Today is a Gift

I'm grateful for mornings like this.
Mornings when the sun comes up to greet me with a warm smile as I leave my dreams behind. When I'm content to stay nestled in my clean white sheets until my bladder reaches its limit.
Mornings when my REM cycle ends right when my alarm goes off so as my feet hit the floor, I'm ready for the day.
I appreciate days like this when I take notice of the little things going on around me. Little things like the ants who instinctively know to build a barrier around their underground entrance. They carry one grain of sand at a time until they feel well protected and they don't stop until the job is done, and maybe not even then.
Or the birds who really are Free. They fly all around; high, low, fast and slow. All the while using the voice God gave them to sing His praises.
I can appreciate the sound of lawn mowers because I know they are part of the reason for the beautiful green spread before me.
Today I acknowledge the gift of breath in my lungs and strength in my body.
Today I will joyfully serve those around me and submit to the One who made me.
Today I will be who I was created to be and bless others as I'm able.
Today I will truly live.

Hoover Dam & Belagio Hotel

The Belagio Hotel is one of THE Nicest hotels on the Strip. These beautiful desserts were $7.00 a piece and they had the moistest pound cake ever, for only $15.00, lol!

The tallest chocolate fountain I have Ever seen! And 3 different flavors too!

The Conservatory is filled with flowers and wonders of all kinds. It was a magical place, I sincerely felt like I was Alice in Wonderland or something. The flowers get changed out 4 times a year and are so beautiful! Spring HAS arrived!

In the middle of the garden is a little greenhouse filled with butterfies. Fancy tulips (above) and colorful poppies (below)

The Hoover Dam. Our friend Andy Cole came for a visit so this was one of the other places we went together. This is a view of Lake Mead before you get to the dam. A view from on top of the dam.
This is a view from the dam but looking across the other side. They are building an Enormous bridge, there are two archways you can see that will meet in the middle and then the bridge will come straight across the top

Weekend with Dad!

This weekend was a lot of fun because my dad came to town and I hadn't seen him in 2.5 years. Not only that but Zach and my dad have never meet before so it was a big deal for him to visit us here in Vegas. dad also brought his beloved girlfriend of 2 years, Linda. She and I already felt like we knew each other because we've talked plenty of timeson the phone and she was everything I thought she was, and more! She's wonderful and I love her! Although Linda barely reaches 5 feet tall and she's afraid of heights, she still finds fun and thrill in Roller Coasters so one goal of their time here was to ride the New York NY roller coaster located on the Strip. She came to Vegas 12 years ago and rode it then and she loved Every second (it felt like Minutes!) of it! Zach and I, on the other hand, were SCARED. I was SO scared that I couldn't open my eyes the whole time AND I was Screaming at the top of my lungs. It was scary and not my idea of fun, but I did it and it's over now. Just a memory-a scary one, ha ha!

One other adventure we went on was visiting Red Rock national park. It's a beautiful natural habitat for wildlife (although scarce) and plant life. We all had a lot of fun.

Me and Dad, together again :)

Dad and Linda.

Thanks for taking the time to check out the latest Zirbel Update! :)

A Weekend Trip to Mesa, Arizona

Zach and I spent the last couple nights in Mesa, AZ with his grandma Lois. Just six hours away from where we live, Zach has quite a bit of family and how fortunate we were to make a trip to visit (and meet) them. One of his cousin's he hadn't even met and she's 8 years old! Many years have passed since he'd seen most of them so it was a small reunion for all who he was able to see. We drove through Joshua Tree National Park and there were tons of boulders in one part of the park. All sorts of cactus' to see and it was a sight to see; Spring in the desert. We're experiencing new kinds of beauty and we're really enjoying that.

Lots of tall cactus's instead of trees, ha ha.

Left to right: Cousin Michael with his girlfriend Danielle, Uncle Anthony, Cousin Danielle and Aunt Patty. :) Grandma Lois is taking the picture (she insisted).

Laure, my mother-in-law was visiting her mom, Phyllis who happens to be Lois' neighbor when she lives in AZ during the winter. It was neat to see her and I had a wonderful time with her and her mom. We had a girls day out and went to a lunch theatre and watched Singin' in the Rain and it was a real treat!

It looks beautiful out there but it was really only about 65 degrees and even though the pool was heated, it was still a little chilly. But...to say we went swimming in March was pretty cool ;)

It's blurry but it was the best shot we got of the Hoover Dam. One of these days we need to spend some time seeing all there is to see out there, it's a place to marvel at because the construction is so enormous it is unbelievable that man made it!

