Finally Fall

 On October 19th, we went to Apple Annie's to pick our pumpkins.  

On October 22nd, I returned to Apple Annie's to photograph their sunflowers.

On October 24th, I went up to Mount Lemmon to check out the Fall colors.

On October 26, we all went up to Mount Lemmon to see the Fall colors.  We ate at the Iron Door for lunch.  

On October 29th, My First Light had 2 blooms and my June Noon had 2 blooms.  While I was photographing them, a Costa's hummingbird came up behind me and checked out my flowers, too.  I got one decent picture of the hummingbird with my First Light cactus.  

On October 30th, I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Tucson Botanical Gardens.  

On October 31st, we decided not to participate in Halloween this year.  Nathan was going to dress as the mafia for Halloween, but we talked him out of that.  We decided not to trick or treat or to hand out candy this year (after I bought a bunch of candy!).  We decided that Christians really shouldn't partake in a holiday dedicated to Satan.  I felt this way for years ever since Pastor Joiner gave a convincing sermon.  Paul was never really on board and we didn't want Nathan to miss out on trick or treating.  Now that he is in high school, Paul made the decision (after listening to a sermon at his church) that we should not participate in Halloween anymore.

On November 5th, I went back up to Mount Lemmon.  Mount Lemmon had a recent snow so I thought that it would be a good photo opportunity to experience the last as Fall and Winter at the same time on the mountain.  I was right.  It was beautiful.  

On November 6th,. I went to Reid Park Zoo and the Reid Park Rose Garden.  The rose garden was looking pretty good.  They have been revamping it since the Covid pandemic.  It looks like they have about a 1/4 more to go.  There were some new varieties and I was surprised at how good it was looking.  There was a gentleman working there that day who was very friendly, too.  

October 11th was the end of Q1 for Nathan.  On Friday, November 8th, he brought home a Principal's Honor Roll certificate and it shows that his GPA is 3.42.  He had a D in Pre-AP English, but all of his other grades were As and Bs and I think his honors, pre-AP and AP classes are weighted differently.  I am still waiting to hear back from the school how they calculate the GPAs.  I also sent the principal an email over a week ago about his English grade.  I told her that he has always been an honor roll student and has always had As and Bs in English as well as tested above average in English on the state tests.  I said something doesn't seem right that he got a D the first quarter.  Some other students are having the same issue in that class.  They are getting a bad grade and they don't know why.

On November 9th, we drove up to Phoenix.  I went to the Wildlife World Zoo and the boys went to Sealife Aquarium and Rainforest Cafe.  I got to see the sloth in action.  They fed it while I was there and it very active before it settled down for a nap right in front of me by the glass.  I also got to watch the octopus move all around its tank.  I had trouble getting decent pictures of it because the lighting was very dark and there was a lot of glare.  I stood there for a long time mesmerized by this octopus that seemed to be putting on a show just for me.  The boys liked the Sealife aquarium.  Nathan got to see a pufferfish.  They said they were done in about a half hour because it was small, but that for the price it was worth it.         

End of Q1 and Fall Break

 It's already the end of Q1 for Nathan's freshman year.  He ended up with an A in AP Biology, an A in Art, an A in Marketing, a B in Honors Algebra 2, a B in German and a D in Pre-AP English.  We're not sure what is going on with English.  He has always had As and Bs in English and performed above average on the state tests.  He doesn't like his teacher and says that she is biased against some students, including him it seems.  Ironically, her comments on his report card are Participates and Highly Motivated.  He says he is doing everything that she says to do on the assignments, but she continues to give him bad grades.  Hopefully, he gets this grade up next quarter.  He still doesn't like school, but we are trying to make him understand how important grades are in high school.  He wants to go to college.  He talks about going to MIT and going into rocket science or something similar where he can design/build military equipment.  

Nathan joined E-Sports at his school which is a club that meets after school on Thursdays.  

We're not going anywhere for Fall Break.  It upsets me because Fall is my favorite time of the year and I love to see the Fall colors.  It has still been hot here and there won't really be a good cool down until the end of the week.  Paul said he couldn't do a vacation this week because he is too busy with work.  He recently had to let go of an employee.  I thought about doing some day trips this week, but I am doubting I will do much.  So, I am trying to get things done at home, but that doesn't seem to go very well either.  With my husband and son here I can't concentrate.  The day just flies by, too.    

It probably is just as well that we don't go on a vacation because we should save the money.  We have had so many unexpected expenses this year including multiple roof repairs due to the monsoons, A/C repairs, high medical expenses for all 3 of us, etc...  A couple of days ago our washing machine stopped working and showed a LE code.  LE code means a problem with the motor and it can't spin.  Clothes and water were locked in the machine for over a day until we were finally able to get it open (unplugging, plugging back in 5 minutes later and then pushing the start button for 5 seconds to reset).  We had Sears Home Services come look at it, but they said repairs would be expensive and it would probably be best to replace it.  We bought our washer and dryer when we moved in back in 2008 so they lasted almost 16 years.  We had a few issues over that time and had to have a couple of repairs, but it's time to replace.  There are no more Sears stores in the Tucson area and the Sears repairmen advised against getting another LG product.  Paul ended up buying a Maytag set from Home Depot.  The washer is supposed to arrive Thursday of this week and the dryer is on back order.  Guess I can't do laundry this week until the new washer is installed!

On 8/9, I went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and the Reid Park Rose Garden.

I went to the Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park on 8/20.  

Paul had cataract surgery on one of his eyes on 8/21.  Looks like it was successful without any problems.  He says he probably won't need the other eye done for a couple of years yet.  

Nathan had his esophagram at Banner on 8/23.  He had to miss school that day because we had to be there at 9:15 for his 9:45 appointment and it was across town.  They didn't see anything wrong during the esophagram, but they were going to send the images to his gastroenterologist.  

