Red Tape

For 3 years we have been trying to maneuver around the red-tape of government. Hours and hours of time have been spent on the phone, in offices and gathering paperwork. The picture above completely represents the frustration that we feel!!!!!!!!!

Because maneuvering red-tape is very time consuming, we wait until we have breaks. So, in our household, spring break, or any other break, also means working on the red-tape, wishing we had a magical wand.

At the last minute, we decided to book a hotel and head to Phoenix for yet another visit to government offices to seek out assistance. Our trip started out very lovely. We admired the saguaro cacti and Joshua Tree's that came into view. Since we have had a very wet winter, we also enjoyed the wildflowers growing along the roadsides the entire trip. Beautiful!



Our first office visit, the Secretary of State of Arizona, was successful! Yahoo! Afterwards, we walked along the grounds of the State Capital admiring the statues, and fragrant trees.







Then we took the girls for a fun treat- pizza at the Organ Stop restaurant. The place is a kick! A man plays organ music of any kind while people eat yummy pizza. Everyone sits family style facing the wall of organ pipes. We enjoyed listening to swing-band music, Louie Armstrong, songs from musicals, and Olympic theme songs and National Anthems. We must of been very hungry because the 4 of us downed 2 pizza's!



After stuffing ourselves silly with food and music, we settled into the hotel pool for some swimming and hot-tubbing.



The next morning, we strolled the Mesa Temple grounds admiring the cactus garden and spring-time flowers. The grounds were so beautiful and fragrant.





Then we took the girls to another adventure- Crispy Cream donuts- yum! We wore our hats and ordered hot donuts for breakfast. We ordered a dozen, and they disappeared quickly.



Then, we went and faced doom- or other government offices, who really like to use the word "NO!"

After sitting in two different offices for a total of 5 and 1/2 hours, hearing a foreign language and the dreaded word NO, NO, and NO, it was time to call it a day and head home.

Which means, more red-tape to work through during the next break. Something to look forward too, I guess?!