Until our next adventure, that's a wrap!

A Weekend in Dillon, Montana

I was blessed with the opportunity to visit my dear friend Kitty in Dillon, MT. I haven't seen her in four years and after a year of prayer, God provided at Just the right time. Kitty opened her home to me when I was taking time off from college and a couple months later, God called me to Tennessee.

The watercolor of the panseys is just once example of Kitty's giftedness in painting. She was an art teacher and enjoyed it with a passion until her body could no longer sustain long days. She was born with a crooked spine and despite physical limitations, she shines in many other ways. She is gifted with compassion and love for people and I am one of many who have been touched and changed by her.

I was also able to see some college friends who now have a family with two children, John and Meghan with their son Joshua and Tearsa. We had a great time of fellowship over a meal at good ole Papa T's :D Not to mention, John helped make some adjustments in Kitty's closet so she could better reach the hangers, Praise the Lord! That will make All the difference for Kitty!

Dickens! And boy is he ever! Ha ha! This is Kitty's 'new' pet and he needed a cleaning on his back end so I wrapped him in a towel while Kitty did the work. :) He didn't like it too much but we were absolutely impressed with his tolerance and cooperation.

He was about to find out why we taunted him into the bathroom, Muwaha haha!

And last but most certainly not least, my sweet friend Sandy! She has a remarkable story over God's healing in her physical body and I'm so grateful we were able to get together for lunch. We had a rich time of sharing the good things that God is doing and has done in our lives. We both walked away filled with joy and encouragement. Praise be to God!

There is much more to tell about the three days in Dillon but instead of writing a big paragraph I'll share just one instance of God's blessing and favor over the trip. The ticket turned out to be only $50.00 which was an incredible praise in itself but once I arrived in Idaho Falls, my friend Dave, who I hadn't seen in Years (and a crazy story of how we even became friends) picked me up, bought me dinner (thank you Dave!) and handed me the key to his spare car for the weekend! That was a last minute surprise and a blessing beyond measure! And he wouldn't even let me pay for any gas! The entire trip was blessed like that, it was one thing after another. The whole point and purpose of the trip was to serve and encourage and it turned out that I received both of those things too. Hallelujah!

Hiking at Lake Mead Recreational Park

Zach and I took a hike on Saturday to a park that is only a few miles down the road. If you haven't heard of Lake Mead, it is the largest reservoir in the USA and contains enough water to flood the entire state of New York with 1 ft. of water (26 million acre ft.). It's HUGE! When flying over the lake you can't help but see it, the length is unbelievable! So we consider ourselves forunate to live so close to one of the entrances. They have a 30 mile paved biking/walking path that Zach commonly goes to in the mornings. One of his times there he saw this canyon and so we made a point to go back so I could see it. Keep in mind, our total hike took 3 hours so we walked several miles just to get to the canyon.


It didn't look like an easy task but we wanted to get down to the canyon bottom and walk around so we found a way down from another area and made our way to the canyon. And went through this HUGE culvert.
I was peering over the edge to see if the smaller canyon on the left connect to the one on the right and fortunately, it did so we started to climb down. (the bike path is across the way)Before we made our way down, down, down, we sat at the top to eat our lunch. It was intimidating how deep the canyon really was. Once we got to the bottom, we started seeing some cool stuff right away. Like this big boulder caught in between the sides.

This is to show how steep the sides are when looking up:

This picture doesn't do justice but the Lord gifted us with seeing some wildlife. We came across Two Big Horned owls! One was in a nest across the way from one watching from a boulder. They didn't flinch by our movement and we made sure not to bother them. It was awesome!

This is to show some of the stuff we had to climb over. Talk about a full body workout! Phew! We were so tired by time we got back to the car.

There used to be water running through the bottom at some point but we don't know any history on it. It is obvious there is still water somewhere below because fresh plantlife and vegetation finds life here, amongst a lot of dead stuff. This is just a cool sight along the way out of the canyon:

We can tell that the water USED to flow out of the canyon and into Lake Mead, except that Lake Mead has lost so much water over the years that we walked all over desert that used to be lake. Sea shells, thousands and thousands of them.With the canyon behind us and sea shells under our feet, this was the view that was before us. A glimpse of the lake along with some beautiful rock structures.

We had a great day together, it was an adventure worth taking!