My First Light bloomed on 8/25.  

On 8/29, My Apricot Glow bloomed.  I went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Tucson Botanical Gardens.  

We went to Nathan's open house at Mountain View High School on 8/29.  That is where we got to see his classrooms and meet with his teachers.  We weren't able to meet one on one with any of the teachers, but we did talk to all of them.

Nathan didn't have school on 8/30 so we went to OdySea.  Paul and Nathan both got impatient with me because I was taking a long time taking pictures.  OdySea is expensive and we only go 1-3 times a year so I want to get my money's worth.  Nathan likes to go to see the pufferfish, but both he and Paul quickly walk through the aquarium and then they are done.  We ate at Grimaldi's afterward.  

On 9/13, I went to Lowe's to photograph their flowers, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Pima Prickly Park.    

We met with Nathan's dermatologist on 9/17.  She said that his current treatment wasn't really working and encouraged us to try Accutane.  With this treatment, he takes 1 or 2 pills a day for 5 months.  We have to meet with her once a month.  We had to sign a pledge that we would take as directed and meet with the dermatologist once a month to monitor his progress.  The reason for the strict requirements is because this drug can have serious side effects.  Females could have birth defects if they get pregnant while taking it.  Depression, suicidal thoughts or severe anger could occur.  Nathan agreed to this treatment, but I have had to make sure that he takes all of his medication when he is supposed to.  Just to make it more complicated, she has him taking 2 pills on even days and 1 on odd days.  This is because his height and weight fall in the middle of taking 1 or 2 pills a day.  He is supposed to wear sunscreen and chapstick during this process, but of course he rarely he does.  Luckily, he doesn't have PE this year so he isn't outside much.  He hasn't got that sunburned, but he is getting chapped lips.  We have our one month check up this Friday, 10/18.  It's hard to tell if the medicine is having an effect on his mood/personality.  He was already moody before taking it because he is a teenager!  In fact, on 9/10, my son told me that he hated me...right out of the blue.  Paul went to a revival service at his church that night and so Nathan and I were at home.  After Paul got home and it was getting close to bedtime for Nathan, Nathan complained that he had a headache.  I asked if he wanted Tylenol and he said yes.  So as I was getting the Tylenol I heard Nathan behind me saying that he hated me.  I couldn't believe what I heard so I asked him if he just said that he hated me.  He said yes because I was singing all night (implying I gave him the headache).  So he hates me because I was singing?!  It really hurt me and made me angry at the same time.  I told him to get his own Tylenol.  I took him to school the next morning and picked him up and not one word was said between us.  So that night I told Paul that I was not going to take him to school the next day.  I told him that Nathan could take the bus or that he could take him.  Paul ended up taking him to and from school that day.  However, he knew that he couldn't keep doing that with his work schedule.  God forbid that Nathan rides the bus.  I have been taking him back and forth to school for a decade, but now that there is a bus system (since he is no longer going to a charter school), he nor Paul wants him to take the bus.  They don't care about what an inconvenience it is for me because it is all about making Nathan happy.  Paul is afraid he could get bullied on the bus and that he isn't as safe on the bus as he is riding with me.  So that night in front of Nathan he asked if I would be taking him to school the next day.  I said that depended on if Nathan ever apologizes to me for telling me that he hated me.  He apologized.  I'm still not happy about having to take him back and forth to school when he can easily take the bus with the bus stop right in front of our house.  The fact that I desperately need a break and that I am having a miserable time with perimenopause doesn't seem to matter to my family.      

We met with Nathan's gastroenterologist on 9/19.  He had to miss another partial day of school because his appointment was at 2:15 across town again.  We met with her to discuss the results of his endoscopy on 8/1 and his esophagram on 8/23.  She said both were normal, but she did do some additional tests during the endoscopy.  There is an enzyme that breaks down sugar and his is low.  What does this mean?  Pretty much that he is lactose intolerant which we already knew.  He had problems with lactose as a baby.  He had acid reflux so we had to use sensitive formula.  Over the years, he seemed to tolerate lactose better, but we continued to buy lactose free milk and ice cream.  She suggested eating a lower sugar diet and reducing his lactose.  I asked what this had to do with him having trouble swallowing steak, though.  The answer is really nothing.  She just said to marinate the steak well, eat smaller bites and make sure to chew the steak well.  I kind of feel like all of the trouble and expense we went through to find the cause of his swallowing problem was all for nothing.  However, we did rule out a problem with his esophagus or anything more serious.  As it stands right now, the medical claim for his endoscopy was denied by our insurance because we didn't get pre-certification.  We weren't aware that we needed pre-certification.  We have been working with Accolade who is supposed to be a liaison between our insurance and the medical providers.  They essentially have been useless.  They were looking into this claim as well as another claim we had with Northwest Medical Center when Nathan went to the ER.  That visit we paid about $500 too much so we are trying to get our money back.  It was finally revealed that the hospital never applied the insurance check because there were questions about what we really owed at the time.  With so many medical claims being processed this year, our deductible/copay/coinsurance amounts were being changed rapidly.  They said they were going to submit a new claim so we are waiting to see what happens with that.  For the endoscopy claim, it was denied showing that we owe the entire $6500.  Banner has yet to bill us for that so we are assuming that they are trying to work it out with our insurance.  We brought the issue up with Accolade and they are also supposed to be working on it, too.  Trying to manage all of the medical expenses this year has been a nightmare for me!  We met all of our deductibles for the year so that shows how much we have been at medical facilities this year.      

Paul turned 54 on 9/20.  We didn't celebrate his birthday until 9/27.  We went to Vivace for dinner per his request.  

My June Noon bloomed on 9/24. My potted cacti have not done well this year because of the extended heat.  

I went up to Mount Lemmon on 9/26 to see if there was any Fall color yet.  There wasn't.  

