One weekend this autumn Danny and I went camping with his sister, Ashley, and her husband, Matt, whom we love and really enjoy hanging out with. We went to Danny's favorite place where they used to go camping as a family when he was little and where he and his dad have gone many times just the two of them. He's taken me there before, and I too think it's a beautiful place. Late one afternoon we all wanted to go down to the river to hunt for trout. Ashley caught the only one and it was big and beautiful and super delicious, as we found out later. On the way to the river we walked through an empty campsite and nearly stumbled right into a fairy village at the base of a great old tree. Abandoned by its inhabitants for quite a while, it had fallen into disrepair, but its magic lingered in the air and I had to take a photo.

Then, toward sunset, Danny and I went back to camp to start the fire for dinner. He was chopping at a big stump of wood when the ax broke and the head stayed in the wood. He tried everything to get it out, but it was not going anywhere.
I think my husband is so dang cute! Notice the light on the mountain behind him; isn't that gorgeous. Arizona sunsets are often really breathtaking.



One day, after a week of negative thinking and ingratitude when I was particularly homesick for Utah beauty I was in the backyard watering plants and sweeping and stuff when I turned the corner onto the side of the house and saw this:


It may not look like much, but the colors were so vivid and the carpet of purple was so dramatic in a world full of neutrals. It was more beautiful than anything I had seen in days and was just exactly what I needed. Heavenly Father shows us he loves us in the most unexpected ways sometimes.