Well, we've arrived!  Payson, Arizona.  Mike is still homesick for Flagstaff (his beloved San Francisco peaks) but I'm already loving that anywhere I want to go in this town is less than 5 minutes away.  Ok, you may say that in a town of 15,000 people, there isn't much here that anyone wants to visit anyway.  But to be honest, it has just about everything I need-a grocery store I like, a walmart, a beautiful lake park, endless places to hike and the temperature hasn't fallen below freezing yet!
  The plans for our dream house were completed three weeks ago and we have been heavy into the bidding process since then.  Acting as contractor saves us a lot of money but it has its own set of challenges.  Getting three bids on each phase of construction is a full-time job!  Soon we will have to make the "terrible" decisions--deciding what cabinets, countertops, floor coverings, color of exterior, interior, bathroom and kitchen fixtures and on and on--decisions we will have to live with forever!   But for now I will begin by posting a photo of our empty lot (not exactly like the above shot but pretty nice) and then, periodically, update as things progress.
  By the way, we have been on several hikes since we arrived and nearly all of them were near water--a creek, stream or a cascading waterfall!  Payson really is a beautiful place!