Only One State Away

Found a few more pictures to post before moving on.  This is our sweet Della in Houston.  She loves her Grandma.

 Family Fun Center in Dallas.  Here is Josiah.

Craig and his daughter, Stacie

Craig and his grandson, Josiah.  Notice Josiah is taller - and he's only in fifth grade!!

And yes, I took a turn in the go-carts.

Here is Craig in the dragster.

And here is the video.  Craig came in second place all three runs.

From Dallas, we drove up to Oklahoma City.  There is not really a direct route from Dallas to Albuquerque.  Even though the temple was closed, we found someone to take a picture for us.

We stayed in Oklahoma City for the night because we really didn't want to stay in Amarillo.  Then it was on to Albuquerque.

Here is sweet Ursula, whom I had never met.  She did finally warm to me, but it took the whole time.

Out to dinner with the family.  From left to right:  Owen, my son Austin, Chantel, Ursula, and Soren.

Ursula even let me hold her for one final picture.

The Albuquerque temple was gorgeous inside and out.  So beautiful.

It is even beautiful from the back.

On our trip to Arizona, we passed over the Continental Divide.  I didn't remember that being in New Mexico, but I looked it up and sure enough, it is.  As a matter of fact, there are SEVERAL divides.  The GREAT divide runs from Alaska down through South America.

We also let Sam out of the car.  

All was fine until Sam jumped down into the basement of an abandoned house.  Then we had to resort to shaking the "treats" bag to get him out.  Most of New Mexico looks like this:

But Flagstaff, in northern Arizona, is really beautiful:  forrested, wonderful.  Then, as you proceed south, you drop down into desert.  This is from a roadside overlook.

We decided there is something wrong with my camera.  Maybe just need to upgrade.  This is from my camera.

This is from Craig's.

Got into Phoenix in time to go to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple.  Who knew?  They have been putting on the pageant since 1927.  It was WONDERFUL!!!  There were hundreds of people there.  The chairs went WAY back, and some were sitting on the lawn.

The stage was very large, with lights and sound system.

The characters walked among the audience and posed.  Their costumes were  first class.

These guys look kind of spacey with their white eyes.  LOL

Craig being attacked by Roman soldiers.

It's the Easter story, and so tells the story of the life of Jesus Christ.  Over 400 people in the cast and another 100 behind the scenes.

It depicts Christ's birth, life, and death.

And at the end there is a glorious resurrection.  Spectacular.  Music and sound was excellent.

All this was on the temple grounds.  The Mesa temple was built in the early 1900's.  It was beautiful at night and during the day. 

We went back to the temple the next day.  It was sooooo beautiful inside.  Rich brown colors.  Gorgeous Indian rugs on the walls.  There were so many people there, we couldn't find a parking space.  In the visitor's center is a statue of the Christus.  I love this statue.

And as with all other temples, the grounds around the temple are also beautiful and peaceful.  In fact, there were several groups of people taking family photos and graduation photos.

We travelled across Phoenix to the Phoenix Temple to meet an old friend.  The temple was busy.  Lots of people there.

I took a picture of this outside column.  Cheryl says that this representation of the "Tree of Life" is repeated through the temple.  As you progress through the temple, there are more and more leaves on the tree.  Until at the end, in the Celestial Room, it is covered with leaves.  Cool.

We met friends for lunch.  In back are Cheryl and her husband, Andy.  In front, Kate.  We miss these guys.

Kate drove with us over to the Gilbert Temple.  When we got there we discovered it was closed for the Women's conference.  Drat.

Kate took this picture of us so you could get an idea of the grandeur of this temple.  Next stop Tucson and then home.  We're getting there.