On 10/10, the northern lights were visible in Arizona.  Of course I was not prepared.  I didn't know that they were going to be visible that night.  I happened to see a news post on Facebook that night with a picture that was taken just a short time prior of the northern lights in Tucson.  I went out on our back balcony with my phone and shot some pictures to the north.  Sure enough, the phone picked up the colors.  I couldn't really see them with my naked eyes, but the iPhone picks them up with long exposure (I set it to 3 seconds).  I took a drive to see if I could get better pictures with a desert background, but the colors were no longer visible by then.  

Summer

April 2:  I went to Oro Valley Hospital to photograph the cactus flowers, Lambert Lane to photograph the claret cups, Green Things Nursery and Tucson Botanical Gardens and Tohono Chul Park.

April 3: The first cactus flower to bloom in our yard this year was the pink claret cup.  Grandma June had knee surgery this day, too.  

April 4:  Nathan and I went to the dermatologist, me to get a skin cancer screening and Nathan for his acne.  No skin cancer for me!  Nathan started on some medications for his scarring acne.  

April 5: I had redness in the roof of my mouth for a week or two.  It wasn't going away on its own or with the help of Listerine or the such.  I had to pick up a prescription for Nathan at CVS so I went to the MinuteClinic there.  She could see an infection in my ears, nose, mouth and throat.  I told her about the vertigo I had a few weeks ago and she thought it could have been caused by this infection that probably started in the ears.  She gave me an antibiotic.  

April 6: Paul went hiking at Catalina State Park.  

April 8: I went to Lambert Lane to photograph the claret cups, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery (bought a crab crawl cactus), Pima Prickly Park and River Road to photograph the prickly pear flowers.  Also, my pink claret cup bloomed.  

April 9: I went to Oro Valley Hospital to photograph the cactus flowers, Lambert Lane to photograph the claret cups, Bach's Cactus Nursery and Catalina State Park.  I hiked a new trail at Catalina State Park, the Alamo Canyon Bathtub trail.  I went halfway to the waterfall and turned around because I wasn't sure where the trail picked back up on the other side.  This trail is my favorite there because it was full of wildflowers.  

April 10: I made banana pudding layered dessert.

April 11, Paul and I went back to Catalina State Park to hike the Alamo Canyon Bathtub trail.  The wildflowers were amazing!  

April 12: My June Noon hybrid bloomed.  I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Green Things Nursery (bought another cactus), Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima Prickly Park.

April 13, we went to the Pima Air & Space Museum for Nathan's final paper airplane fly off contest.  He will age out of it next year.  He and Paul participated in the family competition and won 3rd place thanks to Nathan!  Dad did pretty well, but Nathan had a really good throw.  Unfortunately, he pulled a muscle and couldn't throw very far for his individual age group contest.  If he would have thrown the same distance he did for the family competition then he would have placed in the top 3 for his age group, too.  

April 15:  I went to Lowe's, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Pima Prickly Park.

April 16: I went to Oro Valley Hospital to photograph the cactus flowers, Lambert Lane to photograph the claret cups, Bach's Cactus Nursery and Tohono Chul Park.

April 17: I went to Pima Prickly Park.  

April 18: I went to the Desert Museum, Reid Park Zoo (where I got to see the baby giraffe and the baby elephant) and Pima Prickly Park.

April 19: I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Green Things Nursery (bought a trichocereus grandifloris cactus).

April 22: I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens, Green Things Nursery, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Pima Prickly Park.  

April 24: I went to Tohono Chul Park, Pima Prickly Park and Bach's Cactus Nursery.  My favorite cholla was in bloom at  Pima Prickly Park.  The pink ocotillo was in bloom at Tohono Chul Park.

April 25: My trichocereus grandifloris cactus bloomed again.  

April 26: I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery (bought another cactus, a peachy one), Tohono Chul Park and Pima Prickly Park.    

April 28: I took Nathan to the ER after Sunday School.  Sore throat, nausea, headache, chills, body aches, etc...  Strep and Flu tested negative.  They decided to treat it as a sinus infection so they prescribed an antibiotic.  Days later he started to get a rash on his hands and feet that we thought was an allergic reaction to the antibiotic.  We found out that he had hand foot mouth disease when we consulted with the dermatologist.  

April 29: My peachy cactus had two flowers.

May 1: I went to Prima Prickly Park.

May 3: I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Tohono Chul Park.

May 4: My June Noon hybrid cactus bloomed.  

May 5: My peachy cactus bloomed.  I went to Sandy Kaiser's house after church to photograph her First Light cactus flowers.  We counted about 35 blooms.  All I had with me was my phone to photograph them.

May 6:  My June Noon bloomed.  I returned to Sandy Kaiser's house to photograph her First Light cactus flowers.  I also went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Tucson Botanical Gardens.

May 8: I went to Tohono Chul Park, Pima Prickly Park and to Lowe's to photograph their flowers.  

May 10:  I discovered that the Great Horned Owl nest in our subdivision from two years ago is being used by a Cooper's Hawk couple this year.  Mom was sitting on the nest and dad was flying from tree to tree nearby.  

May 11:  The nothern lights were visible in Tucson.  Unfortunately, I did not think they would be as visible as they were.  I went out on our back balcony and took a few pictures with my phone.  They said the phones picked up the lights more than our naked eye.  I wish I would have gone out to the desert for better photos.  Unfortunately, I tried the next couple of nights without success.

May 12:  For Mother's Day, Paul cooked me Greek chicken and potatoes.  He bought me calla lilies and gave me a Starbucks gift card.  My mom bought me 2 massage gift certificates and 2 bottles of tea from my massage lady.    

May 13: I went to Sabino Canyon and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

May 17: I found out that Vincent Edwards passed away from a fungal infection.  We went to grade school together.  I hadn't seen him since grade school, but we kept in touch on Facebook.  He was a really nice guy.  

May 20: I went to Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Gardens, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Pima Prickly Park.  I also photographed saguaro flowers at the Starbucks on River and Stone.  Nathan had a field trip at school where they went to the Main Event.  

May 22:  Nathan graduated 8th grade!  We went to his graduation ceremony to see him get his diploma.  We ate dinner at Sauce afterward. Nathan finished 17/132 with a 3.8462 GPA.  His last quarter and semester he had all As (Literature, Science, Social Studies, Geometry and Coding) and 1 B in English.  

May 23:  Nathan had a water day at school and they had an awards ceremony where he was given a medal for making honor roll all year.  This was Nathan's actual last day of school!  Time for summer. I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, too.  

May 27: We broke the ice in Tucson, 100 degrees.  Actually, in Marana we saw 100 way back on April 22!   

May 28: I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.

June 2: This would have been my grandma's 106th birthday, but instead she is celebrating her first birthday in heaven.

June 4 & June 6: There's a baby Cooper's Hawk!  Actually, the "baby" was getting pretty big already.  I photographed mom and the youngster sitting in the nest in our subdivision.   

June 5: Nathan and I went to see the Garfield Movie.   

July 6:  Our downstairs A/C stopped working.  2 weeks ago it was the upstairs.  A circuit breaker needed to be reset.  This time it was $270 for a capacitor.  

June 8:  After attending Pat Harmon's surprise 80th birthday party, I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

June 15: We went to Vivace to celebrate Father's Day.

June 21-7/4: We went to Colorado with a stop in Albuquerque. June 21, we stopped in Hatch, NM.  June 22, we went to Albuquerque Zoo and the Aquarium.  I also went to the gardens.  They are all in the BioPark.  It rained on us again.  It rained on us the first time we went to that zoo and again this time!  Nathan was excited because the aquarium had pufferfish.  The zoo was a little disappointing.  They redid some of it and are currently redoing other areas.  The newer sections actually make it harder to get good photos.  They were working on the gardens, too.  They have a nice waterlily pond with wood ducks.  June 23, we stopped in Santa Fe.  It was raining that day, too.  We walked and shopped a little in the downtown area.  I went to see the miraculous staircase in the Loretto Chapel again.  June 24, we were in Crested Butte and Gothic.  Crested Butte is the wildflower capital of Colorado and the wildflowers were beautiful.  June 25, we went to Maroon Bells in Aspen.  We saw a fox leaving Crested Butte that morning and another one by Maroon Bells.  June 26, we went to State Forest State Park and to Walden since Walden is supposed to be the moose capital of Colorado.  We didn't see any moose :(  June 27, we went to Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs, Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge and then to Grand Lake.  We really liked the Grand Lake area.  We think that side of RMNP is better than the Estes Park side.  June 28, we went to RMNP.  We didn't stay long because Nathan was complaining that he was having a hard time breathing and pain in his chest.  We took him to urgent care when we got to Estes Park.  They did an EKG and xray which both came back normal.  She thought that maybe just lack of physical activity and too much gaming was causing his pain in his chest.  We told her that he may have asthma so she said the higher altitudes could be part of the problem, too.  She prescribed him another inhaler.  June 29, we went back to RMNP.  We hiked to Alberta Falls, Bear Lake and Nymph Lake.  When we got back to Estes Park, I did the tram. June 30, this was our last day in RMNP.  It was clearer on the top so we were able to see a little more, including a bunch of marmots!  We also finally got to see a moose with her baby, but very briefly. July 1, we went to Mount Blue Sky and Breckenridge.  We saw mountain goats on Mount Blue Sky, but unfortunately visitors with dogs scared them away.  That night we stayed in Salida and Nathan was complaining again about his chest hurting and having trouble breathing.  He used his inhaler, but still was feeling good.  So we too him to the Saldia ER.  They said since the Estes Park urgent care had done an EKG and chest xray that they wouldn't do those again.  His heart rate and oxygen level were in normal ranges.  They said the altitude was probably to blame and that the inhaler must have done its job getting his oxygen back to normal. July 2, we went to Bighorn Sheep Canyon in Canon City.  It wasn't until we came back and were almost out of the canyon when we finally spotted some bighorn sheep.  From there we headed to Silverton.  July 3, we watched the 2 trains come into Silverton, including the steam train, then he headed to Ouray via the Million Dollar Highway.  We stopped at Box Canyon to see the waterfall.  Then we headed to Gallup, NM to stay the night.  July 4, we headed home stopping at Petrified Forest State Park.           

July 4:  I watched the fireworks from our balcony by myself.  Nobody wanted to watch with me. 

July 14:  We had a bad monsoon storm by us.  A microburst or mini tornado.  Caused roof damage that would end up to cost $2700 out of pocket since our deductible was about that much, too.  Roofers said we should replace our roof in 3-4 years for about $18k.  Ironically, that's around the time our A/C people told us we will need to replace our heating and cooling systems also for about $18k.  They finally did the work on our roof on July 26.      

July 15:  Nathan met with a gastroenterologist because he has difficulty swallowing.  The gastroenterologist suggested getting an endoscopy and an esophogram.  After his doctor appointment, Nathan went to Nerf Day at Greg Lyons' house.  

July 17: We got Nathan's state test scores back from this past year. He is highly proficient in ELA (English Language Arts) with a score of 2609/2658. He even slightly improved from his 2600 score the previous year. He also scored higher than the state, district and school average. He is highly proficient in Math with a score of 3741/3776. His score was 3714 the previous year. Again, he performed higher than the state, district and school average. For science, he got 1398/1500 in the proficient category, but almost highly proficient (1400 and above). He was still above the state, district and school average.

July 18:  Nathan met with the dermatologist again.  He has had some slight improvement with his acne so we decided to stay on the current medications for now.  We will follow up with her on September 17

July 19:  I had my annual gynecologist exam and mammogram.  My ob/gyn coudn't see me so I saw an assistant.  We discussed HR therapy, but I am still undecided.  She also suggested that I do the Cologuard test so I agreed.  She said she would set it up, but I haven't heard anything since.  My mammogram results came back normal.  The ob/gyn assistant would not order me bloodwork, though.  They have done so every year for me, but she refused saying I should have a PCP do it.  I don't have a PCP!  I still need to find one.  

 July 24/August 2: Paul had a vision appointment.  He needs to have cataract surgery on one eye.  It is scheduled for August 21.  

July 25:  Went to Lowe's to photograph their flowers.  Most of theirs weren't doing well in the summer heat either, but there were some nice ones.  

July 26:  We had Nathan's freshman registration at Mountain View High School.  We got his schedule, paid our fees, got his chrome book and took his ID/yearbook picture. This year he’s taking Pre-AP English, AP Biology, Art, German, Marketing and Honors Algebra 2. 

August 1:  Nathan had his endoscopy at Banner.  He had to be knocked out for it.  She said everything looked normal, but she did several biopsies.  She said those results would be available in about a week.  Nathan has his esophogram on August 23 at Banner so he's going to have to miss school that day.  We meet back with the gastroenterologist on September 19 to discuss the results of the two tests.  He will have to miss at least half a day of school that day, too, for this appointment.    

August 2:  My June Noon bloomed.

August 5:  Nathan started school.  They did freshman orientation in the morning and then had shortened classes the remainder of the day.  Nathan now has early release on Fridays at 1:55.  His first week went well, but he still doesn't like school.  

August 8:  I took pictures of barrel cactus blooming on the side of the roads.  

August 9:  I went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, the Reid Park Rose Garden, took pictures of the Arizona Summer Poppies on the side of the road and found some barrel cacti blooming by the Lazyboy store.    

Spring Flowers

 2/13: I went up to photograph the snow on Mount Lemmon

2/16: I went to Catalina State Park.

2/17: We celebrated our 21st anniversary.  

2/20: I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.

3/1: I went to Picacho Peak.  I hiked the Sunset Trail.  There was not a super bloom like last year, but there were wildflowers here and there and there was one area that had quite a bit of flowers.  

3/4: I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and Green Things Nursery.  

3/4 and 3/5:  Nathan had tryouts for the school soccer team.  We found out later in the week that once again he didn't make the team.  He made the intramural team, but he decided he did not want to participate on that team.  We don't understand why he didn't make the boys volleyball team or the coed soccer teams this year when he was on both teams last year at his previous school.  God must have a reason, though.

3/6: Nathan ended Q3 with all As and 1 B.  The B was in English was an 89, very close to an A.  In fact, he had an A in the class up until the last few days when the teacher put in a grade from earlier in the quarter that brought his quarter grade down to a B.  Last quarter he got straight As and he was so close to getting straight As again for Q3.  He got As in Science, Coding, Literature, Social Studies and Geometry.

Spring Break started 3/8.  Nathan had a half day of school.  We didn't plan a trip this year because Paul had to work most of the week.  However, we left the night of 3/8 to go to Anza Borrego Desert State Park the next day.  We stayed in El Centro the night of 3/8.  3/9 we went to see the wildflowers of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  There was one area of the park that was full of  flowers.  The rest of the park seemed to have scattered flowers.  On the way home we drove through El Centro again.  We were fortunate to catch the end of the Blue Angels performing so we pulled over at a rest stop to take some pictures.  Unfortunately, the next day I woke up at 5:30 with severe vertigo.  I had never had vertigo before.  However, it was so bad that we called an ambulance and I spent the day at the hospital.  They ran some tests, mostly focusing on some abdominal/female issues I was experiencing, but all tests came back normal.  I was released in the late afternoon even though I still had the dizziness and nausea.  So most of the Spring Break I rested and tried to recover from the vertigo.  By the end of the week I was feeling a lot better.  Paul decided to take that Thursday off, 3/14.  We took a drive to see the poppies and wildflowers at Peridot Mesa.  They weren't as plentiful as last year, but they were still beautiful.  It was a nice, cool day with beautiful clouds mixed with the blue sky.  We mostly had the place to ourselves.  Then we went to Odysea.  We saw DK and Kim there from church.  They were celebrating Kim's birthday.  Unfortunately, we found out that Jalapeno the pufferfish passed away two weeks prior to our visit.  There was another pufferfish there named Potato/Lemon Pepper.  We ate at Grimaldi's before returning home.  

3/19: I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.

3/20: I went to Catalina State Park.  I hiked the Canyon Loop Trail and just off that trail there was a field of poppies and other wildflowers.  I also hiked the Nature Trail.

3/26: Nathan and I  went to church for the Lord's Supper.  

3/29: Nathan had no school on Good Friday so we went to Bartlett Lake to see the wildflowers.  The flowers were plentiful and it's always cool to see the white and pink poppies there.  We also ate a new to us Grimaldi's in Scottsdale.  

3/31:  We went to church for Easter service and then ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory.  I also bought a pack of Honey Baked Ham slices for myself since I am the only one who eats it.  I made deviled eggs the next day.  

4/1:  It was another rainy day, but I went to see the claret cups on Lambert Lane, some more claret cups and a couple of Argentine Giant Big Berta's over by Oro Valley Hospital.  Then I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  I was going to make another stop or two, but it started raining again.        

Another Year

12/17 We had to take Nathan to urgent care because he hurt his arm playing laser tag at Funtasticks the day before.

12/19 I went to Winterhaven by myself because my family didn't want to go.  

12/21 Nathan and I went to the Desert Museum.

12/24 We attended the candlelight service at New Testament for Christmas Eve.   

