Christmas in Phoenix: 12/22-12/29

We had a fantastic trip in Phoenix visiting my (Rebecca) parents. Daniel was there for half of the week too, so we had fun hanging out and laughing with him. We were very aware of Jonathan and Jess's absence, though. (Jonathan's scheduled to leave Iraq mid January!). We spent a lot of the week just hanging out and relaxing. We watched several movies, including Four Christmasas, Valkyrie, and Marly & Me. All three were great films and worth seeing. Marley & Me was really cute and funny; I'd recommend it. We visited the Botanical Gardens, we had a special exhibit of Dale Chihuly's blown glass. That was neat to see. We also got to spend significant time with Deric's maternal grandparents, who annually migrate to Mesa from Iowa for the winter months. It was special to see their home and get to know them better. Later in the week we hiked Pinnacle Peak right before sunset, which was scenic and beautiful. Although the week's weather was colder than we all were expecting (daytime average was mid-to-upper-forties; Christmas day it rained all day), we were still thrilled to be there with family.













Now we're back in Littleton and writing our "to do" list for the next couple of weeks. It's very long, considering we have two and a half weeks before we relocate to Alamosa (Our target move date is Jan. 17th)! We'd appreciate your prayers as we say goodbye to one chapter and say hello to a new one!