BEAUTIFUL ARIZONA

For people who live outside Arizona, they think of the desert as being barren. However, as you can see, even spiny cactus can be beautiful in the Spring. These are Prickly Pear blossom which come in many colors.

Yes, we have butterflies in Arizona.

These blooms are my favorite color -- but do not touch the innocent looking cactus. They will bite you--just like the scorpions that live in Arizona.

Even these tall and stately cactus have beautiful blossoms in the Sprint.

I, also, love the bonnets that grow on the top of Saguaro cactus in May.

I hope that everyone can see how unique the Arizona desert is -- it has a majestic beauty--not filled with lots of green trees and foliage but the desert is not sand and emptiness.

Enjoy my beautiful homeland. I think Liz did -- we also spent a lot of time watching good DVD's. It was fun to have Liz in my home.

VISIT FROM LIZ SWARENS

Elder and Sister Swarens served well in the Mozambique Maputo Mission -- they trained Sister Allred (now Porter) and me in Mozambique. Luckily Liz Swarens and I ran into each other at Church Education Week at BYU last August. We decided she should come to Arizona for a visit. She had never been here and I wanted to show off my special homeland--well, and to have her connect with others she served with in Mozambique. I did get some pictures of beautiful Arizona but forgot to take pictures of the people we visited. :-(

Here Liz is in front of a glass sculpture at the Desert Botanical Gardens in the Phoenix Area. Arizona did put on her beautiful face -- it was warm the day Liz arrived but the rest of the time the weather was perfect. The Gardens were in full bloom and we spent a delightful four hours looking at the beauties of the Sonoran Desert.