Christmas was low key.  No ornaments on the tree.  Going to Chicago for a funeral during the holidays put added stress and less time to get things done for Christmas.  Nathan got nerf guns and a few other things for Christmas.  Paul decided to purchase a camera for me for Christmas/Birthday.  At first he said it was too expensive.  Then he changed his mind.  My parents put in half, $1500.  I got the Nikon D850.  Paul made breakfast, but Starbucks was closed.  I did some cleaning and went for a walk only to find out I left my Fitbit charging.  I bought some Honey Baked Ham for myself.  We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.    

The next day I convinced Nathan to go to the Reid Park Zoo Lights.  

12/27 Nathan and I went up to Scottsdale to go to OdySea and to eat at Grimaldi's.  Nathan always like visiting Jalapeno, the pufferfish.  

12/28 Nathan had his annual pediatrician check up.  

He is 5'6 and in the 70th percentile for height. We actually thought he was even taller than that because he doesn't seem that much shorter than dad who is 5'11. However, he is taller than most kids his age. Of course he told me that there is an 8th grader at his school who is 6'9 and another one who is 7' tall! That is just crazy! He passed me up shortly after he turned 12!

He weighs 133 lbs and is in the 79% percentile for weight. She said that is just about right considering his height. His BMI is 21.3 and in the 76th percentile. She said height and weight look good. He really had a growth spurt in the last couple of years. He grew 4 inches between 12 and 13 and another 3 inches this past year. He just turned 14 on 12/15. We just keep warning him that if he continues to eat the way he does he is going to have problems later when he is no longer growing taller. He eats like he is a bottomless pit! Sometimes I think he doesn't know how to control his eating, especially when it comes to candy! His favorite food these days, though, is steak!

He has mild scoliosis which they discovered at last year's visit. She still doesn't seem concerned about it at this point.

Last year they also heard some wheezing and asked if he had asthma. We said not that we knew of. This past year he says he notices he gets winded running long distance or with extreme physical exercise. She said she didn't hear any wheezing this time around. However, she sent over a prescription to our pharmacy for an inhaler. She said to give it a try the next time he feels out of breath and see if it helps. If it doesn't help, then he doesn't have asthma. He says he is a fast sprinter, but has trouble with long distance running.

She asked about his vision. I told her he gets an eye exam every year with an optometrist and that every year he has close to perfect vision with no need for corrective lenses.

She asked how he is doing in school. We told her that he doesn't like school, but that he is smart and gets good grades. We mentioned that he has switched schools a couple of times trying to find one that he likes. I think because he is so smart he gets bored sometimes at school because he already knows a lot of what they are teaching. He also gets frustrated with other peers who don't care about school and their grades, especially when he has to work on group projects with them. He also just doesn't like some of the teachers.

Not much else to report. All in all, he is doing well. Today's visit was actually a lot better than previous visits. There was hardly anyone there today being the holiday break. This is the first year that they didn't have me fill out lengthy paperwork regarding how many servings of vegetables and fruits he eats, how much screen time he gets, how much physical exercise he gets, etc... Last year they even had us answer questions about mental health, sexual preference/identity, etc... I was in shock last year about everything they wanted to know. I was relieved that they didn't ask us any of that this year.

12/30 we went to the Phoenix Zoo as an early celebration for my birthday.  We ate at Rainforest Cafe. 

New Years Eve was boring as usual.  

My New Year's Resolutions:

1) 10k steps/day. I want to lose another 20 pounds before I turn 50 on 1/2/25. My Fitbit reminds me each hour (between 9 and 6) to get at least 250 steps so I want to be more mindful of that. I want to drink more water and less coffee (but I’m not giving coffee up!).

2) Read my Bible more and just work on being a better Christian.

3) Declutter, Declutter, Declutter!

4) Work on pictures and “scrapbooks “. I have tons of picture projects I need to work on, including scanning many (like the ones from my grandma that family members want me to share once scanned).

5) Start using my new camera and keep improving my photography skills     

1/2 was my 49th birthday.  I spent the day by myself in Sabino Canyon.  

Nathan got all As the 2nd quarter and got the Principal's Pride certificate.  Dad promised him that he would take him to the Brazilian Steakhouse if he got all As so that motivated him.  

I went to the zoo 1/16.  I tried out my new camera.  I tried to take pictures of the baby zebra that was born on Christmas Day, but she was laying down the entire time.

1/16 We had to take Nathan to urgent care.  This time he had a headache and his eyes were sensitive to light.  They thought it could be the start of a sinus infection.  We are hoping it is not the start of migraines.  

1/24 I went to Catalina State Park.  

1/25 I went to the Desert Museum to take pictures of the raptor show with my new camera. I also stopped at Sweetwater Wetlands, but didn't see much there other than a bobcat.  

2/3 I went back to Catalina State Park.  I ended up buying an annual pass.  Paul and Nathan went to the Kino Gem & Mineral Show.    

2/5 I went to Reid Park Zoo to photograph the baby zebra and and the baby giraffe who was born on Martin Luther King Day.  I also went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  I found out that the baby zebra died the following day after running into a fence.    

2/9 Nathan went to a nerf activity at Sun & Shield Baptist Church.

2/10 Paul and Nathan went to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show at the Tucson Convention Center.

I managed to maintain my weight during the holidays . As of today, I am about 143 pounds.  Hoping to lose another 20 pounds before I turn 50 next year, but that is unlikely to happen.  Perimenopause is working against me.  Going on a decade now.  

Christmas is almost here...already!

 Wow, this year flew by fast.

11/2, I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden, Reid Park and to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

11/4, My First Light bloomed.

11/5, My First Light and June Noon bloomed.  Nathan and I went to Wildlife World Zoo while Paul went to a NASCAR race. 

11/6 My June Noon bloomed.

11/13, I went to Reid Park Zoo.

11/16, I went to the Desert Museum to see the Raptor Free Flight show and drove through Saguaro National Park.

