Annual Arizona Retreat

We look forward to going to Arizona each spring to trim the fruit trees at my parents home in Mesa.  It is amazing how much they grow every year.  

This is the little grapefruit tree that Dad and I planted about seven years ago.  It has done really well and we got a nice crop off of it this year.

We had at least four wheel barrows full of oranges and grapefruit.

Some of the grapefruit were nearly as big as Karlee's head!  

The orange tree has gotten so big that we had to rent a 10' ladder from Home Depot.   I had to put this long sleeve shirt on to avoid getting scratched while picking the fruit.  I did it a little late and have quite a few war wounds. 

This is before Layne started pruning the trees.

Karlee was a good sport to help pick and bag the oranges.  She was the only one who came with us this year.  Zak & Shay had school and Tanner didn't want to come if they didn't come.  So we had a good time just the three of us!

This is after the pruning is done.  Layne really does a good job of pruning.  I like doing it, but I end up making it look like a bad hair cut.  It always grows back fine.  But he makes it really look like it was professionally done. 

We rented a truck to haul off all the clippings, but we only had it for half a day.  They next day we did a little more pruning on the palm trees and bushes in the front of the house.  So we ended up hauling those off in our van.

It was Easter weekend while we were down there.  The Easter bunny was pretty lax and just left a bag of candy and a jump rope for Karlee, which she had requested.   Layne had to show off his skills and even did a cross over jump.

It was probably good that we only had Karlee come with us because we had A LOT  of fruit to bring home!

It really is a beautiful drive and we stopped on our way home to enjoy some of the scenery.

 Karlee's favorite color lately is flourescent green.  So she got a new shirt, sunglasses and a pedicure in green while we were in Arizona.

We stopped just outside of Kanab at the Pink Coral Sand Dunes.  I think it is a little bit of false advertising.  I wouldn't call them at all pink.  But they are a very beautiful coral.  

Karlee and I had a spa day.  I got a pedicure and she got a manicure.  It was fun to get a little spoiled. 

We had a great time and were lucky that we had good weather and good roads to travel on.  We went swimming every day, but I always forgot to take the camera.  We also took our traditional bike ride around the lakes in Leisure World.  We also treated ourselves to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  And we went and saw G.I. Joe.   But it is always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed!