time picking raspberries and huckleberries and making lots of jam and pies. No wonder Karl and I gained weight! We also were able to take home an ice chest full of fish and shrimp, courtesy of Mark and Mary. Karl did catch some of it.
Mary and Mark are raising chickens now and we had a homegrown chicken dinner, yum.
Homemade raspberry pie from Alaskan grown raspberries.

The raspberry patch where we picked the raspberries to make the pie!

our backyard is kind of a disaster right now but the snow covered it all up and made it look pretty!

First snow of the season that actually stuck! There was more the next day but I forgot to take a picture. ( we were busy playing in it with Lini and her kids!)

Mary and Mark All the kids loved this!

Cliah, Ella at picnic
Mattie
2006 was a busy year for us! We sold our summer home and our home of 30 years in order to move to a cooler climate and retire. At last Karl has retired. I am working part time to help afford it , but I don't mind because I am working for my daughter and I get to spend much more time with her and her three beautiful children.
It has been an adjustment for both Karl and I and seems to be going well so far. The biggest surprise so far is that Karl isn't crazy about cold weather. I on the other hand having quite a bit of natural padding have not been bothered much by it! I think it will probably be awhile before we get used to not living our life around Karls work schedule but I think it will be fun.
I don't have any pictures of our new house yet because we have much to do starting with painting it and lots of landscaping but I have a few pictures of family from thanksgiving time, These I will share. The first picture is of my three kids, Marc, Mary and Colleen (who dad and i call Lini. What a trio!

Along the highway south of Payson.

Karl and I are still in shock that we have sold our old cabin. Of course it won't be final until the check is in the bank, about three more weeks. I don't think we will know what to do with ourselves for a while. We pretty much wore ourselves out running back and forth emptying out the place. At least now it is possible for Karl to consider retirement if he wants too. He is working part time now about 28 hours a week but sometimes that seems like too much. He loves to play golf and working some makes it possible to play once or twice a week. I think wherever we retire will have to be near some golf courses! On a different subject, Karl and I are trying to follow a low carbohydrate diet in hopes of taking off some of that extra weight we are carrying around. The diet isn't too bad really ,but it does take the fun out of going out to eat! We usually just stay home. Today we went swimming in our blow -up pool( about 5 by 6 feet). It wouldn't be a bad way to cool off if the water wasn't so hot! It was more like a hot tub. I guess 25$ for a hot tub isn't bad. We put in the hose and voila ,water jets!

We had a very nice Easter weekend with Colleen , Jason, Cliah , Roman and Mattie down to visit. Oh, and they also brought their lovable lab Buddy too. On saturday we colored eggs and goofed off and today we hunted eggs and goofed off! We also prepared lots of food and ate it! In between times we chased kids cleaned up after kids and cuddled Mattie the newest addition, who wants to be held almost all the time. It was exhausting! but I loved it. Carol