12/1, My grandma passed away.  She was 105.  I went to Catalina State Park that day.  On the way home, there was a full rainbow, a sign from my grandma in heaven.

We left for Chicago on 12/6 to attend my grandma's funeral the next day on 12/7.  The funeral was at Faith Baptist led by Brother Bill.  There was a good turnout, including Michelle, Dave and Katie from Mount Vernon.  Paul was a pallbearer.  The lunch was a Papa Joe's in Orland Park.  The next day we met Michelle, Dave, Katie and my parents at Olive Garden in Orland Park for lunch.  Paul had to work back at the hotel room.  My mom bought Nathan a pug birthday cake so we had a little impromptu birthday party for him.  We met John and Lisa, my parents and Michelle, Dave and Katie at Ledo's for lunch on 12/9 before our flight back to Phoenix. 

12/14, I went to Green Things Nursery to photograph the poinsettias and to Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Nathan turned 14 on 12/15.  It was also his last half day of school before the winter break.  He chose to go to Vivace for dinner to have...steak!  I got Nathan a ping pong paddle, a Free Guy shirt, a Saving Private Ryan dvd and some candy. Paul had bought him Sluban Army apache bricks at the Pima Air & Space Museum when they went to the paper airplane contest.  Nathan also picked out a small cookies & cream cake at Walmart.  Nathan also got his Q2 report card.  He got straight As (Geometry 91, English 90, Literature 93, Science 90, Social Studies 91, Coding 99 and PE 97).  He had to take his final exams early since he missed 3 days of school to go to GG's funeral.  However, he did great on them.  He got a 90 on Geometry, 90 on English, 95 on Literature, 87 on Science, 87 on Social Studies, 100 on Coding and 100 on PE.  For the First Semester final grades he got a 92 in Geometry, 92 in English, 94 in Literature, 87 in Science, 90 in Social Studies, 99 in Coding and 97 in PE.         

Paul took Nathan to Funtasticks and Olive Garden on 12/16.

One quarter down

August 11, I went to Green Things Nursery, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Tucson Botanical Gardens.

August 15, I went to Reid Park Zoo for the debut of Gwen the sloth.  

August 16, I went to the Desert Museum because a lot of their cacti were blooming.  It was a really hot day, though, so I didn't stay long.  

August 19, I went to Pima Prickly Park.  

Paul traveled to San Diego for work 8/21-8/24.

My First Light and June Noon bloomed on August 29.

My First Light bloomed again on 9/9.

I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens on 9/11.  

Paul turned 53 on 9/20.  We went to Vivace for his birthday on 9/16.  We went to Guadalajara Grill on his actual birthday.  

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on 9/17.  

9/30, we went to Apple Annie's to pick our pumpkins.  I tried to take pictures of the sunflowers, but it was a windy day.  They didn't seem to have as many as last year either.  But I would like to go again to see if I can get better pictures.  

I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens on 10/5  

Nathan passed his geometry readiness test so he is actually the only student at his school taking geometry this year.  He said they haven't had a geometry student there in several years.  Plus, he got an A the first quarter! Nathan also made honor roll the first quarter!  He got an 89 in social studies, 83 in science, 99 in coding, 96 in PE, 93 in geometry, 95 in literature and 95 in English for a 92.857 (3.714) GPA .     

Nathan tried out for the boys volleyball team.  There were 3 days of tryouts (10/2-10/4).  He said a couple of boys were selected to pick teams two of the days and he wasn't chosen so he sat on the sidelines the entire time.  Doesn't seem like a very fair tryout.  He didn't make the team.  It really doesn't make sense because he was the only one trying out who had been on a competitive volleyball team before.  A few supposedly were on an intramural team prior.  Nathan said that even a 6th grader made the competitive team and he isn't very good.  Nathan did make the intramural team, but he decided not to participate.  The intramural games are all on Saturdays and are at different Legacy campuses that are far away.  He felt he should have made the competitive team and we agree. The coach was also supposed to contact us prior to practices to tell us when practices started and give us more information.  We were never contacted, but supposedly they started practices the Monday right after they got back from Fall Break.  The coach scolded Nathan on Tuesday for not going to practices, but he didn't even know they started.  He didn't want to be on the team anyway.  We talked to the Vice Principal/Athletic Director on Tuesday night at the High School Information night and told him that we were never contacted, but that Nathan didn't want to be on the intramural team.  I had corresponded with him twice about the tryouts and our shock that he didn't make the competitive team.  He just said that they support their coaches' methods and decisions.  Typical response.  

Nathan has expressed an interest in joining the flag football team next quarter, but he says no other 8th graders are really interested in playing.  They all want to do tackle football.  Then there is soccer the last quarter.  So we'll see what he decides. 

This past Tuesday (10/17) they had a high school information night at his school.  Mountain View was there so we talked to them a lot.  Thursday night (10/19) we went to an open house at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy.  We were pretty impressed.  It is further away and it costs like $7k/year, but there are some different financing options.  There are currently only 12 open 9th grade positions at Pusch Ridge and the admissions process is rigorous.  I think we are going to apply at both schools.  Paul is in charge of this, though and I am not sure if he will get it all done in time.  Push Ridge says applications should be complete by the middle of December.  We have a little more time for Mountain View.  

