Blessings

My other reason for going to Arizona was to be there for the blessing of my newest nephew and to spend time with my parents and siblings.

It was wonderful. We are seldom all together (the last time all eight of us gathered was in 1994, just before I delivered my daughter.) and it was great to see everyone, to laugh about familiar things and gather around our dear Papa on Father's day. We gave him a version of the photo in the last post and he was so happy.

I had a couple of quiet days with my older brother and his family, then there was the party I wrote about last time, then there was a day at a museum, then an exciting drive through a haboob on the way to Tucson, then dinner,  a gorgeous sunset, and a Sunday of church and a good lunch. It was so much packed into the small amount of time I was there, it seems like a dream. Here are the photos to prove it all really happened. I love being a daughter, a sister and an auntie, and these were moments of joy.

Panning for Gold at the AZ Museum of Natural History

My brother and his darling boy

The last remnants of the haboob. While I was driving,
visibility was reduced to about 30 feet at times. Thrilling!

It would be fun to live in AZ just so I could decorate with
geckos and have it look totally awesome. 

Cute niece at the museum

Aunt T gets on the floor to do the dinosaur puzzle, cuz
she is awesome like that. 

Line-up

Oh, this was almost a smile from this little one. She's just
a doll. 

The boys in front of a scary specimen

There really is nothing like a western sky. 

Setting up to get photos of the sunset

Cousins

Looking at the photos on the DS

Taking a few more

And another

Saguaro with the last of its blossoms

The Wixoms after the baby's blessing