It's been ages since I've done any blogging--currently I'm in Des Moines doing a teaching practicum (a three-week deal in a high school classroom where I get to teach some lessons, but mostly I observe my cooperating teacher.  So nothing too crazy.
 
I wanted to share about my time in Arizona where I got to see BOTH of my brothers at the same time, as well Malee!  So here are some pictures!

Mom and Jim bought a house out in Queen Valley, which is about an hour out from Scottsdale.  They have a primo location, though: this is their back deck and my lunch on my first day out there.  Gorgeous.  The weather was fantastic, too--60s and 70s all week.  Much better than the snow Dad and Grammie had when they visited last year!  You can see roadrunners bopping around in the rocks below when you peer over the deck, and at night sometimes you could hear coyotes yipping.  The stars were also amazing out there--they danced and glittered, much more than I've ever seen in Iowa.  Mom said it's because of the dry air.  Okay, I'll buy it, but whatever caused it, it was beautiful.

On our first day we reunited with John, Andy and Malee at a hiking trailhead.  We hiked to Weaver's Needle--can you spot it in the picture above?  It's the huge rock that takes up a third of the picture.  And look, there are John and Andrew!  Andrew was climbing over all the rocks like a deft monkey, hefting his camera around to find unique angles.  He's like an acrobatic Bob.

One Saturday John, Andrew and I went mini-golfing (or "putt-putting" as it seems to be called here.  Or maybe I'm just out of the loop.  I can't keep up with all these new-fangled phrases for miniature golfing.  Now pardon me while I pull my pants up to my armpits and tell some children to turn their damn rap music down).  The course, as you can see above, was pretty legit--but of course, it paled in comparison to Treasure Village.  I think in this picture Andrew is cursing his ball for not making it through the drawbridge.  Also, take note of the pencil stuck through John's ear guage.  We rocked the course, except we had to crafting maneuver around these unruly hoardes of children who would putt all over our game!  They would just toddle over start whacking their bright golf balls into any nearby bush or rut or person.  And their apathetic parents (I almost wrote "there".  SHEESH.  I need to remember the rule:  "Those are THEIR donuts.  THERE are the donuts.  THEY'RE the donut people.")  would stand around and not give a flying...care.  Good heavens.  But we made it through with style; I can't wait to tear up Treasure Village with these two crazies. 
 
I had so much fun hanging out with both Mom and Jim and John, Andrew and Malee.  On New Year's Eve Andrew and I scored free tickets to the Scottsdale Block Party, where they rope off the streets and have live music.  Hooray for Horseman for hooking us up!  I got to see the Lodge for the first time (the last time I was in Arizona I was underage!), and Andrew and I got some fantastic sushi for a good price: always a good way to start the evening.  I met a ton of John and Malee's friends and forgot most of their names and had had a good old time.  After the midnight fireworks, though, a transformer blew and the entire block went dark!  It was so strange going into a pitch-black bar and finding it still packed with people.  The power loss was horrible news for Horseman's bar, Dos Gringos, and for the other establishments in the blackout; they lost tons of money from the unclosed credit card tabs with no way to get it back.  That was really unlucky, but it was kind of cool to see the entire block dark.
 
The best day, though, was when John, Andrew and I drove out to Apache Lake to meet Mom and Jim.  They'd rented a pontoon for the afternoon, so we drove it around on this gorgeous lake that was surrounded by mountains and spectacular rocks and cliffs.  Here's John at the helm:

There were little beaches where you could pull the pontoon up and explore on foot.  We stopped at a couple different spots.  They both had this incredibly vibrant, velvet-soft grass--it was wonderful to see such a bright green after so much brown in Iowa!

The brothers chill out in the grass: Andrew's taking a low-angle picture through the grass.  I copied him and came out with a pretty decent photo myself:

The grass really was fuzzy, like velveteen!  The boys, Mom, and I hiked up a ways and got a good view of the little bay and the lake:

Just beautiful!  All the rocks were so dramatic and paired with the cactus, the scenery just screamed AMERICAN SOUTHWEST.  Oh, and here's one of my favorite pictures, of our beached pontoon, looking so tranquil.  This was on the second beach we stopped at.  

Ahhh.  The second beach was neat because, well, look at the view, and also because there was a HUGE orange-leafed tree.  WITH A TIRE SWING.  Cue my childlike excitement.

TIRE.  SWING.  Yes!  
It was a really fantastic day, and, sadly, the last day I spent with my brothers during the trip.  Still, I got to see and do a lot with them, so I felt really grateful.  Hopefully we can ALL reunite in Okoboji this August!  One last picture of my lovely brothers.