For Nathan' Fall Break, we went to Chicago 10/7/23-10/15/23.  Paul had to work in the hotel room most of the time, but he took Friday off.  Michelle and Dave came in town that first weekend so we went to dinner at Uncle Julio's near our hotel in Downers Grove with them and Grandma and Grandpa the Saturday Night that we got in town.  The Chocolate Pinata was awesome!  Sunday we all went to church together at Faith and then went to lunch at New Horizon.  Monday, Dawn and Nathan went to Cantigny Park with Debbie and her kids.  Nathan was happy to go to Olive Garden for lunch afterward because he likes their 6oz sirloin.  The boy wants to eat steak for every meal these days.  Tuesday, Dawn and Nathan went to Brookfield Zoo.  It was a free day (we just had to pay for parking).  That evening we met Lisa, John, Connor, Aubrie, Donnie, Austin, Grandma and Grandpa at Ledo's Pizza for dinner.  We celebrated Donnie's 54th birthday (10/20) and Grandpa's 75th birthday (10/18).  Wednesday, Dawn went back to Cantigny Park to check out the flowers and to Morton Arboretum.  The trees were just starting to change in the area.  Thursday I drove around a little bit.  I wanted to go back to 31st St in Oak Brook to check out a castle looking house Nathan and I saw on the way to Brookfield Zoo.  I found a forest preserve in the area so I went for a short hike.  It was a beautiful day and I loved the trees starting to change colors.  Then I drove around some of the housing areas to admire the huge homes, nice properties and surrounding Fall colors.  That night we met Tracy at the BD's Mongolian Grill in Bolingbrook.  Shane and Aaron didn't make it :(  The food was great.  I chose just the right sauces so I really enjoyed my meal.  Friday, Paul, Dawn and Nathan went downtown to Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science of Industry.  We saw ONE pufferfish at the aquarium.  Dawn and Nathan also saw one when we went to the Brookfield Zoo.  The most memorable part of the Museum was the U-505 submarine exhibit.  Dawn was pretty bored there.  The museum was always cool during the holidays when they have the Christmas trees decorated from around the world so that is the time that I like to go there.  Traffic getting to and leaving downtown was horrible...don't miss that!  We ended up going back to Ledo's Pizza for dinner.  Saturday we did family pictures with the grandparents and GG.  GG is 105!  She is not doing so great, but hanging in there.  We thought this may be our last chance to see her and so Paul decided that he wanted to get family pictures taken at JC Penney.  Afterward we went to Olive Garden for dinner where Carol Lambros, Terry Ganzer and Janet Hardy met us.  Paul realized when we went to pay that he had lost his credit card.  Back to JC Penney we went to look for it, but no luck.  He used it for brunch earlier that day at Lumes, but they were closed.  We didn't find the card so we had to report it lost.  Not a fun way to end a "vacation", but these things happen.  Sunday we returned back to Tucson.  Thursday-Sunday it turned cold and rainy in Chicago so it was nice to leave at that time, but it was still around 100 when we got back to Tucson! 

The weather in Tucson has been hotter than normal.  It was a long brutal summer that seemed to never end.  They say it should finally cool down to normal Fall temps next week.  We need to get up to Mt. Lemmon.  Maybe next Saturday.  I may try to go up during the week, too.  There are a lot of Fall activities I would like to do, but there is just never enough time or energy!  Butterfly Magic started at Tucson Botanical Gardens, the raptor free flight starts up again at the Desert Museum 10/27 (I didn't make it last year), there's Glowing Pumpkins at Tohono Chul Park, I would like to check out the sunflowers at the Marana Pumpkin Patch, it would be nice to go back to Apple Annie's to photograph the sunflowers there again, etc...  Today they were feeding the animals pumpkins at Reid Park Zoo so I missed that :(  In November I would like to catch the Fall colors in Sabino Canyon and Ramsey Canyon.  I remember in years past I would be out taking pictures about twice a week and now it seems like I rarely have a chance to go out.  The weather hasn't cooperated either.            

July 18th, I had a gynecologist appointment.  The blood tests results weren't very good and I had gained a lot of the weight back that I had lost in 2019/2020.  Shortly after that is when Paul had his diabetic emergency and Nathan went to Academy of Math & Science that was far away (and he joined sports)!  I was so busy taking care of them that I couldn't focus on my own health.  After this doctor visit I decided it was time to get serious about my health again.  I was 153 lbs when I started this new journey after July 18.  That wasn't my all time high, though, because I think my all time high was around 161.  I aimed to get 10k steps/day again and cut down on my iced lattes/sweets.  After it cooled down a bit in the mornings I was able to start walking around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes.  I worked myself up to an hour on the elliptical almost every day.  The pounds started coming off pretty quickly.  Then the progress slowed.  Going to Chicago a week ago didn't help because I got out of my exercise routine.  As of today I am 144 lbs so I have lost close to 10 lbs in the last 3 months.  I can already notice a difference, but I have a long way to go.  I was around 135 lbs when we got married.  I was 110 back in college.  Realistically, I don't think I will ever see anywhere near 110 again.  However, my goal is 120-125 lbs.  It's hard being so short because every extra pound shows.  Going through peri menopause makes weight loss difficult, too.  With the weather finally cooling down I hope I can out more to hike and to take pictures around town.  I haven't been happy with my camera ever since I bought it so I am still considering buying a new one (even though I have only had this one for a couple of years).  We are getting into the holidays, too, which means I will be busy and stressed and that always hinders weight loss as well.  One day at a time.      

Halloween is 10 days away.  Nathan has decided not to dress up this year.  Last year he was disappointed because his Ghillie costume was big on him and kept falling down.  Of course I had asked him to try it on before Halloween and he didn't.  

10/30 Nathan is supposed to get yearbook pictures retaken.  This is the first year we want retakes.  I wanted retakes in some years past, but I was outvoted.  This year everyone agreed that we needed retakes.  Nathan did his fake smile and the picture just wasn't good.  Some said it looked like the Elvis smile.  Others said he reminds them of Val Kilmer.  Regardless, the picture wasn't good.  They had picture retakes, but none of the junior high school students were called to do them!  I contacted the principal so now they have another picture retake day scheduled for 10/30.  She said they will also have 8th grade graduation pictures taken later in the school year.  At least we got some good pictures taken of him at JC Penney when we did family pictures in Chicago (Matteson) last week.